Glee 1. Arrival

**Story: Snowbird**

**Author: theevilsmurf88**

**A/N: The basic premise of the story is blatantly stol...(cough) pays homage to miseradreamer's The Things Only You Know which I have read an unhealthy amount. The premise is that Brittany has a secret and Rachel finds out. Other than that though the story is completely mine. If you like Britberry and you haven't read miseradreamer's story I highly recommend it, it is extremely well written and romantic. My story heads off in an entirely different direction.  
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**This story is Canon up through Season Three's Yes/No with one small exception. Tina and Artie are seniors along with the rest of the original glee cast.  
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**Enjoy**

**Disclaimer: I own your soul.**

**Chapter 1: Arrival**

Brittany sat in a rather uncomfortable airplane seat with her pinky intertwined with Santana's and the girl's head laying lightly on her shoulder. They had broken up a few months before but Santana Lopez was a selfish woman and she wasn't about to let her best friend and her girlfriend go at the same time. Things had been awkward at first between the girls when Brittany told Santana that she loved her but wasn't _in_ love with her. Santana didn't come to school for days and when she came back she was distant and sniffly. Eventually she was able to be in the same room with Brittany again without bursting into tears every time either of them spoke. Not too long after that they started talking about trivial things, and a month later you would never have known they ever dated they were inseparable again, just this time without the sex.

Damn Brittany missed the sex with her though, in fact she loved sex with Santana. She always knew exactly where to touch her, but she just couldn't find it in her heart to lead the fiery latina on anymore. She tried not to care too much about the people of New Directions but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop herself. It was just going to make things that more difficult when the time finally came. One way or another that time would be soon, her deadline was rapidly running out . She was on a plane to Los Angeles for her senior year Nationals. They only had a few more weeks until the end of the school year. Twenty three days to be exact and if she couldn't figure out the solution to her little problem, four years of her life will have been completely wasted.

The rented earphones were placed lightly in her ears and the volume was turned down so that she could only just barely make out the dialogue of the in flight movie. Her training told her this was a mistake but she really did want to see the Avengers and she had been in the middle of her Santana break up when it hit theaters.

Brittany wanted to see it because she was a huge Joss Whedon fan, especially Buffy and Dr. Horrible. She had found it extremely amusing when Brian Ryan had come to talk to the glee club because of his uncanny resemblance to Neil Patrick Harris. Even if the douche was a Grade A asshat.

She felt Santana sigh while laying on her shoulder and she pulled one side of the headphones out of her ear. This didn't feel at all like Santana's sigh of contentment more like one of frustration. Brittany ran her fingers through her hair softly before speaking and she felt the girl move into her gentle touch and realized instantly that it was a mistake.

"What is it San?" She asked softly so as to not disturb the other passengers.

"Nothing Britt?" She said with a bit of pain in her voice.

"You know I can totally tell when you lie to me right?" She responded a little more harshly than she had originally intended and Santana flinched at the anger in her voice and began to move away from Brittany. "Sorry." Brittany says releasing her pinky to wrap her arm around her and pull her back into her body. When Santana relents and allows herself to be pulled in, Brittany lays her cheek on the top of the girl's head. "Please tell me what's bothering you."

Santana takes a deep breath. "Why didn't you want to stay with me this weekend? The club had enough money to sleep two to a room. We could have had a hotel room all to ourselves for a three day weekend in L.A. and instead you decide to share a room with Awfulberry Shortcake."

It took some pretty serious will power on Brittany's part to not laugh at Santana's newest, and with the end of the year fast approaching probably last, Rachel nickname. She loosened her grip on Santana slightly knowing that the girl was going to pull away from her after this conversation and she didn't want her to hurt either of them in the process. "San, Lord Tubbington told me before I left that if we stay in the same room it will be nothing but hot lady kisses nonstop for 3 days."

"Still not seeing the problem Britt." Santana says mischievously with a smirk slowly forming.

"The problem is that what I said before was what I meant San. And yeah sure a weekend in bed with you would be amazing, but I don't want to hurt you like last time. It killed me to do it once and I don't wanna do it again. I can't do it again." She said all this as honestly as she could if not as verbose as she was capable. Like clockwork she felt physically Santana's walls go up and she starts to pull away from her arms.

"Fine! Have fun with Rachel, see if she will go down on you for 3 hours straight." She looks out the window and Brittany sees a tear run down Santana's face. She could fall in love with this girl so very easily but she can't allow herself to become attached when she is leaving in less than a month. She was beginning to realize also, that it was hard to allow someone to bond to her that didn't know the first thing about her. Santana was in love with a woman who didn't exist and knowing the woman if she found out the truth she would never speak to her again. So knowing all of this she resisted the incredible urge to just reach over and kiss the girl until she couldn't over think the situation anymore.

She put the other earphone back in her ear and continued watching the movie. She learned a long time ago the best way to deal with Santana's attitude was to allow her to deal with it herself, she always came around eventually. The next hour of the flight was awkward, she had had worse moments with the dark haired girl though so she just powered through it.

As soon as the plane finished taxiing Santana roughly pushed past Brittany grabbed her carry on from the overhead compartment and disembarked the plane without so much as glancing at the blonde. Brittany let out her own sigh of frustration and then went over to help Tina and Mike get Artie off the plane. After gathering up their luggage and a hectic cab trip for sixteen they began the organized chaos of check-in at the hotel which had all of the other choirs arriving about the same time.

Brittany saw Rachel smile and wave at Sunshine Corazon who did not look nearly as confident as the year before and the year before Vocal Adrenaline had only placed second. Brittany really shouldn't have cared about winning the competition but she figured it was an extension of her caring about the people in New Directions and for a normal person that was a completely healthy attitude to take. For Brittany it was downright stupid.

She silently chided herself for getting lost in her thoughts and not realizing that Rachel had been talking to her for nearly a minute.

"...and then I think we are going to do the Walk of Fame and then we will head on over to Grauman's and put our feet into the star's feet." Rachel said practically bouncing in her excitement. Rachel could be annoying a lot of the time but there was no denying that she was a bit adorable when she was excited. Due to the warm weather Rachel was wearing less clothing than she usually did and Brittany was enjoying the view of her bouncing.

"Okay," she said tentatively, "I have two questions Rachel. Stars have feet? And if they have feet wouldn't putting our feet inside of the stars burn them up?" It wasn't one of her more brilliant idiocies, she loved that oxymoron, but she felt it was sufficient for an on the spot "Brittanyism."

Rachel quirked an eyebrow but quickly schooled her features into a soft loving expression. "No Brittany, movie stars. Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood is where movie stars go and they make impressions of their feet and hands in drying cement. We would go there and put our hands and feet in the impressions."

She knew all of this of course but allowed her expression to brighten as the false realization hit her. She starts bouncing up and down and throws her arms around the tiny girl's neck shoving her head into her breasts. "Ooo That sounds like fun we should totally do that I wanna put my feet in Bugs Bunny's." When Brittany pulled away from her, Rachel was blushing lightly at the somewhat intimate hug and Brittany resolved to make her uncomfortable again over the weekend because she looked cute as a button when she was candy apple red.

The look on her face was completely flustered and she says shyly "Um, I don't think Bugs Bunny has a stone but I am pretty sure Donald Duck has one. Also Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers have one too, which as a dancer I would think you would appreciate as well."

The smile that graced Brittany's face was completely genuine both because Rachel knew that Donald Duck somehow ridiculously has an impression but also because despite all of the deception and lies she has doled out over the last few years Rachel knew enough about her to know that yes she would very much like to put her hands in Fred and Ginger's hand prints.

"That would be absolutely amazing." She said, her vernacular slipping for the first time in years to its more eloquent form and normal accent even if it was only a small slip. To quickly distract Rachel she kisses her cheek allowing her tongue to slip out slightly, not enough for Rachel to notice but enough to make it a little wet. Rachel reddens again but this time even more furiously. It seemed to do its job as Rachel seemed far more occupied with her burning cheeks and shooting shy glances at Brittany because of Brittany's tongue slip rather than the slip of her tongue. Rachel wasn't with Finn anymore, not that that would have stopped her, but maybe this weekend wouldn't be as sexless as she initially thought.

"Come on Rae let's go put our stuff in our room, shower and change and then we can head down to the Welcome Ceremony at the theater." She grabs her rolling bag in one hand and Rachel's hand in the other pulling her lightly behind her. When they reach the elevators Brittany purposely hits the down arrow. Rachel reaches over and hits the one going up.

"Our room is upstairs Brittany." She says not unkindly. Brittany allows her face to make an O. They step into the elevator along with about a dozen other teenagers none of whom are part of the New Directions. They hear a conversation going on between two of them that perks both of them up immediately.

"Did you hear about Vocal Adrenaline?" A tiny sophomore looking African American girl says in a southern accent to a taller girl with alabaster skin and blonde curls.

In a southern belle accent she answers somewhat exasperatedly. "No sugah, what about those glory stealing yanks."

"They went through 4 directors this year and just barely won their regionals. The director they came to nationals with has only been with them for 4 weeks. They fired the last one after he was caught having sex on campus."

"HE DID NOT!"

"With a freshman." The blonde gasps and then laughs.

"Well deary we took 11th last year and we are better this year. This is the Peaches' year to become the national champs." She high fives the sophomore.

"Well they aren't the only threat there are still a few groups to worry about. New Directions are back," Rachel smiles at this, "they would have placed way higher if not for that idiotic kiss. They might have even won." Rachel's smile disappears as the Peaches get off the elevator. Rachel's cheeks redden again but she doesn't look adorable so much as humiliated. Brittany put her hand on Rachel's shoulder and squeezed and she seemed to feel a bit better. As they leave they hear the girl say. "Also Teenage Scream, Soundsplosion, Jefferson City Airplane and the Blazers are all back this year and they all placed in the top 10 last year. I for one..." She is cut off as the doors to the elevator close again.

"Don't worry Rachel we are going to rock this like a hurricane." Brittany whispers in Rachel's ear.

"Darn right we are." She says this time, pulling Brittany behind her as they exit the elevator on the 11th floor. Their room is seven rooms down the hallway on the right next to Tina and Mercedes' room. Brittany can hear Mercedes practicing through their cracked open door and she vaguely wonders how she beat the two of them up there. She lets the moment pass and Rachel pulls Brittany over to show her how to work the door and give her a key to the room. She pretends to watch Rachel's movement's carefully and when the door is open she steps inside.

The room is pretty standard hotel fare. Two Queen size beds with three night stands flanking them. The television is a 27 inch flat screen firmly attached to the wall. It was the first hotel room she had seen with a flat screen instead of an old tube style television but she hadn't really been traveling much in the last 4 years. Over near the window is a small table with two chairs neatly tucked under it. On the table is a small pad of the hotel stationary along with a pen. There isn't a mini bar but there is a mini fridge that has been emptied of everything.

"You can take the first shower if you want Rach, I don't take all that long to get ready." Brittany says plopping down hard on the bed nearest the window.

"I don't take very long to get ready myself, the majority of my routine is at night, but I appreciate the gesture nonetheless Brittany." Rachel throws her suitcase up on the bed and opens it before pulling out a bag of toiletries. Brittany watches her legs and ass as she walks into the bathroom.

The instant the door closes she jumps off the bed and heads over to her own suitcase. She pulls out her SLR camera and lenses out of her camera bag. She pulls apart the false bottom of the camera and all three lenses and drops the hidden kit onto her mattress. She assembles the small .380 and puts the clip in and silencer on in less than a minute. She sets it in her purse gingerly after turning the safety on. She grabs her own bag of toiletries and turns on the television laying back on her bed to wait for Rachel to get out.

Brittany idly flips channels until she comes across an early episode of Angel on TNT and happily watches Angel fighting with Faith. She briefly considers who is hotter David Boreanaz or Eliza Dushku when Rachel walks out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel and the TV stars are knocked right out of her head. She unconsciously licks her lips at the sight of Rachel's long legs and the short hotel towel that only barely covers her despite her small stature. Rachel obviously notices the leering and the blush starts at her cheeks going all the way down to her chest which just serves to draw Brittany's eyes in that direction. She smiles wickedly at her, not unlike the cat that ate the canary right before Rachel clears her throat drawing her attention back up to her face.

"Shower is all yours Britt." She says looking rather pointedly at the bathroom.

"Thanks Rach." She says while standing and grabs her shower supplies. She is a little disappointed by the lack of free show but not in any way surprised by it. She grins cheshirely before making a split second decision to disrobe in the middle of the room. Someone should get a show might as well make it Rachel. She takes off her blouse and bra and hears Rachel gasp without looking in her direction. She decides to do the rest in the lavatory so as to not kill the girl from embarrassment.

She quickly dismissed the stray thought to spy on Rachel while she changed because she wanted Rachel to show her body to her willingly. She finished removing her clothing and stepped in the hot shower. She keeps her face pointed towards the door at almost all times and is done in less than 5 minutes. She vaguely remembers when she would take long showers, but that seemed like it was another lifetime. The last long shower she remembers taking was when she was twelve. She uses the towel to dry off her body and then gathers up her clothing. She can't stop herself from messing with Rachel again and instead of wrapping the towel around her body she wraps it around her head and walks out of the bathroom stark naked.

Rachel lets out a squeak and averts her gaze and Brittany chuckles to herself. Even if she didn't get any this weekend it would still be a blast if only for Rachel's reactions. She pushes open the top of her suitcase and gets dressed slowly grabbing her most eye catching thong, a hot pink number with the word POW on the front, and pulls them on slowly occasionally catching Rachel sneaking a peek at her. _Well either she is bi-curious or she is jealous of my body,_ she thinks to herself, _either way I think I have a shot._

She grabs the matching bra and pulls on a knee length flowing white skirt of light cotton and a light purple baby doll T-shirt with the Potter Puppet Pals on it with the tag line saying "We're ALL Wizards!" and in the bottom right corner it says "Even Ron"

Once Brittany has all of her clothes on Rachel clears her throat. "Brittany, I would really appreciate if you would wear clothing while in the shared areas of our room."

"Why?" Brittany asks knowing full well the reason but wondering if Rachel can actually put words to it.

"Because it is improper to walk around others while not wearing anything at all as it is both unbecoming as a lady and it makes others uncomfortable."

"Oh okay." She says a little dejectedly. She was hoping she would have had difficulty articulating the issue so that she could continue doing so however that was far more succinct than she had planned. "Sorry Rach it's just my parents aren't home much and I usually walk around my house naked and being in the cheerios has made me kinda used to nudity. I can't promise I won't forget but I promise I will try."

Smiling brightly Rachel sits down on her bed to finish her light makeup. "Thank you Brittany."

Brittany like Rachel has always gone for a more natural look to her makeup so she is also quickly finished and it gives her a chance to appraise Rachel's outfit which is one of her 50's style dresses in a light green with small white polka dots. It's material seems to be a bit lighter than the dresses she normally wears in Ohio; she is obviously well prepared for the California weather. With this and the outfit she was wearing earlier in the day she was going to have to keep track of her wandering eyes with the amount of skin being shown. Being practical though Rachel grabs a light white button up cardigan sweater and her purse throwing both over her arm as Brittany opts for a black jacket made for mild weather and snatches up her purse as well.

They head out the door and towards the elevator and Brittany hits the up button. Rachel kindly says "No Britt we are going down this time."

Brittany throws her hands up in frustration. "I'll never get this right." Getting a sympathy hug out of Rachel. Just because she couldn't walk around naked didn't mean she was giving up on her plan to spend some of her weekend naked. The elevator opens and it is pleasantly empty, they step in, the doors are closing when they hear Quinn call out to hold the door. Brittany sticks her foot through the door and catches the sensor so that it opens again. Quinn and Santana both step in and it's obvious that Santana is still giving her the cold shoulder. She resists the urge to roll her eyes because it is just such an un-Brittany thing to do.

Quinn and Rachel began chatting about the upcoming performance as the two had become much closer this year not to mention that they had the duet in the qualifying performance. While this is happening Santana keeps shooting the occasional kicked puppy look at Brittany before it changes back so fast if she weren't so observant she would have missed it in the first place. Santana starts muttering under her breath in Spanish and Brittany only catches about every third word but it seems to have to do with Rachel's nose getting in the way of giving head.

About two floors down they pick up a few passengers a short good looking boy with spiky green hair and an average looking brunette girl around 5'8".

"You guys here for the competition too?" Green Spikes asks them.

"Yes we are, where are you guys from?" Rachel asks probably more to learn about the other teams competing than an actual interest in the people in the elevator.

"Our team is called Noises On and we are from Daniel Wake High School in Arizona. We placed 27th last year. We are hoping to do better this time around." He says offhandedly.

"We are New Directions from William McKinley in Ohio. We got 12th." Quinn said in response.

"Oh I heard about you guys." The spiky haired boy said with a bit of snarkiness tinting his voice. "Heard you blew your chance last year with some make out session on stage. Nice Job." His voice dripping with sarcasm and he gives a double thumbs up when he says it.

Rachel stomps her foot on the ground. "God am I never going to live that stupid kiss down. Also it was one kiss, one I was not making out on stage."

"Look she and the ogre aren't even together anymore so unless you got some more game from last year yous is gonna lose. Cuz that girl right there can beat you by herself and she ain't by herself." Santana says actually standing up to the boy and defending Rachel. She was oddly protective of a girl she used every opportunity to put down but no one ever really commented on it. Brittany just assumed it was a repressed crush.

Rachel blushed before muttering a soft, "thank you Santana," that just got a grunt from Santana in response. The elevator dinged on the bottom floor. Rachel, re-composed, looks at the two and says, "Despite your rude behavior I bear you no ill will and will just say to you 'break a leg,'"

The boy looks her dead in the eye and says acidly. "Good luck." Rachel gasps at his remark putting her hand over her heart and shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

"How dare you." Rachel says and storms off the two blondes and the latina following in her wake. They head out to the designated meeting spot and Mr. Shue, Miss Pillsbury and Carole Hummel are already there with most of the guys who didn't bother changing. They seemed to be waiting on Sugar, Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina so they comfortably chat awhile and their higher maintenance performers show up within ten minutes.

The walk over to the theater is short taking only about fifteen minutes. The theater is in a beautiful old style building. Obviously it isn't actually an old building, it is Los Angeles after all. Old things in L.A. just rot with age until they are no longer useful and then are broken down and replaced. Brittany silently muses that it is a sad commentary on both the city and the movie industry that built it in the first place.

The theater seems to be decorated in dark blues and silver giving it a somewhat ethereal quality. It has a feeling of class while still being comfortable and Brittany can see that Rachel instantly adores the place. All of the choirs are slowly meandering into the theater seats for the orientation and Mr. Schuester quickly finds out they are seated in the upper balcony near the front center. The theater gets progressively louder as everyone files in to the fairly comfortable seats. After about 20 minutes the din looks like it's starting to hurt Rachel's sensitive ears and she presses on the inside of her eyes before gently covering her ears. Brittany starts rubbing the top of Rachel's head softly which gets her a quick smile. Fortunately, after another minute music starts playing and the house lights go down. A fast hush sweeps the crowd and Rachel takes her hands off her ears while Brittany smooths down the hair she disturbed and then returns her hand to her lap. Rachel looks at Brittany likes she wishes she hadn't stopped.

"Everyone please put your hands together for your Master of Ceremonies, from the hit T.V. show How I Met Your Mother, Mr. Jason Segel." The crowd bursts into applause.

Brittany hears Kurt ask Rachel "Why would Jason Segel be here? We usually get has beens for this kinda gig."

"It's my understanding that he is a huge patron of the theatrical arts and Nationals would be just the kind of thing that he would enjoy. He did write The Muppets after all ." Kurt makes a grunt of acknowledgement and the crowd dies down a few moments later.

"Welcome everyone to the 2012 National Show Choir Competition. YEAH." He says to thunderous applause. "We have 44 choirs from around the country set to compete. We have many returning choirs as well as a whole bunch of new faces. We have everything from Catholic church music to Pop from Jazz to Rock and everything in between. With such diversity of music it should be an amazing show this year.

"Now Each choir will have fifteen minutes allotted to them, which with forty-four choirs that comes to eleven hours, so obviously we are going to have to spread the preliminary round out over two days. Your directors have been given a schedule with your time slots. Being more than five minutes late to the stage will constitute an immediate disqualification which...would suck. So that's easy just don't be late. Each choir will have to perform a solo, a duet and a group number. You can use up to five minutes of your fifteen for prep time and this may be used to get yourselves in any positions and set up any props if you have them but at least ten minutes of your time must be allocated to performing.

"This next rule is important so listen up. We ask that when you are waiting backstage that you are as quiet and courteous to the choir on stage as you would want them to be for you. If you try and sabotage an act they could hang around and do the same to you. Also you will be disqualified so SHHHHHH.

"The third day will be for the ten choirs who Showcase who will perform a second time. The top five from Showcase will come back a third time and will compete in a battle to THE DEATH." The crowd laughs and someone pokes their head out from backstage. "Huh, really? Apparently it will actually be yet more singing and dancing. This will also be the day of the awards ceremony where we will announce the winners.

"Is that everything?" He says looking off stage. The head from before pokes back out and nods vigorously and is greeted with raucous laughter. "Well then I guess that's it, have a great day and we will see you tomorrow." He walks off stage but the house lights don't come back up. After about ten seconds the guy pushes him back on stage and starts miming yelling angrily to him. "Huh." Jason Segel says into the microphone. Turning to the audience he starts speaking again. "Wow, you're never going to believe this but apparently this stage is where the L.A. cast of Wicked performs and the National Show Choir Board has managed to get them to give you all a late matinee performance." He pauses to wait for the explosion of applause to die down. "What did you think we would make you walk over here just to listen to me ramble for five minutes? Oh Please. Enjoy everyone."

The orchestra moves into the pit and starts tuning their instruments. Rachel and Kurt are both on the edge of their seats and there seems to be excitement coming off most of the people in there and the ones who aren't super excited at least recognize the fact that it is a free Broadway quality performance. When the curtains start to rise the applause reaches tumultuous levels and Brittany thinks that this is going to be their weekend to win it all, this was a sign.

After the performance, which they all raved about at length, Carole, Mr. Schuester and Ms. Pillsbury take them to get some food at a restaurant with at least a few vegan options for Rachel's benefit. He informs them while they are eating that the group has drawn a day two after lunch performance slot. They will be fifth from last so they will be spending day one sightseeing in Hollywood. Brittany got up to use the restroom which would normally be Santana's cue to follow her, but seeing as they were still fighting Brittany walks to the restroom alone. After she is done using the facilities she walks over to the sink. She starts washing her hands and smiles at a woman in her mid thirties wearing a nice business cut jacket and skirt. The woman without looking at her starts speaking while washing her own hands.

"It's a wonderful day today, the sun always makes me want to sing." Brittany's back immediately stiffens and her senses go into hyperdrive. She glances around the bathroom to make sure they are alone.

"I personally have always preferred dancing under the moon light." Brittany responds. The woman straightens her spine and dries her hands.

The woman then pulls out a cell phone and hands it to Brittany. "The phone is secure and will ring at precisely midnight. Make sure that you are alone and able to talk."

"I was told I still had until the end of the school year." Brittany says her obvious worry showing through her tone.

"This is not about that we have something else for you to take care of."


	2. Wanderings

**Chapter 2: Wanderings**

Brittany exited the restroom a little shaken by the encounter and returns to the table sitting in between Rachel and Tina. Rachel keeps up a steady flow of conversation and Brittany makes sure to pop in with the occasional: "My neighbor's dog is a creeper he's been watching me change at night." or some other bit of useless and untrue trivia just to get a reaction. They walk back to the hotel and head up to their room a bit on the exhausted side after hours of travel, unpacking, and a musical. Also, while it is 7pm where they are in sunny Southern California It is 10pm back home so they all have a bit of jet lag as well.

When they get to the elevator Brittany pushes the up button and looks at Rachel questioningly. Rachel smiles and nods gently. Brittany squeals and then jumps up and down. When they get to the room she lets Rachel open the door and Rachel goes to put the T.V. on.

"I know you are as tired as I am but to battle jet lag you should really make a point to go to bed at the appropriate time in the time zone you are in so we should try and stay up until nine or ten. Sound good." Brittany nods and yawns at the same time. Brittany grabs her rolling suitcase and heads into the bathroom. She takes off her clothes and puts on a pair of spandex shorts that she usually uses for working out and a loose fitting T-shirt. She takes the phone she was given and sets it to a vibrate alarm to go off at 11:50pm. She checks the vibrate and gauges it to be sufficient to wake her in case she falls asleep and then gingerly places the phone in the waistband of her shorts resting on her tailbone. .

She comes out of the bathroom and looks over at Rachel's bed. "Hey look I remembered to put clothes on for bed." She runs over and jumps on Rachel's bed and cuddles into her side.

Rachel smiles and pries Brittany's hands away from her. "I am going to go and change now. You can stay here and we can continue to snuggle," she says while blushing, "but only if you keep your hands to yourself."

Brittany smiles devilishly, "No promises."

"Not even an 'I'll try?'"

"Nope." Brittany says making sure she pops her P and smiling widely. Rachel harrumphs before heading into the bathroom. Brittany pulls her hand bag closer to Rachel's bed making sure it was in arms reach and open. She usually preferred to sleep with the gun under her pillow but when she shared a bed that wasn't really an option. She then went around the bed untucking all the sheets. Being confined in a bed could be a death sentence.

Rachel re-emerges a few minutes later wearing a fluffy pink night gown that goes down to about her knees but leaves an ample amount of cleavage showing. It reminds Brittany of an outfit she saw Lucille Ball wearing in I Love Lucy but a little more risqué. When Rachel seems hesitant to get back in the bed Brittany launches herself at the smaller girl pulling her onto the bed with surprising force. Rachel lets out a peal of laughter before allowing it to subside into quiet giggles.

"Did you unmake the bed Brittany?"

"Uh huh. That way I can put my feet down on the outside of the sheets and the monsters can't see when I get out of bed."

Rachel shakes her head at her naivety but not in a cruel way. Brittany reaches around the small girl and rests her hands on her stomach making small circles on her abdominals. It is a few seconds before Brittany realizes the nightgown is velour.

Brittany runs her hands softly across Rachel's stomach and says as sultry as she can. "I love velour, It reminds me of this baby deer I pet in a petting zoo once."

"Me too." She says her breathing becoming more erratic by the second. "The loving part not the deer part. I would love it if it were real velvet but it is a bit out of my price range for a night gown. I do have a formal dress that I wore to one of my father's work parties made of crushed velvet though. It is a deep midnight blue ankle length with a small train."

_Rachel can really ramble when she is nervous_, Brittany thought to herself. Brittany grabs the remote and puts it in Rachel's hand never stopping her roaming hands. "I don't care what we watch really. You are warm, and you smell nice, and you and your nightgown are really soft so I will probably fall asleep pretty quick." She sticks her face in Rachel's neck and breathes deeply. She feels Rachel shiver in her arms but gives no other indication that she noticed Brittany's actions. Brittany really was tired though and she did have that midnight call to answer. Keeping Rachel up just didn't seem in her best interest so she resolved to get some sleep and hope that whoever was calling wasn't going to take all night. She wanted to be fresh for Nationals after all.

Rachel sounds affronted when she says, "I thought we were going to work on our jet lag."

"Mmm, it was a good idea but sleep is a better one. Besides in my dreams I am the Princess of Candyland and I make the whole world bow to my every whim. It's more fun there."

"Wow Brittany can you lucid dream?"

"I have no idea what you just said." Brittany responds.

"You can control your dreams?" Rachel asks again.

"Oh yeah it's something I have always been able to do. You have bowed to my every whim more than once." She whispers in her ear and then runs her nose up her ear lobe causing Rachel to shiver again.

Rachel starts flipping channels to help take her mind off the hot breath on her neck and ear quickly stopping when she sees The Wedding Singer on the scene of Robbie getting left at the altar. "I love this movie." Rachel says sinking into the warmth of Brittany and feeling herself nodding off as well. Brittany makes a small noise of agreement and they settle in to watch the movie. Neither of them make it more than 15 minutes into the movie when their breathing evens out and they drift off into peaceful slumber. Rachel dreams of winning the Nationals trophy while Brittany dreams of being the meat in a Rachel and Santana sandwich, both girls smile into the night.

The phone vibrates at 11:50 and Brittany wakes up and is immediately alert. Due to her training she is an extremely light sleeper but she can't help notice the wonderful scent of Rachel's hair and it makes her want to go back to sleep. She knows she can't do this, though, so she gently disentangles herself from Rachel and pads on silent feet to the bathroom to wait for the phone call. She sits quietly on the toilet and waits as patiently as she can. She sits there for about seven minutes when the phone begins to vibrate again signifying an incoming call.

"Salutations," she says when she answers the phone. "That means hello."

"Code Accepted. Orders Verification Code seven zulu one alpha twelve." A man's voice said on the other line.

"Orders verified. Snowbird Foxtrot forty-seven golf eighty-eight."

"Identity code verified. Voice match identical. Hold please." She hears several beeps on the line and waits 5 seconds and a deep male voice starts speaking.

"Snow it's Robertson. We have a mission for you." Brittany felt instantly relieved hearing the voice of her mentor and Handler.

"Hey Robertson. What is with all the cloak and dagger? You aren't usually this strict about verification. My own cell phone is secure."

"That's the point of getting you this phone actually. This mission is huge and international as a matter of fact this call is a conference call with MI6 as well as Canadian Security Intelligence Service. We couldn't do that on your phone the encryption is just too tight. It would have immediately dropped the call when it detected the conference call. The phone we got to you is tightly encrypted as well, but in a completely different way. " Robertson says seriously.

"I see. Well then, what is the mission?"She asks curiously.

"Tomorrow night, well tonight technically, at 2100 hours there is a party at the Japanese Embassy. We need you to attend it."

"I don't know how feasible that is going to be I am at the moment on a trip under my current cover and I am being closely watched." She says trying not to give away her current location and mission even to their allies.

"Think of something to get away, you're good at that." Robertson says and Brittany sighs fondly at her mentors tone and how well he knows her.

"Okay, assuming I can get away what exactly am I doing at the embassy?" She asks warily.

"Infiltration, seduction and elimination. I know the first two are your forte but I have to ask if you've completed your final test?"

"I have 7 tags." Brittany responds quietly.

"Seven already? Well at least that makes things simpler. We will send a black 4 door Audi to pick you up tomorrow at 2030 hours at your mission location charlie, they will take you to a place to change into a party dress and give you your equipment. We will have a large selection of gowns in your size for you to choose from along with 'accessories'. The rest of the details, including your mark and your cover, will be explained en route to the party. We should have you back no later than 2230 or 2300 hours assuming no difficulties. Questions?" He asks finally.

"Two actually, first, why me? There have to be other people in the area, more available people, than myself. This job is risking my 4 year deep cover."

A British man who sounds at least 60 starts speaking. "MI6 was originally going to complete this op however our agent injured herself while skiing on holiday. You will take her place, we will brief you on your cover and any vital information you need. This operation is of paramount importance to both worldwide stability as well as women everywhere."

"Understood. Secondly you want me to kill someone on foreign soil?"

"We have unofficial permission from the Japanese government to do this but of course if you get caught all parties will disavow any knowledge of you, or your mission." Robertson says and Brittany can't help but think _that's nothing new._

"Geez how many people want this person dead. Very well I will be by the North Entrance of charlie at 2030 hours." Brittany responds resigned to the task. At least location charlie was the hotel she was staying at. She appreciated Robertson not making her go to a different location

"Standard greeting number 4 from the driver. Oh and Snow, this mission takes precedence over your current one. If you have to lose your cover to complete this mission so be it. " Robertson says.

The Brit gets back on the call. "The driver will be our agent's partner so if the driver doesn't know the passcode or gives you a code that is accurate but not the correct one then I want you to shoot him and call your cleaners." He says with finality.

"Understood."

"Good Luck. Use the phone's self destruct." Robertson says and then hangs up.

"Fuck me this is fucked up." Brittany says to herself. She looks at the phone like it just shot her cat before she hits 2,3,4 and then holds down the pound and star keys for three seconds. The phone starts to smoke and hiss before the screen quickly fades black. She throws the husk of the phone into the trash knowing the acid will take care of the internals and then she watches the phone smoke for about a minute to make sure the self destruct was complete and all that is left is a hollowed out case. Frustrated, she presses her palms into her eyes for a few seconds and then heads back out into the room. She thinks to herself that despite Robertson's orders she will keep her cover intact no matter what or else the final solution will be the only option and she did not want that happening.

While crawling back into Rachel's bed she hears the small girl stir. "Where ja go?"

"Bathroom." She answers honestly.

"Didja have fun?" Rachel asks obviously only partly awake.

"A blast now go back to sleep." Brittany says wrapping her arms around Rachel's back again. Knowing that Rachel won't remember any of this in the morning she kisses her neck softly causing the smaller girl to purr in delight. She sighs contentedly and her breath evens out again. Brittany lets the darkness embrace her and her dreams to re-enfold her.

When Brittany's blue eyes open she is staring into brown ones inches from her own. For a brief second she moves in to kiss the face in front of her out of habit before she realizes it's Rachel and not Santana. Brittany notices excitement in Rachel's eyes and almost tries to kiss her again but Rachel starts talking an instant before she was going to make her move.

"I didn't want to wake you, you just looked so sweet sleeping, I turned off the TV in the middle of the night when you kicked me in your sleep. You have some really vivid dreams." she says softly. "Now that you are up though I really have to pee." Brittany reluctantly pulled her arms away from Rachel who practically sprints to the bathroom.

Brittany rolls out of bed and immediately checks to make sure her purse wasn't disturbed. It's not that she didn't trust Rachel, but she's nosy. Rachel could have also just wanted some chapstick, Brittany is known to share freely, gone digging in her purse and could have found something a little harder to explain. Brittany stands up and stretches her muscles by doing a back bend to a slow hand stand and then rolling her feet back to the ground making it look like a slow motion back hand spring. She then sits on the ground and begins stretching a little more strenuously and eventually Rachel comes back out of the bathroom.

Rachel sounds a bit flustered when she says. "Excellent idea Britt, it is still really early and we can get our morning exercise routines done. Shame about the lack of an elliptical though, I guess I will just have to do some aerobics."

"It's not my birthday is it?" Brittany says and Rachel looks at her flummoxed. "No if it were my birthday you would be fully naked bouncing around and not just half."

Rachel rolls her eyes. "Maybe some other time Brittany."

"Promise?" Brittany says excitedly.

Rachel sighs but in a smiling way. "Don't you remember when we explained sarcasm to you Brittany?"

"Oh yeah, that is the day I found out how mean Santana can be. I didn't like that day."

"Sorry for reminding you, but I was not planning on doing aerobics in the nude. I was being sarcastic Brittany."

"Who said anything about you doing aerobics naked? I believe I said bouncing around naked." Her maniacal grin caused Rachel to turn new shades of crimson. Brittany ignores her blush to the best of her ability despite wanting to smile, then Rachel retreats into the bathroom to change into more appropriate clothes for exercising. Brittany spends the next hour openly leering at Rachel while she worked out. More surprising though, are Rachel's occasional glances back at her with what can only be described as curiosity. Brittany wants to try her luck but still feels it is a little early in whatever is going on between them. Instead she finishes her workout and just enjoys the show.

Afterwards, they take turns washing up. Brittany decides to take a little longer to get ready than she usually does because she needs to take a few extra minutes in the shower to relieve some of her sexual frustration. It was still less than 10 minutes though.

Brittany puts on a pair of skin tight black jeans and a yellow halter top while Rachel goes for another of her Donna Reed dresses this time in a soft pink. They hear a knock at the door right as they are putting on the finishing touches to hair and cosmetics. Brittany walks over and opens the door and Kurt, Mercedes, Blaine, Artie, Mike and Tina are all waiting on the stoop.

"Rachel," Kurt calls past Brittany completely ignoring the leggy blond, "we have a little over two hours before we all take off sight-seeing but the first choir goes up in about twenty five minutes. That will give us enough time to watch about 5 or 6 choirs. I don't think we have any chance of losing but we can at least see some of the competition before tomorrow. Don't worry this isn't a repeat of New York, I already asked Mr. Shue if it was okay he said it was fine as long we use the hotel shuttles that Nationals rented. As long as we don't wander off without a chaperone we won't get in trouble. We also have to be back at quarter to eleven."

"Kurt, I am quite impressed at your foresight and initiative, I am somewhat disappointed in myself actually for not thinking of this." Rachel began gathering her things and Brittany walks away from the door when no one so much as looks at her. Rachel begins gathering her things when she sees Brittany lie down on her untouched bed and grabs the remote off of the nightstand.

"Brittany," Rachel says and then waits for the girl to look at her. "Did you wish to accompany us or are you going to spend the day with Santana and Quinn?"

"Santana is mad at me right now so she and Quinn will be spending the day without me." She said trying to sound hurt and since it wasn't much of a stretch she managed to pull it off fairly well.

"Come with us then. It'll be fun."

"Yeah come on." Tina says and Brittany internally does cartwheels. She very rarely gets to spend time with some of this group as she has had real trouble ingratiating herself into the original members of New Directions with the exception of Artie. It was her own fault for falling into the cheerios and befriending Quinn and Santana but It has so far been the largest detriment to her mission. Here was her chance though, she was being asked to spend the day with them.

"Okay. I was going to spend some time talking to the ghost I met in the bathroom earlier but this sounds like more fun. Besides he kept speaking another language, Australian or something, and I didn't know what he was saying." The incredulous looks they all give her almost makes her crack up but she just manages to maintain her composure. She gets up and starts skipping to her purse squeezing to make sure her gun is secure in the pocket she normally stores it in. "Let's go."

The trip to the theater was quick and full of excited chatter. The group filed into chairs seconds into the first group taking the stage. They missed the group's introduction but they were doing a rendition of Paula Abdul's Cold Hearted Snake that while amazing, was incredibly inappropriate for a high school event. They rolled into Rush Rush and finished up with Opposites Attract, The group was exceptional but Cold Hearted killed their chances and all of New Directions knew it. They had lost for something as simple as a kiss and this school was grinding all over each other.

"Ladies and gentlemen give a big hand for Philadelphia's PopRocks." The audience gave them a standing ovation and they waited the two minutes for the next choir to assemble.

"I really liked the choreography in Cold Hearted Snake it made me want to have sexy times." Brittany says while sending a sly smirk Rachel's way.

"I always liked how you think." Mike says in response and gets a hit in the arm from Tina as well as a quick "behave." Mike shoots a playful but not flirty wink at his fellow dancer, and Brittany sends one back.

In a few minutes the second group starts taking the stage and turn away from the crowd. The green haired boy from the day before takes center stage and walks up to a microphone stand. A very familiar guitar riff starts playing on an acoustic guitar and Brittany hears Rachel mutter an uh-oh to her side.

_Hello, I've waited here for you. Everlong.  
>Tonight, I throw myself into<br>And out of the red out of her head she sang_.

His voice was sultry and compelling and despite thinking the guy was a total douche Brittany couldn't help but be entranced by him. A soft doo doo doo came up from the choir in the pause between verses. Their backs to the crowd giving it a distant ephemeral quality.

_Come down and waste away with me, down with me  
>Slow how, you wanted it to be<br>I'm over my head, out of her head she sang_

The music began to swell as an all string orchestra began to accompany the acoustic guitar.

_And I wonder  
>When I sing along with you<br>If everything could ever feel this real forever  
>If anything could ever be this good again<br>The only thing I'd ever ask of you,  
>you've got to promise not to stop when I say when<br>she sang_

The choir began singing the doos again and the boys stage presence called out to everyone in the audience. There was no real choreography so much as a bit of alluring theatricality.

_Breathe out, so I can breathe you  
>Hold you in.<br>And now, I know you've always been,  
>out of your head, out of my head I sang<em>.

The string instruments swelled to a thunderous crescendo before he softly sang the last chorus.

_And I wonder  
>When I sing along with you<br>If everything could ever feel this real forever  
>If anything could ever be this good again<br>The only thing I'd ever ask of you,  
>you've got to promise not to stop when I say when<br>she sang_

The strings silenced going back to just the guitar before ending. He smiled as he waited for his applause and then said in his same soft voice "We are Noises On." He walked back into the group who turned and began to sway gently to a soft piano solo that was joined by strings a few seconds later. The plain looking girl who was with the boy in the elevator began to sing the new song.

_I've been a bad bad girl  
>I've been careless with a delicate man<br>And it's a sad sad world  
>When a girl will break a boy<br>Just because she can_

Another girl dances on stage breaking the stillness of the group who all dance in a enthrallingly sensuous fashion without being inappropriate like PopRocks had been. The dancing girl sings the next part of the song.

_Don't you tell me to deny it  
>I've done wrong and I want to<br>Suffer for my sins  
>I've come to you 'cause I need<br>Guidance to be true  
>And I just don't know where I can begin<em>

The whole choir sings the chorus and it has obviously been reworked to accommodate that_._

_What I need is a good defense_  
><em>'Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal (like a criminal)<em>  
><em>And I need to be redeemed<em>  
><em>To the one I've sinned against<em>  
><em>Because he's all I ever knew of love (knew of love)<em>

A third girl comes out to sing the verse.

_Heaven help me for the way I am  
>Save me from these evil deeds<br>Before I get them done  
>I know tomorrow brings the consequence<br>At hand  
>But I keep livin' this day like<br>The next will never come_

A fourth girl takes center stage.

_Oh help me but don't tell me  
>To deny it<br>I've got to cleanse myself  
>Of all these lies till I'm good<br>Enough for him  
>I've got a lot to lose and I'm<br>Bettin' high  
>So I'm beggin' you before it ends<br>Just tell me where to begin_

The choir sings the chorus again.

_What I need is a good defense_  
><em>'Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal (like a criminal)<em>  
><em>And I need to redeemed<em>  
><em>To the one I've sinned against<em>  
><em>Because he's all I ever knew of love (knew of love)<em>

The first girl comes back to sing the bridge afterwards the choir sings the second to last chorus and Brittany notices that the members of the choir begins pairing off and dancing off stage. They don't come back. The plain girl sings the last chorus of the song alone on stage

_Let me know the way_  
><em>Before there's hell to pay<em>  
><em>Give me room to lay the law and let me go<em>  
><em>I've got to make a play<em>  
><em>To make my lover stay<em>  
><em>So what would an angel say<em>  
><em>The devil wants to know<em>

_What I need is a good defense_  
><em>'Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal (like a criminal)<em>  
><em>And I need to redeemed<em>  
><em>To the one I've sinned against<em>  
><em>Because he's all I ever knew of love (knew of love)<em>

_What I need is a good defense_  
><em>'Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal<em>  
><em>And I need to be redeemed<em>  
><em>To the one I've sinned against<em>

_Because he's all I ever knew of love_

At the end the song the girl leaves the stage as well and the green haired boy comes back out with a guitar and another boy. He starts playing a song that Brittany and probably Mike recognize but she doubts anyone else in the group will as it was big when they were very young. The other boy takes the first verse and then the green haired boy takes the second with the two of them harmonizing beautifully on the choruses.

_Drivin' faster in my car  
>Falling farther from just what we are<br>Smoke a cigarette and lie some more  
>These conversations kill<br>Falling faster in my car_

_Time to take her home_  
><em>Her dizzy head is conscience laden<em>  
><em>Time to take a ride<em>  
><em>It leaves today no conversation<em>  
><em>Time to take her home<em>  
><em>Her dizzy head is conscience laden<em>  
><em>Time to wait too long<em>  
><em>To wait too long<em>  
><em>These conversations kill<em>

_Too much walkin', shoes worn thin_  
><em>Too much trippin' and my soul's worn thin<em>  
><em>Time to catch a ride<em>  
><em>It leaves today, her name is what it means<em>  
><em>Too much walkin', shoe's worn thin<em>

_Time to take her home  
>Her dizzy head is conscience laden<br>Time to take a ride  
>It leaves today no conversation<br>Time to take her home  
>Her dizzy head is conscience laden<br>Time to wait too long  
>To wait too long<br>These conversations kill_

The group hadn't been this dumbfounded by a rival choir since the first time they watched Vocal Adrenaline perform. The whole performance was understated, soft and beautiful. Mercedes said "Shit." in response to it and no one really could provide a more apt phrase to describe their feelings.

"Well at least we have seen one of the choirs we will be competing against at Showcase." Rachel said slowly.

The next choir wasn't horrible but they were so mediocre with their Phantom of the Opera medley that most of them wondered how they got to Nationals in the first place. The fourth choir was very good and would probably place in the 10's with a trio of mainstream country songs from Shania Twain, Garth Brooks and Faith Hill.

"We have time for one more." Kurt says.

Jason Segel took the stage to introduce the next group. This was the first time they had physically seen him but they supposed they had missed him introducing PopRocks because they were a few minutes late."Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome to the stage the six time winners of the National Show Choir Championship. VOCAL ADRENALINE." The audience clapped loudly and cheered for the Carmel High students.

"Figures they would get an intro from the MC." Artie says only a little bitter because he did understand that they had earned it many times over.

Five minutes into the show they realized that there was only one word that could accurately describe the performance they were watching. Terrible. Once again Sunshine was out front taking center stage on their performance and she of course was phenomenal but the choreography was out of sync and the backup singers were flat and sharp pretty much the entire time occasionally even throwing Sunshine off a note or two. The audience stood in awe and when the performance was over they received only a smattering of polite applause. Sunshine left the stage crying and Rachel said something about texting her later.

The group gets up from their seats and quietly slip out the entrance before just bursting at the seams with excitement at how bad the Vocal Adrenaline performance was.

"Our chances have never been better." Rachel says actually skipping with excitement as they quickly head towards the hotel shuttle. After a 5 minute ride they are running (rolling quickly in the case of Artie) towards the rest of New Directions blurting out about the 5 choirs they had seen. Even Mr. Schuester seemed to be interested in the news of Vocal Adrenaline and the dangerous Noises On

"Alright guys, as fascinating as all this is we do have some sightseeing to do today." Mr. Schuester said while shepherding the kids out the door.

They walk for only a few minutes before they get to Hollywood and Vine and the start of the Walk of Fame. They start running back and forth looking at stars as they slowly make their way to Grauman's Chinese Theater.

Brittany really didn't really feel like singing. Her fight with Santana was weighing on her mind; whatever was happening with Rachel was a huge surprise and a bit confusing; she was also extremely nervous about her mission tonight. She spent hours preparing this song, however, and she readied it specifically for this moment and all the work she put into it would go to waste if she didn't sing it. She looks to Rachel before singing the opening notes hoping that Rachel knows the song and provides the backup for her.

_Look ahead as we pass, try and focus on it  
>I won't be fooled by a cheap cinematic trick<br>It must have been just a cardboard cutout of a man  
>Top-forty cast off from a record stand<br>Walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.<br>Walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.<em>

Rachel of course knew the song and laughs when Brittany started singing it. She of course started singing harmony starting on the chorus and continuing throughout the rest of the song. I mean when has Rachel ever taken an opportunity to not sing.

_I don't know could've been a lame jogger maybe  
>Or someone just about to do the freeway strangler baby<br>Shopping cart pusher or maybe someone groovie  
>One thing's for sure, he isn't starring in the movies.<br>'Cause he's walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.<br>Walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., only a nobody walks in L.A.<em>

Most of New Directions seemed to know the song as well since they all joined in on the next part of the song.

_Walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'  
>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'<br>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'  
>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'<br>You won't see a cop walkin' on the beat  
>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'<br>You only see 'em drivin' cars out on the street  
>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'<br>You won't see a kid walkin' home from school  
>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'<br>Their mothers pick 'em up in a car pool  
>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'<br>Walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.<br>Walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.<em>

The crowds passing seem to be enjoying the show as many start following the group to hear the whole number.

_Could it be that the smog's playing tricks on my eyes  
>or is it a rollerskater in some kind of headphone disguise<br>Maybe somebody who just ran out of gas,  
>Making his way back to the pumps the best way he can.<br>Walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.<br>Walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.<br>Walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., nobody walks in L.A.<br>Walkin' in L.A.  
>Walkin' in L.A., only a nobody walks in L.A.<em>

Mike, Sam and Puck start break dancing on the Walk of Fame while Brittany and Rachel finish the song up.

_Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'  
>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'<br>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'  
>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'<br>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'  
>Nobody's walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin' walkin'<br>Nobody walks in L.A_

Rachel hugs Brittany at the end of her song, and while Brittany notices it Rachel completely misses Santana giving her the patented Santana death stare. Despite all that though she is in a much better mood. Rachel and Brittany interlock arms and start walking down Hollywood Boulevard stopping every so often to peek at a star. They chat amicably the flirting reaching intense levels and Rachel finally doesn't seem to be blushing every time Brittany makes a pass. It was progress Brittany thought to herself. Santana, on the other hand, looked like she was about to fly at Rachel at any second and the only thing holding her back was a quietly and quickly whispering Quinn.

When the group reaches the theater they all separate and spend about an hour running around putting their hands and feet into various star's imprint stones. Everyone noted how small Tom Cruise's hands and feet were and Brittany danced a little when she saw that her feet were the same size as Grace Kelly's. They all made their way into the theater and watched the latest travesty of an Adam Sandler movie. Brittany had been pretending to be stupid for 4 years now and that movie could make the fake her feel smart.

They next hop on a double decker bus and go on a tour of Star's homes. Brittany lets Rachel sit in the window seat and sits next to her laying her head on Rachel's shoulder. She takes Rachel's hand and Rachel doesn't pull away. She is not at all oblivious to the stares of the rest of the glee club nor Santana's alternating angry and hurt looks but she figures that hurting her will allow Santana to finally move on from her. Finn looks a little shocked by their interaction as well but he and Rachel had split by mutual decision and on good terms so that when they parted in a few weeks it wouldn't be devastating to either of them. Brittany even heard a rumor that he had a date when they got back with one of the girls in Vocal Adrenaline. He still looked a little jealous but Brittany figured he could deal with it. Everything would be fine as long as no rogue chairs got in his way because that chair would inevitably get kicked.

The tour was a lot of fun, the tour guide must have been an aspiring stand-up comic because he kept the bus in stitches pretty much the whole time with his celebrity jokes and impressions. They saw about 2 dozen celebrity homes, had a few celebrity sightings, as well as getting a photo op near the Hollywood sign. Brittany considered trying to kiss Rachel again when they were by the sign but despite the romance of the gesture she ultimately decided that it should be a more private moment if and when they shared their first kiss.

When the bus finally pulled up to the return spot on the walk it was 7:15 and then Mr. Schuester recommends they go and get a late dinner. They roll into the hotel at 8:15 and Brittany was starting to panic a little about how the hell she was going to get away from the group and more importantly Rachel in the next 15 minutes.

"Brittany?" Santana's voice called out. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Brittany sighed for Rachel's benefit but was inwardly relieved because unbeknownst to Santana she had just created an opportunity for her. "Rach I think Santana and I need to talk for a bit I will be up in a few. If you are already asleep I will crawl into my own bed so I don't wake you up."

Rachel actually looked crestfallen that Brittany was leaving to talk to Santana but Brittany needed this out. "Okay Brit but I don't mind if you wake me up." Her voice was hopeful and inviting. Brittany half wanted to blow off her mission and head upstairs with Rachel but didn't think her superiors would appreciate her following her hormones very much.

Brittany squeezed her shoulder. "I might just do that."

Brittany purposely waits for all of the group to head towards the elevators before she walks over to Santana. "What is it San?" She says brightly feigning ignorance at what she wanted to talk about.

"What the fuck is going on between you and Mr. Mxyzptlk?" Two Rachel nicknames in as many days she had to give Santana her proper respect.

Brittany put on her dumbest face and said "You said I should see if I could get her to go down on me for 3 hours straight so that is what I am trying to do."

"Ay dios mio Brit I was being sarcastic because I wanted you to spend the weekend having sex with me." Santana said while face palming.

"You know I don't get sarcasm most of the time and I told you that I didn't think it would be a good idea for us to spend the weekend in bed. Besides I like the idea of having sexy times with Rachel she's really pretty." Brittany knew this would incense the latina but the reaction she got surprised her. She was expecting another outburst like the one on the plane but instead tears started forming on the corners of her eyes and she ran to the elevators crying.

"Shit." She muttered under her breath and started to move after her. She stopped and sighed completely frustrated at her whole situation. "I don't have time for this." Brittany made her way to the North exit about three minutes before her rendezvous was scheduled.

The Audi pulled into the driveway right on time and she put her hand inside her purse while walking towards the car. The heavily tinted window rolled down revealing an extremely handsome man in his late 20's with his hand inside his jacket. He did a double take when he caught a glimpse of Brittany.

"Have you ever felt like Mario when he is fighting Donkey Kong?" He asks in a deep British accented voice.

"Only when the princess is over a barrel." He takes his hand out of his jacket and unlocks the door. Brittany removes her hand from her purse so she can open the door and gets inside.

"Who makes up these code phrases." He says obviously trying to break the ice.

Brittany shrugs and snickers before she responds. "Who knows probably some loser with no social life who spends far too much time on the internet."

**A/N if you don't get the Mxyzptlk reference, he is a villain from Superman who is about 3 feet tall and wears ridiculous clothing. I thought it was fitting. Google him if you want a pic. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	3. A Touch of Emerald

**Chapter 3: A Touch of Emerald  
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"A pleasure to meet you by the way, my name is Phillip Smyth." He reaches his right hand over for her to shake which she quickly does.

"I wish I could return the favor Phillip but both my real name and my cover name are classified at the highest level. My codename is Snowbird. My fellow agents call me Snow for short."

"Snow it is. It really is remarkable you know." The cute Englishman says to her.

"What is that now?" Snow says.

"The resemblance. You look uncannily like Lisa." He says looking at Snowbird appraisingly.

"And Lisa would be?" Snow asks knowing that this is very likely the person that she is going to be pretending to be for the evening.

"My partner, the Baroness Lisa Miller of Sussex, 73rd in line for the throne, and agent of MI6." He says this rather proudly and a little pompously.

"Well I guess that explains why I was chosen for this operation over the other agents in the area. So I suppose I am taking Lisa's place tonight at this embassy party?" He nods. She smiles wickedly before her next sentence. "So Phillip, tell me, how long have you been 'shagging' Baroness Lisa Miller of Sussex, 73rd in line for the throne, and agent of MI6?" She says mockingly while her grin progressively gets bigger and making air quotes when she says shagging.

"I honestly have no idea what you are nattering on about, why are you Americans all such vulgarians. Just because I admire the woman does not mean that I am having carnal relations with my partner." He says all this in one breath his face getting redder and redder and obviously from embarrassment and not from anger.

"Relax buddy." She laughs lightly at his reaction. "First of all I used your slang not ours, and if anything you Brits are far more vulgar than we are. I mean you are the ones who call your own friends cunts. Which I personally think is hilarious by the way. Secondly totally not judging you Phillip, my specialty is seduction and I can pick up on sexual vibes from people in seconds. Since you met me other than the double take, which I am guessing is because I look like her, you haven't stared at me with any sort of lust at all. You haven't even looked at my cleavage despite the fact that I am wearing a halter top. I mean seriously these babies are awesome." She points at her breasts. " So, either you don't find me attractive, which would be fine but I expect even then you still would have tried to stare at my tits. So that means you are gay or you are in love and the way you spoke about Lisa makes me think the latter rather than the former." She says smugly and he says nothing to dispute her claims choosing to just clear his throat and stare out the windshield uncomfortably.

"So...Tell me about my cover what is Lisa like?" She says while sighing at the atmosphere her comment caused.

"Well." He pauses before continuing. "Lisa Miller and the Baroness Lisa Miller are two very different people." He says obviously relieved at the change of subject. Snow can't help but be reminded of G.I. Joe when he calls her the Baroness. "You don't really need to know what the real Lisa is like since The Baroness Lisa is who we are concerned with you mimicking tonight. Lisa attends only about 6 parties every year which is pretty much unheard of for a British lady of court but she does this for two reasons. One she absolutely abhors her station in the court and only attends the few parties she does to appease her family and honor the memory of her parents. The second reason is her duties with MI6 keep her out of the country a lot of the time under the cover of traveling. While she is at the parties she acts aloof pretending to be very shy and quiet but because of her good looks and grace she still gets approached by many a suitor and engages them in conversation if they strike one up. She politely declines dancing when she is asked though because she can't dance very well. Even spy school couldn't teach her." Snow snickers at this. "What?"

"Oh nothing it's just I'm an amazing dancer, I love it, and I pretty much never turn down an offer to dance regardless of who it is. Should be an interesting change."

"Ah. Well. I see." He pauses just a moment and chooses to not address the comment. "Lisa when engaged in conversation is very well informed on a variety of subjects when prompted. The ladies of court and would be suitors are usually impressed by her knowledge of Science, Politics, Current Events, Philosophy, Art, Music, History and Pop Culture."

"That is easy enough, I am well versed in all that, well except for maybe Art but the rest shouldn't be a problem at all and I know enough to fake art if I need to. I don't think I will be able to play it aloof though, I need to get noticed at least a little because I want to draw the mark's attention towards me."

"I completely understand and that is probably a good plan of action." He says chuckling. "How is your English accent by the way? Do we need to have a quick diction lesson?"

"I don't think that will be necessary my accent should be more than adequate I believe." She says effortlessly switching to a perfect Londoner's accent. She isn't quite sure what the exact inflections of a person from Sussex would sound like but doubts many who weren't from the UK would be able to tell the difference. Phillip seems to be satisfied by the look he gives her so she doesn't worry about it any further. "Any foreign languages she speaks?"

"German, French, and Russian fluently although she also speaks Spanish in a broken stilted way." He responds quickly.

"All languages I am fluent in so no problem there. Do you have a picture so I can see how she does her hair and make-up." He waits until they are at a stoplight and pulls out a smart phone. He touches the screen a few times after unlocking it and hands her the phone. The girl in the photo looks so much like her that they could be mistaken as sisters. Lisa looked a few years older than Snowbird, Snow's nose is a bit longer, her ears a bit smaller, her teeth are a bit straighter (due to the administrations of Dr. Carl), and Lisa's eyes were green and not blue but otherwise they could easily be confused in a line up.

"Don't worry about your appearance too much we have a styling crew at the warehouse we are headed to." He says so that she doesn't get carried away.

"Oh, excellent well I will at least remove my current makeup. You weren't kidding about us looking alike, kind of creepy really. It's like looking into a slightly distorted mirror." It was all she could really come up with, she was a little dumbfounded by the photo. She had always heard people say that everyone out there has a double but she had never really believed it. She pulls the visor down and opens the lighted mirror inside of it. She picks her purse up off the floor and takes out her makeup kit. She pulls out a moist towelette and removes the small amount of makeup she normally wears and moments later she then reapplies her foundation and concealer. It takes her only about two minutes to minimize her nose to more emulate the British Noble woman.

"So who is my mark?" She asks seriously as she finishes the base level of her makeup and closes up the visor.

"His name is Ricardo Ortiz and he is the Ambassador to Paraguay. A dangerous man both politically and criminally."

Snow reels back in shock. "Whoa hold up there just a second, that is a big league assassination. This could mean war with Paraguay." Snowbird says cautiously.

"It could but things could be far worse if we don't kill him. Besides we aren't going to be ham fisted about this, we will be extremely subtle. We can't exactly have you walk in and shoot him in the face." He pulls the car into a parking spot and stops the engine. He exits the vehicle and indicates with a raised hand that she should follow him.

"Ricardo and his family are very influential in Paraguay and he is lobbying to get Paraguay to pull out of the World Financial Market and close its borders. This isn't unheard of, of course, there are several countries that do this, North Korea for instance. However, Paraguay has had one of the few consistently growing economies since the 2007 recession hit and taking that money out of the world economy would cripple the little progress we've made at ending it. The South American economy would collapse like dominoes and then the rest of the world would crumble right behind it. Even war would be preferable because they would at least need to acquire weapons and other items from outside sources and would be unable to close their borders to the world market.

"Of course we wouldn't have even gotten permission for this op from the US government if he wasn't also a serial killer."

"WHAT?" Snow yells out. "You lead with the world politics when the guy is a serial killer? Really?"

"Well the States and MI6 have very different agendas to accomplish on this mission but yes he has killed at least 5 victims here in the states that they've found. All of them were pretty blondes ages 16 to 35. Your government has petitioned on four separate occasions to have his diplomatic immunity revoked but I believe the Paraguayan government just keeps saying they will look into it. Being a covert agent is nice sometimes, just sidestepping the political red tape when it's necessary. Don't you think?"

"Oh absolutely even talking to headquarters on the phone can be frustrating sometimes. Whatever though, that's the job. So tell me about Ricardo the serial killer." Snow says carefully while following Phillip up a flight of stairs.

"I really don't think you want me to explain how he kills his victims." Phillip says obviously trying to dissuade Snowbird from delving too deeply.

"No, you're right I probably don't, but you had better tell me anyway. I may need to know for safety reasons." She responds firmly.

"If you insist," Phillip sighs, "but don't say I didn't warn you." He takes his phone back from her and touches a few buttons as they walk through the second floor door of the warehouse. "Pick out a dress quickly and I will give you the particulars about his M.O." Snow moves into the warehouse looking at the hundreds of dresses in her size. If she weren't there to kill someone this might have actually been fun.

"Ok Ricardo Ortiz Prime suspect in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of 5 young women." He says reading off his phone as Snowbird quickly peruses the dress racks. "The victims seem to have been taken from night clubs and bars likely under the influence of Rohypnol since traces were found in their blood. They were taken to an undisclosed location and restrained by what we believe to be leather straps. Once the victim is properly secured, we assume by the puncture mark on the sternum, adrenaline is injected directly into the victims heart to counteract the sedative so the victim is fully aware of what he is doing to them. The killer then proceeds to break several bones with a blunt weapon we have determined with high probability to be a standard claw hammer. The broken bones seem to be random and have no discernable pattern from victim to victim it just seems that he is just trying to cause them a little pain before the real process begins. He probably gets off on their pain. The killer doesn't seem to spend more than a few minutes on the bone breaking process and doesn't seem to break more than 5 bones and only 3 in 3 of the victims. During this first stage only the legs, so far, seem to be exempt from the breaking process and this will likely hold true because of the second stage."

Snow has moved through the first rack and she pulls out a red dress holding it up to herself before putting it back.

"The next step seems to be very important for our killer. He then takes the claw side of the hammer or another dull cutting instrument and starts carving patterns on the victims legs similar to ritualistic scarification. This process can last hours. The patterns are not identifiable but they seem to hold meaning for the killer as they are identical on each victim. The killer used stimulants on four of the five victims we assume to keep the victim awake so they feel every cut."

Snow grabs a soft green dress that matches Lisa's eye color assuming that they will have contacts for her. She begins stripping down to her underwear and then pulls the dress on. Modesty isn't a luxury that a spy can afford.

"Once the scarification is complete he takes an incredibly sharp knife and cuts from sternum to navel and then reaches inside the victim and begins disemboweling them. It doesn't take long for them to die after this but before they die he makes sure to sever and then force a large piece of intestine down their throat. This is presumably to make them taste their own digestive process but it may also have a more personal reason to the killer that we are unable to determine. This act typically chokes them to death on their own viscera before they can even bleed out. After they die he then takes his time forcing several other pieces of intestine into every orifice including the victims gouged out eyes and ears. The body is then taken to a field and is laid out spread eagle in the nude and then tent spikes are hammered into the victims hands feet and neck." He finishes his voice a little shaky at the description of the killers victims.

"Well I asked." She says straightening out her new dress. "So? How do I look?"

"You look perfect the green is an excellent choice because of the jewelry. Lisa likely would have chosen the same dress or at least one the same color. Let's get you finished over here." Phillip says.

The dress is green silk that is tight around the bust and tapers down softly just below the bust line and hanging all the way to her ankles. She carefully chose a dress with a slit in the side so that she would be able to run or fight if necessary.

She walks over to a vanity table they set up for her and four women appear as if from nowhere. One starts doing her hair and another is setting herself to the task completing the makeup Snowbird had started in the car. The makeup woman gives her a bit of a green tint around the eyes to match the dress and after applying eye liner, eye shadow and mascara she throws on a fuck me red lipstick. A third woman after the eye makeup is on tells her to lay her head back and carefully pries open her left eye and puts in a green contact and then immediately does the same with the right eye. That woman disappears after putting them in and putting a few eye drops in. The one doing cosmetics follows about 90 seconds later after touching up the makeup the contact woman may have smeared. The fourth one opens a drawer and pulls out a fairly large jewelry box.

The lady pulls out 3 rings and places one on each index finger and one on the ring finger of her right hand. The ring on her right hand ring finger is a large rectangular shaped emerald with a platinum band and has two diamonds on each side flanking it. The other two are identical platinum bands with diamonds encircling the band on both sides and a parallel ring of diamonds running up the middle. There are emeralds covering the rest of the inside of the ring. Snow estimates the rings alone to be worth tens of thousands of dollars and the lady keeps pulling jewelry out.

"Lisa has a love for emeralds. All the jewelry you will be wearing with the exception of this," he says pointing at the larger emerald ring, "is from Lisa's personal jewelry collection."

Snow looks at the necklace the woman pulls out curiously as it is a bit large and seems a little gaudy compared to the other jewelry and from what she knows about the woman it's not really Lisa's style. The necklace seems a fairly solid piece and it is practically dripping in diamonds and emeralds all centered around a massive emerald resting in the hollow of her chest.

"Ah," Phillip says noticing Snowbird's look. "One of Lisa's favorite pieces." Once the necklace is in place he moves his hand towards the necklace slowly and carefully so as to not set the woman into defense mode. He touches her chest around the hollow between her breasts and then he puts his finger behind the large emerald. He touches something and she hears a click and then he separates the emerald from the rest of the piece pulling out a small dagger. "For practicality not appearance obviously. The dagger is made of pyrite and is diamond edged so it can pass easily through any metal detector." Snow takes the dagger and admires the work. "Saved Lisa's life on 3 occasions and mine once that dagger, and it has only had to be replaced one of those times. I am sure she would appreciate it if you didn't lose it, but I think she would prefer you come back alive. So if you have to use it, use it how you see fit. The large emerald is fake so if you have to throw it don't hesitate to do so." He then shows her how to put it back in and where the release catch is.

The woman places some simple platinum bracelets on each wrist; they are just thin pieces of platinum with no jewels. She then follows up with alternating diamond and emerald dangling chain earrings. After the last piece of jewelry is in place she walks away from Snowbird before she grabs a set of green 3 inch heels from under the dress racks and fastens them on Snow's feet and then leaves herself. About 5 minutes later the hair woman leaves, Snow's hair is in an up-style with intentional ringlets falling on the right side of her face. the hair is held in place by metal chopsticks that look very sharp and could also very likely be used as a weapon, which was probably intentional.

"You look quite fetching." Phillip says.

"Oh please. As if you have eyes for anyone but Lisa." She teases good naturedly. "So how am I silencing the Target?" She asks her light tone from seconds before gone and it's straight to business. Phillip points to the ring.

"Inside the ring, underneath the emerald, is a peptide created by MI6 it is virtually undetectable and is tasteless when mixed in alcohol. Best part is that it is slow acting. Once administered it will take 4-6 hours to do its job and will leave a corpse that looks like it had a brain aneurism. You must make sure he ingests it all or it won't do its job. There is just slightly more than what is needed to kill a grown man of his height and weight, so try not to spill too much or leave too much in the ring. It is a liquid so no stirring required."

"If he isn't drinking?"

"Get him a drink, it tastes extremely acidic otherwise from what I understand and there is no way he won't know there is something wrong with the food or drink. Ricardo should approach you, you are his type after all so chat him up when he does and make sure you get it in his drink."

"Wait, if I'm his type should I be watching my drink as well?"

"Absolutely you should. I don't think he would be stupid enough to kill a Baroness but he may still try and drug you to date rape you.

"Wonderful, death or rape. This guy truly is a prince among men. Oh, a picture of him would help me identify my mark when I get there."

"Of course, don't know where my head is at this evening. " He pulls his phone back out and taps the screen a few times. "Don't know how spies got along without smartphones."

"Lots of dossiers in briefcases I assume." She says chuckling. "Some of the old school spies still use them I think it's cute."

"Here he is." He says showing her his phone. The picture shows a man in his mid to late 30's with dark black hair just beginning to gray around the temples.

"He's good looking."

"Serial killers usually are, makes it easier to get close to their victims."

"What is the timetable for leaving after I poison him?"

"Preferably, at least 30 minutes. don't want to look guilty and you need to look like you are fulfilling your party obligations. Be flexible though we also don't want to give him too much opportunity to drug you. So if you can get yourself out of there then do it. Ironically though if he does drug you, he has given us a way to help you." He grabs a green clutch style purse and starts putting items in it and holds up three pens a black, a blue and a red. "There is a shot of adrenaline in here in case you slip up. It's in the black pen and if you have to use it make sure you aim for your heart. The blue pen is your standard knockout dart. The red pen has a fast acting lethal poison dart. Hopefully you won't have to use any of them but they're there if you need it. The bracelet on your right wrist has a steel wire inside that can be used as a garrote.

"We obviously can't send you in with a piece and unfortunately we can only sneak in limited surveillance. There is a camera in the necklace but because your hair is up, which is normal for these events, we can't really send you in with an earpiece. We do have a cell phone for you that only we have the number for so if we call you, answer it."

"You got it." She said admiring the finished product in the mirror. She pulls the phone out of Phillip's hand and hits the button to light up the display. Seeing that the time is just after 9 she puts it back in the clutch and she follows Phillip out of the warehouse. She immediately notices that the Audi is no longer there and in its place is a silver Aston Martin Vanquish.

"So what do you think of your mode of transportation." He says smiling out of one side of his mouth. "We may not be able to send you into the party with many toys but the getaway vehicle is heavily modified. Nitrous booster, smoke screen, machine guns in the headlights, I believe there is even a rocket or two. The people who make these spy cars watch far too many Bond movies."

"You're telling me, I have a VW beetle that can do 180mph and has enough fire power to take on a tank." She laughs and heads towards the car.

"Ridiculous indeed but they have saved my life on more than one occasion so I digress. Keys are in the purse as is a wallet and passport and your invitation. You shouldn't need to spend any money but there is a credit card in the Baroness' name in there with a $10,000 limit as well." He extends his hand out and she shakes it twice before letting go.

"Thanks for the assist Phillip, tell Lisa I hope a swift recovery for her." She fishes in the purse and grabs the keys out.

"Will do, but I will see you when you get back from the party to take you back to the hotel. You can't exactly roll up to your other cover in £250,000 in jewelry and a car worth a couple of houses Good luck out there Snow." He says and then heads back into the building.

Snow disables the car alarm and the door unlocks once the keys are near the door. She sits in the driver seat and makes sure her dress is completely in the car before closing it behind her. The doors lock and the car says "Security system has been activated please identify yourself."

"Well this is new." She muses out loud. "Snowbird foxtrot forty-seven golf eighty-eight." The car starts immediately after she gives her code. The phone immediately begins to ring. She quickly answers it. "Already?"

"Snowbird this is Base." A cool calm female voice comes through the phone. "We forgot to deactivate the security system which we will walk you through we don't really want the car to use knockout gas on the poor valet. At least we remembered to enter your code into the car or this mission would have been over before it started."

"I would facepalm at your oversight but I don't want to muss my makeup. How do you turn it off?" The woman swiftly walked her through the ridiculously complicated process to turn off the security. After 5 minutes she manually starts the car with the key and slowly pulls the car out of the spot. The GPS dings with the preprogrammed destination and she follows the route to the Japanese Embassy. The drive is quick in the extremely fast car and she pulls into the valet lane at around 9:20.

She exits the car when the valet opens the door leaving the keys in the ignition. She raises her nose in the air in what she hopes is indicative of British nobility and looks at the valet disdainfully. "Take good care of her, this car is worth more than you will make in your lifetime." She takes the valet ticket gingerly with two fingers like she doesn't want to touch the valet. She wonders if maybe she is laying it on a bit thick but doesn't pause long enough to give it much thought. She walks up the steps slowly making sure to catch as many eyes as she can and catch them she does.

Two Japanese men in Italian cut suits open the doors to the Embassy for her. She passes through a metal detector and the chopsticks set it off which they quickly let through after an eye check of her hair. They run her purse through an x-ray and then hand it back to her. In her opinion it was a rather pathetic security check and she comes to the conclusion that she could have sneaked a better weapon or two in. She moves into a more lavish hallway and there is a man waiting at a microphone. She walks over to the man and hands him her invitation to the party as well as a passport verifying her identity. She idly notes that the picture is an old one of her. Her Company employee photo to be exact and not one of Lisa. The man looks at the picture and then at the invitation before leaning into the microphone.

"Please welcome the Baroness Lisa Miller of Sussex, England."

**A/N 2: Nothing against Paraguay I just picked a random South American country. Also apologies to whoever is actually 73rd in line for the throne of England**


	4. Beautiful Strangers

**Chapter 4: Beautiful Strangers**

The ballroom is decorated in an opulent east meets west kind of fashion with about 100 people milling around in their formal wear. Brittany walks around the ballroom checking for points of egress looking for possible places for cover, and assessing possible weapons and threats. Standard protocol for a party with hostiles. She grabs a glass of champagne from a passing server planning to nurse it for most of the night or at least until she gets to chatting up Ricardo. Training said to be noticed but still forgettable and the best way to do it is look like you are enjoying the party. She walks over to the buffet and looks over the assembled food. She decides against eating at the party and decides to ingratiate herself with a few of the guests.

She makes two more laps of the room finding her target as well as his muscle amongst the crowd but she doesn't give him a second glance at least not yet. She walks up to a group of five standing near the dance floor and introduces herself as the Baroness. Larger groups are better than smaller because with a group of three you might be intruding on a conversation where with five or more it is likely just a mingling type conversation and it is usually easy enough to insert yourself. She meets a Senator Kelly Harris from Oregon, the Japanese Ambassador's very cute 19 year daughter Akita Miho, a C-list tv child actor from the 80's Jerry Supiran, a two star navy admiral Carl Lee, and a software millionaire by the name of Paul Pennington who Brittany thought was cute in his own nerdy way.

Akita Miho after introducing everyone said "As I was saying North Korea is a threat to the entire world, especially to my home country, but after the death of Kim Jong Il it is unlikely that Kim Jong Un will take an aggressive stance until he can solidify his power base. I think once he has a strong power base we may have to be vigilant in our defense." She says in with only a slight Japanese accent showing that she had likely lived the majority of her life in the States.

The Admiral says "True but Korea is a nuclear power that is ruled by a totalitarian dictator and as such they will always merit watching. They might not have long range missiles but a short range missile with a nuclear warhead is still a nuclear warhead. We watched the U.S.S.R. for 50 years for much the same reasons."

Brittany decided to chime in. "Yes, but like the former Soviet Union was they are in turmoil due to the death of their previous leader. A country in disarray is malleable and it would be in the world's best interest if we could hone the chaos into something more manageable like the west did with Russia. Setting aside Korea for the moment, personally I think that Iran's nuclear program is far more worrisome. North Korea has China as a nanny ready to spank them if they are insolent but Iran has no such threat. Yes we have a foothold in Iraq but it is a tentative foothold at best. Israel has several countries of people who loathe them between them not to mention Palestine who has the Iranian government in their back pocket. Pakistan is as likely to join with them as they are to try and stop them which leaves India who can't afford to agitate the centuries long feud with Pakistan. It is all a huge mess. Theocracy is never a wise way to run a country, it breeds zealots."

"What about Russia?" Miho says obviously glad there is someone at the party around her own age to speak to who also knows world politics.

Brittany purposefully laughs once at the comment but without humor. "Russia has many of its own problems some persist from the fall of the Soviet Union and others have sprung up since. While I am sure they would be hesitant at having such a dangerous threat at their door the cold war pretty solidly proved that outwardly attacking another nuclear power is pretty much out of the question. Once Iran has a nuclear bomb the country will be untouchable despite how much hatred there is lobbed at them from the west."

"My worry is that once they have a bomb what is to stop one of their zealots from just pushing a button and starting World War III. As you said Baroness there is no love lost between Israel and the rest of the middle east and you wouldn't need an ICBM to make it to Israel from Iran." The Senator says. Brittany notices that they seem to be losing Jerry and Paul and decides that it would be best if she could change the subject since they seem about ready to leave and being in a large group will make it much easier for her to be approached by Ambassador Ortiz since the rule of large groups still applies.

"A truly frightening hypothetical Senator Harris and one I am afraid we might have to face sooner rather than later. Especially with the States' somewhat unhealthy co-dependence with Israel. " She pauses letting her comment hang in the air before she looks around at the group speaking again. "I believe we have been unfair to two of the members of our little group though perhaps a subject change is in order. Given our geographic location how about cinema. I find the ins and outs of the 'biz' to be quite fascinating personally."

Miho seemed to be enjoying the previous conversation and was slightly put off by the subject change but not enough to walk away. As the group began discussing the directorial style of Kubrick versus Spielberg Brittany resolved to remain quiet for a bit. Miho seemed to be trying to catch Brittany's eye. Normally this would be her cue to take the pretty Asian girl aside chat her up and see how fast she could get her skirt up around her waist but this was not the time for such dalliances.

While they are politely arguing over whether Lucas is just a guy with great ideas and poor execution or the most overrated hack of our time she quickly inserts Clint Eastwood and they take off on another tangent. Miho by this time is edging her way over to her and Brittany is panicked because she can tell the girl is at the very least interested in having a private conversation with her, if not more and she can't allow herself to be taken off the floor. She is trying to come up with an exit strategy when she feels a gentle tap on her shoulder.

_ Oh thank fucking Joss_ she thinks to herself. "May I help you." She says politely. She turns around and quickly scans an extremely large man. She had already clocked him as the ambassador's muscle on her second lap when she walked in. He was a serious threat at 6'3" 240lbs of solid muscle. Worse than that was the way he moved. Most people when they are sides of beef like this guy are stiff and slow; they could still be extremely dangerous though since they could usually dish out and take a lot of punishment. She could tell by looking at this guy that he had martial arts training by the way he walked on the balls of his feet. He had managed to sneak up on her from behind an accomplishment for anyone let alone someone of his size.

She allows a little of her surprise to ebb through her facade because very few people would not be intimidated by the appearance of the enormous man. "My employer was wondering if you would do the honor of joining him for a drink."

With this many high powered people in the same room bodyguards are kind of a fact of life, but a good bodyguard is invisible until they need to be useful. The fact that someone sent their bodyguard to extend an invitation for a meeting at an event like this is, at best, pretentious at worst is downright threatening and for a normal person this might be a huge etiquette dilemma but this is exactly what she wants.

"Who would your employer be?" She asks making the annoyance in her voice plain to hear because of the breach in formality.

"Ambassador Ricardo Ortiz." He gestures with an open face up palm at the ambassador who she had also made on her initial scan of the room. The pictures of him really didn't do the man justice. He was handsome enough that getting a pretty girl to have a drink with him wouldn't even cause him any effort in fact she was pretty sure many of them probably approached him. Ortiz raised a champagne flute in her direction. She smiles coyly at the man before looking back at the bodyguard. She was on her guard so her fate would not be the same of so many others.

"I think one drink would be acceptable. One moment though I must make my excuses." She turns to the group of people she had so recently met and says happily. "My friends I must say it was a pleasure to meet you all but if will excuse me I will take my leave." They bid her farewell and she turns her back on the group since they had outlived their usefulness. She caught Miho pouting in her periphery but Miho's hurt feelings are the least of her worries at the moment.

She puts a smile on her face and walks slowly over towards the Ambassador making sure to saunter her hips on the way there. She consciously flips the little ringlets of hair out of her face hair purposely exploiting and drawing attention to the man's unhealthy blond fetish as she approaches his table.

"Baroness Lisa Miller," Brittany introduces herself, "a pleasure to meet you Ambassador Ortiz." She holds her hand out for him so he can either kiss or take it as he pleases. When she says her name and he hears her title his face falls for an instant, if it weren't for her observation training she would have easily missed it. She felt relieved almost immediately since she knew, at least for now, her life wasn't in imminent danger from the prick.

"A true pleasure Baroness." He kisses her hand and she lowers it back down to her side. "I was absolutely enchanted by your loveliness and I had to meet you." He says smoothly. His voice is heavily laced with his South American heritage but his English is flawless. The comment coming out of most men's mouths would sound utterly ridiculous and cheesy but he manages to make it sound enthralling and inviting. "Would you care to join me?"

She sits down in the chair next to him rather than across from him. "I think I could be persuaded." She says slyly after making herself comfortable.

"So what brings you to California?" He asks trying to break the ice.

"I'd rather not say." She says while smiling and looking away embarrassed.

"Oh come on." He replies amused by her attitude.

"Well I'm not saying I came for Disneyland and I am not not saying it either." He laughs pleasantly at her admission. "My Uncle set up the invite to the party. 'If you are going to fritter your family's valuable time away in the colonies you can at least make yourself useful for a single night.'" She changes her accent to be a little stiffer and a lot more pompous. "Nobility is not really my thing just an unfortunate side effect of my birth. There are those who choose this lifestyle like yourself and those who are forced into it kicking and screaming. I unfortunately am the latter of these. Of course there are advantages to this life, such as meeting beautiful men." The easiest lies were the ones that had a grain of truth in it, he certainly was beautiful. If she weren't unsure about her safety she would happily ride him sidesaddle like the English lady she was pretending to be.

"So you must have thought about it. What would you want your life to be if you weren't nobility?"

"You would think me silly." She says hesitantly but not shutting him down.

"I promise I won't laugh at you." He says smiling kindly. He is really good at this which just makes him more dangerous.

Brittany sighs deeply and obviously. "What is it about you? Five minutes and I am spilling all my secrets to a complete stranger." She pauses. "Oh very well. I would be a singer if I could. Maybe in some seedy bar in London or I don't know a Jazz club in New Orleans. Bartending or waitressing to make ends meet. I don't want to be a famous singer I am a noblewoman if I wanted a recording contract I could probably have one in a few months no I would want to have to struggle a little, maybe I could read palms during the day to make some extra money."

She subtly opens the emerald ring waiting for the expected question. She doesn't have to wait long.

"Palm reading?"

"Oh yes. My mother taught me when I was a small girl it was meant to be a joke but I picked up tarot and a couple other types of fortune telling. If you don't take it too seriously it really is quite fun." She quickly puts her hand out and grabs his glass of champagne and moves to put it on the table. As she pulls her hand back slowly she dumps the liquid into the glass and she covertly closes the ring. She takes his hand and pulls it towards her making sure she puts his hand against her stomach so he can feel her rock hard abs. He growls so low she almost doesn't hear it. She starts running her slender fingers over the lines in his palm.

"You have a short life line which if you believe this stuff means that you won't live to a ripe old age. Even if that is true I personally think it's how you live the life you have not how long it is. Live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse I say." She moves her fingers making sure to seductively touch his palm. "Your head line is longer than your heart line which means you are more of a thinker than a feeler. Your fate and fame lines are both very long which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what that fate is. Your marriage line is tied to your money line which says your wife will have at least a little money." She winks suggestively at this and he smiles in a predatory way that would normally make her shove her tongue down his throat but this is neither the place nor the time nor would it really be wise to engage in a physical act with such a dangerous threat. "That is an impressive sex line." She says while she returns the predatory look full force. She clears her throat before looking down at his palm again. Tracing another line on his hand she says, "I would guess by your spirit line that you are not a believer. This line represents luck and it is small but a man of your ambition makes his own luck."

She closes his fingers making sure they "accidently" brush the bottom of her breast before she gently slides his hand back to him.

"That was...a singular experience." He says his eyes darkened with lust.

"Did I manage to get _anything_ right?"

"The sex line." He says definitively and she genuinely laughs. A blush would have been more effective and she had met a few operatives that could make themselves blush on command but she could never make herself do it. The laugh worked almost as well showing that he had disarmed her. She reached for the champagne glass she had set down earlier hoping that he would grab for his as well. He didn't.

"Anyway that is what I would do if I had not been born into the Noble class. What about you? Is being an Ambassador full of the action and glamour shown in the movies?"

"Sure it is. If paperwork gets your heart pumping." He says almost bitterly. "Not to say there isn't any excitement in my job but it really is just paper pushing most of the time mixed with moments of abject terror rushing around and putting out fires. Though usually it is just media fallout." Brittany finished the glass of champagne she had been nursing and called the waiter over to grab another and then waved him off quickly but politely so that Ricardo couldn't grab a fresh glass and ignore the poisoned flute.

They spoke about inconsequential things for about 20 minutes before she grabs the purse that they had given her and she pulls out the phone and lights up the screen. She makes a fake grimace go across her beautiful features.

"I am afraid I must go Ricardo. My uncle prefers I just make an appearance at these things as I tend to not have a filter on my mouth especially when alcohol is involved and I tend to say things that embarrass the family." She pauses and thinks for a moment. "Like this little tirade for instance." She chuckles self deprecatingly. She pulls one of the pens and a small slip of paper out. She clicks the pen and hopes it is double purpose and almost sighs in relief when a pen tip comes out. "I had a wonderful time though and I am in town for a few weeks." She writes a fake phone number on the card and then hands it to him with two fingers. "Call me and we can get together. Please don't wait three days like people usually do. I am only here in town for a short stay and I would very much like to put aside some time for you."

Ricardo is trying to speak the whole time trying to interrupt her speech but has no real luck until the end. "I was hoping that maybe we could go back to my place tonight Lisa."

"Oh Ricardo, I have to follow certain rules when being courted by a person of your stature. I am tempted by your offer though and I have never been one to follow all the stupid court rules but I do have to drive back to Anaheim which is 40 minutes away and then be up at 8 in the morning to go to Disneyland with my friends. So not tonight but call me tomorrow night and we will make plans and see how many of those court rules we can break." She smiles darkly and his pupils dilate again.

"You never did have that drink with me you know." She looks at the forgotten stem. "One toast before I go?"

"Of course." He says while picking the glass up. "What shall we drink to."

"How about new friends and new beginnings."

"To chance encounters with beautiful strangers." He puts forward as an alternative. Her smile is somewhat wicked before they clink their glasses together lightly and she tosses back what was left in the glass and he does likewise.

She stands up getting ready to leave her mission accomplished and he stands with her kissing her cheek lightly.

"Well Lisa it was truly a..." His face begins to turn red and swell and he cuts off speaking as if he can't get enough air. He starts grasping at his throat and he sinks to his knees.

_Shit it's working too fast _Brittany thinks to herself. _I can't ignore this and not call for help but maybe I can buy a few seconds to let this happen before he gets medical attention._

"Are you okay Ricardo?" She asks slowly. "Are you choking?" She turns to the hall feigning panic. "Does anyone know the Heimlich I believe this man is choking!"

"Out of my way I'm a doctor." A short fat balding man pushes his way towards the Ambassador. The doctor gets very close to him looking him over carefully and immediately pulls out his cell phone. "This is Dr James Conners I need an ambulance at the Japanese Embassy 350 South Grand Avenue I have a man in severe anaphylactic shock and I don't have my bag with me I left it at home. Yes...yes...just make sure the ambulance you send has epinephrine on board. Yes I am pretty sure he can hang on for 2 minutes but I wouldn't press much longer than that.

"We should take him outside so the ambulance doesn't have to look for him it could mean the difference between life and death for this man." Two large men step forward one is the man's bodyguard and the other is a party guest and they easily pick up Ricardo by his shoulders and half walk half carry him out the front exit. Brittany follows the men pretending to look worried. She hears the sirens of the ambulance coming from the North which shows up about a minute later. The paramedics leap out of the doors of the ambulance and run to the rear doors. They throw them open wide and one of the two jumps in the back to grab an epinephrine pen. The guy in the back of the truck tosses it over to the EMT that is waiting on the ground. He catches the pen easily and then jogs over to the ambassador and pushes it in his rapidly swelling flesh. For a few moments nothing of any real significance happens but after about 15 seconds Brittany watches as the swelling stops and then starts to recede. His breathing evens out but he is unconscious probably from the lack of air. The paramedics pull out their gurney and with the help of the two men place Ortiz on it and gently strap him in.

The paramedics look at the doctor "We are going to take him to the E.R. for observation since he isn't conscious." The doctor simply nods.

"This man is an ambassador make sure he gets the best care possible." The doctor says under his breath to the Paramedic. "We don't need an international incident coming down on all of our heads."

"Do not let anything happen to this man." The bodyguard says to the paramedics with horrible menace painting his voice and without even waiting for a response walks away from the truck after the gurney is pushed in. They close the door and moments later the ambulance roars away, sirens blaring.

Brittany made sure she watched the ambulance disappear into the horizon with a worried look on her face before she turned to leave. She pulled a 20 out of her purse along with the valet ticket walking slowly over to the valet stand trying to look as tired and stunned as possible. Neither part was too difficult since she still hadn't completely got over her jet lag and her mission just went seriously askew. The valet pulls the Vanquish up a few minutes later and she hands the man the twenty dismissively and without a single word exchanged.

The second she is in the car the phone begins to ring. She quickly puts the phone into the hands free system built into the car and begins driving back to the staging point.

"The mission is FUBAR. Ortiz is on his way to the hospital from an allergic reaction to the poison."

"We are aware of the situation Snowbird we watched the whole operation and you did well. This was just an unfortunate hiccup. Don't worry, our people say the epinephrine has less than a two percent chance of doing anything to the poison now in his system and even if the doctors manage to detect the poison there is no way they will be able to create an anti-venom in time. He will be dead by morning." Brittany gave a relieved sigh. "If by some miracle he manages to survive we will set up another hit on him but your part is done.

"Head back to the warehouse change clothes and get back to your other cover. We will contact you in three weeks for reassignment regardless..."

"I have a tail." Brittany says calmly.

"Activate the car defenses. Push and hold the AC button in and rotate it 180 degrees." A keypad extends on the dash when Brittany follows the instructions. "Press 5, 3, 6, 8, 2, 2, 9." The inside of the car changes immediately after she hits the 9. A heads up display is projected on the windshield listing weapons and their ammunition counts. On the right side of the windshield is a rear camera display. The angle of the camera shifts. "Which vehicle?"

"The Black BMW has been 3 cars back and one to the left since I left the embassy. It is pretty sloppy tailing not varying their position. I mean seriously." The camera locks on the vehicle she mentioned.

"Be that as it may Snowbird, I think it is more important to deal with them rather than chide their abilities." The operator says shortly.

"Of course where is my head at." Brittany responds sarcastically. "Lose or eliminate?"

"We would prefer to not have any bodies on this op besides Ambassador Ortiz but if it's necessary do what you have to do. Good luck." She hears the phone click and smiles huge.

_Been a while since I've been in a car chase. _She steps on the accelerator and the monster of British engineering darts ahead quickly. She easily passes 80 miles an hour going almost twice the posted speed limit weaving expertly through traffic. Making sharp turns at nearly every available opportunity. The BMW follows as best it can but the car is neither as powerful nor is the driver as good as she is. Despite all of this she is still having difficulty losing them. She muses to herself that it has been way too long since she was in a car chase if she can't lose a BMW in a Vanquish. She would need to practice when she got back to Lima.

The fact that she couldn't lose them was just making it all the more fun though. She yanks on the handbrake while taking her foot off the accelerator and spinning the wheel hard. Her handbrake right turn is textbook and she is slamming on the gas to rocket off down the street before the BMW even notices the turn. She thought she had lost them twice but as soon as she slowed down they would round a corner and be on her again.

The car chase was losing its novelty very quickly and she was going to give it one more shot to lose them before she took them out of the chase a bit more violently. She slows down just enough to let the BMW catch up but not so much that she is making it obvious that she wants them closer. She pulls another hard turn into an alleyway and then presses a button about 5 feet in. She pulls to the end of the alley and then stops the vehicle before checking the rear camera display. The BMW follows her into the alley about 8 seconds later. She probably should have killed them but she didn't like killing unless it was necessary to the operation and this would get them off her back anyway. A second into the alley they hit the spike strip the Vanquish had dropped on its way in. They immediately screeched their tires until they rammed into a wall and Brittany heard a satisfying karunk noise of metal hitting brick. They probably survived but she wasn't stupid enough to find out. She pulled out of the alley slowly and drove a more circuitous route back to the warehouse than she would have liked.

When she gets back to the warehouse Phillip is waiting for her. She looked more than a little ashamed. "Phillip I think I blew Lisa's cover."

"What are you talking about Lisa is in London with her friends, in fact if I am not mistaken she is going out for a VERY public, very loud breakfast with several of her friends right now with her leg in a cast and all. You honestly think we didn't have a contingency plan? I'm actually insulted." He says smiling.

Brittany sighs in relief as she starts stripping off the expensive articles of jewelry and placing them back in the box.

"Lisa said you could keep the bracelet with the garrote wire by the way, she will just have another made." Phillip offered generously.

"Tell her I said thank you and that the next time I am in the UK we will, the three of us, do tea and biscuits or coffee and bagels or something." He laughs softly at her and she smiles disarmingly. "Do they mind if I keep the pens? This mission I am on doesn't really provide me with the fun stuff very often but they are still nice to have for emergencies."

"Those pens are a dime a dozen I doubt they will even notice they are missing."

"I doubt your doubt but I will take it anyway." Brittany replies easily. She opens the clutch and pulls out the pens leaving everything else and she puts the pens in her real purse. She takes about 10 minutes to remove her makeup and party dress and then put on her previous outfit. She starts crying so that she can explain the lack of makeup and in case Rachel is up it looks like the conversation with Santana went on for a while. Crying on command is something she has been able to do since she was a little girl. Between that and her genius IQ she got away with pretty much whatever she wanted her whole life.

After she converts herself from Lisa to Brittany completely, Phillip takes her back to the hotel. They don't talk much everything that needed to be said has been said and their kind aren't notorious for trusting each other even if they do like each other. While Brittany at least likes Phillip she can't read him well enough to get a solid gauge on the man though. She expects the same is true for him or at least she hopes. It is difficult to make friendly contacts in the spy game. Trusted contacts never happen but you can at least be courteous she thought.

She exits the car after a brief good bye and good luck and makes her way back up into the room opening the door as silently as a hotel door can be opened. Which is to say not very. Fortunately, though, Rachel is crashed out on her bed with the T.V. on at low volume the noise likely masking her entrance to the flickeringly lit room. Rachel is on the far side of the bed obviously hoping that Brittany would sleep in her bed because she untucked the sheets around the bed as an invitation to her. Brittany smiled and pulled out her sleep clothes changing in the room using the light of the TV to assist her. She set her purse on the nightstand open like she had the night before. She turned off the T.V. and very gently climbed into bed to not wake Rachel. She thought about spooning her but decided to just let her sleep. They could maybe cuddle in the morning or maybe more if she could elicit some sympathy for the whole Santana situation out of her. She puts her head on the pillow and slips into a blissful exhausted slumber.


	5. Clean Up

**Chapter 5: Clean up  
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Brittany stood in a gorgeous flowing white ball gown her bust line barely contained by the corset style top. The black and white checked floor she stood on spiraled around like a vertigo circle. She stretched her arms out wide and started spinning and her ball gown fans out around her. She spins faster and faster laughing freely, she throws her head back and closes her eyes. She is caught from behind and stopped forcefully by large dark hands. She can feel a man behind her but she can't see his face. Ricardo Ortiz in a low sultry voice says to her. "You killed me Baroness, the least you can do is honor me with one last dance." He takes her right hand with his left and spins her once before beginning a slow waltz. "It is my last dance ever, after all." He says as he dips her low his face only a hair's breadth from her own. He pulls her back up slowly entrancing her with his dark eyes. "As far as last dances go I can't really complain." He chuckles darkly and then he spins her away and when she comes back Santana catches her effortlessly in the waltz position. She looks stunning in her sheer black dress with a neckline that plunges all the way down to her navel. Brittany's eyes pull slowly down to the enticing cleavage before panning back up to make eye contact with the intoxicating dark chocolate eyes.

"You don't believe in my love for you, do you Brittany?" Santana says with tears rimming the edges of her beautiful almost black eyes.

"It's not that Santana." Brittany replies sadly.

"Then what is it? You don't love me then?" Santana sounds heartbroken and rejected and she lets go of Brittany

"No that isn't it either but when you see me, the real me, you won't love me and I just can't deal with that." Brittany says pleadingly.

"How do you even know if you aren't willing to say anything?" Santana leans into kiss Brittany crashing her lips against the blonde's. She starts with Brittany's top lip like she always does . She sucks on Brittany's lip before lowering down to the bottom one gently biting it and pulling it towards her hard. Brittany moans and pulls the girl to her, solidly forcing her tongue into the girls mouth. The kiss lasts an eternity and when she pulls back from the kiss Rachel is looking up from the embrace and not Santana. Her lighter brown eyes are just as piercing and she is wearing the same dress looking every bit as sexy even if she doesn't fill it out quite as well as Santana did.

"Do you care for me at all or am I just a place holder for her?" Rachel asks sounding like she was already shattered.

"Rach, I don't..." Her sentence is interrupted by a door opening slowly on the middle of the dance floor.

Brittany's eyes pop open as the door is pushed away from the jam slowly. It's too late for a room check it's also not Shue's style he trusts them all, even Puck. Go figure. She closes her left eye and mostly closes her right. A large man steps into the room and Brittany instantly recognizes him as the bodyguard who approached her at the party and was very likely the one she got into the car chase with earlier in the evening. He sticks something in the door to jam it open so they can use the light from the hallway.

_How the hell did he find me? Priorities girl deal with the situation first. Fuck, I should have slept in my own bed so I could have had my gun under my pillow._ The second he is in the room he pulls out a silenced Beretta 9mm. _Think fast. Situation: Armed assailant with murderous intent. Make that two armed assailants. Fuck. _A second man steps in and while he is not nearly as physically imposing as the walking side of beef it doesn't take a whole lot of strength to pull a trigger on a gun. She breathes slowly trying to give off the impression that she is still asleep but her heart is pounding. The other man pulls out an identical weapon and the bigger guy points at him with two fingers and then points at the far wall indicating Rachel's side of the bed and then he points at himself and points directly at Brittany.

Brittany almost sighs in relief. The big guy is a trained killer and that has probably saved her life. An amateur would just take an Uzi to the bed. Effective but loud, messy, and despite the destruction not always a guarantee. A hit man though gets in close to make sure they are dead. Two clean shots to the head and you know they're dead. The big guy holds up three fingers indicating a three count. He moves like a jungle cat deadly and quiet closer and closer. The other guy not so much with the quiet but at least he didn't trip over anything. The little guy is moving towards Rachel and instantly Brittany's protectiveness of the girl is up. They move silently into position. He is inches from the bed and easily in range but Brittany needs to make this count, she only has one chance to get this right.

He levels the gun at Brittany and catches the other man's eye. He holds up his index finger on his right hand. _He only has_ _one hand on the gun, this is my moment._

Brittany explodes up from the bed in a tornado of bed covers her legs wrapping the sheets around the gun and pointing it away from her and Rachel. She locks her legs around his arm and, using her thighs, pulls it in a way it isn't supposed to move. This modified arm bar elicits a cry of pain from the big man causing him to drop his gun. Her actions against his partner seems to have stunned the less professional man who stands there with an idiotic look on his face. All he seems able to do is stand there jaw dropped, gaping at the scene before him. This all takes Brittany less than three seconds and she barely even disturbs Rachel other than pulling the covers off of her. The only sound other than the man's cry of pain is Brittany's heavy breathing.

Her hand thrusts into her purse as quick as a viper strike. She contemplated using the pens but there was a one in three chance she would grab the one that was ineffective so she goes straight for the gun. The gun is out quickly because she has practiced this maneuver countless times. She points the weapon at the man hanging stupidly over Rachel. The man's eyes are as big as saucers as Brittany pulls the trigger. Once. Twice. Three times. All three bullets cluster closely in the man's chest in the dead center of his heart. The light leaves his eyes and he is dead before he hits the floor.

It is a common misconception mostly perpetuated by the movies that silenced weapons are practically silent. It is true that they are much, much quieter but they still sound like guns and Rachel starts awake at the sound looking around at what is going on completely taken aback by the situation. She looks like she is in shock at the sight of the corpse slumped against the back wall and Brittany holding the literally smoking gun with another guy seemingly at her mercy.

Brittany swings the gun towards the big guy but before she can get a bead on him she feels a fist the size of a sledgehammer hit her directly in the sternum. The punch knocks her back into the headboard forcefully and she loses grip on her gun which falls to the floor in between the nightstand and the bed. His trapped hand moves under the sheets and in-between her legs. His free hand moves to her shoulder and he picks her up like a rag doll body slamming her onto the floor. If the wind wasn't knocked out of her before it is now. She desperately tries to suck air into her lungs as the man reaches down for her. If she was up on her feet with air in her lungs she would have a chance against him. Her hand to hand was top of her class during training and she quickly mastered 5 martial arts mostly due to her dance abilities already providing the ability to quickly memorize and incorporate complex movements and routines not to mention the flexibility required for it. She was prone though and this man was obviously trained quite well. Not to mention the fact that he also outweighed her by a significant amount.

This fight doesn't look good for her but she is a survivor, all she needs is a single opening. She kicks for his shin while coughing but there is no strength behind the attack and he just lets the blow glance off of him.

"It's fine that you killed Lucas here by the way, I never really liked him very much. I also prefer killing with my bare hands, it's much more personal. It's a shame I can't have my way with you before you die but something tells me I would be dead if I tried. Your friend on the other hand, the frightened mouse, looks like I can make her squeal like a pig before I gut her." He kicks for her ribs but not very hard. She curls up into a ball to protect herself from the kick but while she is protected he takes the opportunity to straddle her. He easily pushes her onto her back and she flings out an elbow at his face. He pulls his head out of range with almost no effort and chuckles at her darkly.

His fingers wrap around her throat and panic sets in. She claws for his face but he is too tall and she can't reach his face. Her legs are pinned beneath his own and all she can do to protect herself is impotently prying at his strong fingers.

"I'm sorry were you trying to say something? Cuz all I heard is clkahrahgcl." He teases heartlessly as he crushes her throat. Brittany grasps at nothing as her sight begins to dim. The precious air is all around her, but it eludes her reach and her eyes begin to close. She hears the unmistakable sound of silenced gunfire and the pressure on her neck is gone instantly. She coughs and inhales deeply sucking the glorious air in greedily.

"You shot me in the arm you fucking cunt. I am going to kill you slowly bitch. Cut up that pretty face and rape you until your nothing but a husk before I finally cut your fucking heart out." He stands up obviously thinking Brittany is out of the fight for good.

"You stay back or I will fire again." Rachel says her voice shaking horribly along with her hands. She is pointing the corpse's 9mm at Brittany's attacker and her hands are shaking so much that it is a miracle the first bullet hit him at all. The bodyguard grabs Brittany's purse with his good arm and flings it at Rachel. She throws her hands up in protection and loses her aim at the man. He bends down to grab Brittany's fallen gun but as he is standing up he feels something wrap around his throat.

Brittany pulls on the small toggle attached conveniently to the garrote wire in Lisa's gift pulling it taut. She feels the wire sink into the man's flesh and blood starts coming out at the edges. He drops the gun and pulls at his throat uselessly, his lifeblood already seeping out of his skin.

"Just fucking die already you bastard." Brittany manages to barely croak out through her semi crushed larynx. She pulls harder and obviously digs into his carotid artery because the blood begins to gush down his shirt and he coughs blood twice before going slack in her hold. She carefully pulls the wire out of his neck and lets his slack body fall uselessly to the ground. She cleans the steel wire on the back of the guys shirt and lets the spring pull it back inside the platinum bracelet.

"I shot someone." Rachel says in an emotionally cold way.

"Whoa Rachel." She says moving towards the girl her voice still hoarse. "You did what you had to do it was them or us."

"You stay where you are Brittany." Rachel pointed the gun at Brittany obviously frightened at the situation. "You killed two people in front of me like it was nothing. Who are you?"

Brittany holds her hands up and even goes so far as to take off the bracelet. "Rachel you are going into shock. I am not going to hurt you in any way."

"How do I know that?" She screamed. "I can see that guys spine." The reality seemed to hit her at that and her left hand covers her mouth and she runs for the bathroom. Brittany follows slowly behind her and she moves in when she is watching her wretch. She goes down to her knees slowly and gently pulls back Rachel's hair she flinches from Brittany but doesn't pull away. She touches her face softly as Rachel's intestinal pyrotechnics color the porcelain bowl. Rachel doesn't want to but she leans into the touch.

"I have no intention of hurting you Rachel. I risked my own life, in fact, to save yours. If I had popped the guy I was holding instead of the one over you I could have killed them both easily but the cost could have been your life. I kind of want to keep you around." She says and kisses her gently on the cheek.

Rachel pulls back from the toilet and sits on the floor looking up at Brittany who lets go of Rachel's hair to stand up. She walks over to the hotel towels and grabs a wash cloth which she dampens in the sink and goes back over to Rachel. She kneels down and starts cleaning Rachel's face off of vomit and a little bit of blood spray from the man Brittany shot. "Now here is what is going to happen. I am going to make a phone call and take care of this mess and then we are going to go back to sleep. Then in the morning if you have questions I will answer what I can."

She stands up and walks into the room heading to her spilled out purse collecting the items and puts them back in taking care with the pens to not set them off. She picks up her phone and dials one of the numbers she had to memorize before leaving for the operation earlier in the evening. The phone rings once before it is answered by an Asian woman with a thick Korean accent.

"Tae's Pickup Laundry. How can I help you?" Brittany responds with her codename and authorization code.

"What can I help you with today ma'am?" She says the accent gone.

"I have two bags of laundry for pick up. They are also a little stained so I need some stain removal service as well." She says to the woman the code phrases calling for body removal and repairs to the room. "I may also have a garment bag that may need dry cleaning."

After a few moments and some keyboard clicking the woman comes back on. "I'm sorry ma'am but dry cleaning is not authorized for this account if the garment bag comes along it will be cleaned by normal cleaning procedures."

_Shit that sucks. _She thinks to herself. Brittany asked for protective custody for Rachel if she can't handle what just happened but she was denied. If she hands Rachel over to the cleaners they will kill her and Brittany has kind of grown attached to the occasionally annoying brunette.

"Cancel that then, I will make other arrangements for the garment bag."

"Be aware if the bag is too soiled we will take it for cleaning anyway." The woman says off-handedly.

Brittany swallows thickly in nervousness at the general coldness of cleaners. "Understood."

"What is your pickup location."

"Charlie's home." Brittany responds.

"Stain removal will be dispatched based on your location. We will be there as soon as possible."

"Thank you." Brittany says and then hangs up the phone. She puts her palms on her temples and takes a deep breath. She counts slowly to three and lets the breath out. "Damage control." She says firmly to herself. She looks at the bodies and then at the bathroom. She looks back at the bodies before heading towards the more urgent situation.

Rachel is sitting in the same place and same position as when she left to make her phone call.

"Rachel?" No response. She snaps her fingers in front of Rachel's face. "Rachel I need you to focus on me can you do that for a minute?" She sees Rachel's glossed eyes focus loosely on Brittany's. "Have you ever seen La Femme Nikita, The Point of No Return, or The Boondock Saints?"

"You killed two people tonight and you are talking to me about movies?"

"Firstly, I killed three people tonight that's why these two showed up in the first place, secondly it's rude to answer a question with a question so if you could answer mine we can progress through this situation more quickly."

"My Daddy loves action movies and my Dad loves foreign movies, I have seen them all." Rachel answers obviously annoyed at the question in this situation.

"Good, then you are familiar with the concept of a Cleaner yes." Rachel nods in confirmation. "Well we have a whole team of them coming here in the next hour." Rachel if possible pales even more. "Good that's the correct reaction. I need you to at least pretend to keep it together for the next few hours or..." Brittany trails off.

"Or they will go Harvey Keitel on me." Rachel says smiling darkly.

"Actually yes. I tried to get you protective custody but they said no and that you can't be compromised or they will clean you as well."

"Protective custody?" She says somewhat outraged. "You would do that to me? What about Nationals? NYADA? Broadway?"

"No offense Rachel, but you are not known for your ability to keep a secret and I need you to not say word one about what happened tonight. To anybody ever." She says the last sentence slowly and Rachel flinches back from her voice with fear on her face. Brittany rolls her eyes. "I already told you I'm not going to hurt you and I meant it Rachel. However there are other wheels in motion right now in Lima and they are more important than one girl's dreams." Rachel bows her head at Brittany's statement. "I'm sorry but it's true and if you break my cover I won't do anything but I can't speak for my bosses. They probably won't kill you but you might win a trip to Guantanamo for a few years."

"Who are you?" Rachel asks again. "You are so much more assertive, intelligent, even your diction is different."

Brittany sighs and closes her eyes. "CIA." She opens her eyes and sees shock written all over Rachel's face.

"CIA how is that even..." Brittany cuts her off with a quick hand in the air.

"Tomorrow Rachel. I promise. The plan for tonight is to keep you alive and make sure no one else is going to pay us a visit. So here is what I need from you, I need you to dig into your acting ability and give me your best show face. I need you ice cold on the outside no matter how freaked out you are on the inside. Okay?"

It only takes Rachel one deep breath to give Brittany exactly what she asked for. Brittany can't help but admire how quickly she takes a character. "Okay." Rachel says, her voice even and controlled.

Brittany smiles brightly at Rachel's change. "Excellent. You should really compose yourself and put some clothes on. Do you want me to get your suitcase from the room or can you go out there?"

Rachel sets her jaw and finally stands from the floor of the bathroom. She walks determinately into the hotel room and does her level best to ignore both bodies. Brittany follows in her wake. She walks over to her suitcase and opens it quickly. She pulls out a pair of sweat pants and pulls them on without leaving the room. Normally this would be Brittany's opportunity to leer but she is not feeling extremely amorous at the moment so instead she throws some sweats of her own on. She throws her blood stained clothes on the bed they were sharing earlier. She notices some blood on Rachel's nightgown as well so she turns to her.

"Throw your nightgown on the bed and the cleaners will take it with them. We can't leave any evidence of them being here. Sorry for the loss of the nightgown it's really quite pretty." Brittany says sadly but Rachel in character just ignores it.

"Okay. Would you mind turning your back so I can change?" Brittany turns away a little distraught at this development since she was fairly certain that in the morning she probably would have been seeing her naked if not for the two bodies laying on the floor. "You can look now."

"I am going to go over to the bodies and search them so try not to get freaked out ok." She walks over to the garroted man since he is closer and starts rifling through his pockets. She pulls his iPhone out and tries to unlock it but finds it password protected so she just pulls his battery out to turn off the GPS. She throws the battery and phone on the bed along with the bloodied clothes and resumes her search. The car keys she pulls out belong to a BMW so her guess about the car chase earlier was correct. The only other thing she finds is his wallet and she pockets the four hundred in cash in his wallet earning herself a disapproving glare from Rachel. "What? He doesn't need it anymore. Money is a spy's friend."

"So you ARE a spy."

"Tomorrow Rachel."

"It's two in the morning it is tomorrow Brittany. God if that's even your real name."

"It isn't." Brittany responds quietly. "I meant after the cleaners leave and we get a good night's sleep." She stands and walks over to the other body but her phone rings before she can begin her search.

"Hello."

"Agent Snowbird this is a secure line. My code name is Mr. Clean. No I didn't pick it." A man deadpans on the other end of the phone. "The cleaning team is outside location Charlie but there are locals in position so we are on hold but the delay shouldn't be extreme."

"What is the problem?"

"Homicide of a Hotel Security guard."

"That is probably how they found my room. ETA?"

"We are going to come up the back way doing our best to avoid the police so about 20 minutes or so, hopefully less. I just wanted you to know we are a little behind schedule."

"Try not to kill any cops." She says in a joking manner.

"No promises." The man says without mirth in response and the phone clicks.

"Fucking hate cleaners, no sense of humor at all." She muses out loud to herself. "They will be here in a few minutes Rachel." She bends down to search the second one and immediately pulls out a large and clunky electronic device. "And that is how they found the hotel...and probably why I couldn't lose them during the chase earlier." She finishes more to herself than Rachel.

"What is it?"

"It's a portable Spy Satellite communication device. Helps you track pretty much anything you want to find with a few button pushes. Tracking an Aston Martin isn't super difficult I would imagine."

"Aston Martin?" She says incredulously.

"Part of last night's operation and cover. I poisoned the Ambassador to Paraguay that big one was his bodyguard I assume the little one here is a tech guy who helped him find me. He seemed a little amateurish to me."

She disabled the device and then the man's cell phone immediately after. She checked his wallet noting his name like she did the big guy but this guy didn't have any cash on him so she put it back. She tossed each item on the bed as she was done with it to add to the growing pile of things that needed to be disposed of. As she stands back up she hears two short knocks a pause and then a single knock after that about two seconds later. She grabs her gun from the floor and head over to the door to look out the peephole. She looks at what looks like 3 women in maids outfits with a rather large housekeeping cart.

"Clever." she calls out her primary contact phrase that the woman in the bathroom gave her the day before through the door. When they answer with the correct phrase she opens the door. All three women push into the room forcefully and draw weapons. Brittany throws her gun on her bed and holds her hands up nodding for Rachel to do the same. They come in without saying a word and clear the room and bathroom.

One of the women starts pulling items off the cart while another starts assessing the room. The third one takes a large piece of black plastic wrap and lays it on the ground next to the man, and then repeats the process near the smaller one. A second knock comes to the door and one of the women goes to open it and two large men come in. "Get to the bodies boys." One of the maids says to the two guys. They move to the ambassador's bodyguard and pick him up by the shoulders and feet and set him on top of the plastic. They then pull 10 pound hammers out of the cart and move back towards the coprse. They bend over and bring the hammers down to his knee caps breaking them rather effectively. Rachel squeaks but when they look at her resolve is back on her face. They bend his legs in a way that isn't natural and set to work on other joints. Once he resembles little more than a deformed pillow they then start wrapping him up carefully in the plastic wrap. By the time they are done he is no larger than a bag of trash albeit a 250 lb one. They place his body in the cart and move to the second body and repeat the process, it is one they are obviously intimately familiar with.

Once the bodies have been removed the women get to the real cleaning work. They pull all the linens from both beds just in case checking the mattresses for blood and while there is a little spotting it isn't anything that can't be explained away as just normal hotel mattress. They are careful with the linens as they still have the electronics in them and they want to get it to their hacking team to help identify if there are any other complications with the mission. They change the linens with identical ones that they had already stolen on their way up to the room.. They remove and replace the curtains and then all 5 of them start on the process of cutting out and replacing pieces of the carpet which they apparently brought with them as well.

It only takes them about 15 minutes to remove and replace the affected portions of carpet and then lastly they pull out a few bottles of bleach and water in spray bottles and then start cleaning the walls, the table, the headboards, night stands, and bed frame. Within 45 minutes of them walking in the door the room looks newer than when Brittany and Rachel first arrived. They spoke to each other only rarely and the only thing they said to the girls before leaving was a quiet "Agent" from each of them.

When the door closes Rachel waits a 30 count before rounding on Brittany. "Okay Brittany, or whatever your name is, I want answers and I want them now."

"I told you Rachel in the morning. It's been a long fucking day and I would like to get at least a few hours of sleep."

"YOU THINK I CAN FUCKING SLEEP RIGHT NOW!" She yells out her face turning red. Brittany walks over to her purse and starts digging through it. "I HAVE BEEN ALMOST KILLED, I SHOT SOMEONE AND THEN I WATCHED 5 PEOPLE MAKE IT LOOK LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED." She makes a grunting sound and looks down at her sternum. "Whaz that." She says her speech slurring already.

"A knockout dart. Should make you sleep for about 4 hours." Brittany says while holding the blue pen in her hand. "Don't worry you won't even wake up with a headache." She walks over to Rachel who is starting to slump and then picks her up effortlessly setting her on the bed. She lays on the bed next to her wrapping her arms around the smaller girl.

"You drug me you bish."

"Yeah yeah sleep now yell at me later." She says and kisses Rachel's cheek which is the last thing she feels before slipping into unconsciousness Brittany adjusts them so Rachel is sleeping on her chest and closes her own eyes falling asleep in minutes.


	6. TMI Brittany

**Chapter 6: TMI Brittany**

"WAKE UP." Brittany groans as she is shaken awake rather vigorously.

"Fuck. I've killed people for less than this you know." Small hands come off of Brittany's shoulders as if they are burned. Brittany chuckles. "I'm kidding Rachel, it's just annoying."

"WELL EXCUSE ME FOR NOT THINKING JOKES ABOUT KILLING PEOPLE ARE FUNNY RIGHT NOW."

"I guess it was just too much to ask for, for you to think it was all just a dream?" Brittany says tiredly.

"You think? I don't sleep in my sweats whatever your name is. I can't believe you drugged me. I can't believe I was thinking about having intercourse with you last night." Brittany perked up at Rachel's admission despite the anger seeping off Rachel in waves.

"You were?" Brittany asks a little shocked. "I honestly thought it was going to take me a bit more work to get you into bed. No offense Rachel."

"That's all I was," Rachel scoffs, "just another conquest for you wasn't I? Another notch on your belt? Well AGENT?" Her voice dripping with disdain.

"If we are being honest?" Brittany asks carefully.

"It would be a nice change." Rachel responds scathingly.

"Yes and no." Brittany closes her eyes so that she doesn't have to look at Rachel's face when she says this. "I do like you Rachel, a lot. I also really like Santana and Artie, but none of you know who I am at all. My job requires me to be a liar and no one suffers for that more than I do. So while being with you would have meant something to me, just like it did with them, ultimately it would have ended up exactly like it did with them, with both of us getting hurt." Brittany opens her eyes and lifts her head to look Rachel in the eye and she watches Rachel's face fall.

"You like me?" Rachel asks self deprecatingly. "You know what? Don't answer that, it isn't relevant to the current situation." Her jaw is set the same way it was the night before when the cleaners showed up and Brittany can tell what is coming next. "Last night you said you were CIA." Brittany nods once. "I thought CIA couldn't operate in the US?" Brittany smiles and raises her eyebrow. "I watch a lot of movies and TV since I don't have a lot of friends." Brittany's smile falters when Rachel confesses this to her.

"Officially, yes you are right, the CIA can't operate in US territory, but there are black ops groups that do things unofficially all the time. I'm a member of one of those groups. Currently though I'm on loan to Homeland Security for a long term deep undercover operation. If we are going to talk about my mission can I at least sit up. Besides you're kinda turning me on leaning over me like that with your hair hanging down in my face." Rachel pulls her hair on one side back behind her ear and the revealing of Rachel's neck was not helping Brittany's lust to die down.

"Oh yeah sorry." Rachel moves away from Brittany who grabs her pillow and sets it against the headboard propping herself up and leaning her tailbone into it as soon as it's in position. Rachel does the same thing and sits on the bed next to her. "Homeland Security?"

"I really don't think I should be telling you this you aren't exactly known for being able to keep a secret Rachel. Again no offense intended. Besides this is classified National Security stuff, which makes it treason for me to tell you any of this including what I have already told you."

"Yeah well no one's life has ever been in danger if I told someone's secrets. Something tells me that if I told someone, someone would end up dead. You, me , someone and if keeping secrets means no one dying I swear to you I will lock my large mouth closed." Rachel makes a locking motion over her mouth and then she smiles at Brittany for the first time since yesterday afternoon. There isn't a ton of mirth in it but Brittany thinks that it's at least a start. "So...Homeland Security?" She waits for Brittany to talk but Brittany keeps her mouth shut. "Please. I need to know why I had to shoot someone last night. I need to know why you showed up in my life."

"Those are two very different questions Rachel." Rachel looks at Brittany with puppy dog eyes for a solid minute before Brittany shakes her head smiling. "Fine, but remember you kill me if you tell anyone. The first question is easy I was contracted to kill a very bad man last night by way of poisoned flute. Unfortunately, the guy ended up being allergic to the toxin, so it kind of spoiled my cover. Those thugs were none too happy I killed their boss and came to settle the score. I just settled it a little better than they did; with a little help from my friend anyway." Brittany smiles gently at Rachel. "Thanks for that by the way if you hadn't done what you did I would be dead."

"You're welcome Agent." She says to Brittany but without any malice in her voice this time but there wasn't a smile in it either. "So, how did you end up being stationed in Lima. It isn't exactly a den of criminal activity." Rachel asks with a raised eyebrow.

"You might be surprised, I was actually placed in Lima to locate, infiltrate, and turn a smuggling ring."

"Smuggling? Isn't that someone else's responsibility not the CIA's or even Homeland Security for that matter. Unless they are smuggling nukes," she pauses at her joke before her eyes shoot wide. "They aren't smuggling nukes are they?" She asks terrified.

Brittany can't help but laugh loudly and genuinely. "No Rachel no nukes. Well at least none that I know of but I guess it could lead that way if I fail. This operation crosses a lot of jurisdictions actually HLS, FBI, Coast Guard, FAA, INS and CIA. Probably others too but I can't think of them right now. They are smuggling illegal immigrants."

"That is a lot of people involved for some illegal aliens." Rachel says surprised.

"Normally, yes you'd be right, but we traced the ring to organized crime out of Chicago but the really big deal is that thirteen terrorists have confessed to getting in this country with this ring."

"Terrorists?" A wide eyed Rachel intones quietly.

"Yes they were apprehended planning something, I don't know what not my department. They were taken to GITMO and water boarded and otherwise forcefully interrogated until they told us about the Lima smuggling ring using the Lake Erie Port to get illegals into the US from Canada. I was sent to turn it to our advantage."

"But why try to turn it, wouldn't it be easier to just shut it down?" Rachel asks curiously.

"Oh absolutely it would, but then we wouldn't know where the terrorists were getting into the country. This way we can funnel them right into Guantanamo Bay."

"I think I am on board with that but what I don't get is how you posing as a cheerleader gets you into a smuggling ring so that you can convert it?"

"That my dear is the sixty four thousand dollar question. We've known for a while that the ring is based out of Lima but about four years ago a steady stream of encrypted emails started coming out of WMHS. That is why they sent me. I was 17 at the time and could pass for 14 so they sent me in as a freshman. My credentials could have easily gotten me a teaching position but I still looked young for my age so a cheerleader I became."

Rachel mulls this information around in her head for a few seconds. "Wait so you're 21?"

"Yes I am."

Rachel pauses again for a few seconds before continuing. "Huh? So who is it? Who is sending the encrypted emails?" Rachel says actually excited practically bouncing on the bed.

"I don't know exactly. I have narrowed down the list of suspects to seven but I don't know which of the seven it is."

"Who are they?" Her eyes are almost manic with exhilaration.

"The list is going to shock you a little Rachel."

"I can't not know now."

"Okay. My main suspects are:" She pauses before each name for the appropriate level of suspense. She assumed Rachel would appreciate the drama. "Mr. Shue; Mercedes; Tina; Kurt; Artie; Finn and well, you."

"WHAT? ME?"

"Yes." The incredulous look on Rachel's face makes Brittany elaborate. "The emails sent out from the high school are heavily encrypted using different computers and dummy logons every single time. It was driving me insane all throughout freshman year. Just once though they made a mistake and used the Glee logon on a library computer in the middle of the day. Probably doing some normal work and forgot to log it back off before sending the email."

"There has been like sixteen members over the last three years including several people who aren't even in the group anymore like Matt, Jesse and Lauren. How did you eliminate everyone else?"

"The email was sent in between the time Shue took over the club and the Cheerios joined so it could have only come from one of the six original members of the glee club or the faculty advisor. Whose idea do you think it was for Quinn, San and I to join New Directions in the first place? I needed to get closer to the people in it."

"I thought it was Quinn's because she thought I was going to steal Finn from her?" Rachel asked shocked at the revelation.

"Oh it _was_ her idea, right after stupid ol' Brittany said 'It's a shame we can't join glee club so you can watch him better.' It is surprisingly easy to manipulate people when they think you're an idiot."

"Oh god I have so many more questions." Rachel runs her hands across her cheeks and through her hair. "Why did you decide to play dumb?" She says looking back at Brittany.

Brittany chuckles. "It was an accident actually. I got caught staring a few too many times to just shrug it off so I said, what I have dubbed, a Brittanyism and all I got was a weird look and everyone just thought I was dumb. It made staring at people so much easier. Also people are surprisingly honest with you when they think you are simple and as I said it makes manipulation much easier. Really odd for a someone with an IQ of 192 to be acting the fool but it's been extremely successful so far."

"192?" Rachel asks shocked.

"Yes. CIA recruits operatives from colleges not high schools Rachel. How do you think I was free to go undercover at 17 if I hadn't already graduated high school?"

"How old were you when you graduated high school and were recruited by the CIA?" Rachel asks dumbfounded.

"Again Rachel those are two totally different questions. I graduated high school at nine years old, Doogie Howser style, and I was recruited from...well let's just say an Ivy League School, while I was 15 and had just started working on my second PHD."

"Second PHD? As in more than one?" Brittany nods.

"Two actually. I would probably have or at least be well on my way to a third by now but I have been in Lima for the last four years." Rachel's jaw drops at Brittany's education.

"So Dr. Agent What's Your Name what the heck should I call you?" Rachel says and Brittany laughs lightly.

"How about Brittany." She says and Rachel rolls her eyes.

"It isn't your name though, I want to know what to call you." Rachel pleads.

"No." She says firmly but not rudely. "I am telling you a lot of things right now that I shouldn't tell you, but I am drawing the line at my name. Not even my handler knows my real name."

"What does that person call you?"

"Jesus Christ Rachel you are like a dog with a fucking bone." Brittany says and Rachel starts pouting. "Fine he calls me Snow which is short for Snowbird my codename. Please don't call me that in front of anyone we know, Brittany is just fine. Really Rachel I have been called Brittany for four years, almost a fifth of my life, it's as much my name as my real one. Okay?"

"Okay. Snowbird, that's really pretty, it suits you. Can I call you Snow in private?"

Brittany rolls her eyes and sighs lightly. "I suppose. Just please don't slip up in public Rachel."

"I promise Snow." She said with a smile on her face and she manages to move a half an inch closer to Brittany without her noticing.

"I really only have one question left I guess. Why are you telling me all this you did say I was a suspect after all."

"You are still a suspect but just because I don't know which of you seven it is doesn't mean I haven't done any work at all." Brittany explains. "Before I even did anything substantial I almost immediately eliminated Mr. Shue and Finn."

"How?"

"They don't have any money. The Hudsons were dirt poor and struggling to make ends meet living paycheck to paycheck, besides Finn is way too dumb to be able to pull off the security that these emails have." At the scandalized look Rachel gives Brittany she throws her hands up. "I'm not saying he isn't a nice guy, when it's in his best interest anyway," she says under her breath, "just that I have caught him copying off of me a couple of times in class. Doesn't exactly scream brilliant knowing how stupid I am pretending to be. I actually took a spanish quiz once where I put a picture of a sombrero as every answer. I even spelled my name wrong." She said smiling wide.

Rachel crosses her arms over her chest in a haughty way and purses her lips. "Why would you do that?"

"What do I care about Brittany's education." Brittany says. "I already speak Spanish better than even Santana along with a dozen other languages. My first PHD was in Linguistics."

"How about Mr. S? How did you count him out." She says dropping the Finn subject and the fact that she doesn't care about Brittany's future despite the fact that both subjects seem to annoy her

"Pretty much the same reason I eliminated the Hudsons. I would think if he were bringing in the kind of money organized crime does he could afford to at the very least fix his damn muffler if not buy a nicer car than that P.O.S. Of course if he laid off buying the sweater vests for a bit he could probably fix his muffler as well." That got a smile out of Rachel. "I think San was right about him needing a twelve step program for his addiction." That got a full-fledged laugh out of the small girl.

"What about the other 5 of us?" Rachel asked inching closer to Brittany again. Brittany noticed this time and wasn't sure if it was intentional or subconscious but wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Well the rest of you are all upper middle class families with intelligent children. It could have and could still be any of you. So late Sophomore year I "anonymously donated" a web camera for each computer in the school. I would have done this sooner but it took a while to approve the funding. After the cameras were installed, I then set up a subroutine that had each camera, while the computer is on and the camera not actively being used, take a photo every 30 seconds. The photos are then uploaded to a military server that I have access to. Of course immediately after the cameras were set up no more emails came out of the school and they started coming from IP addresses linked to places that offer free Wi-Fi. Starbucks, McDonald's, etcetera. Not sure if it was just paranoia or if the suspect was on to me.

So next I started breaking into your houses and putting taps on everyone's phones and keyloggers on everyone's computers. I watched for a bit and Artie quickly became my primary suspect due to his hacking activities."

"Artie is a hacker?"

"Does that really surprise you Rachel?" Brittany gives her a look that says "Really?".

"No I guess it doesn't. Is that why you started dating him?" She asks curiously.

"Yes. I needed better access to his life to find out if he's who I'm looking for. I watched him like a hawk for months hacked into his computer looked through his and his family's financial records but I didn't really have any evidence to support my hypothesis. A whole year practically, I wasted on Artie and then one of the encrypted emails was sent from a Starbucks while we were in bed together and I confirmed his parents were at their respective jobs. School was already out and we were at his place. There is no way an encryption that complex could be automated so I knew it wasn't Artie.

"It took a while to work up the nerve to break up with him because over the year we dated I really had started to care for him. Of course I was having sex with Santana off and on the whole relationship so I manipulated him into picking a fight over it and when he called me stupid I knew I had a way out. It was cruel to make him the bad guy but it seemed the easiest way for him to recover. I think had I dumped him out of the blue, like leaving him for Santana, he would have been destroyed for months this way he was able to move on much more quickly."

Rachel looks entranced by the story. "You then became my primary suspect but when I started looking more in depth into you and your family the only odd thing I found is that one of your dads seems to prefer straight pornography over gay porn."

Rachel puts her hands over her ears. "Oh god I didn't need to hear that." Brittany laughs hysterically while Rachel shakes her head back and forth. "Oh now I am picturing it eww eww eww." Once her laughter had subsided she waited patiently for Rachel's freak out to cease. "Was it really necessary to tell me that Snow."

"Necessary? No. Hilarious? Absolutely." Rachel glares dangerously at Brittany which only makes her chuckle. "So anyway while you aren't completely off the hook I am about eighty five percent sure that it's not you. Still leaves Mercedes, Kurt, and Tina, assuming I'm not completely wrong about someone or my theory isn't off, but the problem is we graduate in three weeks. It makes things much more difficult with a nasty dead line like that."

"What happens if you can't figure it out by then?" Rachel asks a little worried at Brittany's tone.

"My superiors have basically said that if I can't figure out what is going on, they are going to enact what they are calling the Final Solution."

"That sounds less than good and a little Nazi-esque." Rachel says fear entering her voice.

"Yeah, it isn't. If the ring can't be turned it will be dismantled so they will take the seven of you and your families to a secret holding facility and forcefully interrogate you until they can get specific information on how to dismantle the ring and it's organized crime contacts. At which point the others will be released, paid off, and forced to sign disclosure agreements that will convict them of treason for speaking of it. Then the ones responsible will be buried in a hole so deep they will likely never see the sun again. That will probably take months though, months of torture both physical and emotional of people I care about." Brittany drops her head in shame and when she speaks next her voice is filled with unshed tears. "I am doing my best but I just don't know what else to try. Whoever is doing this is really, really good. I am too, but I can't follow a trail if they don't leave one."

"I can help you Snow." Rachel says tentatively.

"What?" Brittany says completely shocked at the five simple words.

"I don't think we can do much here in L.A. but when we get back to Lima I will help you figure out who is responsible."

"This is really dangerous work Rachel if I figure out who it is I don't think they are going to hug and thank me for blackmailing them to work against a mob family."

"But the alternative is me and my fathers not to mention my friends being tortured for months on end when most of us have no idea what is going on at all. I think I can risk my life for the chance to stop something like that."

Brittany looks at Rachel's face for a long time looking for the tiniest hint of doubt but all she sees is resolve. "You really are amazing, you know that Rachel." Rachel blushes deeply.

"I know." Brittany laughs loudly at the conceited comment.

"Not sure how we are going to explain those though." Rachel says gesturing at Brittany.

"Explain what?"

"You have some nasty finger print sized bruises on your neck from where that guy choked you last night." Rachel explains.

"That is why makeup was invented. Well not really but you get my point."

"I do get your point but have you forgotten how involved our costumes are. None of us are allowed to wear any make up so that it doesn't have to be removed before the stage stuff goes on."

Brittany flies off the bed and into the bathroom so she can see the damage in the mirror. The bruises are a deep purple already yellowing in some places. She lifts her neck and notes how lucky she is to be alive, another few seconds and she would have been a corpse. She thinks for about a minute before walking back in the room padding silently on the balls of her feet.

"Well I do have an idea but not sure how much you are going to like it." Brittany says carefully.

Rachel looks at her worried at what she has up her sleeve.

"Well there's really only one way you get choking bruises. Choking. So the only way I can think of explaining it other than someone trying to kill me is well um..."

"Spit it out." Rachel says annoyed at Brittany's tentativeness considering everything they had gone through in the last twelve hours.

"Auto-erotic asphyxiation; with you." She says quickly, hoping that pulling off the band-aid will be more effective than drawing things out.

"Oh." Rachel said pondering over what she just said. She walks over to the bathroom for a minute and stands by Brittany she then walks over to the bed and sits down on it. She stands almost immediately after sitting and begins pacing after three laps she sits down on the other bed and then stands again. "Okay I'll do it. I did say I would help you after all and it would be rude of me to go back on my word just a few minutes later."

Brittany watched her little trek through the room with rapt attention and more than a little amusement. She wanted to giggle at her uncomfortableness but considering she was thinking over doing her a pretty huge favor Brittany figured it was in her best interest to keep her mouth shut. When Rachel acquiesces to her request Brittany walks over and gives her a genuine hug and not one of the super tight Brittany hugs she usually gives people. "Thanks Rachel. I know it's a lot to ask." She feels Rachel relax into the hug and she notices how well their bodies fit together. Rachel's head fits right into the crook of Brittany's neck, their curves interlocking like a puzzle piece.

"No problem Snow, it's the right thing to do." She says before reaching up and kissing her cheek. Brittany looks down into her milk chocolate eyes and slowly moves in to press her lips against Rachel's giving her plenty of time to back out if she wants to. Pressed as she is into Rachel, Brittany feels the small girls heart rate skyrocket and she knows that her own isn't far behind Rachel's. Rachel looks up and aligns her lips to Brittany's. Rachel's hot breath tickles Brittany's nose and lips pleasantly. Brittany closes her eyes and moves to close the last few inches.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"It's your Puckasaurus wake up call. It is time for you fine ladies to get up.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Mother fuckin piece of..." Brittany says and she feels Rachel pull away. When she opens her eyes she sees Rachel move towards the door to open it. Under her breath she says. "Twat swatted again." She sighs and squeezes her thighs together to relieve the pressure on her burning loins.

"Good morning Noah." Rachel says after opening the door. Puck leers hungrily at Rachel in her tight sweats.

"And good morning to you my little Jewish Princess." He says in an extremely slimy fashion. "Shue wants us downstairs in an hour for breakfast and his usual pep talk I guess and then we are going to spend most of the rest of the day doing makeup and costumes. Make sure you wear something comfortable and that you don't really care about for the makeup." He sniffs the room heavily. "Jesus did housekeeping bathe this room in bleach or something?" He doesn't wait for an answer before continuing. "Anyway I am off to wake up Santana and Quinn." He raises his eyebrows a few times before sneaking a peek at Brittany and walking away.

"Smarmy bastard." Brittany says while chuckling. She wants to move back towards Rachel but she can feel that the moment they had was passed. She felt a little upset at Puck for ruining her moment but hopefully with them working together they would get another.

"Can I have first shower again?" Rachel says

"Of course." Brittany says and Rachel heads off into the bathroom. She turns the TV on but keeps the volume low. She isn't sure but she can swear she can hear moans coming from the bathroom and she wishes that she were the one causing them.


	7. Monster Mash

**Chapter 7: Monster Mash**

When Brittany turns off the shower she is feeling a lot less frustrated and a bit more relaxed. She wishes that she could have taken her shower with Rachel but a little solo time is good enough to get her through the day. She takes a towel and dries off quickly before setting to work using it to dry her hair. She puts the sweats she had worn to bed the night before back on. They were still relatively clean and they would be perfect for the hours of makeup. Her hair was still damp but it would air dry out when they were at breakfast.

She exits the bathroom and Rachel is sitting on her bed in her workout clothing brushing her hair. Brittany is quite happy that she decided to relieve the pressure in the shower because the Lycra was hugging her hips in a sensual embrace that made Brittany want to do something that was definitely going to make her late. Like her own sweatshirt Rachel's workout top zipped up the front and it was going to take everything she had to not toy with the girl's zipper.

"So, Rachel," Brittany began with obvious trepidation, "how are we?"

There is a pregnant pause that lasts almost a whole minute while Rachel brushes her hair. Brittany doesn't push but neither does she change the subject allowing Rachel the time she needs to think over her answer. "Am I allowed to be unsure because that seems to be where I am landing."

"Last I checked Rachel I had no control of your emotions so you can feel however you feel."

"Well I am confused, I feel like I can't trust you but you put a lot of faith in me this morning by telling me what you did." She pauses again to collect her thoughts. "I have come to a decision though. I told you I will pretend that we had intercourse last night and I will and to that end I think we should flirt openly in front of others. In private though, I think we should cease our advances towards each other."

"Why?" Brittany said unable to completely hide the hurt in her voice.

"It isn't that I'm not at all interested. It's just that the girl I thought I was interested in doesn't exist and there is this new girl in her place who I might come to like even more, but I don't know her...you...at all. I want to get to know you better and maybe down the line see where it takes us if that's okay?"

"It's understandable, but I'm afraid we don't have a lot of time for later. If you just want to get to know me in a friend way that's okay though. It's a little disappointing, but I guess I can see where you are coming from." Brittany finishes not totally dejected but definitely deflated.

"What do you mean there isn't time for later?" Rachel asks with obvious confusion coloring her voice.

"Well you're graduating in a few weeks and then you are off to New York."

"I am not actually leaving the night we graduate despite the many times I have voiced such wishes." Rachel said smiling.

"You may not be, but I am." Brittany says sadly. "Success or failure of my mission has no bearing on my fate. I leave the night of graduation to go back to Virginia for reassignment. It will probably have an effect on my next mission though."

"Oh." She says despondently. "Well that is even more reason to just be friends. If this starts I can't speak for you but I will at least get somewhat emotionally invested in this and then you will just disappear. I don't think that it's a good idea." Rachel finishes firmly before she starts moving towards the bathroom.

"Rachel wait I don't think we are..." She is interrupted by a knock at the door. "FUCK!" She yells out in frustration.

"Hey diva, blondie are you two ready it's time for breakfast?" Mercedes' voice calls out through the door.

"I swear to the flying spaghetti monster that I am going to throat chop the next person that interrupts me." Brittany says quietly but not so softly that Rachel can't hear her. Rachel snickers and grabs her purse.

"On our way out Mercedes go ahead without us." Rachel calls through the door. "Come on 'Brittany' we have a long day ahead of us." She moves towards the door and so she misses Brittany shaking her fists in silent frustration before she follows the tiny brunette out the door of their room.

They take the elevator down just the two of them and head over to the Hotel Restaurant where the club is meeting. The whole place is set up to accommodate the visiting choirs with dozens of long tables set around the large restaurant surrounding a breakfast buffet. It takes them a minute before Rachel spots about half the club sitting down while the rest make their way to the table from the buffet.

"Let's go get our buffet tickets from Miss Pillsbury and get some food." Rachel says taking Brittany's hand and dragging her over to the red haired counselor. They grab their tickets Brittany getting the stink eye from Emma due to the bruises on her neck but she doesn't say anything. Brittany smiles widely at her before allowing Rachel to whisk her away to the buffet line.

"I have to say Brittany that I do like California if only for the fact that they seem to provide vegans more options than just fruit." Rachel says without really expecting the blond girl to respond.

After collecting plates of food which takes them about 3 minutes they make it over to the table where they are the last to arrive. There is some normal chatter amongst the teens that ceases when Brittany sits down at the table. The girls do their best to ignore the tension by eating and trying to reengage the conversation but every time they say something all they get is a grunt or a single word. Mercedes never one to stay silent for long finally breaks the silence.

"Damn white girl what the hell happened to your neck?" Mercedes says her voice tainted by her divatude.

"I fell on a polar bear." Brittany deadpans and the jaws at the table drop.

Brittany smiles lovingly at Rachel who smiles shyly back before blushing intensely. Brittany wonders if the blush is genuine or like some of her fellow operatives she is just that good of an actress. Possibly both? Realization started hitting the group like a wave. Puck and Santana being the most sexually experienced at the table (including the teachers and chaperone) realized first. Puck just grinned furiously probably picturing it in his filthy mind and Santana bowed her head before quietly excusing herself to the bathroom. Quinn followed quickly behind her without saying a word. Finn was white knuckling his fork but chose not to say anything. The rest of the table just kind of averted their eyes except Carole who just smiled and shook her head.

"That is so hot." Puck says.

"Actually Puck polar bears are cold." Brittany responds trying hard not to laugh. Puck has no such reservations and cracks up.

"So they are Brit." Puck responds still laughing. Within seconds the table goes back to talking and eating.

"Can I get your attention?" Mr. Shue interrupts after a few minutes, "I am going to talk while you guys eat."

"What about Quinn and Santana?" Blaine asks and Mr. Shue points at the two girls approaching the table Santana's eyes red rimmed but her expression strong. Brittany sees the strength behind them returning slowly and she hides a sad smile behind her napkin.

"As I was saying. Last time we were here we came close but we weren't ready yet. Not ready for Nationals, not ready as a group. We wrote our songs at the last minute and there were other factors more personal that were involved, but it is different this time. We are well rehearsed for all three performances all three with a healthy dose of theatricality. I have little doubt that we are going to win, but even if we don't I have to tell you that I couldn't be prouder of you. Most of you are leaving this year and I want you to know that it has been the greatest honor of my life to teach you all." Tears start welling up in his eyes. "We have had our share of problems and drama but what family doesn't. That is what we are, a family. We are somewhat dysfunctional at times with our fighting but I feel the love and respect you all have for each other. So, I don't care if we come in last place as long as we do it together. I have faith in you all and I really feel that we are going to win it all."

What follows next is a whole lot of cheering and hugging. Some of the other clubs shoot the New Directions some rather dirty looks but none of the club pay them any mind. About half the choirs in the room have already performed for the judges and all are hoping to make it to the showcase so the pre-celebration comes off as a bit disrespectful. Brittany just uses it as an opportunity to hug the group as much as she can before she leaves. Santana even manages to hug Brittany. It's awkward and really fast but Brittany smiles her thousand watt smile afterwards.

"Brit?"

"San?" Brittany responds.

"I'm really sorry for how I've been acting the past couple of days. It just hurts seeing you moving on." Santana says and then links her pinky with Brittany's. "All I want is for you to be happy though, and if being with the Dwa-," She pauses and shakes her head, "Rachel does that than I will do my best to be okay with it."

She knew that Quinn was responsible for most of that speech and she was happy that someone had finally managed to get through to her. Brittany let go of Santana's pinky and gave her a patented "Brittany hug," which basically means that she squeezes the life out of someone until they squeak. Even then she doesn't let go of the hug she just allows her to breathe a bit.

"We aren't together San at least not right now we just hooked up. Sex isn't dating remember." Santana smiled as Brittany echoed her own old catch phrase. She relaxed the hug a bit more before speaking in her ear softly. "You said you want me to be happy. I want you to be happy too San. I want you to find someone who can be with you the way you deserve and be completely honest with you." Brittany kissed Santana on the cheek, released her from the hug and quickly turned away from her.

Brittany could only guess what the bemused expression on her face looked like but she just said something to her that she shouldn't have even if it was necessary for both of their sanity. She speedily made her way back to Rachel to avoid any questions the dark skinned girl might have. Brittany sat down and finished up her breakfast.

"I need your attention again guys." Mr. Schuester waits for everyone to look at him but he has to wait as Quinn and Santana keep talking to each other in hushed tones. Their conversation looks a little intense. "Ladies?" He says interrupting them and Quinn blushes from shame for being called out. Shue looks at them all again before speaking. "Everyone but Blaine and Rory have extreme makeup times for the first performance so that is where we are headed right after breakfast. Carole has volunteered her room for it. If we need more space Kurt and Finn's room is adjoining and we can spill over." Carole smiled and nodded. "Mercedes, Kurt and Emma will be in charge of overseeing the makeup while Carole, Blaine, Rory and myself will be running around getting you guys water and food when lunch time rolls around as well as helping out where we can. Is anyone not done eating?" When no one raises their hand or says anything he holds his hand towards Kurt.

Kurt stands up and addresses the group. "We have a lot of work to do today but we should be able to get it all done barring any real complications. Rachel and Quinn have kindly agreed to get their makeup done last since they have the easiest so they will be doing everyone else's makeup with us and will be doing mine and Mercedes' makeup. I would give you guys a great speech about how we are going to win but to be honest we really need to get going so..." He gestures emphatically for everyone to stand and when they do, he ushers them towards the elevators.

It takes two elevators for everyone to get upstairs and they all pile into Carole's and Kurt and Finn's rooms. Almost all of the New Directions including the guys are at least mildly proficient with makeup so they start putting on the first layers themselves while the groups divas and Quinn head for the ones who have the most work required.

The process is arduous and long. It only takes an hour of the application process before the AC is cranked to maximum in both rooms. There is more than one grunt of pain from the glue and prosthetics being applied. When lunch time rolls around Kurt has gone into full blown panic mode. Kurt finished his own makeup and he was trying to finish up Sam's who had the most detailed costume other than Artie, while Mercedes quickly threw together Rachel and Quinn's finishing touches. The rest of the club were eating lunch as carefully as possible or putting their costumes on psyching each other up.

"Come on Kurt we only gots five minutes left before we's gotta go." Santana says, her nervousness bringing her ghetto out. Kurt squeaks and starts applying glue for the last prosthetic.

"This crap really itches." Sam says.

"But you look amazing." Kurt replies honestly.

"Totally Sam," Brittany chimes in, "you look scary and cute at the same time. Like a Gremlin."

"Thanks Brittany...I think."

"Stop talking so I can affix this piece to you." Kurt says obvious annoyance in his tone.

"Sorry Kurt." Sam shuts his trap and Kurt carefully positions the piece on the bleach blonde's cheek and holds it for 10 seconds. When he pulls his hands away from Sam's face the piece remains where it is.

"Done. Alright lets go win this thing." Kurt yells and there is another triumphant cheer that comes up from the group before they file out the door and down to the elevators.

They allotted themselves just enough time to walk there if need be but fortunately the shuttles were there waiting and zipped them over to the theater in a couple of minutes. It's a good thing because with the weather the way it was their makeup likely would have needed touch up and they definitely didn't have time for that. They walk quickly through the lobby catching eyes from just about every direction some going so far as to skirt around them. Most of the group can't help but smile darkly as they pass the people there and in many cases this makes the scene even more horrible. They get there with about 20 minutes before they hit the stage. There is currently a pretty Indian girl singing Love You Like a Love Song by Selena Gomez and she is doing the song justice, unfortunately it isn't a very vocally impressive song so they probably won't get anywhere with it.

They leave and the backstage group who looks to be an all girl choir take their place while the New Directions take their place. Brittany recognizes the girls from two days ago and they hear them introduced as the Georgia Peaches. They sing a group of girl empowered R&B songs. Rachel whispers that they saw them perform last year and they were indeed better this year and they were damn good last year. Blaine, Brittany and Mike get in positions. They had to be quick, their performance was just under 14 minutes which didn't allow for time mistakes. Carole and Emma had dropped their props off when they went to go get food. Mike and Brittany quickly climb into the two gurney beds and white sheets are pulled over both of their heads by Finn and Puck. Brittany hears the quiet whisper of Rachel to break a leg and she can't help but smile under the sheet.

The Peaches end to thunderous applause and Jason Segel takes the stage. "One more time for the Georgia Peaches." The audience cheers riotously. "We are coming to the end of Day 2 but don't worry we still have a few more groups to go. This next group has asked us to turn off the house lights for mood. Which we will do now." All the lights in the theater go out except the emergency runner lighting on the ground and a single spot light on Jason Segel. "We ask that you please be careful if you need to get out of your seat but I don't think you want to miss whatever this is going to be. Please welcome from William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio The New Directions." Jason Segel walks off stage and the spot light shuts off.

Blaine wheels the large metal contraption out on the black stage while Finn and Puck place the two student carrying gurneys on opposite sides of Blaine and his new toy. Blaine waits for Finn and Puck to leave the stage before he takes a deep breath. He flips the switch and electricity arcs up the large Jacob's ladder illuminating the stage in pale light. The audience sees two hospital gurneys and a man in a white lab coat with his back to the audience. Blaine spins around he has goggles on his face and wild hair looking every bit the Mad Scientist. The look in his eyes is fanatical as he takes in his audience.

_From my heart and from my hand,  
>why don't people understand<br>my intentions._

When the drums start up Blaine runs around the stage fiddling with the Jacob's ladder and looking under the sheets. "_Weird." _He says directly to the audience. "_oooo." _ He heads out to the front of the stage pacing back and forth looking like he is on a rant. The guys back stage are backing him up on microphones when he says:

_**(Weird science)  
><strong>__  
>Plastic tubes and pots and pans<br>bits and pieces and.  
>Magic from the hand<br>We're makin'_

_**(Weird science)**_

Underneath the sheets and behind Blaine's back Brittany and Mike start swinging their feet to the music.

_Things I've never seen before  
>Behind bolted doors<br>Talent and imagination_

_**(Weird science)**_

_Not what teacher said to do_  
><em>Makin' dreams come true<em>  
><em>Living tissue, warm flesh<em>

Blaine spins around and heads back to the gurneys and both dancers immediately stop moving their feet which gets a light laugh out of the audience.

_**(Weird science)**_

_Plastic tubes and pots and pans_  
><em>Bits and pieces<em>

_**(and)**__  
>Bits and pieces <em>_**(and)**_

Blaine pulls the sheet off Mike and tosses it off stage to Emma.

_My creation, is it real?  
>It's my creation, my creation, it's my creation<br>__**(Weird science)**__  
>Weird<br>__**(Weird science)**_

Mike raises his arms slowly and gets carefully and stiffly off the gurney dressed like Frankenstein's Monster in a black suit with a white shirt. His green skin is an acid color so it really pops in the low lighting being given off by the Jacob's Ladder. He lumbers towards the front of the stage and starts dancing. His dancing starts off a little purposely awkward at first but he is soon tearing up the stage.

_Magic and technology  
>Voodoo dolls and chants<br>Electricity we're makin'_

_**(Weird science)**_

_Fantasy and microchips_  
><em>Shooting from the hip<em>  
><em>Something different we're makin'<em>

_**(Weird science)**_

Blaine moves back towards the front of the stage and smiles happily while his monster dances. He turns back towards the audience and takes a single step forward just barely missing the awkward attack swipe by Mike. He looks back obliviously, joy apparent on his face and Mike is dancing like he was before.

_Pictures from a magazine_  
><em>Diagrams and charts<em>  
><em>Mending broken hearts<em>  
><em>And makin'<em>

Blaine practically skips back to the other gurney and checks it one last time.

_**(Weird science)**_

_Something like a recipe_  
><em>Bits and pieces<em>

_**(and)**__  
>Bits and pieces <em>_**(and)**__  
><em>

He tears off the second sheet and throws that one off stage as well where Emma is still trying to perfectly fold the first one so Carole catches it.

_My creation, is it real?  
>It's my creation, I do not know<br>No hesitation, no heart of gold  
>Just flesh and blood, I do not know<br>I do not know  
><em>

Brittany in a similar fashion to Mike slinks off her own gurney. Her white dress covers her entire body. She is wearing a black wig with white streaks up each side. The Bride of Frankenstein moves over to dance with Mike who join each other in a standard couple dance position where they promptly make the stage their bitch like only they can.

_From my heart and from my hand  
>Why don't people understand<br>My intentions_

_**(Weird science) **_

_Magic and technology_  
><em>Voodoo dolls and chants<em>

_**(Weird science)**_

_Things I've never seen before_  
><em>Behind bolted doors<em>

_**(Weird science)**__  
><em>

The monster couple make it obvious they are trying to get closer to Blaine and every time they get close to him they both try and kill him but he just barely dodges completely unaware of the situation happening around him.

_Not what teacher said to do  
>Bits and pieces <em>_**(and)**__  
>Bits and pieces <em>_**(and)**_

_My creation, is it real?_  
><em>It's my creation, I do not know<em>  
><em>No hesitation, no heart of gold<em>  
><em>Just flesh and blood, I do not know<em>

_It's my creation, It's my creation_  
><em>My creation, my creation<em>  
><em>It's my creation<em>

_From my heart and from my hand_  
><em>Why don't people understand<em>  
><em>My intentions, weird<em>  
><strong><em>(Weird science)<em>**

Mike and Brittany drop all pretense of dancing and slowly advance on their creator who gets a look of panic across his face. Blaine starts backpedaling looking over his shoulder both because it looks dynamic but also because the stage is dark and he needs to for safety reasons.

_Weird  
><em>_**(Weird science, weird science)**__  
>Bits and pieces <em>_**(and)**__  
>Bits and pieces <em>_**(and)**__  
>Bits and pieces <em>_**(and)**__  
>(<em>_**Weird science)**_

_Bits and pieces __**(and)**__  
>Bits and pieces <em>_**(and)**__  
>Bits and Pieces <em>_**(and)**_

_Weird Science, __**Science, Science**_

Mike and Brittany finally corner Blaine his back pressed up against the base of the Jacob's Ladder. A look of terror crosses Blaine's handsome features.

_From my heart and from my hand,  
>why don't people understand<br>my intentions._

The two monsters swarm in on Blaine as he flicks the switch to turn the ladder off leaving the stage once again in blackness. The three of them grab the props and wheel them off the stage and a scream rents the air. The scream isn't from Blaine though but it comes from Tina since she isn't singing during this performance. Once the choir pulls their fingers out of their ears Brittany, Mike and Blaine hug and bump fists with each other.

The stage is completely empty and the sound of soft rain and thunder permeate the sound system. A bass drum starts pounding rhythmically like a heartbeat and after a few seconds is joined by a bass guitar. A single spot line is turned on but it is covered in a black cloth giving the stage a moonlight quality while still keeping it dark. Rory runs out on stage looking terrified. He is dressed like a stereotypical New Orleans jazz musician. He has a black button up shirt with no tie, gray suspenders slacks and a gray fedora. He stumbles out to the middle of the stage holding his neck and when he hits dead center stage he falls to the ground.

Quinn and Rachel walk slowly onto the stage. They appear in no hurry to catch their quarry. Both of the beautiful women are wearing matching black, airy, shredded looking dresses that fall all the way to their feet covering the fact that neither girl is wearing shoes but they are both walking on their toes to give them the appearance of unnatural grace. Their hair is straight and hanging freely. Both of their faces and hands are covered in white stage makeup along with purple eye shadow and lipstick. In their mouths are custom made vampire fangs that took 3 fittings to sit right so they could sing without a lisp.

They causally look at the audience and smile darkly and widely to bare their fangs before advancing on Rory who is struggling to regain his footing. The song they are singing is keyed up to fit Rachel's voice better; it is at just the top of Quinn's range but she manages the song beautifully. _  
><em>

_**Quinn:**__ There's a crack in the mirror  
>And a bloodstain on the bed <em>

Both girls appear to be ignoring Rory and singing the lyrics to each other. The grin on Quinn's face is pure wickedness you could only get from someone who was used to bringing misery to others. Rachel mimes laughing.

_**Rachel:**__ There's a crack in the mirror  
>And a bloodstain on the bed<em>

Rachel puts her hand on her chest with a face of pure twisted amusement. Her fangs glint in the low light of the theater.

_**Quinn:**__ O you were a vampire and baby  
>I'm the walking dead<em>

_**Rachel**__: O you were a vampire and baby  
>I'm the walking dead<br>_

Rachel walks over to Rory and grabs him by the shirt. Rory jumps to his feet to make it look like Rachel pulled him up effortlessly.

_**Both:**__ I got the ways and means  
>To New Orleans I'm going<br>Down by the river  
>Where it's warm and green<br>I'm gonna have a drink, and walk around  
>I got a lot to think about oh yeah oh yeah<em>

Rachel moves in to sink her fangs into Rory's neck but pulls his head back instead and tosses him aside, Rory jumps with the toss to make it appear Rachel did it casually with just a flick of her wrist. In response to the action Quinn laughs at Rory derisively. Quinn walks over to him bends down and gets a soft expression on her face

_**Quinn:**__ There's a rocking chair by the window  
>Down the hall<em>

Rachel smirks and then follows Quinn's example bending down before singing to Rory.

_**Rachel: **__ I hear something there in the shadow  
>Down the hall<em>

Quinn looks up from Rory to look directly in Rachel's eyes. She looks almost sad when she sings out.

_**Quinn:**__ O you were a vampire and now I am  
>Nothing at all<em>

Rachel shakes her head emphatically and reaches out taking Quinn's hand in her own. She pours sincerity in her simple line.

_**Rachel:**__ O you were a vampire and now I am  
>Nothing at all<em>

_**Both:**__ I got the ways and means  
>To New Orleans I'm going<br>Down by the river  
>Where it's warm and green<br>I'm gonna have a drink, and walk around  
>I got a lot to think about oh yeah oh yeah<br>_

When Rory notices the vampires distracted he starts sliding out from between the two of them. When he gets a few feet away he starts sneaking away quietly. While the girls comfort each other with their words.

_**Quinn:**__ They used to dance in the garden in the  
>Middle of the night<br>__**Rachel:**__ Dancing in the garden in the  
>Middle of the night<em>

Rory is about to get away when without taking her gaze off of Rachel, Quinn holds her hand up in his direction and he stops in his tracks. Quinn and Rachel stand slowly and Rachel also extends her hand but just holds up a single finger which she twirls in a circle. Rory haltingly turns back towards the girls and then Rachel beckons him with her finger. Rory fights walking over to them but still takes one step after the other even if they are like dragging lead.

_**Quinn:**__ O you were a vampire  
>And I may never see the light<br>__**Rachel:**__ O you were a vampire  
>And I may never see the light-ight-ight-ight-ight<em>

The girls finally look up at their prey and they close the distance to him.

_**Both:**__ I got the ways and means  
>To New Orleans I'm going<br>Down by the river  
>Where it's warm and green<em>

Rory stops walking when the girls reach him and they each rest their forearms on his shoulders.

_I'm gonna have a drink, and walk around  
>I got a lot to think about oh yeah oh yeah<em>

The girls mime biting Rory as the song dies and the sound of a soft rain takes the music's place. Santana walks on the stage, absolutely resplendent in a red gown with black hearts adorning it. On her head is a large black crown, she carries a black scepter staff with a broken black heart on top and the zombie makeup on her face completes the Undead Queen of Hearts costume that Kurt and Mercedes had designed. She walks a few feet on to the stage and slams the scepter on the ground gaining Quinn and Rachel's attention. The girls drop Rory's lifeless corpse to the stage and hiss at her. Santana points the staff at the vampires and says:

_**Santana:**__ Off with your head  
><em>_Dance__ dance dance 'til you're dead  
>Off Off Off with your head<em>

Santana points her staff at Rory and she pushes the button that Artie designed into it and a small flash explosion comes out the edge of the scepter.

_Dance dance dance 'til you're dead  
>Off Off Off with your head<em>

Rory stands slowly and Rachel and Quinn move away from him in disgust. His head lolls on his neck which is covered in fake blood that Rachel applied when they were hovering over him.

_**Rory:**__ It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark  
>Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart<br>You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it  
>You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes<br>You're paralyzed_

During Rory's verse the rest of the club (minus Blaine, Mike and Brittany) comes out on stage all dressed as Zombie Alice in Wonderland Characters. All of them at least show deference and in many cases subservience to the beautiful but scary queen. Sugar comes out first, dressed as slutty Alice with stitches in her neck. The slutty part was her idea, everyone tried to talk her out of it but she was resolute. The stitches across her neck looked as if her head had been severed and reattached. In her right hand she carried a (fake) bloody butcher knife. Tina and Puck came out next. Puck dressed head to toe in a purple pinstripe suit that was strategically torn in several places. His pinstripe top hat was patched and the 10/6 card was torn in half much like his face looked like half of it had been torn off. Tina along with Finn, Sam and Artie was one of Kurt and Mercedes' masterpieces. She was wearing a smart red suit with a black shirt and red bow tie. Her face and hands are covered in patchy brown fur and where it the fur was missing there are gaping wounds. The long bunny ears hung down to about her collar where there was noose tied around her throat.

The Hatter and the March Hare were each pulling taut thick chains behind them and after a few feet of chain the leashed forms of Kurt and Mercedes dressed in shredded robes of royalty. The White Queen and King were forcefully dragged on stage by their collars and then forced to their knees by the mad pair at the feet of the Queen of Hearts. Both wore faux fur lined capes over a white suit and dress respectively Santana smiles heartlessly at her servants and gestures for the other three members to come out on the stage.

Finn as the now somewhat off-White Rabbit runs on the stage full tilt and shoves a huge golden "pocket" watch clock face in the vampires faces, they both recoil in disgust. His suit looks to be covered in more than a little blood with a large hole in the stomach.

Covered in a black sheet to hide in the darkness Sam throws it off and appears in the middle of the stage. He is smiling huge, as only he can, to show two rows of sharp pointed teeth. His eyes are glowing yellow. Kurt was practically bouncing when he found glow in the dark contact lenses though Sam couldn't see very well when they were glowing. He also couldn't sing with the teeth in but the look of Sam's Cheshire Cat was worth losing his voice besides he had a duet with Brittany if they made it to the Showcase.

Lastly the true magnum opus Artie wheeled himself out. His chair had been covered in a removable paper mache Mushroom so only his top half was visible. On the Mushroom a fake hookah filled with water and dry ice sent out smoke constantly. The green skinned caterpillar moved to the center of the stage and everyone on stage minus the vampires and Santana began to dance and sing in perfect harmony. Santana was above it all.

_**All: **__'Cause this is thriller, thriller night  
>And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike<br>__You know__ it's thriller, thriller night  
>You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight<em>

While they dance the vampires start to move off stage on the opposite side the Lewis Carroll characters had come from but are stopped by Mike and Brittany both dragging a limp Blaine behind them. They drag his body over to Santana and both monsters kneel in supplication to the queen. She points her staff at Blaine pushing the pyrotechnics button causing a second flash and sings.

_**Santana:**__ Off with your head  
>Dance dance dance 'til you're dead<br>Off Off Off with your head  
>Dance dance dance 'til you're dead<em>

Blaine awakens harshly as the Queen's magic reanimates his corpse and he spring kicks up to his feet and dances with his monsters to the back as Artie moves to the front and addresses the audience holding the hookah stick up.

_**Artie:**__ You __hear__ the door slam and realize there's nowhere left to run  
>You feel the cold hand and wonder if you'll ever see the sun<br>You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination  
>But all the while you hear the creature creeping up behind<br>You're out of time_

The Queen directs her subjects to surround the last ones on the stage not in her thrall. As they sing the chorus and dance, they herd the vampires towards the Queen._  
><em>

_**All:**__ thriller, thriller night  
>There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes, girl<br>Thriller, thriller night  
>You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight<em>

Santana smiles as the vampires come closer and Rachel and Quinn look terrified. She raises her staff at the vampires singing. She makes the staff explode a third time.

_**Santana:**__ Off with your head  
>Dance dance dance 'til you're dead<br>Off Off Off with your head  
>Dance dance dance 'til you're dead<em>

The vampires seem to be resisting the magic when she finishes but they are moving occasionally in concert with the rest of the club.

_**Finn**__: Darkness falls across the land  
>The midnight hour is close at hand<br>Creatures crawl in search of blood  
>To terrorize y'alls neighborhood<br>And though you fight to stay alive  
>Your body starts to shiver<br>For no mere mortal can resist  
>The evil of the thriller<em>

By the end of The White Rabbit's soliloquy the vampires serve Santana completely and everyone on stage dances and sings to the final chorus surrounding Santana who just stands there smiling evilly.

_**All:**__ 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night  
>Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try<br>Thriller, thriller night  
>So let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller, tonight<em>

The club moves behind Santana and line up single file facing the audience, they all bow their heads in reverence to the Queen who advances to the very edge of the stage. She slowly raises her staff one last time this time pointing it at the audience.

_**Santana:**__ Off with your head  
>Dance dance dance 'til you're dead<br>Off Off Off with your head  
>Dance dance dance 'til you're dead<br>Off Off Off with your head_

As she sings the last words she pushes the second button letting off the largest explosion sending glitter out the tip over the first 4 rows. The entire show apart from the quick laugh the audience hadn't made a sound and as the last note of the song came you could hear a pin drop.

**A/N: Santana is technically a Lich but I didn't know how many of you actually knew what a Lich is so I just called her a Zombie Queen.**


	8. The Results

**Chapter 8: The Results  
><strong>

The explosion of sound that came from the audience actually shocked Santana to the point that she took a step back. Brittany at front stage left just beamed in her Bride of Frankenstein getup. She stole a glance at Rachel, who's show smile looked a little horrifying with the vampire fangs set in her teeth. The whole audience was on their feet screaming at the top of their lungs at the New Directions. Shue started waving at the group very quickly to get them off the stage since they only had seconds before they would be penalized for staying too long. They all waved at the crowd as they shuffled off of the stage. They wanted to start celebrating once they got off stage but Ms. Pillsbury kept shuffling them out the door because it seemed every single one of the New Directions including their director seems to have forgotten the be quiet backstage rule.

"Everyone out." Emma says quietly. "We don't want to be disqualified." She puts both her hands over her mouth and a few of the kids emulate her which prompts everyone else to do the same. She ushers them all to the door and they hear Jason Segal start speaking.

"One more time for the frighteningly good New Directions." The cheering doesn't seem to have diminished at all with them not on the stage. "Can we get the lights back on now. There we go. Coming up next we have from Boise..." That is the last they hear before they get too far and it is just too muffled to make out any specific words.

The girls are bouncing and hugging everyone in sight; the guys are high fiving each other and happily letting the girls hug them. Will starts rounding everyone up, smiling from ear to ear. "Guys we took a huge risk with the theatricality and we know it worked with the audience we will know in a few hours if it worked with the judges as well. I think that after that amazing performance the odds of us not making it to showcase are about zero." The club cheers. "Now what do you say we go take this makeup off you guys."

"Come on Mr. Shue, can't we go around scaring the other teams?" Puck says getting a laugh from the club.

Will stops talking and puts his hand up to his cleft chin and strokes it softly. "Well," he pauses while drawing out the well, "maybe one lap Puck." Mr. Schuester says. They do said lap, but mostly they got a lot of people, both spectators and other choirs (somewhat begrudgingly), telling them how much they enjoyed their performance. Brimming with pride they wait a few minutes for the shuttle to arrive before taking it back to the hotel.

The makeup removal process is quicker than the application but still quite an extensive ordeal. It takes the gleeks roughly 2 hours to get all the makeup, glue and prosthetics off of everyone. It would have been faster but everyone was so excited for the showcase announcement at 5 pm that they couldn't sit still. Brittany and Quinn were helping Artie with the green makeup when Rachel walked by and pinched Brittany's ass throwing her a wink.

On a rational level she understood that Rachel was doing this for appearance sake so that no one would suspect where the bruises really came from but on a personal level she understood that this was the most intimate touch that was intentionally shared between the two of them and it only made her want the bratty girl even more. She glared mock-menacingly at Rachel but let a smile hide in her eyes. Subtlety was the key to being an effective spy.

"So you and Rachel huh?" Artie says with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't you say you hated her on more than one occasion."

"So?" Was her easy and quick response.

"How do you hook up with someone you hate?"

"Well A: She isn't as annoying as I thought she was and Z: Hate sex is kinda hot." She says while gently applying the glue dissolver to remove one of Artie's prosthetics.

"It's 'B' Brittany." Artie says kindly.

"Huh?" She asks with a genuine bewildered look on her face because she hadn't been corrected in so long that it caught her off guard.

"It's 'A' then 'B.'" He explained.

"Oh I thought I had spelled my name wrong again," she pauses, "but I hear people say A to Z all the time."

"Yes people do say A to Z but that means something different than the way you used it." Artie continued. Brittany really missed Artie sometimes, he was such a nice person to her. Nobody was openly mean to her for fear of the wrath of Santana but he was always kind. Well except that once and even then she knew the words had just slipped out.

"Whatever. That isn't important right now what is important is getting this glue off of your face." Another piece of rubber comes off and he lets out a sigh of relief and pleasure. Brittany bites her lip to try and ignore the heat pooling in her lower region from the sound her ex had made. "So what is going on between you and Sugar?" Brittany asks trying to distract herself from her dirtier thoughts while she was working on her former beau.

"Yeah. What is going on there?" Quinn asks interested.

"Well last I checked she was interested in Rory not me." Artie responds kind of pathetically.

"They went on two dates after Valentine's Day Artie, that was months ago." Quinn chastises. "If you like the girl, man up and tell her."

"It isn't that easy." Artie says while Brittany removes another piece of latex from his flesh.

"Why not?" Brittany asks actually bewildered for a second time in just a few minutes. "You like her don't you?"

"Yeah I like her but it's just...it's..." Artie stammers as he looks down at his chair.

"Enough." Quinn says firmly but not harshly. "You think because of your chair that you don't have a chance. Look I won't pretend to know what you are going through or have been through but I do know that you haven't let it stop you. You dated one of the three hottest girls in the school for almost a year, and you and I made out a couple of times last summer before I went all pink hair and crazy." Brittany's head snaps in Quinn's direction at the shocking revelation. "That is two out of three of the Unholy Trinity. While many can say the same. No offense Britt. But there are only three others who can say that I am one of them." Brittany was still gaping at Quinn so she closed strong. "What? I'm not ashamed of it, we went out a couple of times we just didn't really click. Although the kissing was nice. Really nice" She says smiling and clearing her throat. "After all that, are you really going to let a _freshman_ throw you off your game? You guys may not work out but you'll never know if you don't do anything."

"Fine Quinn I will talk to her about it. Never thought that two of my exes would be encouraging me to ask another girl out. Does Tina want to join in?" He looks in the direction of Tina who was having the fur removed from her hands by Mercedes and Kurt. When she hears her name she turns in Artie's direction and not hearing any of the conversation she just blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.

"I agree with whatever Brittany just said." Tina winks at the blonde and smiles fondly. Brittany responds with a toothy grin.

"See even Tina thinks you should ask Sugar out." Quinn says smugly.

"I already told you I would geez I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition."

"NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION." Brittany says before she can stop herself. Her geekiness from her former life rarely shows it's head but she isn't ashamed of it and it isn't the strangest exclamation that she, as Brittany, has ever uttered. Everyone in the room looks at Brittany and Artie and Mike across the room burst out laughing.

"Well I am glad you enjoyed your time watching my Monty Python DVDs back when we were together." Artie says while still chuckling.

"I like silly people but that show had some of the ugliest women ever on it." She fakes a shudder and Artie bursts out laughing again. She neglected to mention that she had seen the episodes half a dozen times each long before she ever saw Lima, Ohio.

"It sure did Britt." Artie said as his laugh subsided.

"Artie, stop moving so I can get this shit off of your face." Quinn admonished sharply and for what was probably the 30th time someone was told to hold still during the makeup process.

"Sorry." He said mirthfully.

"Britt could you go help get Sam's fur off? I think Artie is a bad influence on you. Also we are almost done, this shouldn't take more than 10 more minutes."

"Okay." She says trying not to laugh. She more bounces up then stands and skips over to where Sam is.

"As soon as we are done we will come over and help you guys out." Artie calls out to Brittany's retreating form. He sneaks a peek at her ass before settling his attention back on Quinn.

"I saw that." Quinn said attacking the makeup once again while simultaneously pinching his arm.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." He replies while trying to move his face as little as possible and ignoring what will probably be a small bruise in the morning.

Rachel is helping Sam with his makeup removal alongside Blaine who had picked up quite a few tricks dating Kurt. He wasn't quite as good as his paramour but he was quite competent at makeup application and removal. He and Rachel were making amazing headway on the complicated costume and so Brittany kneels at Sam's feet.

"How can I help?" Brittany asks Rachel.

Without a word she hands Brittany some glue remover and tool to use it. Brittany sees the smile on Rachel's face and there is no doubt in her mind that the affection in it is genuine. She resolves, then and there, to test Rachel's determination on this "no romantic interaction" decision at the first available opportunity. After that it takes about an hour to finish the process on everyone because as soon as someone was done they all went to go help others until no one was left but Finn, Artie, and Sam but with a dozen people working diligently they knocked it out pretty quickly.

When they finish up they are all lounging around Carole's room chatting quietly, the group somewhat subdued by the exhausting day's events.

"Who's hungry?" Will asks the group enthusiastically. Half of the group raises their hands while the rest murmur their agreement.

"But Mr. Shue what about the results of the competition don't they go up in a little bit?" Rachel asks scared at the idea of not knowing immediately how they did.

"Yes Rachel they do, but all they are going to do is tell us what we already know. That we will be performing at showcase tomorrow. So we will get some food to recharge your batteries first and then we will see what we scored in round 1. Let's eat."

Such was their exhaustion that Rachel didn't put up any more fight about getting their results sooner. This was a first for the club and everyone gaped long enough to realize that their stomachs were growling and starting moving towards the door. He told everyone to change into nice clothes and they would go down and eat in the Hotel Restaurant which has been set up for dinner and is no longer buffet style but a more traditional waitered menu format. Most of the choirs weren't there as the prices were a bit high but two years in a row making it to Nationals had earned the school a decent set of boosters (also Sugar's money) and while they weren't rolling in the money their trip was fully funded and included a few celebratory dinners in the budget. Rachel and Brittany hold hands with Rachel's head on Brittany's shoulder. They don't talk a whole lot but they find a bit of comfort in the closeness. When the food arrives they release hands since they are both right handed and can't really eat holding on to each other. That was one nice thing about being with Santana, they could eat while holding hands because Santana was left handed.

The group was excited but a bit more passive than normal because of their exhaustion. After about 40 minutes they were about to get up and head over when Jesse St. James approached their table.

"Jesse." Mr. Schuester said in surprise. "It's good to see you." He said this without much conviction in his tone. "So what choir are you helping out this year?"

"I am the unfortunate replacement coach of Vocal Adrenaline. They wanted me to whip a national level act out of them in three and a half weeks with a group that has had several other directors and styles. I'm good but I'm not a miracle worker. We didn't come in last place but we were close. Carmel has told me that I will be director next year though so look out."

Mr. Schuester pulls out one sentence from his monologue. "Oh the results were posted after all."

"Yes. That's why I am here, to congratulate you all. First place in the first round, excellent I must say but with Rachel on your side it isn't really a surprise. You still have two rounds to go but if they were anything like your last performance I think..."

"Hold up on the word vomit Michael Crawford light." Santana interrupts Jesse holding her hand up in his face. Jesse rolls his eyes as Santana turns towards her teacher. "Did St. Jackass just say we came in first." Santana said standing up, a manic smile stretching her pretty face. She turns back towards Jesse. "I swear if you are fucking with me Barry Manilow, I will ends you."

"Oh dark lady of the night I assure you I am not 'fucking with you' I figured you would..." The resulting cheer from the table along with the hugging brought the waitress running asking them to be quiet. Both her pleas and Jesse's "know by now" go completely unheard by the celebrating choir.

Will apologizes to the waitress and tells her why they are celebrating. She leaves them to the celebration after asking them politely to turn the volume down.

"I was wondering if I could have a word with you alone Rachel?" Jesse continued after the cacophony died down.

"The last time we were alone you had me pelted with eggs. So we can have a conversation a few feet away from the group if you really must speak with me in private."

"I guess that is acceptable if that is all I can get." Jesse says sadly.

Rachel wipes her mouth with her cloth napkin demurely and sets it on the table. She stands with her patented annoyed look that she pulls off so well and stalks off to a secluded area away from the tables not even waiting to see if Jesse was following. Brittany watched her go but she noticed several other sets of eyes following the Carmel High alum and their own resident star. Quinn and Finn both watched her go boring mental holes in Jesse's flesh with their stares. Kurt was pointedly not looking in their direction but his legs were crossed angrily and Blaine put his arm around him and laid his head on Kurt's shoulder. Santana's protectiveness was showing the most blatantly though, she looked as if she was about to jump out of her chair and throttle the guy.

Brittany smiled as she noticed Rachel roll her eyes in exasperation. She became very animated while talking eventually even stomping her foot on the ground. She throws both hands up in Jesse's face and walks back over to her seat and plops somewhat ungracefully into it crossing her arms across her chest and huffing loudly.

"What did he want?" Brittany asks quietly trying to keep the jealousy from tinting her voice too much, by the slight look of gloating Rachel gives her she isn't as successful as she would like.

"The same thing he wanted last year when he showed up out of the blue.." She said a smile starting to peek through her anger. Brittany assumes that she is either happy about her jealousy or getting off on the attention of so many people vying for her affection. After a moment's reflection Brittany assumed it was a bit of column A and a bit of Column B. Rachel whispers to Brittany so they can have a candid conversation without cluing anyone else in. "He is so infuriating."

"What is that guys problem? He is good looking, smart and talented. He's a dick but he should be able to find a girl he didn't humiliate by covering in unborn chickens."

"Maybe he likes girls who call him names or something." Rachel jokes.

Brittany sits back and ponders for a moment. She never got to start her doctorate in psychology but she did get a masters. After a quick analysis of Jesse's behavior and without delving to deep she gives Rachel a quick hypothesis. "I think it's far more likely he has a minor Oedipal Complex, meaning that he is probably looking for a woman like his mother, and knowing his personality she is probably quite a bit like you. Loud, domineering, overbearing, bossy," with every word Rachel's smile fades and a look of irritation takes its place, "gifted, intelligent, and beautiful." Rachel blushed for the first time since the cleaners showed up.

"You really think I'm beautiful?" Rachel asks happily.

"Didn't we cover this already?" Brittany whispers back occasionally checking to make sure no one is listening in on their whispered conversation. She catches a few people looking, most notably Santana but no outright eavesdropping.

"No. You just said you had feelings for me."

"Well you are." Brittany says locking eyes and moves closer to the girl. "And I do." Rachel puts her hand out in what would look like to the casual observer as an arm caress but Brittany gets the true message and that is that Rachel would like Brittany to stop her advance. Brittany lets the sadness reflect in her eyes before sighing and putting on a fake smile for the rest of the glee club.

Will stands up while on the phone. He hangs it up and smiles broadly at the group. "That was the competition committee calling to confirm our presence in the Showcase. So guys, we at the least are top 10. I ordered everyone a glass of Sparkling Cider that should be here in a few minutes. Then I think we should all get a good night's sleep because we have, hopefully, two performances tomorrow and that is a lot of singing and dancing along with the stress. I know it may be hard to sleep but I need to do your best okay."

The sparkling cider shows up a few minutes later and Emma proposes a toast. "To Blaine, Rachel, Quinn and Santana who led us through the first round brilliantly. To the rest of the club who made them look so amazing, and finally to the singers who are featured tomorrow." She started to tear up a bit at this point. "Will and I have all watched you grow up from precocious young teens to the confident young men and women before us. I speak for the both of us when I say we are so proud of you all not just for today but for who you have become. Will really wanted to do the wedding before you graduated but it was just not going to happen. We want you to know that everyone of you is invited to the wedding. We both feel connected with you kids and we want everyone of you to be there during Christmas break this year." The tears are falling freely and she says another sentence but it comes out a high pitched squeak and completely unintelligible. She sits back down in the chair and falls into Will's arms.

"She said 'you're just all so special to us.'" Brittany clarified to Rachel in a soft voice.

"How could you possibly tell that?" Rachel said raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Lip reading." She replied simply and showing no doubt that her statement was correct.

"Of course." Brittany notices everyone starting to stand up to head back to their rooms. She takes Rachel's hand and they walk back to their room hand in hand.

Rachel heads into the room first and heads over to where her suitcase is and pulls out her phone charger. She plugs it into a wall and lays down on the bed where she proceeds to write a novel in text form to her fathers about their 1st round win. Brittany goes and changes in the bathroom after using the facilities. When she comes out she looks at the beds and then sighs heading over to her, so far, unused bed and begins untucking all the sheets.

"Snow, we can still share a bed as friends, the companionship isn't unpleasant." Rachel says not bothering to look up from her continuously vibrating phone.

"I really don't think that is the best idea Rachel. Not sure if I can keep my hands to myself now that everything is out on the table."

Rachel rolls her eyes but smiles fondly. "Have it your way. So why do you actually unmake the bed before you lie in it? Obviously it isn't because of monsters."

"No it's not because of monsters. It is easier to spring into action when you aren't confined to a bed. It saved both of our lives last night if I hadn't pulled the sheets out one or both of us would likely be dead right now."

"Oh" She states and with no segue whatsoever she changed the subject. "I guess that makes sense. Would you care to watch some television before we retire for the evening?"

Brittany snorts and smiles. "Sure Rach. That sounds fine." They watch a couple reruns of Big Bang Theory before securing the door against further intrusions and going to sleep.

The next day was a whirlwind of excitement for the choir. They knew that they wouldn't have time for makeup for the second round because of having to do two performances but they did have some fun costumes lined up. For Showcase they ended up with the first slot and came out swinging with a few snap shots out of Wizard of Oz but using contemporary music to tell the story. The group number was sung first by most of the choir dressed up as the munchkins and singing to Tina dressed as Dorothy. They sang Horizons by Puscifer and the lingering harmonies of the song coupled with the lyrics makes many people in the audience, very few of whom had actually ever heard the song, wonder if the song was actually inspired by the story. Most of the kids in the choir got a line or three and unlike the previous day they gave the audience a chance to applaud for them in between numbers. Tina took the solo and she sang Haunted by Poe which kept up the eerie quality to the songs. She sang this while being attacked by some quick changed flying monkeys. Brittany and Sam brought the show to an end dressed as the Wizard and Glinda they sang a duet of The World is Not Enough by Garbage surrounded by everyone.

Once again, the crowd was giving them a standing ovation and this time around they weren't pushing the clock so they managed to take a quick bow before vacating the stage so the Peaches could take the number 2 slot. Most of the choir decided to watch the rest of the show but a few said they couldn't handle the stress and went back to the rooms. Puck, Sam, Mercedes, and Sugar left the group but the rest filed into the seats as the Peaches also finished their set with their duet a mash-up of Utada's Apple and Cinnamon and Rhianna's Firebomb originally arranged by Meghan Tonjes but they put back in the beat to make it less folksy and more their style. The choir couldn't help but stand up at the amazing performance of the mashed song.

The next two choirs while obviously fantastic to get to this stage of the competition were not in the same league as New Directions or the Peaches for that matter. Finally in the 6th slot came the group they were most afraid of, Noises On took the stage. They started with their solo having a pretty girl who hadn't had a solo yet sing Cornflake Girl by Tori Amos and rolled into their group number which was Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog featuring Green Hair strongly and the duet was the same line up as they day before and they performed Over Now by Alice in Chains. They were still amazing vocally even if they were somewhat lacking in the choreography department. While there was almost no doubt they would advance to the finals Brittany had figured out their real weakness and hoped the judges would too. The choir after Noises On had their soloist get a massive case of stage fright and run off the stage. The last choir was fantastic as well an all boys choir from Wyoming called the Bromantics. Despite the stupid name they seemed to be a more masculine version of the Warblers doing a classic rock set singing What Is and What Never Should Be by Led Zeppelin, Love Reign O'er Me by The Who, and Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Will, Emma and Carole took the kids nearby to a nearby fast-food place while they waited for the Showcase results. Carole pulled out a packed vegan friendly lunch and handed it over to Rachel who beamed hugely. They ate quickly and practically ran back to the theater only minutes before the Showcase outcome was posted. Rachel pushed to the front to look as even Mr. Schuester was too nervous to look.

5. Georgia Peaches  
>4. Knights of Knotes<br>3. Bromantics  
>2. New Directions<br>1. Noises On

Rachel walked back to the rest of the choir a little bummed that they didn't clean sweep all three rounds of Nationals, but at each stage the results were reset so everyone is on equal footing. It all comes down to the last performance. The rest of the group is naturally a bit disappointed as well but still hopeful about the last round with the soloist being Rachel and the duet being Mercedes and Santana. They were finishing strong with their powerhouse voices. They had this...at least they hoped they did.

They quickly changed in the provided dressing rooms only getting a few minutes before the third and final round starts. The first act to take the stage is The Peaches but since New Directions is Second they don't really catch anything but the last song which turns out to be Alicia Keys' Fallin', their solo, and to say they saved their best for last wasn't inaccurate at all. They left the stage to thunderous applause leaving the stage vacant for Rachel to introduce them for her final show with New Directions. It just seemed right.

She walks out in baggy raggedy clothing she starts singing Loneliness is Worse by Veruca Salt. About halfway through the song Mercedes and Santana take the stage immaculately dressed having Rachel clean wherever they point their fingers. When Rachel finishes her song the other two girls start singing the song they sang to each other in their sophomore year over Puck The Boy is Mine by Brandy and Monica. They have obviously been practicing and it is better than it has ever been. They start off singing to Rachel and eventually they start singing to each other and fighting amongst themselves. Kurt comes on stage dressed perfectly in a smart powder blue suit with fairy wings on his back. He walks over to Rachel while the other girls are fighting and rips the tear-away rags off of Rachel leaving her in a stunning Cinderella ball gown. When the song ends everyone leaves the stage. After a few seconds the whole of the choir waltzes onto stage all portraying the Cinderella Ball guests. Blaine looks appropriately smart playing Prince Charming. After a moment Love Song by The Cure starts playing, sung by the whole group but leaning heavily on the guys as they each pick a woman to dance with. Blaine about halfway through the song spots Rachel and the two of them finish the song. They left the stage to a wonderful standing ovation and all they could do is hope that they did enough to win. They all went back out into the audience to watch the final performances.

Noises on were third and they were, in Brittany's opinion, completely predictable performing 90's grunge and alternative. They did their solo first having green hair do Soundgarden's Blow up the Outside World, their duet was No Doubt's Just a Girl and they finished with Tonight Tonight by the Smashing Pumpkins. There was nothing wrong with their set, in fact they were amazing, but it was very similar to the one they did only hours before and again with no real choreography and Brittany hoped that would be the lynch pin that allowed New Directions to win.

Knights of Knotes seemed to have the opposite problem doing a wondrous set of modern swing music, however during So Long Toots by The Cherry Poppin' Daddies one of the male dancers flung his partner into another couple knocking them both off their feet and their tumble took down 3 other dancers as well. They managed to recover pretty well not losing the song in the process but the fumble was going to ensure that they didn't win.

The Bromantics did an okay set of 80's hair band songs. They did Def Leopard's Pour Some Sugar on Me, Whitesnake's Here I Go Again and Mötley Crϋe's Home Sweet Home. Brittany thought that had they switched this performance with their Showcase performance they would probably place higher. After the last note Jason Segel walks onto the stage.

"Ladies and gents that does it. We will take a short intermission while the judges convene and make their decisions. If I could have all the Finalists please go to the staging area it should only be about 15 minutes.

All five choirs head back to the staging everyone is mostly excited but there are few nasty looks being thrown about mostly from green hair towards Rachel but they aren't the only ones in the room having staring contests. Brittany looks at the girl and she is obviously aware of the glares from the douchehat but seems completely above his drama. As if he could feel the tension in the room Jason Segel comes into the room and the 5 choirs applauded him. He told them to cut it out and he walked from group to group talking to them complimenting individual singers, signing autographs. He shakes Green Hair's hand and then walks over to New Directions.

"Only a couple more minutes guys. I have to say your performances were so creative I especially liked your first one."

"Thank you so much Mr. Segel." Mercedes said in awe.

"I have to tell everyone of you choirs that it's Jason, or even Marshall if you have to but Mr. Segel is my mother." This gets a laugh out of everyone but one that is kind of nervous. He signs an autograph for Rachel. "What is your name young lady."

"Rachel Berry." She responds automatically.

"Rachel how does a voice like that come out of someone so very small. You're very small." He towers over her by more than a foot but the smile he gives her tells her that he is just messing with her and she smiles back at him.

"Many, many years of voice training Jason." She replied in her usual conceited fashion.

"Well it paid off fantastically for you Rachel. Good luck to you all." He says in a low whisper. "I am personally routing for you guys." Brittany assumes he probably told this to all the groups but appreciates the effort. The lights flash in the back room and Brittany's breath catches. "That's my cue guys." He practically runs out onto the stage to the roar of the crowd.

"All right everyone the judges have come to a decision but first let's welcome back to the stage each of our finalists. First up, in no particular order, from Athens, Georgia The Georgia Peaches." He pauses to allow each choir to go out on stage and take their bows. "From Cheyenne, Wyoming The Bromantics. From Lima, Ohio New Directions. Next up from Reno, Nevada the Knights of Knotes. Last but certainly not least from Sonoma, Arizona Noises On."

"One more round of applause for our 5 finalists and for all the choirs that performed this Memorial Day weekend." The five choirs stand there grinning madly.

"In 5th place we have..." He opens the first envelope. "The Knights of Knotes." There is applause for the group while they hand the director a smallish but fair sized trophy. They don't seem surprised by their 5th place showing and one of the young men looks like he is about to cry, Brittany recognizes him as the one who made the bad toss.

"In 4th place...The Bromantics." There seems to be a whole lot of grim faced stoicism from the boys but they accept their trophy proudly, they are after all the fourth best choir in the country.

"In 3rd place..." He pauses for dramatic effect. "Noises On." The look of shock on Green Hair's face makes Brittany smile. She catches out of the Corner of her eye Rachel, her previous decorum completely evaporated, stick her tongue out at Green Hair who looks about ready to jump across the stage and strangle her.

"And finally your National Show Choir Champion is..." Both New Directions and The Peaches close their eyes and hug each other waiting for Jason Segel to announce the winner. "New Directions."

**A/N: Hopefully the expedited version of events didn't bore you too much but I could have easily stretched this over 3+ chapters with and I wanted to at least give you a reader's digest version. I seriously considered throwing you for a loop and having the Peaches come in first but I just couldn't bring myself to actually do it. Lots of music mentioned in this chapter there is an authors note as the last chapter that contain a comprehensive list of all songs mentioned or listed in this fic. All songs with the exception of the 80's glam metal set by the Bromantics (not a fan of the genre but it seemed fitting) are from my personal music collection and I highly recommend them if you have never heard them.**


	9. There is no other choice

**Chapter 9: There is no other choice  
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Brittany walks through the terminal at Cleveland Hopkins Airport chatting with Rachel about Firefly since as it turns out Rachel is also a fan if not as vociferous as herself. She feels a firm hand grasp her by the arm and her training kicks in she spins to see four TSA agents standing behind her with hands on gun holsters. She lowers her hackles and puts on her best simpering idiot smile.

"Um can I help you?"

"Brittany Pierce, come with us you are under arrest." The agent grasping her arm says carefully.

Mr. Shue appears in a flash practically running down a few members of New Directions in the process. "What has she done?" He asks in complete bewilderment.

"That is none of your affair sir, please back away." He says taking out a pair of handcuffs and pulling Brittany closer to her.

"This is a school trip and she is under my care so what has she done?" His voice is far more commanding when he addresses the Airport Police the second time but the agent just rolls his eyes. He spins Brittany around and puts the cuff on her right wrist bearing down hard.

"I usually like handcuffs but they are a little tight." Brittany says.

The agent pauses at the comment from Brittany before turning back to Will. "Fine sir. This young woman is being arrested for the unlawful carrying of a firearm on a domestic flight. She will be taken in to be processed." The man responds in an irritated way.

"Firearm is that like the thing that Iron Man uses to fly with." She says doing her best to not blow her cover but is honestly a little panicked.

"Cute." The TSA agent says sarcastically as he finishes putting the handcuffs on her wrists. He pats her down looking for any other weapons fortunately missing the garrote wire hidden in the bracelet she is wearing. He grabs her wallet and pulls out her ID card and looks at it carefully.

"This has to be some mistake I am coming with you until this is straightened out." Will says and Emma nods her head letting him know silently that she will stay with the rest of the group.

"According to her ID she is 18 years old, so no, you will not be coming with her." Without another word he pulls her away from the rest of the group. He manhandles her rather forcefully through a set of double doors and into the back hallways of the airport. After a walk of a few minutes they put her in a stereotypical holding and interrogation room and fasten her to a chair. They check that she is securely fastened and then leave the room.

"I want to speak to whoever is in charge." She says to the two way mirror. "I am a federal agent and as such have authorization to carry a weapon in my baggage. I have authorization to carry it on my person but being that I am undercover I figured it would be a bit of a risk to my four year undercover mission to check it in my somewhat large group." She calls out to the empty room almost shouting by the end of her statement.

A homely man in his mid 30's but in excellent shape walks into the room and sits across the table from Brittany. He sits there for a few minutes eying her darkly and Brittany is getting annoyed at the standard interrogation tactics which she knows by heart and will have absolutely no effect on her. "You expect me to swallow that load of horse crap." Brittany recognizes his accent as that of rural northern Texas.

She sighs quickly and in a frustrated manner before addressing him. "Grab a phone Wichita Falls and we will get this cleared up in a few minutes." The man flinches and she inwardly grins at guessing his home town.

"Fine who am I calling?" He says annoyed but willing to play her game for now at least.

"Langley, Virginia. CIA headquarters. Oh and I swear if you have blown my cover Wichita I will have every single one of your badges, and I may not even stop there, I might make sure you do time." Brittany says acidly.

The man visibly swallows and he leaves the room to get the phone and the correct phone number. He brings in a white office phone and dials in the number, when it starts to ring he turns on the speakerphone. The phone rings twice. "CIA headquarters how may I direct your call?"

Brittany leans forwards towards the phone. "I need to speak to Special Agent Joseph Robertson."

"I'm sorry we have no one at The Company by that name." She answers automatically. The TSA agent smiles smugly and moves to hang up the phone but Brittany starts speaking again.

"Uh huh save the rhetoric operator I need this transfer quickly. This is Agent Snowbird, Authorization Code withheld for OpSec. Alert Code: Firefall."

"Code confirmed. Transferring your call now." The Texan's face visibly pales. There is some horrible jazz music played while they wait on hold which turns out to be about twenty five seconds.

"Snow is this actually you?" Robertson says angrily his voice tinny coming through the old style speaker phone.

"It's me Robertson." She responds kind of ashamed.

"Of all people I expect to be invoking firefall I didn't expect it to be you. It isn't like your mission has you blowing up buildings. Why the hell are you in law enforcement custody?"

"TSA must have found the Camera and the Lenses with my disassembled piece in it. I thought that the camera gun concealer kit was supposed to be X-Ray proof." Brittany says the annoyance in her tone is obvious to everyone hearing her speak.

"Technically it is X-Ray proof but the problem is if you get someone really good at their job, they will notice that there is a dead spot in the suitcase and well..." Robertson trails off the rest of the sentence not needing to be said because she is living out that particular scenario.

"I see." Brittany says with naked anger showing in her voice. "So, sir, pretty please with sugar on top, can you get me the fuck out of here?" She says annoyed.

"No need to paraphrase Pulp fiction, I'm on it. Cleveland Airport?"

"Yes sir."

"Hang on a sec Snow." They can hear clicking over the phone and they are placed back on hold. Brittany waits her grin getting progressively darker while the terrible music fills the room ominously. The phone clicks over and Robertson speaks again. "You still there?"

"Yes sir." She responds again.

"It's handled. Call me at 2100 hours for debrief on this situation, fallout and current viability of your mission." His tone made her dark grin disappear and her face took on a worried look. She was usually more controlled with her emotions but this caught her completely off guard.

"Understood." She already had her emotions back under her control and she said this quickly and calmly. "I don't think it's been long enough to really raise any eyebrows as long as I get back in the next few minutes and can spin a plausible story to Mr. Shue and the club."

"And that is?" Robertson asks intrigued.

"Like you said in training sir oftentimes the best lies and the best covers are usually the simplest. I'll just tell them that it wasn't my bag."

"Good. 2100 hours Snow not a minute later." Robertson hangs up the phone.

She turns to the TSA agent with murder in her eyes and the man actually flinches. Brittany has to hold in her laughter since technically she is still handcuffed to the chair and yet here she is making a grown man start back in fear with nothing more than a harsh look. She obviously has more up her sleeve than a look but it amuses her when that is all she needs. "Now listen carefully airport drone, I expect my bag returned to me WITH the full camera set and my sidearm in the next 5 minutes." She waits a few seconds and when he doesn't move she says in a much firmer tone. "Sooner would be better than later so you might want to get in gear."

"It is going to take a lot longer than that to out process you. At least an hour with all the paperwork required." He says trepidation coloring his voice.

"No, it isn't. In about 1 minute you are about to get rained on by the shit storm to end all shit storms. So I will be out of this room in five minutes or there will be some very nasty consequences." About a minute and a half later the door to the little room bursts open to admit a very large very sweaty balding fat guy. Brittany estimates his weight at close to 400 pounds; he looked like he needed to put the donuts down.

The man squeezes through the door with a little effort drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. "CIA, FBI, and Homeland have all called about her detention. Release her right now. There is to be no record that she was ever here." The man in the room looks like he has been kicked in the jewels and Brittany stands up slipping out of the cuffs as if she wasn't even wearing them. Wichita Falls' eyes look like they are about to pop out of his head, so she pats him condescendingly on top of his head. He backs his chair up and stands moving away from the beautiful but now obviously dangerous young woman.

Brittany closes the gap between them to the point her chest is almost pressed against his. The man stands about 3 inches taller than her but she still manages to loom over him. "Your five minutes is almost up I suggest you get my bag rather quickly." Her voice is cold and emotionless and she sees him visibly shiver at her words. He runs out the door and she sits down on the table edge and inspects her nails for any dirt or cuticles. It had been a bit since her last manicure she usually went with Santana but maybe Rachel will want to go for one. Or maybe Santana in an effort to reclaim what they lost this weekend.

They were doing so well before all this happened. It's not like Brittany expected them to just be perfectly fine after she broke up with Santana but she wanted it to be better than it currently was. Then she remembered that she was leaving in a few weeks and she would probably never see Santana again. She hated to admit it but she really had become her best friend. The best friend she ever had in fact even without the benefits. Now she was going to have to give that all up. Then there was Rachel.

The TSA agent rolls her suitcase in while this inner struggle is sliding through her conscious thought but just in time to stop the train from going down the tracks of what her and Rachel were becoming. The man hands her the SLR, each of the lenses, and her gun parts separately. She sighs noticing that the parts have been removed from each of the camera lenses, all of it, so she sets everything down on the table and sets herself into the routine of gun assembly and in less than thirty seconds has them back in the camera and the lenses in their correct places, shocking the airport rent a cop even more.

"Well Lone Star Loser this has been a turd in a punchbowl and I hope for your sakes that I never see any of you ever again." She smiles her brightest Brittany smile. "Have a nice day." She says already back in character.

She is escorted out the hallways by a female agent since she assumes that the man in the room probably needs to change his underpants. She walks out the double doors looking quite cowed and overwhelmed. She is rushed by the rest of the choir who hasn't quite left yet.

Rachel, Santana and Quinn naturally seem the most worried but there is obvious concern on everyone's faces and she is being hugged by half the choir at once and once they let go the other half moves in. Finally she is allowed to breathe and Will and Emma approach her.

"Brittany! Are you okay?" She nods in affirmation. "What happened."

"They brought in this suitcase and it was green but I told them that it wasn't mine, my suitcase was blue like my eyes. It's how I remember how to find it."

"So it was all just a misunderstanding?" Will asks with obvious relief.

"I don't know what that word means Mr. Shue." She responds.

"It doesn't matter as long as you're alright." She nods again. "I tried getting a hold of your parents but they didn't answer their phones it just went straight to voicemail."

"They know I am coming home soon so they are probably having sex while I am still out of the house." This comment makes Will blush pretty deeply and a few of the other singers snicker. He does his best to ignore the comment and turns back to the rest of the choir.

"All right kids well we are all accounted for now so we can get on our way before our bus leaves us behind." He sets off for the bus with more than a dozen kids in tow. Rachel takes Brittany's hand in hers and Brittany feels her heartbeat kick up a notch before kicking herself in the ass and reminding herself that it's just for show. She keeps reminding herself over and over.

When they finally got on the bus they took a seat near the back and Rachel leaned to whisper into Brittany's ear. She made it look seductive for the benefit of the rest of her peers but she actually was just really curious. "What actually happened back there."

Brittany wraps the small girl in her arms and kisses her gently on the neck. Normally she would place a small bite there too it was kind of her trademark but she withheld her teeth because Rachel had said no. She nuzzles Rachel's ear with lips and breaths out softly. "I will tell you when there aren't so many ears around. Let's take a nap for the rest of the journey, yeah?"

Rachel's heartbeat has started pounding and Brittany can hear her rapid shallow breaths as she says "Okay." It doesn't take Rachel too long to fall asleep, lulled into nocturne by the sound of Brittany's heartbeat and the gentle rocking motion and hum of the bus. Brittany on the other hand didn't sleep at all, because she sat there far too worried by Robertson's tone over the speakerphone. It sounded like his mind was already made up and that the final solution was going to happen any day now. She cared about everyone in the choir and she just couldn't allow this to happen if it was in her power to stop it. She needed a lead though, and fast.

She looked down at Rachel's head and kissed the top of it and Rachel smiled and cuddled further into Brittany without waking up. A few thoughts ran through her head: firstly she wondered if she could get Rachel to go back on her word on the whole just being friends thing. Secondly though and far more important, she had to succeed in her mission for Rachel's sake at least. There is no other choice.


	10. I'm an idiot

**Chapter 10: I'm an Idiot**

"Rach wake up we're here." The gorgeous sleeping diva mumbled quietly in her sleep but didn't rouse at Brittany's soft call to her. Brittany got very close to her ear and unconsciously inhaled her scent. She smelled of Strawberries and vanilla and it made Brittany hungry in more than one way. She had to test a theory though even if it would ruin the moment. She whispers softly into the brunette's ear. "And the award goes to..." Rachel's eyes instantly pop open and she sits up quickly causing Brittany to descend into fits of giggles. Rachel frowns at Brittany and gives her the evil eye. She forcefully tries to pull the girl back into her arms and Rachel struggles for a few moments but after a few seconds Rachel relaxes again allowing the blonde girl to embrace her again. "Sorry Rach I just wanted to see if it would actually work and apparently it did."

"Finn told you about that didn't he? I am going to kill him." She admonished still obviously more than a little perturbed at the blonde.

"Actually Finn told Quinn when they got back together in Junior year, and then she told Santana and I last year in New York." At the look on her face Brittany knew she had to do some damage control to salvage Rachel and Quinn's still relatively fragile and new friendship so she just told the truth. "It just came out, she was still upset about you two getting back together and she was just venting some frustration. We went to go get her haircut and talk her out of sabotaging the choir's chances at Nationals. She was ready to rat out you and Kurt out for sneaking off to do whatever it is you two did in New York. We managed to get someone to buy for us and we were drinking and she may have had an unkind word or two about you. I assure you, though, that she's over that whole Finn drama. So are you, so don't let an incident that happened a year ago color the way you feel about her now. Admittedly, when she told me this, I may have had a laugh at it but I assure you it was because I thought it was kind of cute and not in any malicious sort of way."

Rachel pulled her hair behind her right ear and looked down shyly. "It's just, I'm not ashamed of my dreams, you know, but that little idiosyncrasy, well it's a little embarrassing."

Brittany took her hand and gently nudged Rachel's chin up and towards her until she met her eyes. "No Rachel, it's adorable." Brittany began slowly moving forward, with Rachel already in her arms she was only a few inches away as it was, so she didn't have far to go. A look of panic crossed Rachel's eyes but she didn't pull away. Rachel's breathing became erratic and her eyes fluttered closed so she completely missed the smirk that crossed Brittany's face. After a weekend that felt like an eternity Brittany's lips finally touched Rachel's. Just the merest of touches and Brittany feels sparks fly through her whole body. It was amazing all Brittany knew was she wanted more she opens her mouth to try and deepen the kiss.

"Ladies, the bus driver would like to go home sometime tonight." Mr. Schuester says before getting off the bus.

One second. One fucking second is all she got. The moment spoiled before it can really go anywhere Brittany pulls back. "Excuse me Rachel I need to go chop Shue in the throat." She stands and starts stalking in a hostile way towards the front of the bus. She hears a giggling Rachel following her and she feels the smaller girl latch onto her hand. Brittany wasn't sure if it was to hold her back or because she wanted to hold her hand either way though she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It's not like she was actually going to strike Will Schuester even if he did occasionally deserve a smack upside his good intentioned but ridiculously permed head. Brittany descended the stairs of the rented handicapped bus never letting go of Rachel's hand or her slight smile.

"All right kids, go home, it's late and I will see you all in the choir room tomorrow after school." Will says. "Congratulations all. You've earned it." He puts his arm around Emma his eyes a little misty and they get in his piece of crap car to drive home but not before sticking his head out the window and screaming woo at the top of his lungs. The girls clearly hear Santana call him a dork.

Brittany genuinely smiles before turning to Rachel and hugging her. Not one to press her luck she softly kisses Rachel's cheek and slowly releases her making sure she gently drags her hands across her back and sides. It's all about the teasing and then about the pleasing. Brittany smiles inwardly at her co-opting and repurposing of now Quinn's old catch phrase. She feels the shiver that passes through Rachel's body and decides to push the envelope just a tiny bit more. The voice she uses to say the next sentence shows all of her seduction skills in just a few simple words. "Tomorrow you're coming over to my house and I will give you the tour that no one has ever gotten." Rachel blushes deeply so in a quick whisper. "You do realize I mean my investigation setup right?" Brittany clarifies but in such a tone of voice that obviously says that could easily be more if Rachel wanted it.

"Oh yes right." Rachel responds shifting uncomfortably on her legs. She clears her throat before saying, "I will see you tomorrow." She looks around and makes sure no one is paying either of them any attention. "Snow." She finishes and then walks towards her car sashaying her hips in seductive but kind of obvious way. It worked though, because Brittany stood entranced at the gentle sway of her ass. She also caught Puck who was talking to Kurt and Blaine peek over at the sight.

Brittany walks towards her heavily modified VW Beetle. So many spy cars were beautiful but incredibly ostentatious which could make undercover difficult. The Vanquish was a lot of fun but it would stick out like a sore thumb in rural Ohio even if she was pretending to be from a well to do family. She was quite pleased when they showed her her car during the mission debrief. It started off fairly basic (for a spy car anyway) but she has tinkered with it over the years and it is probably one of the most technological cars on the planet now. The Vanquish did give her a few ideas for upgrading the security though. _Another day_ she tells herself.

She opens the door and deactivates the ignition kill switch with a finger print in a seemingly innocuous place on the dashboard. The car roars to life with an engine that in no way belongs to a Volkswagen Beetle. She says the phrase "African or European?," another homage to Monty Python, and a fully interactive heads up display appears on the inside of the dash. It has been specially designed so that it can only be seen by someone sitting in the car so she usually drives with it on unless she has company. She goes over basic information, time, temperature and weapon status before she notices the blinking light that indicates that she has unread email.

"Correspondence. Activate voice reading." Brittany said using the voice interface software she installed. The original model was all button push which in a car isn't the safest way to do things. A robotic voice began to read.

_"You have one New Email: First Message_

_From: Robertson  
>To: Snowbird.<em>

_Apologies Snow but I am cancelling our evening debriefing. After today's mishap the higher ups have deemed that the mission isn't yielding results and the timetable is being advanced and this means meetings and a mountain of paperwork. Times like this make me miss being a field agent. Final Solution will occur in five days. Please be prepared to facilitate the abductions and lead the teams on all raids against our viable suspects. I will contact you soon with details when I have them myself._

_End of Message." _

"Shit." She says resignedly, not entirely sure how she was going to tell Rachel about this or if she even should.

_"Command Not Recognized."_

"Delete Message."

"_Message has been erased."_

She pulled up to a red light and began kneading soft circles on her temples trying to put the pieces of her mystery together. The same mystery that had been baffling her for almost 4 years now. She let her forehead bump the steering wheel and she let out a grunt of frustration. McKinley, emails, shifting IP's and logons, possible mafia connections. Where is that elusive spark in her brilliant mind that usually ignites when confronted with a puzzle.

She sits there thinking so long that she doesn't notice the light turn green until someone honks at her. She drives away while flipping the bird. She knew she was at fault but a major rule of being a spy is don't draw attention to yourself (unless of course that's what you want) and a normal person would give a honking car the finger.

She decided that what she really needed now was sleep. It's been an extremely long weekend and perhaps the morning will bring a fresh perspective that will shed some new light on her problem. A few minutes later she is pulling into the government owned home. She has the car deactivate the less nasty protections (all non lethal) placed on the home before exiting the vehicle. She walks up to the front door and punches in a code that not only deactivates the alarm but also opens the front door. An intruder would find about a hundred thousand volts of anti intrusion incentive, and that is just the first hurdle there are far more dangerous things lurking inside that aren't so non-lethal.

Santana often asked why they never threw parties at her place when her parents were hardly home. She usually said something about Lord Tubbington not liking loud noises but really she just didn't want someone accidentally fiddling with a deactivated trap and inadvertently setting it off. All she needed was simple minded Finn touching the wrong thing and having his head blown off by an explosive charge. It's not that she was paranoid about invasion or anything because she knew this was way overkill for this kind of mission. The downtime, however, was huge given her few leads and when she got bored she would tinker with things and over time she just seemed to surround her little castle in death and destruction. Maybe she would sell some of her designs to the CIA and retire at 30. She clomped up the stairs one step at a time dragging her suitcase behind her.

When she got to her room she opened the unlocked door. The lock was the only security on the door and it is the old school kind that use an actual old fashioned iron key which she didn't even have. She figured if they could get this far into her home then they deserved whatever they could get their hands on. She stripped down nude throwing her clothes into a hamper and sank into her canopy bed encasing herself in warmth as she pulled the covers around her body. Her eyes closed and in a matter of only a few seconds there was nothing but sweet oblivion.

Nine hours later after a dreamless sleep she woke up to the sound of Misery Business by Paramore playing on her clock radio. She liked the song so rather than hitting snooze she lets the radio play and gets out of bed to begin her morning routine: exercise, shower, dressing in her cheerleading uniform, and food. Soon enough she is in her car and is driving the 10 minutes to McKinley. She pulls into a spot near the front. She always needs to be able to get to her car quickly in case of emergency, so she arrives early even when there is no cheerleading practice. The practices for the seniors now that they won the Cheerleading Nationals were pretty much just grooming the underclassmen into taking their positions. Unfortunately, this next crop there was no one really with the Unholy Trinity's talent for dance but Sue would whip them into shape, she always did. There were a few girls, however, that were vicious enough to take their spot as HBICs. One girl in particular, named Kitty, was evil incarnate.

There wasn't any practice today so she threw on her best simpering idiot look and headed into the battlefield that was McKinley High School. She walked through the halls, the crowds parting appropriately for someone of her status even though there weren't many people on campus yet. She opened her locker quickly and deposited her books. School is almost over and the mission was over in a few days with her deadline moved up; school work seemed somewhat pointless at this juncture, even if she did minimal work before and the work she did was a joke.

Rachel came skipping up to her in her usual bouncy fashion. "Morning Snow. Hey, I was wondering why you always come to school this early if you don't care about it." She says softly after making sure no one was in earshot.

"A myriad of reasons really. OPSEC, observation, data gathering from certain recording devices and sometimes it was because I had to for Cheerios."

"Huh. Interesting. Oh, pardon the lack of segue but I heard it through the grapevine the school is planning something for us later today at lunch I am unsure as to what."

"That sounds ominous. Do we know what they are planning?"

"Who knows, knowing our fellow Titans it could be congratulatory for our win or it could be some horrible prank perpetuated by the less amiable members of the student body to make sure the now successful New Directions don't start bucking the social structure."

"Your vocabulary is hot." Brittany says her pupils dilating slightly when she notices the short dress and the bounty of leg on the short girl.

"Like you aren't able to hit me with words even I have never heard of Miss I graduated high school in diapers." Rachel says in a fairly obvious attempt to deflect Brittany's lust.

"That is an exaggeration my dear. I only wore diapers 'til I was eight." She said smiling and got a light laugh out of Rachel for it. "Hey I know I probably shouldn't tell you but when you come over tonight I need to be the bearer of bad news."

"What's up?" She asks curiously.

"Not here." Brittany responds.

"Okay. Well I should head to my first class." Rachel extends up on her tiptoes and kisses her on the cheek. Brittany is a little upset that they couldn't duplicate even the chaste kiss on the bus but she guesses, given the aloofness she is displaying, that Rachel probably regrets it. "See you in glee?" Brittany nods and Rachel scampers off.

The day passes pretty normally for a day at their caustic school until fourth period. Brittany gets a messenger from the office who pulls her out of her remedial math class saying that Mr. Schuester needed to see her in the choir room. She grabbed her empty book bag and left the classroom. She got there at the same time as Santana and Quinn who were coming in from their English class.

"Any idea what this is about Brit?" Quinn says.

"I was gonna ask you." She responds.

They walk into the room to find the majority of the club already assembled and a few others trickling in behind them. All of them were wondering what was going on and Shue hadn't arrived yet. When the last member came in Will came in being escorted by Emma.

"Hey guys. What's going on here? Why are you all out of class?" He asked the assembled kids.

They all looked dumbstruck since they assumed that their teacher was the one who summoned them there. Emma just smiled coyly and closed the door to the choir room.

"Emma what do you know?" Will asks with a hint of annoyance creeping through.

"Me, I know quite a bit. Like: did you know that two thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey. Did you know that screeched is the longest one syllable word in the English language. Did you know that I was the one who had you all pulled out of your classes. Lastly did you know that the school is very proud of you guys." There was a knock on the door three quick raps. "Why don't you head out there and see."

Emma walks over to the door and opens it back up to see a gauntlet of students standing in the hallway. When they are all in the open the cheering starts. The students first throw confetti at them and they then hand them a glass of sparkling apple cider. The gauntlet led them all into the gym where THEY were treated to a series of performances from various groups in the school including the theater kids and the band along with a few of the clubs. They found out a few days later that Sue had tried to keep the Cheerios from performing but they always made a big deal for them every time they won so Figgins insisted. The rally lasted about a half hour and the whole student body enjoyed the show especially the New Directions who were also treated to pizza.

Glee was a somewhat subdued affair for the kids as they were still tired and jet lagged. Mr. Shue opened the floor to the kids after he and Emma performed a duet of Goodbye by The Pretenders. Puck came up and sang When I'm Down by Chris Cornell. No one else had anything prepared so he gave them the assignment to each come up with a goodbye song for their last Glee assignment and he let them go early.

Brittany walks up to Rachel. "Are you ready Rach?"

"I need to stop by my locker to get some books. Finals are right around the corner and all."

"Sure, I will meet you in the parking lot then." She starts in that direction and goes about fifty feet before a familiar smoky voice calls down the hallway for her.

"Brittany! Hey, Quinn and I were wondering if you wanted to go see a movie today maybe do dinner and some shopping too. Harass people, you know like old times. Sort of a last hurrah for the Unholy Trinity." The latina goddess asks.

"I can't San, at least not today I have plans." Brittany answers sadly.

"With her." Santana says as more of a statement than a question and Brittany nods. Santana sighs softly trying and failing to hide her disappointment but obviously at least attempting to take the high road. So with hope and only a slight tinge of bitterness Santana asks, "Rain check?"

"I'm busy after school for the next week or so and my parents want quality time this weekend," she says thinking about the week's abductions and how much time it was all going to take. "How about next Monday?" She says this knowing full well she might not even be there on Monday.

"Sure." She says. Santana wraps her arms around her best friend and Brittany relaxes into the hug. "See you tomorrow Britt."

"Bye Santana." Brittany watches Santana walk over to Quinn who wraps her arm over Santana's shoulder in a comforting way. She sees the blonde talking to the brunette in a very comforting way. Brittany is happy they could put their rivalry aside so that Quinn can help her with finally moving on.

She heads to her car and sees Rachel waiting by her own. They are a little far from each other to communicate so she just mouths follow me and gets in her car. She drives it back to her place keeping her speed down so that Rachel could follow her.

They arrive at the house and they both park in the driveway. They exit their respective vehicles and Rachel stares at her house. "Wow." She says.

"Five Bedrooms 4500 square feet. We both know the government isn't known for restraint when it comes to spending." This elicits a snicker from the diva. "Or much else really. Let's head inside." She deactivated the active security and the nastier stuff inside she took offline before she left for school since she knew she was having company. They walk up the stairs and head down a long hallway. "This is my room and apart from the living room the only room that anyone has ever seen in the house. There is nothing all that interesting in it. Unless of course you would like to see the bed." She raises her eyebrows in a suggestive but joking manner. Rachel shakes her head at her rolling her eyes. "Or the world's fattest cat Lord Tubbington. Don't look at me like that I never had a pet before and I spoil the hell out of him."

"This is my surveillance room." She says using a retinal scanner hidden behind a slide away control panel. Once the panel scans her eye she closes the panel and the door slides open like a vault. Inside the door is a wall of TV's hooked up to several cameras in each of her suspects home as well as a continuous feed from the computers in school and cameras in both the choir room, auditorium, Shue's, Figgins, and Sue's offices.

"You have a camera in my bedroom?" Rachel says outraged.

"Of course I do you are a suspect after all. Nice ass by the way."

"I am going to kill you." She says blushing so crimson she could match the color of a tomato. "Hey why are Sam and Mercedes still in the choir room. Oh." On the monitor she sees Sam kiss Mercedes deeply. Both of their hands and are all over each other.

"Oh yeah people use the choir room for making out or sex all the time. San and I, Finn and Quinn, you and Finn, you and Jesse, Mike and Tina and other combinations. Even caught a cheerio not in our choir diddling herself once. Not really sure why she was doing it there but it was kind of hot."

"Snow you are a total Perv." Rachel says.

"And how." Brittany confirms.

"Huh Puck just walked into the room."

"There you are Puck we were wondering if you got lost or something." Mercedes said smiling. She walked over to Puck and kissed him as well.

"Whoa what the fuck." Rachel said the profanity slipping out in her surprise.

"Yeah that one caught me a little of guard I have to say." Brittany replies. Sam walks over to Mercedes and starts rubbing her shoulders. When Puck comes up for air Sam's froggy lips take Mercedes' place. Sam kissed Puck deeply and both boys fell into the moment while Mercedes began taking their pants off and dropping to her knees.

"Okay that is enough of that." Rachel says turning around on the monitor.

"Yeah, yeah totally enough of that." Brittany says making sure the recording went to her personal files before turning the monitor off.

"You wanted to tell me something?" Rachel asks curiously.

"Yeah I did." Brittany proceeds to tell her over the next five minutes everything Robertson told her on the phone at the airport and in the email he sent. Rachel seemed disturbed by the advancement of the timetable and the inevitable abductions that will occur unless Brittany can determine who the culprit is.

"This is problematic. Show me what you have." Rachel says using her leadership voice that kind of turned Brittany on.

"Apart from the surveillance, I told you about everything else in the hotel room back in Los Angeles. "

"So," she pauses, "all you have is the footage and voice recordings which I assume you have poured through as well as the emails."

"The encrypted emails yes."

"You mean you haven't broken the code yet?" Rachel sounds a little surprised at this.

"Our best codebreakers have been working for years trying to break it with no luck." Brittany responds.

"Well sure but they aren't you. Are you capable of codebreaking?"

"I know how, they teach us in spy training, I just hate it it's time consuming, boring and tedious." Brittany says but there is a hint of excitement hidden under her voice.

"Okay fine, but this is your case why didn't you ever try and do it yourself?" Rachel asks somewhat incredulously.

"Because I am an idiot apparently. I never tried because of my aversion to it and I figured I would leave it to the experts. I was top of my class in breaking though maybe I will have some luck where they didn't."

"Not even here 10 minutes and I cracked your case for you." Rachel said smugly

"Cracked, no. You did however breathe new life into a lost cause." She gave Rachel a Brittany hug, a genuine one. After she let go she immediately went to her laptop. "This next part is going to be fairly boring so you are welcome to put a movie on. There is a bisexual threeway on the monitor." Brittany says sardonically and Rachel crosses her arms and glares at her. Seriously though, that computer has a massive media library hooked up to the big TV she says pointing at the far wall. Or if you want to go home you can do that too, I probably won't be much for conversation for the next few hours.

Rachel stayed for a few hours watched a few movies and ordered food at around 6. As promised Brittany wasn't much in the way of company but they did exchange a few words and a few laughs here or there. She left around 9 with Britt still tapping away on her laptop. Rachel didn't understand a single character that was being typed but she assumed that the blonde did. Brittany just kept typing as fast as she could and hoped it would be quickly enough.


	11. Code Breaking and Entering

**Chapter 11: Code Breaking and Entering  
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Brittany woke at six thirty in the morning, a little tired but very excited. She ended up falling asleep not too much beyond two in the morning after spending the entire night creating her cipher. She set it to attempt a decode before going to sleep and if she did everything correctly it should be decoded by now. She worked on it for 8 hours straight before she finally had her eureka moment. It took her almost that long to decode a single sentence of the email.

What she saw in the text amazed her. It was sheer elegance in it's simplicity but still quite ingenious. The whole message was written in "leet speak" so when the code breakers would crack the encryption they would still be getting odd characters and start all over again. When she broke some of it into a readable format, it was still incredibly difficult to read. The code, she determined, was going to be ridiculously difficult to break especially since they seemed to use rotating leetspeek characters and normal characters, seemingly interchangeably, even using multiple characters for one letter just to throw people off. The letter A for instance could be: A, a, , /\, /-\, or 4. She didn't know whether to shake their hand or punch them in the face. Given her mission it was likely she would be doing both.

The sentence read: /\|?r!\/a1 0|= |D/-\ckA63 0n 7|_|3$. Which translated to: Arrival of package on Tues. It wasn't much information especially since the email was a month old but what it lacked in usable Intel it more than made up for in decryption information. Each character in an encryption code stood for another letter or character and this gave her 20 characters that she was fairly sure of.

After that it was just a matter of keying in the decryption program and since there were several base programs to start with all she had to do was key in her decryption algorithm. It took her about 25 minutes to do that and then she crossed her fingers and pushed the decrypt button. She went to bed after this but her sleep was restless, she tossed and turned all night but never entered lucid dreams so she didn't remember them when she woke. When her alarm went off blasting Slipknot it was just too much after only 4 hours of rest, if you could even call it that. She was a trained spy so she could go for weeks on this much sleep or less but that didn't mean she had to like it. She immediately went to the computer and looked at the email. It was still a mess but it was a mess that was resolving. She determined that three of the characters she entered earlier were wrong and deleted and replaced them with other possibilities She also managed to work out a possible 14 new characters and added them to the cipher and allowed it to work it's magic while she got into the shower. Trial and error.

While thinking in the shower she mused that it was quite possible the code breakers had broken the code a dozen times over by various people and they just never even realized it . By the time she finished her shower her laptop was done with its second pass. It was coming along nicely but this was going to take most of the day or possibly even longer so she resolved to take the laptop with her to school. If someone asked why she had a computer with her she would just make sure she had a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic game up on the screen to switch back and forth between. She added a few more characters to the cipher and began to get dressed.

After getting dressed she went downstairs and poured herself a bowl of cereal but more importantly she grabbed a thermos of coffee. She took a sip and felt the warmth spread from her head down to her toes. Brittany knew it was a crutch and one a spy should be without but she got addicted in Grad School. She needed to find a better way to get her energy because caffeine shakes are horrible for sniping and stealth. She washed the bowl out after consuming her Lucky Charms and put it in the dish washer and refilled the thermos with the remainder of the coffee pot.

When she got back upstairs she realized she didn't have enough time to start the next round of programming if she wanted to get to school on time so she threw her laptop into her bag and started to walk out the door. It was pouring rain so she ran back inside and grabbed her umbrella and her letterman jacket before running out to her bug and activating the home defenses. She drove quickly because she spent too much time with the decryption algorithm and she didn't want to be late. Brittany may have been failing all her classes but her attendance was impeccable. Well going to school anyway what she did there was a different story. She arrived with a little bit over ten minutes to spare and she headed in the direction of her first class.

As she walked by the choir room she heard the familiar dulcet tones of Rachel's singing voice and she is pulled by it towards her. She moves on autopilot and as she gets closer she hears the lyrics. Rachel sat at the bench her eyes closed tapping the keys firmly. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her back as she leaned her head back waiting for her cue to sing the next line. Brittany stopped entranced for a moment at just how beautiful the girl was when she sang. She was always beautiful of course but when she sang it was like she was fulfilling her destiny. She thought that the same would be true on her Broadway stage or a seedy nightclub in the Bronx. In fact she thought she was more beautiful when she was singing for fun rather than when she was driven towards her goal.

She walked up to the piano and just bathes in the warm waters of her voice.

_Everything's changin' _

_when I turn around _

_All out of my control, I'm a mobile _

_Everything's changin' out of what I know _

_Everywhere I go, I'm a mobile, I'm a mobile _

She gently puts her hand on the back of Rachel's shoulder.

"Ahhhh." Rachel yells in surprise jumping off the bench. Brittany does her best to not laugh at the girl but is pretty unsuccessful. "Not cool Snow you scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry I was just trying to let you know I was here without interrupting you. Guess we know how well that worked out." She says still snickering. "I was enjoying the song but I suppose I did kind of sneak up on you."

Rachel glares while she catches her breath. "Well other than trying to give me a heart attack was there a reason you were here? I don't think I have ever seen you here in the choir room this early in the morning."

"Yeah there is. I wanted to give you this." She says wrapping her arms around Rachel's waist. Rachel initially stiffens at the contact.

"Oh." Rachel says pleasantly surprised. After a second she returns the hug wrapping her arms around Brittany's neck laying her head on Brittany's shoulder and closing her eyes. Brittany kisses Rachel gently on the cheek.

"Oh my God." Both girls turn to look at the bane of the school's existence standing there filming them hugging.

"Jacob Ben-Israel I swear on my fluffy duck slippers if you don't leave us alone right now I am going to have Santana break every bone in your body." Brittany says not bothering to let go of Rachel or even giving him a second glance after refocusing her attention on Rachel. She knew no one was afraid of her but everyone was afraid of Santana. The irony that Brittany could actually make good on the threat she just claimed Santana would do was not lost on the brilliant girl. Without so much as another peep JBI took off running down the hallway both girls well aware that he was going to post the video of them hugging. Not only was it juicy gossip but two pretty girls touching would guarantee him some pretty decent hits. "Jackass."

After he leaves Rachel releases the hug and turns to Brittany. "Not that I mind the embrace but what's the occasion?"

"A thank you. What you did for me last night was huge. I am currently in the process of decoding the most recent email that we received through our HLS email monitoring. I still have several hours worth of work to get the details but I am pretty sure this email is directions somewhere. Possibly out of town but to what I don't know yet. Either way it might be enough of a lead to at least postpone the final solution abductions."

Rachel resumes the hugging once again throwing her arms around Brittany's neck with wild abandon. Her smile is practically ear to ear. It doesn't last very long but both girls enjoy the second hug immensely and they both pull away their cheeks tinting red slightly at the feeling of their bodies pressed against each other.

"What if this email doesn't pan out to be anything?" Rachel asks not doing all that well in hiding the worry in her voice.

"A valid question." Brittany says nodding. "If this email doesn't come to anything we have more than a dozen more that we now know how to decode. There is bound to be something we can use to infiltrate the ring in one of them. What it means is that my coming here wasn't completely useless and even if we haven't solved the mystery by graduation day we still have a good chance at cracking and co-opting the ring." Brittany says all this casting her eyes often towards the door to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. "So again thank you."

Rachel smiles widely. "You are very welcome." Brad chooses this moment to walk in the door and while his face is completely expressionless his eyes have always spoken volumes to Brittany. The seething hatred he has for all the glee kids is even more intense whenever Rachel Berry was in the room. Her hand was always close to some kind of weapon whenever Brad was around because she was never sure if or when he would lose it. She just hoped that it would only entail a Rachel style storm out and not something more tragic that would make headlines.

The warning bell went off letting them know they had 3 minutes to get to their first class. "I need to go now." Rachel says. "Bye Brittany, have a good day Brad." She says actually acknowledging his presence and the anger seemed to dissipate in his eyes by a small fraction. Rachel smiles and pulls her hair behind her left ear. She bites her bottom lip and it looked like she wanted to say something but she shakes her head and walks out the door without another word. Brittany shrugs her shoulders and walks towards her first class also saying goodbye to Brad hoping that it's just their apathy towards him that brings the ire and she resolves to, at the least, make sure his assistance is recognized by her. He doesn't say anything but she can tell he almost smiled.

She sits down in the back of her first class and sets up her laptop while her remedial math teacher Mr. King tries to teach the high school kids fractions. Brittany admired the man actually. He had been teaching remedial education classes for 30 years to the trouble makers, the hard headed, the less intelligent and those with learning disabilities. Through all of this he usually had a smile on his face and even when the worst students disrupted his class he never lost his temper just politely asked them to leave his class and come back tomorrow ready to learn. He didn't even usually send them to the Principal or detention unless what they did was horrible. He just asked them to leave to cool down and they almost always came back with an apology on their lips. Most of his students liked the man.

She felt bad about doing this in his class but it was just too important. She set up the My Little Pony Flash Game which was a quest for a pony to find her cutie mark. The great thing was it could sit idle for long periods of time without any negative consequences so she could just pick up the game if someone became too interested in her laptop. The latest run through was complete and she was right it was directions to somewhere out of town. She needed to complete the decode for an exact location but she is pretty sure it will only take four to six more attempts to get a solid 95% of it. With a code like this it is unlikely to ever be 100% because a single typo could throw off the entire code but a few random characters are fine as long as the majority can be understood. She typed in the changes to the cipher slowly as to not arouse suspicion. It takes her about 4 minutes of this to set up for the next run. She types in the begin sequence and clicks back to put the game back up.

"Brittany, what are you doing?"

"Playing a game Mr. King." She deadpans not looking up from her laptop.

"Well can you play it another time please, I know school is almost over for the year but we do still have some things to learn before your final. Put your laptop away please." He says this very kindly and without a trace of annoyance in his tone.

She really did like the man. "Sure thing Mr. King." she said as bubbly as she could. She knew closing the laptop would put it in sleep mode further delaying the decode but a trip to the principal would not be the best thing when she was so very close. Most of her other teachers didn't really care what she did since she probably had the lowest GPA in the school so she would just finish in her other classes.

The rest of the day went excruciatingly slow for the blonde girl. She kept trying to get moments alone to work on her laptop but her popularity was a serious detriment to her mission. People kept interrupting her to talk, but she managed to get a lot done ditching her friends at lunch telling them that she was going to spend some time with Rachel. Not entirely untrue but their spending time together consisted of her plugging away on her laptop while Rachel sang for fun in the auditorium. It was nice having musical accompaniment while she worked though, Rachel singing her way through a couple of Christine's songs in Phantom. She worked as hard as she was able during the school day and managed to complete three more passes on the laptop. By the time last period bell rang she was fairly confident she had it decoded enough to read the majority of it without error. She transferred the body of the text into a word file and transmitted it and the cipher to the CIA so they could begin decoding the other emails. Extremely excited she once again tracks down Rachel and like before finds her in the choir room.

There weren't a ton of extra curricular clubs that met on Wednesdays other than practice for the sports teams and with the seasons pretty much over for all of them the school emptied like a cheerleader's stomach after a kegger. As such she wasn't too worried about being overheard and she runs in the room and grabs Rachel from behind and swings her around. She panicked initially but when she realized what was happening she screamed in delight.

"I did it Rachel. I broke the code." Brittany effuses while beaming widely.

"That is so amazing Snow. I am so happy for you and by proxy me. I was not looking forward to being water boarded."

"It's unpleasant…but it's unlikely to kill you. It just feels that way." Brittany says shuddering lightly.

"You've been water boarded?" Rachel responds horrified.

"Yes I have. Anti-interrogation training is just a nice way of saying 'how long can you last while being tortured before you break' which everyone does. The best part of course is that it was done by my own country." She sighs deeply. "Most people who have vital information to the country and have a chance of falling into enemy hands go through something similar. Special Forces, combat pilots, astronauts."

"I see. Doesn't sound fun though." Rachel says morosely.

"It's not." Brittany responds with finality.

"Off topic off topic, back to the subject at hand what was in the email?" Rachel asks excited.

"It's directions to a safe house where they keep the illegal immigrants in between getting them into the country and their final destination in Ohio which looks to be South. It isn't very specific on the next leg of their journey. Maybe Cincinnati. This is total speculation but I would say Columbus or Cincinnati where they hop maybe a freight train or the back of a freight truck and head towards Chicago where the mob can move them to anywhere in the country. Anyway that is for logistics to figure out, but this house is something tangible. Something I can sink my teeth into. I pulled it up on a spy satellite and it is off a dirt road in the middle of nowhere surrounded by forest. I am going to go recon it tonight possibly raid it depending on my orders. Probably hit it around eleven or midnight."

"Sounds exciting." She pauses and asks tentatively. "You think maybe I could come."

"A world of no. It's bad enough you were there when I killed those two goons, I am not going to willingly take an untrained civilian into what will more than likely be a hostile situation. Not gonna happen babe."

Rachel looks a little down at being rejected for the mission but Brittany has to draw a line somewhere she supposes. On the other hand she has already committed several acts of treason in the past week in regards to Rachel so what was one more. She ultimately decides there are just too many unknowns on this mission for her to be safe and she doesn't want anything to happen to her so she shakes her head and mutters an apology to the girl.

"Can I least come over while you gear up for the mission. My fathers are gone for the evening at some conference in Toledo. They are going to get a hotel room in the city and make an evening of it. I really just hate to be alone." She admits kind of sadly.

"Sure Rach you can crash at my place if you want. Just do me a favor and stay in my bedroom after I leave, my house can be a little dangerous if you don't know your way around." Rachel laughs at what she perceives as a joke. "No seriously my house can kill you." Rachel's smile falters. "Come on lets go I have a keyboard in my room you can practice with. I can play a little but I wouldn't say I am any good. Playing musical instruments is not one of the skills that have come easily to me but you can't say I haven't tried. I took lessons as a kid and even up until college but no luck, but anyway I do have one that you can use. A guitar too but I am even worse on that than I am on the piano." She smiled gently.

"And people say I ramble." Rachel teases.

"Shut up." Brittany responds playfully. "Let's go yeah?"

Brittany leads Rachel out to the parking lot and they get into their respective cars to drive over to Brittany's house. Rachel parked just like they did the day before but Brittany parked in the garage so she could get to her car without being seen later. She walked back outside and she let them both into the house and up the stairs. Instead of going to the surveillance room like they had previously, they went into Brittany's bedroom. The room was dressed in dark greens and silver and Rachel was briefly reminded of the Slytherin Common Room in Harry Potter but instead of cold and uninviting it seemed understated and comfortable. A huge cat waddled up to Rachel and rubbed himself on her leg. "You weren't kidding when you said he was fat." She reaches down to pet Lord Tubbington who immediately rolls onto his back and lets Rachel rub his stomach. He starts purring at every stroke. "Sweet though."

"Yes his grace is wonderful aren't you My Lord? Who's a good feudal lord huh?" Brittany coos at her cat and joins Rachel in petting his stomach. Lord Tubbington meows in response to the two girls petting him. Brittany stands up leaving Rachel to pet her cat and walks over to the bed side table to grabs her remote for her TV. "I don't have much in the way of DVDs but I do have Netflix. I was watching Dollhouse if that interests you."

"Never heard of it." Brittany gave Rachel a scandalized look.

"Love of Firefly and never heard of Dollhouse? I really don't think we can be friends anymore." She said as seriously as she could. She lets a smile rise slowly on her face. "I will start at the beginning and we can order some vegan pizza or something later. I like veggies on my pizza so don't worry about it. I would make something but I am not really set up to feed a vegan sorry for that." She finished when Rachel seemed about to say something about her food choice.

The two sat on opposite sides of the bed eating some non buttered popcorn that Brittany had popped while Rachel watched the pilot episode. For several hours the two of them got lost in the tragic story of Echo and her fellow actives. At 5:30pm Brittany's phone rang and she paused the television. She looked at the caller ID and looked over at Rachel.

"Completely silent now not a peep." She gets a nod from Rachel and accepts the call. "Hello."

"Snow? Robertson." Her mentor said tersely.

"Go ahead for Snowbird."

"You have authorization for your mission tonight. Solo mission. Recon has been canceled we want full infiltration of the farmhouse. Once you arrive at the perimeter give us an update of the situation and we will update your orders as needed."

"Understood. Has satellite telemetry revealed anything about the house." Brittany asks wanting to know as much as possible for her infiltration.

"Two story farmhouse maybe four or five bedrooms. Two points of egress apart from the windows it appears to have a basement or storm cellar. We estimate 4 to 8 people inside." Robertson had a sense of humor but when it came to the job he was all business.

"Okay I will depart base at 2200 hours park a few miles out and hike the rest of the way I estimate I will be close to the house at 2330 and at 2345 I will begin my assault." She responding knowing that Robertson preferred his operatives to speak to him in a similar manner when on the job.

"Please take lethal and non-lethal measures as we have not decided what to do with the people in the farmhouse. When you call in to update we will advise you further."

"Yes sir. Call you back in about 6 hours." She hangs up the phone and un-pauses the show and doesn't say anything.

"Was there something unusual about that call?" Rachel asks after a few minutes.

"No, but you really don't need to know all the details of what I am going to do tonight. You don't want to know. Trust me on that."

"Oh I see." Rachel says and sits silently more staring at the television than actually watching it. "Snow. If I might say something."

"Of course Rach."

"You don't seem to enjoy the things you have to do for your job so why do you do it?"

Brittany pauses for a few moments thinking before answering the question. "There are certain aspects of my job that I find unpleasant for sure but all and all the job is extremely fulfilling, knowing that I am doing something important for the country. My actions let our citizens continue to be free and relatively safe. If I have to do horrible things so others won't have to, then that's what I'll do." Brittany set her jaw firmly to prove that she was serious and Rachel couldn't read any falsehoods in her eyes and tones. Even if Brittany hadn't meant it she was a practiced liar how would she ever be able to tell the difference.

They didn't talk much over the next few hours just shared a more comfortable silence than two people who had just recently connected were entitled to. They ordered and ate a delicious vegan pizza with extra mushrooms and watched TV until about 9. Just when the show really started to pick up Brittany got up off her bed and walked over to the closet.

"I am going to change now. Look or don't I'm not ashamed of my body. Hell I work really hard to keep this body so please feel free to ogle it as much as you like." She wiggles her eyebrows at Rachel in a suggestive but slightly joking way. She unzipped her cheerleader uniform a lot more slowly than was necessary letting it fall to the floor in a pile and she kicked it away with her bare feet. She shakes her ass a little and sticks her index fingers in her spankies slowly pulling them down her hips revealing a lime green thong that matches perfectly her bra. She unlatches her bra letting her pert breasts fall out of the cups and she lets the bra fall on top of her uniform. She takes the green thong down her hips slowly making sure Rachel had a perfect view of everything she was showing her. Rachel lets out a not so small whimper and Brittany can't hide the smug smirk that crosser face.

She was almost sad that she had to put less attractive underwear on but she needed more function than form for this so she in all her glory grabbed a black sports bra and a pair of boy shorts from her top drawer. She puts them on very slowly so Rachel could appreciate the view for as long as possible. A sound of loss came unbidden from Rachel and Brittany can't help but rub it in. "Your choice Rachel."

She sticks her arms into the closet and then spreads them pushing the clothes to either side of her secret panel. She places her hand on an invisible palm print panel and the wall flips over and pushes outward and then expanding sideways for several feet. She grabs the cat suit first which she pulls on and it leaves nothing to the imagination covering her body like a second skin. She next takes a Kevlar vest and throws it over the cat suit. She steps to her equipment and pulls a short sword and sheathe and slings it over her shoulder strapping it in place. She puts a set of throwing knives on the inside of her left forearm and a dagger on the outside and another dagger on her right arm. She also leaves the platinum garrote bracelet on her left wrist it felt like a security blanket after only a few days.

She straps a, for lack of a better phrase, utility belt around her waist and on the small of her back puts a gun strap in which she puts a tranquilizer pistol with 20 darts. She was not overly fond of tranquilizer pistols because of the range but a tranq rifle was just to cumbersome for an in and out mission. If she could easily snipe them all it would be worth carrying it but she assumed most of the people at the house would be in it, it was only logical. Next she looked at her large collection of guns. After a few moments of contemplation she decides to just go with her standard outfitting. She starts with her housebreaking pouches. There are two of them containing a small lock picking set, a glass cutter, a small battery powered soldering gun with solder and a collapsible glass cutter. She definitely had better breaking and entering gear but it was all very large and it's not like she was breaking into a museum or a castle, it was just a farmhouse after all.

On her right hip she straps a holster and puts a silenced 9mm Beretta her go to mission weapon, it has a nice range, a mild kick, silences fairly well and rarely jams. On her ankle she straps a five shot American Derringer .45 Colt a small but handy weapon in a pinch but one she doesn't like to use if she doesn't have to. Lastly on her left leg her weapon of last resort a 9mm Silenced Ingram. Small enough to easily carry as long as she doesn't leave a clip in, the problem was it was loud even silenced. Unless you were a good hundred feet away or behind several walls you could hear the damn thing. However anything in the way of the weapons spray was going to have a religious experience.

She took out several clips checked the magazine's springs and then began to load them. She looked over at Rachel who just seemed fascinated with watching her. Brittany looking back to her task says. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Oh I just find it interesting watching you in your element. You move so smoothly and confidently. It's like you're an entirely different person."

"Well." She says as she slams the now fully loaded clip into the bottom of the 9mm. "I am a different person. You only caught a brief glance of the real me the other night. You still don't really know much about me." She pulls the slide back chambering the first round and then turns the safety on and places the piece back in it's holster. She loads up four more clips each holding 10 rounds and latches them onto her belt. Next she loads a very small clip, then removes, loads and replaces the Derringer. She doesn't load any other clips for that piece it isn't a weapon she wants to have to use but one that makes her feel safer knowing it is there. She also loads three 21 shot clips for the Ingram and places them on her belt as well. The clips just sticks out too far for it to be practical to pre-load the fully automatic weapon. Of course if the need arises she can always use the Beretta clips in the Ingram. She was very careful to make sure her clips were interchangeable so the reverse is also true.

Lastly she put on a pair of supple boots. They were enough to protect her feet but still thin enough to be perfect for stealth. She had tougher boots for the more direct approach but she hardly ever used them she was much more often a thief in the night. Brittany adjusted her Derringer so that it was both concealed and easy to access. She grabbed a pair of thin well oiled leather gloves as well as a ski mask. She didn't put either on just took them over to the bed where she gingerly sat on the end and continued to watch the TV show. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and couldn't stop her frown. She always looked so lopsided with her gear. She wishes that she was a bit more ambidextrous but her right hand was her weapon hand. She was pretty good with a knife or dagger in her left hand but she couldn't shoot or throw for shit.

"Well that is something we should fix don't you think?" Rachel said.

"Huh?" Brittany responded having completely forgotten what they were talking about a few minutes prior. "Oh the getting to know me thing right?"

"Yes. I know I can't delve into anything serious because of your cover but maybe I could ask about your likes and dislikes?" At this Brittany shrugs and nods.

"Ok um. Favorite book, favorite movie, favorite TV show, favorite song, favorite singer." Rachel says all in one breath.

"Geez Rach, I'm not leaving right this second I have about a half an hour left." She pauses the TV show. "Book: without question Ender's Game. I could easily make an argument for something more classic like Macbeth or Pride and Prejudice but there is something about the way Card using Ender's struggle at the Battle School as a metaphor for the isolation, abuse, and ostracizing that children of above average intelligence go through. Not to mention the theme of prejudice and message of empathy and eventual acceptance of outsiders and it just spoke to me from a very young age. It's a shame really that the author doesn't espouse the beliefs his own characters represent." She shrugs again.

"On a less heavy note, favorite movie Monty Python and de Holy Grailen." She said in a Swedish accent. "Love that movie I can quote it from beginning to end." Rachel smiles at her excitement. "TV show right? I thought that would be obvious, Buffy. I don't feel I need to justify that. Favorite Song. My Headband." She pauses and Rachel glares deeply at her pursing her lips. "Just messing with you. Honestly though this is always a tough one for me since it's ever shifting. At one point it really was My Headband terrible as it is I thought it was kind of cute. I like funny songs like Lonely Island and Stephen Lynch. I have to say right now I am really fond of Virgin State of Mind by K's Choice it comes in and out as my favorite. Always wanted to perform it in glee since not only is it one of my favorites but totally in my range but I figured it might be a bit deep for stupid Brittany to get. I heard it on an episode of Buffy though and I was hooked.

"Favorite singer, I don't really want to say."

"Why is it someone totally embarrassing like Barry Manilow or Michael Bolton?"

"No, nothing like that and I actually have mad respect for Michael Bolton after he made Jack Sparrow with Lonely Island. So no." Rachel scrutinizing every detail of Brittany's face she finally relented. "Ugh fine my favorite singer is…you."

Rachel looks at her with an expression that so obviously says 'whatever' and Brittany rolls her eyes. "Well if you aren't going to take this seriously we can just stop." Rachel says.

"I am completely serious Rachel. I remember the first time I heard you sing On My Own on your Myspace page. Quinn and Santana and a few of the other Cheerios were writing hateful comments on your page and when they asked me to write something I just said I forgot how to type. I couldn't bring myself to do it, you were so beautiful and so amazing even if you were, you know, poorly dressed." She says smiling to show that she was teasing her and not insulting her. Since then every time you sing even just in rehearsal it takes my breath away. I think that is one of the reasons Santana picked on you so much because she could see the way I would be affected by your voice. Well amongst other things."

"What other things?" Rachel said affronted.

"Oh, no nothing like that. I meant that I think, can't say for sure, but I think she may have had a bit of a crush on you and her teasing was her repressing her own feelings and lashing out at you in a very juvenile punch the girl you like in the arm kind of way."

Rachel sat back for a minute taking in all that Brittany had said about her singing and about Santana's possible feelings. "Huh," is all she really got out. It was a lot and the whole Santana thing made sense to her in a very real way. "What about Quinn does she have a crush on me too?" Rachel says her tone light so Brittany can tell she is obviously joking.

"No I don't think so, again I can't be certain but I doubt it. I think that she saw in you something she hated more than anything in the world. Herself. Back when she was Lucy at her old school she was you, or at least you four years ago. She was picked on, shunned, and she had no friends. So she saw you and loathed you for everything SHE was and attacked. Then you did something truly unforgivable. You started rising up, slowly, without changing anything and started taking things that she had and had always wanted: her boyfriend, real friends and even popularity. Quinn changed everything about herself her body, her hair color, her face. After all that she discovered even after her makeover, cheerios, dating the most popular guy in school and becoming Queen Bee she still didn't really have any friends. Sure she was popular and beautiful but she was still so very alone.

"Not that people didn't try to be her friend though. You tried, Mercedes tried and most of Glee did as well but she was so used to the backstabbers in Cheerios who tried to use her for her status she unconsciously bottled her feelings up. Santana and I were close to her and we care about her but I am what I am and Santana doesn't let people in if she doesn't trust them and Quinn just holds everything so close to her chest so between the two of them they never really felt the need to open up to each other and just be. I am glad she finally started to let you in this year after the whole Beth fiasco thing. Still surprised she did that though considering you took Finn from her not once but twice. I think it was the whole managing to rise from the bottom to semi popular without changing much but your wardrobe. She wanted to know how you did it and still managed to be you."

"Well I am nothing if not persistent." Rachel says smiling. "I do feel bad about the whole Finn thing though, especially considering how it all turned out."

"What did happen there anyway? You guys seemed to be going strong and then all of a sudden you weren't a couple. The last few times you broke up there was a huge blow out and a lot of shouting. This time you were both all 'yeah we aren't together anymore,' it was kind of weird."

Rachel thinks for a second. "Oh there was definitely shouting we just had the good sense to do it behind closed doors this time. We promised we would keep it our business and no one else's but you have really trusted me with a lot and it would be unfair to not share with you after all that you've risked. Remember a few months ago when Mr. Shue proposed to Miss P?" Brittany nodded. "Well later that night Finn took me into the auditorium and proposed to me." Brittany's jaw just dropped that was not the answer she had been expecting. "Well, being the romantic I am and the wonderfulness of the moment I of course accepted immediately. We kept it secret for a bit so it could just be, you know, ours. Just for a little bit.

"After a few days we started discussing our future and we realized that our dreams, they didn't really mesh well together. I wanted the stage and all the good and bad that goes with it and he supported that but only up to a point. That point is when we started to have children. Once I had our first child he wanted me to retire from the theater and be a stay at home mom. He also wanted me to pop out three or four more little rugrats whereas I only wanted one. He would get a job doing whatever and attempt to support us and I would rear the children. I told him that I had no problem taking some time off for a year or even two but that I would still stay busy during that time. Maybe recording an album maybe doing voice over work for cartoons. Regardless, I would never give up on my dream. This didn't really sit well with him and his version of life didn't sit well with me, so after a few days where our conversations ranged from calm discussion to all out war we both decided that it would be best if we ended our engagement and our relationship as well. Irreconcilable differences. Having both come to the same conclusion, while it hurt us both, we didn't feel the need to hate each other afterwards. So we decided to stay friends and stay in touch and to never mention our failed engagement to save us both the embarrassment not to mention the heart attacks it would have caused our parents." She shudders.

"I personally think you made the right decision. Your voice should never be kept from the world, In me, you have a fan for life. Any albums you release and I know there will be at least a few. Also any shows you have I will go to at least one performance. I may not be able to come and say hi depending on who is around or what my cover is but I will try and I WILL be there," She pauses before saying almost under her breath. "Assuming I live that long."

"Whoa, you better not die on me Snowbird, Brittany Susan Pierce and whatever your real name happens to be. I know we may not be able to correspond openly but I expect some way for you to communicate with me after you leave. I don't care if you send me a letter with a blank page just something." Rachel almost screamed this getting up on her knees and pointing her finger angrily at Brittany.

"Settle down Rach. I promise I will figure out a way to let you know I am alive regularly. Just give me a bit to think about it okay? Tonight when I am done I will text you the letter c if they ask I will just say it's an accident. I won't be able to do it again but this once I can pull it off."

"Why 'c'?" Rachel asks.

"I don't know first letter that popped in my head." She said shrugging. "You should just try and go to sleep and hopefully by the morning I will be sleeping right next to you."

"You better be." Rachel says under her breath.

"I do need to go though. Things to see and people to do." Rachel smiled painfully at Brittany's tasteless joke. "I will see you in the morning." She pauses before walking out the door and instead walks over to her bed where Rachel is sitting. She leans down and kisses Rachel's forehead. "Sleep well." Brittany stalks out of the room psyching herself up for her mission. She is in her car in seconds and driving out of town in the direction of the farmhouse.

With every foot of black asphalt that flew behind the VW Brittany faded more and more and Snowbird took her place. The drive took thirty minutes and she pulls off the main road into a clearing of trees. She drove in a few hundred feet until her car couldn't be seen from the road. She turned off her car, got out and went to the trunk opening it. She grabbed a small black backpack from a small compartment in the bottom of the car's trunk. Along with the usual gear she kept in it which all pertained to surveillance she placed her ski mask and gloves inside of it. She shouldered the bag and strapped it across her chest and tightened the straps so there was almost no movement. She double checked that her weapons were secure in their holsters and that the safeties were on. She estimated there to be about 2.5 miles to the house so she set off at a steady run. Enough to get her heart pumping but not enough to tire her out. She estimated that it would take her anywhere from 15-45 minutes depending on terrain and need for stealth.

Her breathing evened out into a steady rhythm as she ran. The only sounds in the still night are the leaves crunching under foot and the own pounding of her blood in her eardrums. She paused for a moment pulled out her phone and activated the link for the spy satellite that was relocated for this mission. She looked up her location to make sure she was still on course, adjusted her heading slightly and continued on noticing she had covered a little more than half the distance in about 12 minutes. Snowbird moved through the trees but noticed the trees began to thin as she got closer to the farmhouse and about an eighth of a mile out she slowed down to approach the house stealthily. The trees didn't cover the field coming up on the house but the farm itself was not looked after so there was a field of tall grass she could use for cover.

She took the bag off of her shoulder and pulled out the mask, the gloves and a multifunction set of goggles. She hasn't really had a lot of time for video games recently but she loved them in college and they always reminded her of Sam Fisher's goggles from the Splinter Cell series. Hers had a few advantages including a Bluetooth function that connected through her phone to let her talk to her superiors and also broadcast imagery up to the satellite and back to Langley.

The black mask covered up Snow's pretty face before she turned the Bluetooth connection on and put the goggles over her eyes. She turned on the thermal imaging and noticed a heat signature right away off to her right. He was pacing the grounds lazily and smoking a cigarette which was also giving off a heat signature. Snow began to circle around the place looking in every window switching regularly from night vision to thermal. When she got to the road leading in and out she circled back around to where she had stowed her pack. She kept the goggles on and activated a call on her phone.

"This is Roost." Snowbird heard the voice of Robertson over her goggle headpiece.

"This is Snowbird I have spotted the prey. Preparing to strike."

"What does your catch look like?" He asked her.

"Two rabbits in the field. At least 5 more in the warren."

"That seems like a big hunt for one bird did you want a wingman?"

"Negative. I will fly solo." She usually preferred to work alone, you couldn't always trust your partners in the spy game. Never knew when one or the other would have orders to kill their partner. It happened more often than Snowbird would like. She wished she could trust anyone in the field for situations like this one.

"Understood. You should save one for later that seems like an awfully big meal.

"Copy." _Leave one alive. _She thought to herself.

Snowbird switched the goggles to thermal and moved out of her hiding spot making only slightly more noise than a squirrel moving through grass. There was one thing that caught her eye that was a little unusual that she left out of her report. The cars. There were three of them in the driveway: an early 2000 Toyota Corolla, a late 90's Honda Accord and a 1980's Mustang. Not exactly the cars of made men but the second sentry definitely had a piece out while he was patrolling. She pushed this thought to the back of her mind, it didn't change her mission.

She located the first sentry in the back of the house and observed him for a minute. The man was complacent. He hadn't moved in the last ten minutes other than to pull out and then proceed to play with his phone. Good for her, but not so good for him. She removed the short sword from its scabbard. The carbon steel blade was a dull black that made sure no light reflected off anything but the very sharp edge.

She wasn't one of those psychos on the job who got off on the killing but she knew when she accepted the job what it would entail. She also felt what John Cusack said in Grosse Point Blank was apt. "If I show up at your door, chances are you did something to bring me there." She was only ten feet out and the guy hadn't heard her yet. Part of her wished that he did. She disliked killing people like she was about to even if it was immensely safer. His head was down looking at his phone. His chin was too close to his chest to effectively draw a blade across his throat. Another shame, it would have been less painful than what she now had to do. Probably not as quick though. At five feet she drew the eighteen inch blade back. She grabbed the man's shoulder with her left hand eliciting a brief "huh" from him before she thrust the blade into his chest and through his lung taking his ability to scream out as he drowned in his own blood. She wanted to tell him sorry for his ignominious end but that would require her to make noise and she still had several more to go. She watched the fear and pain in his eyes as he looked up at his killer while dying slower than she would like to watch. She made sure she was in night vision so she could see his face clearly though. She remembered the face of every person that she killed. This man would be no different. When the light finally faded from his eyes Snow withdrew the sword letting his body fall gently to the ground. She cleaned her blade on his shirt and moved off towards the opposite side of the house.

The second rabbit in the field seemed to be taking his sentry position much more seriously. He was moving around with gun drawn though not at the ready and he held a flashlight in his hand as her patrolled the front of the house. The guy was far more alert than a person doing guard duty would normally be and that set off a warning bell in her head. Was she expected? Unlikely, the only person who knew she was coming tonight was Rachel. Unless? No. She wasn't even going to entertain that thought. Regardless, the sword wasn't going to be the right weapon for someone this alert so she placed it back in it's sheathe and drew her pistol.

Snowbird's silent footsteps take her closer to the man's back her gun raised. At 50 feet she lines the sights up on center mass on his back and puts light pressure on the trigger 3 times in quick succession. The soft pew pew pew made by her handgun is swallowed by the light breeze blowing through the Ohio forest. The guy drops into a smile pile of leaves and it makes a soft crunch. She stalks the remaining 50 feet to the man and raises her gun once more placing one more bullet into the man's skull. She reached down and turned his flashlight off then flipped him over to look at what was left of his ruined face. He was good looking, much more so than her first kill tonight. No time to dwell, she had work to do. Keeping her gun drawn she switches to thermal. After a very brief sweep of her egress points she decides on the back door as it was currently unwatched and unguarded. She was starting to think these people deserved what they got if they can't even keep a decent watch.

She walked up the steps of the porch wincing slightly when the wood squeaked under her soft boot. She knelt into a crouch to avoid casting any sort of shadow across the frosted glass of the back door. She tried the doorknob but it was locked. She pulled out her lock pick set and began to work as quickly as she could while still being quiet. It was a farmhouse lock. She was actually a little disappointed with the ease the tumblers fell to her skilled fingers. She opened the door slowly. It was well oiled and didn't squeak and Snowbird let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding. Switching back to thermal she surveyed the house. There were several heat signatures in the house she immediately discarded the water heater and the electric central heater and locked on to the other signatures.

There were three heat signatures upstairs. The first two resemble prone persons in the same room. Likely, given the time, they are on the sleep shift. The last one seems to be in the adjoining room sitting possibly at a desk and from the other heat source in the room more than likely sitting in front of a computer monitor and typing away on the keyboard. Downstairs there seem to be several more, one that is a flat screen television with one person watching it and lastly two people who seem to be eating something warm. _Downstairs first. _

She was in the kitchen and the two heat signatures were in the next room. She just hoped the TV was loud enough to muffle her actions from the third person. Sticking with the semi automatic she stood up fully and moved to the door. She wasn't going to be able to look in the room first without alerting them so she pulled the swinging door open hard and quickly stepped in with her left foot to keep it from swinging back. Snowbird brought the first one into the gun's sights and shot once into his head she shifted her gun to the second man, barely more than a boy, who looks at her with spaghetti coming out of his mouth and a fearful look on his face. She didn't hesitate firing but instead made sure the fear faded from his eyes with the forceful precision of a 9mm bullet. She did pause to take note of the meal. Italian mobsters eating Spaghetti Bolognese. If this mission got any more cliché she might put herself in real danger because her eyes will be rolling so much it will be hard to get a bead on her targets.

She left the bodies where they were and moved towards the person in what she assumed was going to be the living room. The hallway was bare, no pictures or tables it must have been vacant before it became a safe house. She moved along the corridor and came across an open area style living room with no door into it. There was a man sitting in what appeared to be a lawn chair watching some reality show that Snowbird didn't recognize on a smallish flat screen television. He obviously hadn't heard his allies perish because he hadn't moved at all. There was a heavy set woman on the screen giving a testimonial how she was going to bleep that bleeping bleep in her bleep. _At least it isn't Jersey Shore. _She latches her gun back in the holster and pulls out the dagger on her left arm. It slides noiselessly from its sheathe. She inches her way towards the man. She grabs the man by the hair and she feels the blade sink into his neck severing his vertebrae and killing him before he even knew he was going to die. She pulled the blade out with a little difficulty as it seemed to catch on his spinal cord.

She exited the living room thinking in her head five down three to go. She was practically doubling the amount of people she had killed tonight. It didn't thrill her but at least it was getting easier. She thought to herself that maybe that wasn't a good thing. No time to dwell though so she started repeating three to go in her head like a mantra.

She moved towards the stairs and noted they were wood and she almost swore out loud. Even as silent as she moved it would be difficult to climb them without any squeaking. She started to ascend the greatest obstacle she had yet encountered. She set her toes down gently and grabbed on to the railing to redistribute her center of gravity so that it was never in the center of her body where it can give her away.

It took two minutes for Snow to climb the stairs and they only let out the most minor of squeaks on stair eight. It was a moment that made her heart pound in her chest and her palms to sweat but after a few moments and no reaction she continued her climb. She reached the top of the stairs and after a moment decides the one at the computer is the one she is going to spare as he might be in charge. No way to tell for sure though. For all she knows he could be playing Angry Birds but she would take a chance. That left the two sleepers to exile to the void so she moved towards their bedroom which happened to be the room next to the office so the gun was out of the question.

The door was cracked slightly and she moved it out of her way. She needed them not to wake up so she pulled out the tranq gun and put a dart in each of them allowing the drug to lure them into a sleep too deep to wake from. They swatted at the dart but it was fast acting and they never actually woke just a natural reaction to the foreign object in their skin. She walked over to the two of them and ran her blade across their throats and they slowly bled out. She forced herself to watch as they slowly and silently died both as punishment for her acts but more importantly to make sure they didn't wake up and alert her last target.

_Last one. _She moves down the hallway to the room the door is slightly ajar and she can hear the clacking of his fingers on the keys. Snowbird kicks open the door and lines up the tranquilizer gun. The man's reflexes are keen because he is ducking as soon as his eyes see Snowbird. The darts fly harmlessly over his head but he can feel the disturbed air of them rustling his hair. He grabs the chair from where he is and stands up throwing it at Snowbird. She deflects it with a well placed hand knocking it to the ground but she loses the tranq gun in the process. _He would have liked his nap better._ She thinks before wading in. The guy was hideous he had a nasty burn scar on the left side of his face, his skin was sallow and leathery, and his jowls hung on his face like a British Bulldog. He was young and fit though and he moved well as he backed away from the desk going for the holster on his side. She thrust forward with her fist not to do any damage but to keep his hand from his gun and she had the desired effect.

He launched back with a roundhouse kick. Snow ducked under the quick strike and aimed with an open palm at his stomach. He took the hit but rolled with it to minimize the damage so that it didn't knock the air out of him. The man took his two fists and brought them down on Snowbirds back but she arched her back and his fists just glanced of the Kevlar. Snow spun her hips letting her leg trail behind trying to sweep out his legs. He jumped over her leg but it allowed her to roll back slightly so she can stand up from her crouched position and wade back into the melee. He jabbed several times left left right left right right. Mixing his punches kept her off guard but none of them connected. The guy had been trained how to fight but he obviously wasn't as good as she was it was just going to be a bit of a slog to take him down.

She let him wear himself down for a few seconds while studying his timing. On his sixth jab she blocked his right arm with her left wrist and stepped in thrusting her elbow into his face. He wasn't able to dodge it effectively and the elbow clearly rung his bell as he stepped back just a little. While he was dazed she thrust out with her left foot in a straight kick to his chest that knocked him back into the wall hard, his head made a thud sound as it collided with the drywall. He tried to clear his vision and just barely saw Snowbird spinning in for a tornado kick. He got his left arm up just in time to block the kick but he heard the crack moments before he felt the blinding pain of his Ulna shattering.

He dropped to his knees from the pain holding his broken arm close to his chest. Brittany quickly retrieved the tranquilizer gun from the ground and put two darts in his neck. Even with the pain and adrenaline he passed out in seconds. She opened up a pouch in her belt and pulled out two zip ties placing one around his legs and the other around his wrists. She broke the bone near the center so hopefully this won't cause any lasting damage. She pulls the goggles up off her face so that Langley can't see what she is about to do. She pulls her phone out of her pouch and texts the C to Rachel before activating the Bluetooth again to contact Langley.

"Nest."

"The Snowbird has cleared the field and the Warren. One Rabbit is on ice but it's a little bruised it might need to be tended to."

"Understood. Fly away little bird the hunting dogs are on their way."

Without another word she went back around the house and picked up the shells from the bullets she fired and the tranquilizer darts she shot into the three men upstairs. After she removed all evidence of her being there she went to go reclaim her backpack from the tree placing the goggles back inside and began the two mile trek back to her car again using the GPS to find her way back flawlessly. She put the bag into the trunk and drove back to her house. She felt Snowbird float away from her as she got closer and closer to Lima and unknown to her a slight grin came to her lips as she got closer to Rachel.

She parked, opened the door and then climbed the stairs to her room. She wanted to just strip and go to bed but she couldn't treat her gear like that so she made sure she put it all back into its proper place before stripping out of the cat suit. She decided she would clean it all tomorrow after school it was just too late to do it tonight. She checked the clock it was just after two in the morning and she wanted to get a least a few hours sleep. She crept into the bathroom and she washed her hands and face. Wiping away a few tears that had seeped out of her eyes. How did that escape her notice. Maybe it wasn't getting easier after all. She stayed in the sports bra and boy shorts as they were perfectly comfortable and went out into the main bedroom. Rachel had decided that the entire bed was hers and was sprawled out across it her arms and legs almost touching all four corners but she is short and the bed is large.

She gently climbs under the covers pulling the brunette to her and the girl stirs.

"Thanks for the text Snow I was a little worried it had been a while." She mumbled sleepily.

"Sure, but could you not call me that for just right now. I don't want to hear that name right now."

"Yeah of course Britt." Rachel says a little worry in her voice. She wraps her arms around the blonde who cuddles into the dark haired girl for the very first time without any sexual overtones. After her red test she had cried herself to sleep and this night she wanted to do the same but the warm embrace of Rachel and her strength allowed her to stave away the tears for now. Her exhaustion and emotions led her into her dreams more quickly than she usually did and she dreamt almost exclusively of 17 faces but whenever the dream would get to the point of horribleness. Someone else would pop into her dreams, her mom, Artie, Santana, Quinn but more than anyone that night Rachel saved her.

**A/N: I know absolutely NOTHING about code breaking nor did I have any desire to look up how to go about it, so if it sounds like I am talking out of my ass, it's because I totally am. The My Little Pony Flash Game totally exists BTW I actually DID do research on this… though it's pretty boring as it is nothing but three point and click mini games and walking around.  
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	12. Can I? I Don't Think So

**A/N: There is a song in this chapter and any part in bold is where Rachel is singing harmony. Enjoy this chapter. I demand it!**

**Chapter 12: Can I? I Don't Think So**

Brittany awoke completely immobilized. She panicked for a second until she realized that her immobilization was being caused by the arms and legs of a five foot nothing brunette. She snorted in amusement when she looked at the way they were entangled. Brittany and Rachel were facing each and Brittany was laying on Rachel's left arm while her right was squeezing her tightly. Rachel's legs were locked at the ankle but she seemed to have trapped both of Brittany's in between them. Brittany's arms were both pinned down in front of her and under Rachel's squeezing. The most amusing part was Rachel's head which was nuzzled into her breasts and part of Brittany's left breast was in Rachel's mouth. Not so much in a suckling way but more of a her mouth was open and the breast fell in kind of way. She wasn't really sure how Rachel managed to do all this without waking her up since she wasn't the soundest of sleepers, but she wasn't complaining. In fact the only way to make this better would be to free one of her arms so that she can hold her back. Brittany started to slowly move her left arm out from in between the two of them and as soon as it started moving Rachel pushed her body further into the pretty blonde girl. Her mouth pulled off of her breast and made she made a smacking sound with her lips twice before laying her head back on Brittany's boobs. She started moving her hand again and she clearly heard Rachel scoff in discontent. Her eyes were still closed and she didn't move but she spoke clearly if slightly raspy from sleep and a bit muffled from boob.

"You aren't going anywhere just yet. Snuggle, snuggle, snuggle." She nuzzles more into Brittany's breasts.

"I wasn't planning on going anywhere I was just going to move my arms so we could cuddle better."

Rachel finally opens her eyes and looks up at the soft blue orbs above her. A small cascade of brown tresses hung over her right eye as she gently pulls her head off of Brittany's chest.. She purses her lips gently and looks off to her left. She ponders for a brief moment and nods her head. "I suppose that would be acceptable." She smiles widely and while she doesn't release Brittany she does loosen her hold and lift up a little so Brittany can adjust their embrace. She slides her arms around her tiny waist and pulls Rachel back into her who again lays her head on her chest. They sit like this for several minutes before Rachel breaks the silence.

"Can I call you Snow again?" Brittany grunts in the affirmative. "Snow?"

"Mmm."

"Did you want to talk about what happened last night?" Rachel asks tentatively.

"Whether or not I do is kind of moot since I can't talk to you about it." She says to Rachel sadly and kindly so she knows that she isn't snubbing her.

"You've told me everything else about your mission." Rachel says a little baffled.

"You misunderstand me Rachel. It has nothing to do with secrecy or security. I can't talk about it. At least not yet. What I did last night was the worst thing I have done since I began my career as a spy and I need to deal with it myself before I can confide it in someone else."

"Oh. I see. Well I'm sorry you had to do it but if and when you would like to talk about it I will be here to listen." She says taking her head out of her breasts so there wouldn't be any muffling. They didn't look each other in the eye because of how they were holding each other so Rachel missed Brittany's sad smile. She doesn't however miss Brittany's lips pressed softly against her forehead. She felt the smile as Brittany ended the kiss and pulled her back into her.

"Snow?" She asks again.

"Yeah?" Brittany says with laughter in her voice this time and Rachel smiles at her slightly improved mood.

"I'm really confused." Rachel says purposely avoiding looking at the girl so she can't see her insecurities.

"What about?" Though she had a pretty good suspicion of the source of her doubts.

"I don't know what to do." She pauses Brittany assumed for dramatic effect and it made her smile a little. "You know about us.

"I know me falling hard for someone is kind of old hat but it's just the way I am. All it took was a song for Finn, Puck and Jesse and I was hooked. Despite the fact that two of those relationships burned out almost as fast as the romantic flame ignited, their intensity can't be denied." Brittany pulls back a little so she can look at the tiny diva.

"Uh huh?" Brittany said listening to Rachel's rambling but not showing any signs of impatience because she really did love the sound of her voice.

"My point is that sometimes in life all that you can expect out of a relationship is a brief exchange of moments."

"So does that mean that you want to give this a try?" Brittany says swinging her finger back and forth between them trying not to sound too hopeful but she is pretty sure she failed at it miserably.

"Well, the time we've spent together over the last week, multiple homicides not withstanding, has been wonderful." She sighs. "As I've said I am confused. Give me a day to think about it okay? It's very much on the table though."

"Of course I can give you a day. The code break has bought us a little time. Not a lot but a little and as you said sometimes a little is all you need." Brittany smiles at the smaller girl and kisses her on her nose. "I am going to shower I didn't really feel up to it last night and I still have sweat, dirt and… other stuff on me from the mission. How did you enjoy Dollhouse last night." She finishes while getting out of bed.

"I am so hooked. Poor November." Rachel responds.

"November definitely gets the shaft but wait 'til you get to Whiskey's storyline. Just heartbreaking."

Rachel thinks for just a moment. "Do you ever feel like an Active? You kind of have to reject who you are and pretend to be someone else all the time."

"Never really thought about it but yeah, there are some definite similarities."

"I guess the difference is at the end of the day though even with all of the put on personas and lies you have to tell you are still you deep down." Rachel says.

"Seriously Rach, keep watching the show." She says with a knowing smile. "Shower, for real this time." She grabs a towel and walks into the bathroom. She turns the shower on and puts her hand in the water until it starts to warm. She steps into the stream and closes her eyes lifting her head to take the full force of the stream across her face allowing it to trickle down her hair and the rest of her body. She allows the warm water to wash the sins of the previous night from her, even if it's only physically. She wishes it could wash her soul of the deeds as well but she realizes that is a bit much to ask of indoor plumbing.

She definitely was not feeling the need to relieve any sexual stress so she just cleaned her hair and body, she took a longer shower than usual though to allow the warm water to soothe the aches and bruises she acquired from her mission. Hell the bruises on her neck hadn't even started to fade yet and she was already adding new ones. She massaged a kink she got in her upper back from where the man had hit her with his fists. After an almost unheard of 15 minute shower she finally turned the water off and got out. She stepped into the bedroom to find Rachel putting on her clothes from the previous night.

"Rach, we aren't really up early enough to stop by your place so we can get you some clothes." She sees Rachel's face fall but she hadn't finished her statement. "You can shower here though and I will let you borrow some of my clothes. Or hell keep them it's not like they're really mine.

"You are quite a bit taller than me I don't really think your clothes will fit me very well."

"Rachel have you seen how tight some of my clothing is. Please, at worst your skirt will just be appropriate length instead of how short you like it and your shirt will fit like it's supposed to.

"Hey." Rachel says annoyed at her comment about skirt length.

"Oh no, don't take offense please feel free to continue wearing skirts at the length you usually do. The entire world benefits from seeing those gorgeous bronzed legs." Brittany caught a brief glimpse of the blush she so enjoyed. "Go take a shower and I will pick out some clothes for you to wear."

"I guess." Rachel says stepping into the bathroom annoyance still in her tone.

"Towels are in the upper cabinet and there are clean lather builders in the bottom cabinet. I just set aside my old one for incineration. You know, evidence and all that. Also there are a few robes in the tall closet feel free to throw one on after your shower at least until we can get you into some clothes. Or…as an alternative, you could just stride out here in the buff. I promise I won't complain or anything." Brittany smiles and wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

Rachel grins back and rolls her eyes in an affectionate way before sashaying into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. Brittany heard some cabinets open and shut and while Rachel plodded around her bathroom so she determined she had time to clean her weapons instead of letting them sit all day in her closet. The sooner she got it done the better it would be for her kit. She pulled open her secret compartment and she removed her knives, sword and 9mm. She also took out her cleaning kit and after putting on plastic gloves to protect her hands from the various chemicals she would need to use she began to systematically clean the equipment she used the night before.

This was something she has done countless times so it took her less than 5 minutes to clean her blades and the gun. She replaced the weapons, tossed the gloves, and closed the panel then started leafing through her clothing looking for something for Rachel to wear. She immediately crossed off pencil skirts they just wouldn't fit Rachel right because of their height difference so she moved on to the pleated skirts. She found a dark blue one that would manage to be fairly short even on Rachel and so she moved on to blouses. This took her a bit longer but she eventually settled on a gray low cut sleeveless cotton blouse. It was warming up after all and she wanted the girl to be comfortable in the outfit. She grabbed a white belt with a silver buckle and placed it next to the outfit she picked out. With Rachel's outfit out of the way Brittany went to the side of the closet with her cheer uniforms and took a clean one to wear for the day.

Brittany had just finished pulling her hair back into a tight bun when Rachel walked out wearing a pink silk robe with flowers on it. Brittany usually used this particular robe to get Santana (or someone else) worked up and ripe for seduction. Turns out that it was having a similar effect on herself seeing Rachel wearing it. The robe was so short that it barely covered Brittany's nethers so it was a bit longer on Rachel but it was still indecently short and showed a bit of skin on her chest as well.

"Dear Joss deliver me from sin." Brittany joked.

"This is what you've chosen for me to wear?" Rachel says hiding a smile but otherwise ignoring Brittany's comment. "It's lovely but it isn't really my style."

"No, but it isn't not your style either."

"Did you seriously just use a triple negative?" Rachel says laughing unabashedly.

"Me speaks English good." Brittany says as straight faced as possible. "You'd think that since my second PhD was in 19th Century Romantic Literature I would be slightly more eloquent, but alas Brittany has corrupted the way I speak. I don't always think it's a bad thing though. I was a little…stiff before I joined the CIA. Anyway as I was saying the outfit is close enough to your style to not make waves while still giving you a fresh look as well. Oh, and before you go in on me, I don't think there is anything wrong with the way you dress but take it from someone who knows, sometimes it's nice to just change who you are even if it's just in an infinitesimal way like changing your wardrobe for a day." She looks at Rachel seriously for a moment and she sees something in her eyes that she can't quite pinpoint but Rachel is smiling so she doesn't think she offended her.

"Anyway." She says in her attempt to deflect the seriousness of the moment. "You can use my underwear. My normal panties probably won't fit but my thongs should. You will have to use the same bra sorry about that but I don't think we share a cup size." Rachel blushes deeply and drops her head. "What?"

"I've never worn a thong before."

"Really? Not even for Finn?" Rachel shook her head.

"It's a little uncomfortable the first few times but I personally love wearing them now. Just try not to pick at it. I will leave you to change and go make some breakfast. When you are ready to come down just let me know and I will lead you though the safe parts of the house to the dining room."

She exits the bedroom and heads downstairs into the kitchen. She opens the door to the refrigerator and ponders her choices for vegan dining. Slim pickings. She grabs some orange juice, fruit and trail mix from her kitchen and began to slice the fruit up as quick as a chef, her culinary skills owing a great debt to her knife skills in other areas. _Chefs do that _she thought and smiled in spite of herself. She quickly sliced up some bananas, strawberries, kiwi, and apples and then splitting the fruit piles in half she placed them in a couple of bowls and put some of the dried fruit trail mix next to it.. She set the carafe of orange juice on the table and put the glasses near it so Rachel could pour her own glass.

It was perfect timing as Rachel called down the stairs right when she set the last glass at the table. Brittany jogs up the stairs to meet her so she can walk her through the house.

"What kind of traps are in here anyway?" Rachel asks as she walks behind Brittany warily.

"Well there is a pressure sensor on the stairs that sets off a claymore. It's obviously deactivated at the moment. There are a few voice activated traps as well that drop walls, knockout gas and less happy things. There is one in the hallway that drops a rather nasty acid on an intruder. If they managed to survive they would be in a burn ward for a very long time. There are a lot of others too. Really it's just something I like to play around with it's not like I am expecting a team of ninjas to break in, it's just a way to kill a bit of down time.

"Anyway breakfast is slim pickings like I said I don't have much in the way of vegan fare but I have some trail mix, I checked the ingredients nothing should offend, and I also sliced up some fruit. There is also some Tropicana OJ. I was going to grab some granola and then I saw that honey was a main ingredient. I will make sure to buy some other stuff for the next time you come over."

"Who said I would be coming over again?" Rachel says coyly as she sits at the table and starts eating the fruit starting with a piece of apple. She crunches it in her teeth and smiles playfully at the blonde girl.

"Pretty sure you did not even an hour ago." Brittany flirts obviously.

"Um no. I said I had some thinking to do and I do." Rachel responds before she gets a mischievous glint in her eye. Reaching into the bowl she holds a piece of fruit up to her mouth. She swirls her tongue around a piece of strawberry before supporting the weight of it on her surprisingly long tongue for a few seconds and then dexterously flicking it into her mouth.

"Seriously Rachel, that was just cruel." Brittany said with longing in her tones that made Rachel smile viciously. Which of course only turned her on more.

"You know how some people can tie a knot with their tongue using a cherry stem? I can tie a bow." Rachel says polishing off her last piece of fruit and smiling demurely.

"We're leaving now Rachel." Brittany says and stands up from the table straightening her cheerio skirt. Rachel giggles at the flustered look on her face. Turnabout was fair play after all.

"It's nice to be the one doing the teasing for once." Rachel calls after her retreating form before following closely to avoid the traps.

As they are walking out the door to the house Rachel's phone suddenly says "Hello gorgeous." She pulls it out of her purse and checks the screen for her text message.

"Anything interesting?" Brittany asks curiously.

"Aww my Daddies will be back later tonight and they want to make up for leaving me last night and have a family night. They can be really sweet, well pretty much all the time. It can be a little smothering sometimes but I wouldn't give it up for the world." Brittany smiled and it made her miss her Mom, she hadn't seen her in almost a year. She missed her Dad too but since he passed away from cancer when she was five that was more of an omnipresent feeling. "That means I probably won't be coming over tonight though."

"While I do enjoy your company immensely, I can survive a night without you. I promise." Brittany says nudging the girl with her shoulder.

"I will call you though after the festivities." Rachel informs her.

"Oh that reminds me." She says and then runs back in the house. She reemerges about a minute later and is holding two cheap looking cell phones. "Burner phones." She explains. "They aren't registered to anyone and they use prepaid phone cards. They are already activated and have numbers set up. We can use these to communicate without my bosses getting all weird about me talking so much to a suspect. Technically calling you wouldn't be a problem as you are a suspect and I am supposed to get close to you but they absolutely monitor my main phone and either of us slipping would be bad on an apocalyptic level." She spent another few seconds typing in the phone numbers into the phones and handing one to Rachel. "Don't use it for anyone but me unless there is an emergency or something. The less you use it, the longer we will be able to stay in contact because as soon as the phone is compromised we may not be able to speak again."

"Oh, this is how you decided to let me know you are okay?" Rachel says and Brittany nods in confirmation. Rachel excitedly throws her arms around Brittany's neck. "Thanks Snow."

"You're welcome Rae. We should really get going or we are going to be late for school."

"One more minute mom." Rachel says sarcastically still hugging the blonde. She did let go after a few more seconds and they both walked to their respective vehicles. "See you in a few minutes."

They made the trip to school fairly quickly Rachel called Brittany on her new phone to ask if they could stop by the Lima Bean and Brittany said that they could but it would probably make them late so they elected to get the cheap cafeteria coffee when they got to school. After the first sip of the vile liquid they both immediately regretted their decision and started pouring in sugar packets to try and make it somewhat consumable. Once they actually started to move towards their classes they went their separate ways. The two girls didn't share all that many classes since Rachel was on an honor roll tract and Brittany was placed in the remedial classes. Sometimes though she would just walk into a random classroom and sit down. The teachers stopped saying anything about it after about the tenth time she did it. It was really hard to keep a straight face as Brittany sometimes.

She went through her classes on autopilot throughout the day. There was a pop quiz in an AP English class she wasn't even enrolled in and she, just for fun, answered every question correctly to see if it would throw the teacher for a loop. She did this all while talking to Mike about dancing, writing her answers down while keeping up a steady stream of choreography advice.

When she walked into Glee she saw Rachel sitting in her usual seat with a cocky look on her face. It was the smug look she wore when she was going to surprise someone and Brittany approached cautiously because her surprises were often nice but could be incredibly vicious as well. She pulled a chair closer to the girl and sat down close enough so that she could hold her hand. Brittany smiled at Rachel and Rachel sent the smug look at her letting her know definitively that the surprise was intended for her. Brittany narrowed her eyes and was about to ask what she was planning when Will came bouncing in the room.

"Ok guys only a few more glee sessions left who has something prepared." Will asks the group and Blaine is out of his seat before he was even done speaking. Rachel's face fell slightly and she started to pout a little which revealed a lot to Brittany.

"Well guys," Blaine said. "I figured that since I had some success with the brilliance of Danny Elfman I should continue the trend to say goodbye. It isn't the message I want to say goodbye with but it is a fun song and I just want to remind everyone how much fun we've had in this room. Hit it!" He said and Brittany clearly saw Brad roll his eyes before beginning the Oingo Boingo song Goodbye-Goodbye. Everyone was immediately up on their feet dancing around the room and singing the echoes of the song. Blaine's Goodbye song may not have been very emotional but it absolutely accomplished what he intended it to when the entire group ended the number in a giant group hug more than a few with misty eyes.

"That was great Blaine." Will said before inviting someone else to perform their song.

"Well Mr. Shue." Rachel said quickly. "While it isn't technically a goodbye song Brittany and I do have something prepared."

In a rare moment of shock Brittany lost character and blurted out "We do?"

Rachel slyly sighed and Brittany was pretty sure she was the only one who noticed that the exasperation in her tone was completely false. "Can Britt and I have about a minute? I think she is still a bit nervous since the song doesn't have any choreography to it." She grabs Brittany by the wrist and pulls her to the front of the classroom towards the stools and the stereo. In low tones she starts to explain while dragging a couple of stools towards the front. "You mentioned your favorite song to me last night and lamented that you never got to sing it. I had never heard it before so I looked it up on youtube and instantly fell in love. So I spent about forty five minutes downloading and removing the vocals from the song. Then another fifteen minutes learning the backing vocals for you. Do you know the song well enough to sing it?" Brittany pauses for a second and then nods. "Do you want to?" Brittany looks at the ensemble and then back at Rachel and nods emphatically.

"Good, now let me handle this." Rachel walks back to the front of the room and begins speaking. "I have wanted to sing this song for a while but unfortunately it isn't quite right for my voice and when I tried to change the key it lost the visceral quality to it's rich tone so I elected to just suffer through not being able to perform it." Brittany was a little shocked at just how easily the lies rolled off Rachel's tongue. No waiver in her tone or breathing; her eye contact was enough to be convincing but not so much that it looked like she trying too hard. Guess those acting classes paid off. "However when I started…um…spending time with Brittany," she cleared her throat and smiled, "I realized that I had found the perfect voice to sing it and if I couldn't sing it myself I could at least be a part of it."

She walked over to the ipod dock and set up her iphone to play the song she had altered the night before. One of the jazz band members walked over to run it so that she wouldn't have to run to her stool. She walked over to sit on the stool and Brittany smiled at Rachel for doing this for her and then she smiled at the Jazz band member before nodding her head. The musician hit play on the phone and the room was filled with a soft melody. Brittany had never been this nervous before a performance and if not for her training she suspected she would be shaking. The lead in wasn't very long and it wasn't long before she began to croon in her alto voice.

_There's a chair in my head on which I used to sit  
>Took a pencil and I wrote the following on it<br>_

_Now there's a key where my wonderful mouth used to be_

Rachel sang her first notes on the next part but she sang softly and only in compliment to Brittany's voice. Most of the song was in harmony so they sang it together with Rachel for once easily giving up the lead and not trying to take the spotlight off her partner. Rachel made sure to not sing certain lines as the harmonies asked.

_**Dig it up and throw it at me  
>Dig it up<strong>__, throw it at me_

_**Where can I run to, where can I hide  
>Who will I turn to now I'm in a virgin state of mind<strong>_

_Got a knife to disengage __**the voids that I can't bear  
>To cut out words I've got written on my chair<strong>_

_**Like**__ do you think I'm sexy  
>Do you think I really care<em>

_**Can I burn the mazes I grow  
>Can I,<strong>__ I don't think so_

The two girls harmonize on Ah sounds and it sends goosebumps up the arms of pretty much everyone in the room.

_**Can I burn the mazes I grow  
>Can I, I don't think so<br>Where can I run to, where can I hide  
>Who will I turn to now I'm in a virgin state of mind<strong>_

_**Virgin state of mind  
>Virgin state of mind<br>**__Virgin state of mind _

The room was on its feet the second the last note rang out and Brittany blushed lightly. She had never been more proud of or been so affected by a performance that she had given.

"Ladies that was fantastic." Mr. Shue said. "Brittany you shouldn't have been nervous about the performance because you knocked it out of the park without the need for a single dance step." Brittany smiled at the praise even if it was slightly backhanded. She didn't even pay attention to what Mercedes sang next she was in fact only vaguely aware that anyone else was in the room besides her and Rachel and she pulled the small girl into her embrace. She heard someone sigh that she was pretty sure came from Santana but at the moment all she could feel was happy, besides she could deal with that problem later.

"Alright guys that was great I will see you guys next week and we can finish up the goodbye songs." Will said a little sadly.

"Hey Britt I really liked your song. I mean I could have sang it way better but it was still pretty good." Sugar said condescendingly.

Brittany couldn't help herself. "I like your voice Sugar it reminds me of when Lord Tubbington and the neighbor's cat have gay sex on the patio." Sugar's eyes went wide at the less than veiled insult but Brittany hugged her tightly. Artie rolled up and Sugar plopped down into his lap not sure whether to be offended or not but he wheeled her away before she could decide.

Years later when she looked back on this day she was so glad that the day ended the way it did with the duet with Rachel and just having an all around great moment with the glee club. It made her so happy because after she got in her car and drove to her house no one in that room would ever see Brittany S. Pierce again and she was pleased that she left them with such a positive memory of her.

She arrived home and went through her house rearming her traps. Not for any real reason but she figured if they were there they might as well be active. She walked up the stairs to her room and stripped down out of her cheerio's uniform so that she could change into a comfortable pair of sweats. She pulled out her laptop and started processing her debrief from the previous night's mission while turning Netflix on and continuing her journey through the Dollhouse.

She finished her debriefing report and decided to take a small break. Her only free time lately had been with Rachel and even that was slightly stressful so she just laid back on her bed and watched the beautiful Eliza Dushku struggle with the questions of who she ultimately was when everything that was her was forcibly ripped from her mind. At around nine she felt herself nodding off, she hadn't had much sleep in the last few days and her body was complaining about it. She was partially asleep when her burner phone started to ring and even though she was being interrupted from her sleep she still couldn't help but smile. She snatched up her phone and pressed the talk button.

"Hello Ms. Berry." She said with as sultry a voice as she could muster.

"Hello Snow." Rachel responded obviously affected by her tone.

"How was your evening with your dads?" Brittany asked the flirty voice gone in an instant. She loved keeping the girl on her toes.

"It was really nice we had a sunset picnic and then we went to a small waterfall off in a forest to the North of town it's one of my favorite places to go when I want to think."

"That is really sweet Rae." Brittany said sincerely.

"Yeah my dads are really great sometimes. As I said though it really is one of my favorite places to think and I did some thinking while I was there." Rachel began. Brittany held her tongue and her breath waiting on Rachel to finish her thought. "Most of my thinking revolved around you, well us really, and I decided as foolish as it is, I want to give it a try." Brittany let the breath out and smiled hugely. "I know it will be short and passionate and is destined to end in heartbreak but I can't seem to force myself to care. All I know is that right now, more than anything, I want to be with you. I am thinking about sneaking out right now just so I can be with you." There is a pause, and for a few seconds no one says anything. "Snow, are you there? Say something."

"Oh sorry yeah just thinking about all the things I am going to do to you when I see you next." The shameless flirting was obvious but she didn't want to let on just how happy this made her. It would only make the heartbreak in a few weeks that much worse.

"So did you want me to sneak out?" Rachel asked sounding kind of scared of Brittany's response.

"Well if you want to come over, I'm not about to say no but…" Brittany is interrupted by the sound of her main phone ringing. "Hang on Rae my main phone is ringing I need to answer it. I will be back in just a sec."

"Okay." Rachel says excited.

Brittany picks up the phone and sees an unlisted number. Not at all unusual in her line of business. "Hello." She says as she answers the phone.

"Snow it's Robertson." Her boss says sleepily.

"Hello sir what can I do for you."

"I called to congratulate you on a job well done. We found our suspect."

"WHAT? That is spectacular sir. How?"

"The computer that was in the house."

"You cracked it." Brittany says excitedly.

"Now we are still trying to get past the firewalls though we are getting closer. No it was something much more simple that that basic fingerprints. We got them off the keyboard. We found three sets one belonged to the person you captured last night. The other two belong to Hiram and Leroy Berry."

"It's LeRoy Berry sir." She corrected automatically. "Wait are you saying the Berrys are behind this?" She says shattered. She starts thinking though. Hiram and LeRoy were conveniently out of town on the night she attacked the farmhouse. The easy way the lies rolled off of Rachel's lips in Glee that afternoon. They had the means. They had opportunity. It fit really well.

No.

No

No.

She didn't believe it, couldn't believe it.

"Anyway don't worry about apprehending them I know I said I wanted you to lead the assault team but as soon as the FEEBS found out we had our people they wanted to move on it. If I am correct the assault team should already be in position."

_What? Oh god I can't let on that this is bothering me I have to play it cool and see if I can get off the phone as quickly as I can._

"Fucking FBI, am I right? No restraint."

"Seriously. Anyway your part in the op is done. The rest is pretty much negotiation between the Berrys, FBI and HLS. Hopefully it is non forceful negotiation since that usually tends to go bad for everyone involved. Not really your concern though just go ahead and close any loose ends you might have, wrap up your mission and then go home for a few weeks spend some time with your family, you've more than earned it. Report to Langley on July 9th for reassignment. That should give you several weeks at home. Wherever that is. Goodnight Snowbird."

"Goodnight sir." She says already moving towards her burner phone. "Rachel?" She says picking up the phone quickly.

"Yeah I'm here." She says slightly distorted. "I have you on speaker phone I am changing to come over."

"Rachel you have to get out of the house."

"I know, that is why I am coming over I think you'll like what I am going to wear."

"No that isn't what I…" The sound of a door being slammed against the wall reverberates through the phone line and she hears Rachel scream.

"Hands in the air. On your knees. Zip her." Brittany hears a man say slightly covering up Rachel's desperate pleas. Moments later she hears the telltale sound of a zip tie being closed and then Rachel's voice is suddenly muffled. She hears another person say the room is clear. "Forensics is on its way they want the family out before they get here." The man says before dragging what sounds like a struggling and gagged Rachel out of the room.

Only one word makes any sense in Brittany's head right now so she says it out loud and it sounds soft and full of pain and longing.

"Rachel."


	13. Answers

**Chapter 13: Answers**

Snowbird hung up the burner phone quickly, she knew that FBI forensics would be tracking it, if not immediately then within a few hours. She pulled the battery and the sim card and took it downstairs to take a bath in acid. Once that was taken care of her mind started reeling. Belief and disbelief were charging through her psyche, changing as fluidly as a sine wave.

She paced around the room wearing tracks into her carpet. On the one hand it made complete sense. Why would the Berrys live in a right wing hick town when they are gay if they didn't have an actual reason to be here in Lima. It's not like they couldn't find work elsewhere. They were both supposedly talented in their respective fields and would be welcome pretty much anywhere they wanted to go. The evidence definitely pointed in their direction and the skill with which Rachel lied kind of made her think that her crush could be a villain. Sure she would probably be a Disney villain, but while Cruela Deville was completely over the top ridiculous she was still fairly nefarious.

On the other hand it was Rachel's idea for Snow to decode the emails herself and she seemed thrilled when she actually accomplished it. It was an action that was pivotal in finding the safe house. Why would she recommend something that would only inevitably lead to her arrest and possible torture. It didn't add up, none of it. Or maybe Rachel only recommended it because she thought it couldn't be done and she just wanted to waste Snow's time. The elation could have been fabricated for her benefit.

"FUCK." Snow screams into Brittany Pierce's empty bedroom. She sits on the edge of the bed and closes her eyes gently rubbing at her temples. "Think girl."

Snow begins to ponder aloud to herself while standing up and pacing once more. "Hypothetically let's assume it wasn't Rachel. If it wasn't Rachel that means that the responsible party must have known about last nights op. There were only three places where the mission was discussed." She says to the silent room. "Here." She shakes her head, it was too unlikely. Even if they managed to somehow get past the myriad of traps she swept her bedroom and surveillance room for bugs every other day. "In front of the lockers at the entrance to the school and the choir room. The choir room."

She went to her closet and quickly threw on a power suit. Brittany was no longer necessary so whoever did this was getting Snowbird in all her terrifying and beautiful glory. After getting dressed she opens her secret compartment and pulls out her 9mm and silencer. The silencer goes in the inner jacket pocket and the gun goes into a shoulder holster. Snowbird snatches up her ID with her code name and security access on it. Her real name is classified after all but it does have a CIA shield on it so it opens doors very quickly. Snow places it in the pocket opposite the silencer. She snatches up her equipment to sweep for bugs and leaves the house not even bothering with activating the inactive house defenses. She walks to her car and starts the engine. Part of her wants to peel rubber so she can save Rachel but it's 10:30 pm and she doesn't need wake up the neighborhood and draw unneeded or unwanted attention.

Snow drives to the school quickly barely pausing at stop signs and using the car to change the traffic lights to green. It was nice being a spy sometimes. She parked in the school loading zone and exits her car taking the sensor wand with her. She walks up to the front door of the school and pulls out a key ring. With as many times as she was forced to break into the school she just made keys to the campus as well as the homes of her main suspects. It seemed prudent. She fingered the key etched with an "M" for main. She slides it into the front door of the school and walks through the unlocked door walking more rapidly then she normally would through the empty hallways.

She turns sharply into the choir room and lifts out the wand. She turns the sensor on and moves towards the back of the room. She scans the trophy case before slowly moving along the back wall. Snowbird's wand finds her own camera which she promptly moves past to continue searching. It takes her about 3 minutes to circle the walls. She finds nothing so she begins moving inward in decreasing circles. When she gets towards the very center of the room the wand gives a quick chirp back into a direction she already came from. Snow turns in the direction and holds the wand over the jazz band keyboard when the wand starts blaring at having found a listening device. She opens the top of the electronic piano with an Omni tool looking for the device. When she looks at it she is slightly impressed. It had several wires attaching it to a circuit board drawing power from the instrument, a wireless transmitter and some device she assumed was a kill switch that probably activated when there was no sound coming through it. It wasn't military tech and definitely not black ops, but for civilian tech it was pretty advanced

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her signal tracker and took a few minutes to find the wireless signals coming from the device. This time she did run following it out of the choir room and down the hallways in the school. It lead her two lefts and a right down to the teacher's offices. She found herself standing outside of Sue Sylvester's office and she pulled her keys out knowing that Sue was fastidious about locking her door when she wasn't in it. After unlocking Sue's door she follows the signal towards Sue's computer tower. She finds a USB wireless device sticking out of the back of the computer.

Snowbird didn't, for even one full second, think that Sue was responsible for this. Sure she was bat shit crazy but she was also honest. Brutally honest in fact and Snow knew that while she was ruthless, smuggling illegals into the country isn't something she would do. Well maybe if it was the right thing to do, but certainly not for the mafia. Far more likely whoever was responsible had just put the USB stick into the computer as well as a background program that sent the data from the bug to an external server that could be accessed via the internet.

Snow sat at the computer and pushed CTRL-ALT-DELETE bringing up the task manager and looking through the processes found a program that was unusual. She could probably find out where the information was being sent to but it was unlikely they would be able to get anything from there. This person never transmitted an IP address so even if they found where the server was and where on the server the information was and how often the information was accessed they wouldn't be able to track it to a source. All this was, was another dead end.

_Okay work that big brain. _She thinks to herself not knowing if Sue's office was bugged as well. _I could look for when the bug was installed but poring through the files and files of video could take weeks and that's if the bug was even installed in the keyboard in the choir room. It's not like a keyboard can't be easily removed. How did they hear us so quickly they probably don't have someone listening to the feed 24/7. _Snow thinks sitting down in Sue's chair.

She sits for a second before she face palms. She starts typing on Sue's computer and brings up Jacob Ben Israel's blog and sure enough is a youtube video of Rachel and herself holding each other intimately. The title read "Ditzy Doll and Dynamic Diva Do the Do." _My remaining suspects (Kurt, Mercedes and Tina) all have Jacob's blog on RSS feeds to their phones and are all major gossip queens so they would know about it as soon as it happened. Whoever it was probably saw the video, listened to the audio from the bug to sate their inner curiosity to see if Jacob was right or not. Then things just got set in motion. This still doesn't get me any closer to whoever it is though._

There was only one actual conclusion she could come to. She didn't have the answers she needed, but more importantly she wanted them. She couldn't talk to Rachel or the Berry men since the FBI took them. None of the agencies are well known for open and free interagency cooperation and the G-Men were the worst of all of them since it was technically their job to police the other agencies for corruption. Rachel was likely in an undisclosed safe house being, for now at least, gently interrogated. They do want cooperation from the perpetrators, so at first it is likely they will start soft interrogation, even offering bribery. This will probably happen for a day or two, three at most. Then the psychological torture begins. Sleep depravation will be first. They usually use loud music or sounds to prevent people from falling asleep right as they are about to achieve it, using their weakened constitution to immediately interrogate them. Shortly after the sleep dep begins they switch the food from normal portions to almost dangerously low rations. Just enough to keep them alive and conscious in fact, feeding them a decent meal every few days just to make sure they don't starve. This can go on for weeks. While this technique isn't technically illegal or banned by the Geneva convention it is frowned on in most of the world because of the complete delirium the suspect goes through.

If and when this doesn't work they will probably be removed from the country and given over to someone with the sole order of "make them talk by any means necessary." That is when the real torture starts. Sure the US government says they don't torture and officially they only toe the line. Unofficially however they have committed horrible acts to acquire information from our enemies. Everyone breaks, but most of the time the information gained isn't worth the methods employed to get it. Most of the time anyway, there are of course always exceptions.

The mobster she incapacitated on the other hand was in CIA custody. He was probably in Detention Center 17 a secret underground government prison outside Toledo. As far as secret prisons go it wasn't really that shady just a place the government puts prisoners it doesn't want the public to know about. Like Jimmy Hoffa. Snow might not get anything good out of the guy but the invasion of the farmhouse was the last lead she had. She walked out of Sue's office and headed back to her car. She had a few answers from her visit to the school but they only brought up more questions. She enters her vehicle and turns on the car's Heads Up Display. She used the satellite uplink to access the CIA database and after a few voice commands Snow confirmed that he was in fact taken to DC17.

She used her authorization codes to inform them of her impending arrival at the prison, and to have him ready for her in an unmonitored interrogation room. Since she was who she was, there would be no record of her visit to the facility beyond the standard identity check which would be erased the moment she leaves and no cameras would record her passing. Anonymity was a spy's best weapon after all. For all intents and purposes she would never have been there in the first place, which is good since technically she was on vacation.

The drive to Toledo was not a short one, it was late and she still hadn't slept very much in the last week or so, so she turned on the AC, cranked up the radio and sang along loudly for the ninety minute drive trying to stay awake. Technically DC 17 wasn't in the city proper but a suburb called Northwood. She pulled into a secluded baseball field hidden in a small copse of trees that held weekly little league games She stepped into a small building on the south end of the field that controlled the flood lights and the electronic scoreboard.

The room was the size of a porta potty and Snow was kind of glad that she wasn't claustrophobic. She opened the fuse box and began to click fuses in a specific order. 42, 5, 88, 4, 5, and 1. She waited 5 seconds after clicking the last fuse and she heard an electric motor kick on. The concrete floor began to descend and Snowbird was forcefully reminded of the Haunted Mansion at Disney World which she went to when she was 9 as a reward for when she graduated from high school. The visitor entrance descends fairly slowly since the walls were stationary but it is still a solid 2 minutes before she reaches the bottom and the floor slides into a hole with a gentle click and she couldn't help but tap her feet in her impatience. When she steps off the platform rises back up to the top.

A man walks into the room late 20's or so and with his Nordic features and short dirty blonde hair Snowbird couldn't help but think he was strikingly beautiful. Not really a shock though the CIA likes hiring good looking people because attractive people tend to throw others off balance.

"What happens if someone tries to open the door when the elevator descends?" Snow asks the man without so much as a "hi, hello there."

The man sighs in a way that lets her know that everyone asks this question. "The door automatically locks once the sequence begins and doesn't unlock until it rises back up into position. If you will follow me Agent. Before you say anymore I am not in anyway authorized to know anything about you. I don't know your name, your access level or your code name if applicable. I am even unaware of the name of the prisoner you are going to see. All I have is an authorization and a prisoner number, that is all I will have by the end of this meeting as well. This is all above my pay grade I just make sure that the prisoners are healthy and secure until they aren't anymore." He said with no malice in his voice but it was clear from his words that sometimes people didn't leave here alive. This disturbed her a little but probably less than it should have.

"Now that that is all said and done. I have been told that you have full run of this facility should you need anything from it and that if I am given an order to follow it. The prisoner you requested is in interrogation room 4. As you have instructed all recording has been turned off for your anonymity. When you are done there is an intercom on the wall just press the button and ask to be let out. You can also request food or water for yourself or the prisoner if your interrogation runs long. The prisoner is still on full rations so if that is to change I will need to be informed" Snowbird nods in affirmation of his debriefing.

"That won't be necessary I shouldn't be long at all. Thank you…Warden?" At this he nods. "Thank you Warden if I need anything else I will let you know." He walks away without another word. She takes stock of the place. With it's white walls and extreme cleanliness it more resembles a hospital than a prison. She walks over to the room the Warden indicated and she turns the door knob. She opens the door and sitting at the table is the mobster in all his ugly glory. His left arm was in a cast and it was secured with a specialized single shackle to the table. His right arm was shackled to his feet and was secured to the floor. The spare shackle was attached to the center of the manacle set.

She closes the door behind her and this catches the mobsters attention. "Oh thank god." He says. "Are you here to talk to me, no one has said a single word to me since I got here." When Brittany turns to face the man his whole excited demeanor changes to one of a different kind of excitement. "Well hello beautiful."

Snowbird rolls her eyes at the audacity of the man considering his situation but she chooses to ignore his idiocy. "I am here to ask you a few questions and I urge you to be truthful with me. In this place we don't really abide by the Geneva Convention, we don't go crazy, full on violating it but we are kind of lax on it if say, accidents happen during your stay. Also your Miranda rights do not in any way exist in this place so no attorney, no phone call, and you can stay silent if you want but I would really advise answering my questions."

"I have a few questions for you baby." He says, sleaze dripping off of every word. "How would you like to sit on my face?"

"Quite the charmer." Snowbird deadpans. "Look sir I seriously suggest you show me some respect."

"And why is that baby doll?" The man asks smiling lecherously.

"Because, I'm the one who broke your arm." She lets that hang in the air for a few moments before continuing. "I also have little problem with breaking another body part that you enjoy keeping unbroken. It's really hard to masturbate when you have two broken arms, and I am guessing that while you are in this place, that that is all you have you sad little man."

All lust on his face is replaced with anger. "Where is everyone else that was in the house are they here too?"

"They are somewhere." She said not completely lying to the man. "Where they are is unimportant to your current predicament. Now, who do you work for?"

"The Queen of Siam." He responds derisively.

"The queen you say." She says sarcastically. "Does she know how much you telegraph your punches? She might want a different bodyguard. Who do you work for?" She says it more forcefully the second time.

"The United Federation of Planets." He says smiling to get under her skin.

"That's a shame. Although Captain Picard would be proud of your interrogation resistance. Remember there are four lights." She reaches across the table to the broken arm and grasps his pinky finger twisting it upwards cleanly breaking the bone. "And now there are four working fingers as well." The man screams in pain and then proceeds to call her a few names that would make a sailor blush but Snowbird shows no outward signs of caring. "Look fucktard you want to know where your fellow mobsters from the house are right now. They are sitting in a morgue because they're dead, all of them. I killed them all and spared you just so I can question you. That is all you are good for to me so imagine what I will do to you if I don't get any cooperation.

"As soon as I am done I will call a medic to take care of that," she says in a slightly softer voice but it was still no nonsense, "or I could continue to break things, or worse, your choice really. So, sweetie." Her tone was dangerous now. "Who. Do. You. Work. For?

Gritting his teeth and looking at her with a look of purest loathing he responds. "De Luca family from Chicago."

"Good. Now who do you report to?"

"Some cunt named Rachel or something." Brittany's heart dropped into her stomach. She showed nothing to the man however indicating him to continue. "At least that's what she told me, I never talked with her before…well, whenever I talked to her, it's hard to tell how long I been in here, but the day I talked wit' her it was the same day that I ended up here. It was my first time at the house evah. Was there for 2 hours before I was dragged away with a broken arm and a bag over my head. Got a call in the afternoon said they wanted to do a shift change for the house I would be there for a few days before heading back to Chicago. Should have know something was up."

"Why? Explain." Snowbird says tersely.

"I'm not in good standing with the Family." He says pain still evident in his words. "I fucked up a real important job a few months back, and while I wasn't whacked for it or nothin', I wasn't really trusted with anything else either. When I got there I recognized most of the people, and everyone there was in a similar position with the family, or worse."

_They were nothing but fodder. I guess it was Rachel and she just didn't clean the house as well of evidence as well as she thought she did. She must have forgotten the computer. Seems like a big oversight though considering how able the criminals were on computers._ She wanted to cry a little and not wanting to do it in front of the man she decided to go back to Lima to get ready to leave for Langley. She stands up to walk over to the intercom.

"Should have told that sultry voiced bitch to go fuck herself." He said to himself.

Snowbird spun on her heels back to face the man. "What did you just say?"

"Huh?" He asked frightened.

"No I just want to know what you just said." Snow said frantically.

"I said I should have told that sultry voiced bitch to go fuck herself?" He said nervous of the spy's reaction.

Snowbird began to pace the room and her inner monologue went crazy. _Sultry. Sultry? Rachel's voice could be called a lot of things: beautiful, lyrical, angelic even, but not sultry. _Snow sits back in the chair she just vacated so she could look at the man directly.

"Describe this Rachel's voice to me." She demands.

This set the man back on his heels no one had ever asked someone to describe a voice before. "Um, well it was low for a woman, I would go so far as to say it was kinda deep. It was breathy too a little like Amy Whinehouse. It was sexy I guess."

"Thank you." She says. "You have been more helpful than you know." _This is the first semi-solid evidence that it isn't Rachel but not even close to being enough to get her out. _She goes to the intercom to indicate that she is ready to leave and that the prisoner needs a medic. _A deep female voice I guess that could describe Tina or Mercedes but honestly that sounds more like Santana than anyone else. Doubtful. I still need more._

A metaphorical light bulb went off in her head, as she walked out the door of the cell and when the Warden approached she asked. "Is this a full CIA facility or just a Detention Center?"

"It is the only CIA facility in Ohio, well that I am cleared to know of anyway." He answers.

"Where is evidence and investigation handled?" Snow asks

"Sub basement 5 there is an elevator this way." He leads her to the elevator. "Not really my specialty so they will help you out down there. I will see you on your way out."

She nods at the man and calls the elevator up to her current floor. She rides it down to the specified floor and steps into a small corridor that lead in two directions. One side said 'Evidence Storage' the other said 'Crime Scene Unit.' What she wanted could be in either place so she just picks a direction and heads to the CSU lab. Only one person was in the lab which she supposed made sense given the time. A slightly chubby African American man with a friendly face stands up to greet her when she walks in. His white lab coat was stained in some greenish fluid and Snow thinks to herself it's probably better not to ask what it is.

"What can I help you with ma'am?" He asks respectfully. He had probably been informed of the agent's visit.

"There was a raid on a farmhouse last night and they sent you a computer that you fingerprinted." The man nodded in affirmation. "Have you cracked the firewall yet so we can get at the information?"

"No, not yet, I think I'm getting close but it could be a while still." The man responds to her.

"I am intimately familiar with this person's style so I am going to take a crack at the firewall." She says brooking no room for argument.

"I assure you ma'am I am quite good at my job." He says slightly wounded at the lack of confidence.

"I'm sure you are," she says in a placating way, "but you aren't me. Excuse me sir." She walks over to the computer and sits down completely ignoring his indignant huff. She begins clacking away on the cheap keyboard they were using since the actual one was probably covered in fingerprint dust and was likely sitting in an evidence bag down the hall.

She was quick with the hacking, she really did know their style and it only took about 25 minutes before the desktop lay open before her skilled fingers. What she found on the computer was far more disturbing than she thought. Nothing. There were no documents, no files, hell the only web history was to Facebook and only went back a few pages. She quickly opened up the control panel and double clicks on the programs icon. The software was extremely basic, it didn't even have Java or Adobe installed. This computer must have been reformatted or had the hard drive removed and replaced. There was nothing on it but a firewall placed there to delay and distract. She stood up off the stool she sat on while she worked and crouched down to where the tower was on the floor. She turned the thumbscrews and quickly opened up the tower. She closed her eyes and scoffed in frustration. This wasn't a clean hard drive, this was a brand new out of the box computer. There was no wear and no dust anywhere inside the tower.

"FUCK." She screams again and in her bout of temper kicks the tower over. She felt a little guilty at the Finn style temper tantrum.

"MA'AM that's evidence." The investigator admonishes.

"No, it isn't, it's a paperweight. There's nothing on there." Snow says much more calmly.

"Why are you so frustrated ma'am it's my understanding that we captured the guilty party?"

"I don't believe we have the right person. Now hush for just a moment and let me think." _It's a brand new computer. They switched out the entire crew of people letting me kill people the mob didn't care about. They were fully aware of me coming. What am I missing._ She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. After a full second her eyes pop open in shock. _What the hell is wrong with me? I already had the correct thought I needed hours ago and I just skipped right over it. 'It's not like a keyboard can't be easily removed.' The keyboard is the key. If it's a brand new computer there should be no way that the Berrys' fingerprints should be on it. _"Thank you." She says to the man and then bolts out of the room.

Snowbird clearly hears the man say "field agents" derisively. This would normally make her snort in amusement but she is too excited for this to even phase her. She hammers her fingers into the elevator call button until it actually arrives. She rides it up and has the man summon the lift to the visitors entrance. She is extremely antsy by the time she gets to her car. She turns the HUD on and activates the voice command.

"Connect to CIA secure server 1274." She waits a few seconds for the vehicle to connect before issuing a string of commands. She first lists off her password to gain access. "Open: Snowbird Surveillance footage. Open: Berry Residence. Open: Main Bedroom. Open: date 05/24/12 time index 0800 hours. Play file. Fast Forward ten times." It takes her about 15 minutes of watching the footage before she notices movement. "Pause file. Rewind. Pause."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Snowbird couldn't believe what she was seeing. The keyboard was definitely planted at the farmhouse but not at all by whom she was expecting. She pulls a keyboard out of the console and begins to write a report with her findings and attaches the video file of the keyboard theft. She places it all in an email which she sent off to Robertson as soon as it was completed. She calls up Robertson who does not seem to be very happy at being woken at 4 in the morning but doesn't say anything about it. She relays everything she found out and she waits while he reads her report and watches the video.

"I thought I told you to go on vacation Snow." He says.

"You did. I didn't. Something just didn't sit right with me sir. It didn't add up to me, I more or less cleared the Berrys a year and a half ago and I never stopped my monitoring of them just in case. Turns out it wasn't even one of my suspects, which I don't know to be impressed with their ingenuity at throwing me off the scent not once but twice or to be upset at my own investigative abilities for being fooled for so long."

"Are you still at DC 17?" He asks sleepily.

"Yes sir."

"Alright head back to Lima, I am going to call the Feebs, and relay the info. I will call you back in a few minutes." Without waiting for a response he hangs up on her. She starts the car and begins driving back North up the freeway. About 10 minutes into the drive the incoming call indicator pops up on the car's HUD. She activates the call and hears his defeated and frustrated voice in the first few words out of Robertson's voice. "Okay Snow here is the situation. They say that the evidence isn't conclusive enough to release the Berry family and to be honest I have to agree, I agree that you are probably right of course but it just isn't enough. They are going to continue to hold them but they are going to back off the interrogation for 72 hours. Let them eat, let them sleep and give you a little time to get some more evidence to exonerate them. You have a capture authorization if you want it but I can't give you a team given the lack of evidence. You are on your own if you do it."

"I understand and at least I got them to back off. At the very least we are going to have to give them a cash settlement for wrongful imprisonment I hate to think what would happen if we forcefully interrogated innocent people. Or worse. Especially since I have heard Rachel assert on more than one occasion that her fathers are connected to the ACLU."

"At lest it would be the FBI's bad PR and not ours though."

"True, but the whole government would feel the blowback from that and I doubt the CIA would be exempt. I am going to hang up and get back to Lima to take them out and strip the data off their computers. I am done playing nice."

"Fine but orders are for capture not kill. The whole point of this op is to secure their cooperation." Robertson preemptively admonishes her knowing his charge quite well.

"Understood sir." She isn't too happy with that she has a bit of anger at what has been happening to Rachel in the last 6 or so hours and how she has had the wool over her eyes for years and she wouldn't mind an outlet.

"Report on dates haven't changed. I will see you in a few weeks. Now I am going back to sleep." Robertson finishes and hangs up

She steps on the accelerator harder and the bug sped up quite a bit. She didn't use the spy car's siren on the trip up because she had no real need for it, she hadn't confirmed if it was or wasn't the Berrys after all. Now she flew up the highway in a state of seething anger and she pushes the button that actives the siren on the vehicle and a flashing light comes up out of the top of the car. She flies back up the freeway towards Lima making the 90 minute drive in about 45 minutes with all of the cars getting out of her way and the speedometer reading around 140 mph. She turns off the siren when she gets into city limits but still rockets to her house at speeds that probably weren't altogether safe.

She flies into the house after parking in the garage almost forgetting to deactivate the traps in her excited state but remembers before she tries to open the door into the main house. She runs up the stairs skipping the claymore stair and skids on her feet on the hardwood floor pushing the door to her room open. She walks quickly over to her closet and opens the panel holding her gear. She grabs the second of her three bodysuits glad she had the presence of mind to get more than one since the one she used earlier in the week still had blood on it.

This was a totally different opp than the one previous. Snowbird was going to go in hard and fast so she strips out of her power suit dropping it on the floor and leaving it there and she quickly puts on B&E clothes. She gets her full riot gear protection except the helmet and visor. The armor was heavy but she had no idea how well equipped they were in their own house and it was likely they would all be awake by the time she finally was able to assault the house. She used her steel toed boots instead of her softer ones. She left her knives in their spots and instead goes for the heavy gear. The first thing she grabs is a TAR-21 with M203 grenade launcher. She loaded a couple of clips for the assault rifle and slid a M651 CS grenade into the M203's chamber setting three others into her belt.

She knew the house she was going to was fairly isolated on the outskirts of town. It wasn't in the middle of nowhere like the farmhouse but it was on a fairly decent sized plot of land about two and half acres so she didn't have to worry about neighbors unless she has to fire the rifle which hopefully she won't. She had been there once before for a party in junior year so she has a pretty good memory of the property. She does take her tranq gun but she wants them awake when she captures them, for questioning, but she had no qualms about using it if she needed it. Her derringer goes into her right boot as usual and for good measure she attaches a boot knife to her left. When she adjusts her flak vest she feels her underwire press uncomfortably into her breasts and realizes she forgot to change her underwear. She thinks about changing them but it would take several minutes to change out and then back into all this gear and she just wants to get this over with; a little discomfort in her chest isn't a big deal.

Next she grabs her 9mm side arm but leave the silencer. If she does this right she won't have to pull it at all or even fire a single shot. She grabs a handful of heavy duty zip ties because handcuffs just took up too much room and set them in a belt pouch. Lastly she took a combat style helmet which she threw on over her ski mask. The last component she needed was in her kit but she had one in her car too. She hurried back down to the garage and got in her car. She turned the engine over and when the HUD popped up she initiated the blackout feature which would turn the tint up on the windows to the point where nothing could be seen in or out. Fortunately the car had cameras strategically placed around the frame so that it could still easily be driven while in blackout mode. She couldn't have people looking in and seeing her in her armor, it was late enough in the morning that at least the first commuters would be heading off to work.

The drive was only about 15 minutes and the sun had already been up for about 30 minutes by the time she left her house. She pulled up to the edge of the property. The apple orchard that surrounds the property wasn't dense enough to keep her approach invisible but it was good enough for a bit of cover. She got out of her vehicle after confirming there were no approaching vehicles, she grabbed two items from her car and ran through the trees at an even pace.

Her thoughts were on who was waiting for her in the house as she ran through the trees. This made more sense to her than anyone else in the stupid school. So much so that she is surprised that they never showed up on her radar. High intelligence, manipulative, computer proficiency and most of all the anger, all that anger. Not only was the culprit a patron of JBI's blog but they built his site and still did his freaking tech support. She shouldn't have been blinded by the misinformation, shouldn't have been distracted by the glee club. She only has herself to blame.

She had to move quickly though too much more sunlight and she wouldn't be able to use thermal on the house. As it was it would be difficult to interpret what was going on inside. She ran to the edge of the grove and put the thermal goggles on. She looked through and it was hard to read, the sun was heating the ground up fast but she could read two maybe three signatures sitting at what is likely the dining room. She was about to take the goggles off when she saw movement on the upper floor of the house. She studied it for a few more moments to confirm it was a person. She decides to take that one out first.

She levels the Tavor staring into the second set of sights and when she has a solid target she fires the grenade in the M203. Its aim is true and when it shatters the window on the upper level she moves around the other end of the house. She loads the second cartridge into the launcher and fires that one through the window closest to the dining room. The screams start within seconds as the tear gas fills the house. Normally tear gas is a great way to get people out of a building but there are way too many points of egress and only one of her so instead she was using it as a way of obfuscation and suppression. She quickly donned the gas mask she grabbed from the car and ran up the entry way to the house.

Snowbird with her strong legs and hours of practice kicked the door in easily and moved into the house that was rapidly filling with tear gas. She moved towards the dining room at a jog pushing her way through the house from her memory of the party. When she got to the dining room she saw Lauren and her equally large parents all on the floor trying to escape the gas. The Zizes family must have been a half a ton between the three of them and she wondered how many tranq darts it would have taken to subdue them anyway. She would have to be careful after all that she didn't give them an overdose. The tear gas was the right approach after all and she reached in to her pouch to zip tie them all up, after that she could open the windows and let the place air out. She went to tie up Lauren and was just setting her struggling wrists in the tie when she felt a sharp pain on the back of her neck and an instant later 300,000 volts forced their way through her nervous system.

Snow hit the ground and she was rapidly losing consciousness but she did manage to hear a voice say to the family. "Don't worry guys I got them with my tazer." The last thing she noticed was that the voice had the obvious muffle of going through a gas mask. Then blackness.

**A/N: When I first conceptualized this story I actually had Kurt as the bad guy. Not for any specific reason other than I think that if you put him in a body suit sat him in a high backed revolving chair with his legs crossed, gave him a cat and had him do the Kurt scowl he would totally look like a bond villain. In fact I think he was still my villain up through chapter 4 or 5. I then realized that to do this I would also have to make Burt a bad guy. As cool as I could have made the ending with a member of the House of Representatives being in league with the Chicago Mafia, I just couldn't do that to Burt. I like him too much. So you get Lauren Zizes which will give me an action sequence at the end rather than a political drama I hope you enjoy.**


	14. Escape

**A/N: I don't want to spoil anything but you should know I actually somewhat physically re-enacted the end of the cell scene to see if what she had to do was actually possible. I did take into account Heather Morris' vastly superior 5'8" dancer flexibility as compared to my five foot 4, early 30's slightly out of shape male flexibility but let me tell you I got in some really uncomfortable positions to do this and most of it is totally possible to do even for me. So I hope you enjoy.**

**Chapter 14: Escape  
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Snowbird's eyes popped open when she felt cold water splash all down her face and torso. She sputtered and spit a little water out. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and her vision which was a bit blurry but she regretted the action almost immediately as the monster of all head aches raged through her brain. She quickly assessed her situation and it could be worse, but it would be hard. She had been stripped clean of all of her gear, the only thing she was wearing in fact were her bra and panties. She was sitting in what looked to be a prison cell made from a modified walk in closet and she was manacled, yeah that's right actual medieval manacles, to the wall. The room didn't appear to be soundproofed but it's not like that really mattered given that the nearest neighbor was not even close to shouting distance. At least the floor was carpeted and she wasn't sitting on hard wood or stone.

"Oh good you're awake. You've been out for hours, I thought you were going to sleep your life away." Lauren said chuckling still holding the bucket. "That really sucked you know, tear gas isn't exactly the most comfortable feeling I've ever experienced." She says frowning down at the girl. Her eyes were red and irritated and there was a malice in them that Snowbird had never noticed before. Lauren moves closer to the girl her weight belying the true agility and grace that came from her years of wrestling. "You know I always liked you Brittany. You managed to make me laugh a lot and you always made it feel like I was laughing with you and not at you. Not sure how you managed to do that." She pauses for a moment. "So when I kill you, and yes I will be doing it, I'm going to make it quick. I wanted you to be awake first though, I didn't want a tazer to the neck to be the last thing you felt."

She said all of this kind of sadly but resigned as if there was no way Snow could talk her way out of this. "We won't prolong it we are just going to wait til night fall so that we can take you offsite. Don't want to have to clean up the mess you know. One of these days we should install a drain in this room, it would make life a lot easier."

Lauren turned to walk away but if Snow was going to die she wanted some answers. "Wait Lauren, don't I at least get the villain's monologue. I'm going to die anyway I still have some unanswered questions. At least let me die understanding." Lauren smiled when Snowbird called her a villain and Snow knew she would get her answers.

"Ah flattery Miss Pierce will get you everywhere. Though I have a few questions of my own. Quid Pro Quo after all." Snow shrugged in affirmation. Well as much as you can shrug when you are chained to a wall. Lauren kind of waved her hand in a "go ahead" kind of way.

"You are an underclassman, how did you start sending emails before you even enrolled in McKinley?"

"You should have done your homework before you came here would have saved you from a few hundred thousand volts. I have an older brother, Lucas, he was a senior when I was in eighth grade and Figgins had him and the rest of the computer club set up the school's network because he was too cheap to pay for someone to do it. Gave my brother a back door into the whole system. Then when I started at McKinley I took over the club and his easy access into the computer system.

"Wow, can't believe I never thought of siblings. I contemplated partners but never siblings. Stupid of me really. So is he some anti government crazy nut bag who not only happens to have a gas mask but an entire arsenal up on his wall?" Snow said derisively and Lauren just snorted.

"Not at all. His room is covered in geek paraphernalia. The mask was actually a prop from his favorite TV show, Doctor Who. I don't really like the show personally but something about a creepy kid looking for their mom. Don't ask me, he bought the mask in a charity auction or something and he kept it in good repair for no reason but to do it. When the canister came in the room he reacted without thinking and went straight for it. Or so he says anyway. My turn, how'd you finally figure me out?"

"You made a small error in your frame job that I managed to catch. Rachel was a suspect so I had a camera in LeRoy and Hiram's bedroom. Once I figured out that someone switched out their keyboard it was just a matter of checking my files to see you doing it." Snow said.

"Are you fucking kidding me, I was so careful for years and that is what gave me away. Ugh. You know I only took her dad's keyboard because I heard you two talking and I figured she was working with you. I thought it would be funny to use her and the Moes to throw you off my scent again because I expected you to just discard the evidence because of your, I guess, partnership with Berry. What should have been a great joke backfired. Damn. I knew I should have gone to Satan's house I figured she would be the only other person you would immediately disregard evidence against.

"I didn't believe that Rachel did it, well not for long anyway, but because I had already named her as a suspect my bosses didn't think twice about whether she did it and she and her fathers are currently in holding…somewhere." Only a shrug from Lauren about Rachel's situation not even a single flicker of guilt crossed her face. "You would have gotten away with it if you had gone to Santana's, I never suspected her so there was no surveillance on her home and she is fully capable of doing all of this. She is a lot smarter than she pretends to be at school. She is in fact ranked number 6 in the class. So, actually, I wouldn't have disregarded anything. I would have just left town, albeit sadly but I would have left and you would have got off scott free." Brittany said. "You probably should have gotten away with it completely, I never suspected you, like even a little, at all. You did a good job of hiding your tracks."

"The same goes for you Brittany. I suspected we had an undercover law enforcement agent in New Directions, it's one of the reason I stayed in after you had enough members to compete again. I honestly thought it was Mike though."

The look on Snowbird's face couldn't have said anything other than "seriously?".

"You thought it was Mike Chang?" Snow asks doing her best impression of the Fabray eyebrow lift.

"Well the unholy trinity and then the football players all joined after I laid my trap. Quinn and Santana just seemed too selfish and petty, you and Puck seemed too dumb, which left Mike and Matt. Could have been either but Mike just seems way too 21 Jumpstreet." Snowbird looks at Lauren in confusion so she clarifies. "He looks too old to be in high school." Snow responds with a soft ah of understanding. "Doesn't really matter though we both seemed to have fooled one another." Lauren said softly and Snow could only nod in response.

"Okay next question." Snowbird said giving her lack of segue not so much as a bare flicker of thought. "You really just set up sacrificial pawns in that farm house for me to kill?" Snow asks.

"Even better." She says with a smile so evil it made Snow's blood run cold. "You took care of the family's entire internal hit list with one fell swoop. I volunteered our family to deal with these internal problems knowing that you would probably do it for me. If you hadn't we would've just killed them all ourselves. Probably blown the house up or something. You managed to not only take care of our mafia family's problems and raise the Zizes status in said family, you did it for us unknowingly and for free. We didn't even have to get our hands dirty. So thanks." Lauren finishes cheerily.

"Glad to be of service." Snow responded sarcastically.

"Don't you want to know how I figured you out?" Lauren asks snidely.

"Nope. I found your bug in the choir room. If you had found mine you might have found me sooner." Snow responds cheekily. It wasn't true as she had the same defenses set up that Lauren had and better because of her government resources but any way to throw her off would be an asset to her at the moment.

"Who do you work for?" Lauren asks all lightness from her tone completely evaporated.

"Not important, but don't worry they knew I was coming and you'll find out soon enough when I don't report in. The mission won't be sanctioned but my handler is a little overprotective. I go to my grave knowing that you won't be far behind." Snow smiles at Lauren sweetly.

"Well I doubt that any of that is true since you came alone and not as part of a team, but thanks for the warning. We will be on our guard from here on out. Now if you'll please excuse me Brittany, I have a hole I need to go and dig and I would rather do that while the sun is still up."

_I've been convincingly lying for so long that she doesn't believe me. It's her neck._ Lauren leaves the modified closet, closing the door behind her and she hears a lock engage. Snow closes her eyes and sighs letting it out slowly. At least she had light. She wasn't afraid of the dark or anything but she could think of few things more ominous than being locked in a lightless room waiting to be executed. She had to find a way to escape.

The manacles covered nearly two inches on her arm so breaking her thumbs to slide out was not a possibility. She tested the chains but they were solid iron with few imperfections. If she had a month maybe she could break one without breaking her arm as well but even that was unlikely.

She examined the locks. The manacles were medieval or more likely ren faire knock offs, but they were effective nonetheless. The locking mechanism was extremely rudimentary and would be simple to pick if she had something to use. She looked around the room again looking for anything, a loose nail, a carpet staple, it wouldn't take much in a lock like this with her skill.

Snow figures she had an hour maybe two at absolute most before Lauren comes back from digging. She doesn't know if the other three members of the house are home but three is easier than four especially when four was a state champion wrestler. She adjusts her sitting angle to look for anything and she feels the underwire in her bra shift. She closes her eyes and shakes her head in frustration at her own stupidity.

She tested the length of the chains and she only had about three inches of give in a down direction so it wasn't quite enough to even reach her shoulder let alone her bra cup. She needed to get higher so she pulled her feet in towards her body and set them underneath her backside. She pushed on her knees in a backwards direction and rolled her center of gravity backwards until she was in a standing squatting kind of position. It wasn't the most comfortable feeling she ever head but her shoulder was closer to her hands. It still wasn't good enough so she inched closer to her right hand until after about 30 seconds and a fair amount of uncomfortableness and some chafing on her wrist she got a single finger under the strap of bra.

As painful as all that was she knew this next part was going to be worse. She began pulling on the strap of the bra wrapping inch after inch around her fingers. It came off her right breast but the left side of the bra was now biting roughly into her skin which was quickly turning red in anger. She was pulling firmly but gently because if the strap broke she would only get one more shot at this. After about forty five seconds of careful motions soft tugs and a small amount of pain she grabbed onto the top of the right cup pulling more and more into her hand until she had a firm grip and then pulled as hard as she could in the few inches of give she had. The first attempt didn't manage to do more than irritate her skin a bit more, nor did the next few. Persistence pays off though because after a couple of minutes and more pulls than she could count, she felt the hooks in the bra snap and she had a bit more slack to work with. She also had quite a few welts on the skin of her ribcage but she could worry about that if she survived all of this.

She brought the cup up to her mouth and adjusted it until she felt the metal in her mouth. Snow's teeth gently gripped the fabric around the under wire and she began to scrape her teeth back and forth. The sound her teeth made scraping the fabric sent chills up her spine but she could feel that she was making progress with every pass. On the twentieth pass she felt her teeth scratch against the metal so she stops scraping her teeth. Snow takes a small piece of fabric in her teeth and using a combination of her hands and teeth she begins to pull the fabric off the small metal rod. It is a slow and agonizing process and she loses count how many times the small piece of fabric slips out from in between her teeth or a small piece just rips off entirely and she has to search for a new piece to work on. After what felt like around fifteen minutes or so she had exposed enough of the small piece of metal that she could force it out of the cup but even that was taking time. At this rate she was going to be cutting it very close to Lauren's return.

Snow tugged on her underwire a bit too hard and it flew across the closet landing right by the door completely out of reach for her . She couldn't do anything but gape for a few seconds and would love nothing more than to rub her temples in frustration but that was kind of difficult at the moment. What's done is done though so she starts the same removal process all over again with the other cup. The removal seems to progress slightly quicker the second time but it is still taking an obscene amount of time and after the removal she has to pick at least two and probably three locks with a makeshift lock pick. She speeds up and she ends up biting down a bit too hard and chipping her right bicuspid. She curses herself for her necessary but foolhardy haste and slows down a little bit for the dual reasons of not wanting to chip another tooth and a bit of pain in the area she was now working with. By the time she removes the underwire from the second cup, this time much more carefully, she assumes she has been at this for a little more than half an hour maybe even three quarters of an hour and she hasn't even started on the locks yet.

_Tick tock girl. _She thinks to herself. Snowbird pulls the underwire out in her teeth this time to avoid what happened with the first wire and also so she doesn't have to try and pick a lock with her off hand. She passes the wire over to her right hand and with her dexterous fingers she bends it slowly into a position that she can both reach the lock and will actually catch the lever inside. If she remember her lock picking correctly she needs to bend it into a 90 degree angle for this style lock which didn't exactly please her since there was the worry of breaking the flimsy metal. She managed to bend it without breaking it letting out a sigh of relief and she inserts it into the lock. She suspected only a single lever on this so she felt around for it and found it fairly quickly. she caught it and applied gentle pressure feeling it depress. Now for turning the lock which was going to be hard at the angle of her wrist without losing the lever so she twisted it millimeter by millimeter holding on to the lever as best she can. She feels the lever slip and closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before starting again. Five more attempts and ten minutes later she feels the lock release and she lets out a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding.

She shrugs the cuff open and off of her right wrist happy to feel the normal blood supply flow to her fingers. She is excited at being over the biggest obstacle of her escape but she still had more to do and she needed to keep a calm head. She uses her right hand to gently work the jury rigged lock pick out of the manacle so that she could start on the left cuff. The second manacle was much easier to manipulate since she had her whole hand to use it with. She postulated that she could have done it in less than 10 seconds with the right tools but it still only took about a minutes to release herself. She dropped her ruined bra to the floor and looked at it with sadness. It was one of her favorites.

She honestly ignored the door up until this moment figuring that it would be prudent to deal with one obstacle at a time. Her heart rate was increasing which was good the adrenaline would keep her sharp. She looked at the door and was immediately disheartened. She was hoping for a standard door knob with a lock but the knob didn't even have a lock, instead a dead bolt sat a few inches above it. Dead bolts were a pain in the ass to pick without real picks because you needed a lot of pressure and she wasn't sure if the underwire was going to be up to the challenge. She grabbed the underwire that was flung across the room and began to re-straighten the one she escaped with. Her heart stopped when the previously bent piece snapped off of the wire. Part of her wanted to just break down and cry but she wasn't going to give up. She held the wire up and determined quickly that it was way to short to throw the tumblers so it would have to be her lever. She was even more worried now; the amount of force was already in question with the small wires but now she had an even smaller one to work with. She bent the first underwire in a way that would allow her to manipulate the lock tumblers sliding it gently into the lock and inserted the second wire in the lever position. She shook her head and sighed at the fact that it only slightly protruded out. This was going to suck…a lot. She knew she was running out of time before Lauren came back but she couldn't rush the picking because if she broke either wire even a little bit more it wouldn't be possible at all. She began to catch the tumblers and put them in their positions but when she would try and move the lever she would lose a tumbler or two.

She knew she would have a hard time surviving if she couldn't get this door open so she was going to keep trying up until the point they put the bullet in her head. Her eighth attempt at the lock she managed to put enough force to engage the lock without losing a tumbler. She pushed it until she felt the deadbolt move slightly and once the lock was turning she didn't have to worry about the tumblers anymore so she used both underwires as much as possible to turn the deadbolt back into the unlocked position. She heard the deadbolt click and the longer underwire broke as soon as it hit the 90 degree counterclockwise position breaking and jamming the lock open. She almost screamed in joy but managed to rein in her elation.

She was free but still in a house full of hostiles. She needed to figure out what to do. The obvious choice would be to flee back to her car which would start without a key for her and once inside it would take a tank or two to get her back out . She would have to get there practically naked but it was still the safer choice, the smart choice. There was a serious problem with that plan though, and that was the Zizes family. If she fled they would likely also rabbit. Even if they didn't run, they would most certainly destroy every single piece of evidence in this house. Hell they would probably burn it down just to be safe. That is what she would do anyway. She didn't really have too much of a problem with the destruction of her mission to save her life other than the fact that it would be harder to get the Berrys out of holding and almost no way to do it in time to save them from the brutal interrogation techniques they would undoubtedly be put through. Stupid romantic feelings.

No. As dangerous as it was going to be, she needed to take the family out. She was wearing nothing but a thong and she was unable to kill them. Her hand to hand was brilliant but this was still going to be the single most difficult undertaking of her life.

Snowbird wrapped the bra around her wrist, the bottoms of the cups were damaged and the hooks were destroyed but on the whole the bra was still in pretty good shape. They had taken her bracelet off but it was useless to her anyway since it was a weapon for killing not incapacitating, they had even taken her earrings which were family heirlooms and not spy related. She would get those back, and the bra could definitely come in handy for that.

Snow takes a deep breath and turns the handle to pull the door open to look down the hall. She pulls open the door when she doesn't see anyone coming from the direction she can see but when she opens the door, a person Snow can only assume is Lucas walks up to the door from the other direction. He seemed to be reaching for the door knob. Both of their eyes go wide as saucers but Snowbird has been trained to deal with surprise so it only takes a fraction of a second before her foot is flying at his midsection landing firmly in the boys solar plexus knocking the wind out of his diaphragm and hopefully stealing his voice. He takes two steps back and is fairly close to the wall opposite the door. She assumes getting behind him will be difficult now that he is so close to the wall so she goes for something quick but stupid and risky given the amount of room she has to work with.

Snow throws the door open wide and does a forward flip that was half aerial waiting til the last second to swing her legs so she didn't clip the door jam. She manages to get her thighs on his shoulders and smiles as she uses the momentum of her flip and well defined abs to put herself into a sitting position on his shoulders. She puts her hand on the ceiling bracing herself for what came next. She locks her ankles and begins a choke hold on the surprisingly skinny brother of Lauren Zizes. He starts to struggle so she takes one hand off the ceiling and punches him in the eye twice. Not hard enough to do any real damage, just to stun him long enough that when he starts to struggle again there won't be any strength in it. Giving a look at his geeky appearance this was probably the closest he had ever been to a woman as good looking as her and you can be sure this is not how he wanted to have his head between a topless girl's legs.

She watches Lucas' face get redder as he loses more and more air. He is losing strength in his legs and they buckle so she puts her hands on the hallway wall to slow their descent to the floor. Despite all this they still hit the ground hard and there is a light thump that lets her know that they are on the second floor of the house or they are on the ground floor and there is a basement underneath them. Now with both of them lying on the floor she has more control over the hold so she wraps her legs more carefully and grabs for his arm for leverage. It only took a few seconds after this for him to pass out. She checked his vitals to make sure she didn't kill him and gave a sigh of relief when she felt a pulse and noticed his shallow breaths.

She drags Lucas into the closet she was being held in. It wasn't too difficult he probably weighed less than 170. He was around her height and fairly skinny. That gave her an idea. She pulled off his Green Lantern shirt which was hipster tight so when she put it on it was only a little loose on her. The jeans weren't as tight and so the bagginess would only slow her movement and at the moment she really didn't needed that but at least she was only half naked now and not mostly naked. She put Lucas into a sitting position and put the manacles on him which fastened automatically she was pleased to see. She took his shoes off and then his socks which were not very clean. She balled the socks up and then opened Lucas mouth shoving them in firmly. She checked his airways to make sure he was still breathing. Snowbird decided to search his pockets for anything of use and found nothing but a condom.

"You son of a bitch." She realized he had been on his way to have his way with the prisoner. She stands up and kicks the unconscious boy in the nuts who even passed out winces. "Thanks for the shirt fucktard." She didn't feel so bad about sticking the stinky socks in his mouth now.

Now came for the not so fun part. She knew that there were at least two more inhabitants in the house. She had no idea where they were so it was time for cat and mouse. She looked around and got her bearings figuring out where she was from the last time she was here. She was on the first floor not too far from the kitchen if she remembered correctly. She moved towards the kitchen on bare feet moving as quietly as she could which considering she was barefoot and her training she was moving almost silently. There wasn't even a trace of smoke in the house so she was only slightly surprised when she looked at the microwave to see it was a quarter to four. Well at least she finally got some fucking sleep. She wanted to take a knife from the block on the counter but stabbing someone was either very loud, or very messy and often extremely final so she just left them where they were. She peeked into the dining room from the swinging door and saw nothing so she moved in and tiptoed around the eight person dining table. She dashed silently into the hallway that separates the dining room and living room and she hears the television going. She pads as quiet as a panther to the corner and she takes a quick glance into the room.

She saw Lauren's mom. She thinks her name is Crystal but isn't completely sure. She really should have done her homework before coming here but she was just so excited to have found her culprits that she leaped before she looked. Lauren's mother's back was to Snow and she was reclining on the couch with her feet up. She looked to be watching Ellen. She was larger even than Lauren probably close to 400 pounds and the couch looked like she laid in that spot quite often so this was likely not going to be very difficult. Snowbird unwrapped her bra from her wrist and wrapped the straps around her hands. She crept into the living room making far less sound than the television and she ducked down low to move along the couch. She threw the brassiere around Lauren's mother's neck and was forcibly reminded of using the garrote bracelet in the hotel room not even a week ago. It seemed like so much longer. Crystal's(?) meaty arms flew back wildly to escape the choke hold but her hands found no purchase until they traveled to her neck to try and pry the article of clothing from her throat.

Thirty seconds or so later the fight left the large woman and Snow used the bra to tie up her hands after she checked her vitals. She went back to the hallway to find something to properly tie her up since there was no way she could drag this one back to the cell. She opened a few cabinets and on the very last one she found a bunch of wrapping paper and an idea came to her head. She pulled the wrapping paper out and sitting behind it she found what she had been looking for. She took the roll of curling ribbon out and went back to Lauren's mother and used it to properly tie her hands and then her feet. She did the same thing with her socks to her that she did with her son which at least were much cleaner.

She heard some rustling directly above her and the floor creaked under a large amount of weight. Looks like she found her final target. She tiptoed up the stairs which were carpeted as well so she didn't worry too much about creaking the stairs. She arrived at a door but to what she had no idea. She was pretty sure it was a bedroom by the floor layout but it could be a den just as easily. She had never been upstairs during the party, she and Santana went down outside to the orchard to get their sexy times on, having sex against an apple tree. Snow set the ribbon, that she had taken with her, down on the floor next to the door. She opened the door with no preamble or stealth just threw it open wide. She saw Lauren's father with his shirt off and flabby back facing her.

"Hon have you seen the disposable ponchos I use for business. I can't find them and I don't want to get that girls blood on anything I care about." She is moving before he can turn to face her. Her fists collide heavily into one kidney then the other. The man whose name she can't recall at all cries out in pain. He spins about swinging his fist for her face but she easily leans back and the punch flies wide. She moves in quick as a viper and chops for his neck but he drops his chin right before the blow taking a nasty hit to his jaw but avoiding the crushed throat. The man throws two more punches and Snow has no doubt that they would ring her bell or worse if they connected. The man's form was impeccable, he obviously boxed in his youth but now he was old, fat, and seriously slow.

He punched at Snow's ribs and she catches the blow by punching the inside of his wrist. He pulls his arm back in pain. She saw a look of understanding come on the man's face and before she knew what was happening she was wrapped in a bear hug. She figured out the look was because he knew he couldn't beat her in a brawl so he went another way. His strength was awesome and she could feel her ribs giving under the pressure. Snow's arms were pinned impotently to her side and her legs weren't in close enough to kick or knee him anywhere vital. So she used the only weapon she had left. She thrust her head forward slamming the top of her head into his nose.

Snow feels his nose bone break and a gush of warm fluid coat the top of her hair. She hated trying to get blood out of her hair it was such a pain in the ass. She feels the crushing arms drop from her side so that the man can reach up and cradle his broken nose. There wasn't too much fight left in him after that. She kicked him in the balls making him drop to his knees. He removed one hand from his face to cradle his bruised testes and opening his guard to Snow. She punches him with three quick jabs to the face knocking his head back enough to expose his chin.

She opens her stance and loosens her whole body. She rotates her hips and swings her right hand in an uppercut motion keeping her body loose until the last moment. An inch from Lauren's father she tightens her whole body snapping into a rigid line and essentially turning her hand into the head of a hammer. Snow's fist collides into the nerve bundle on the tip of the man's chin and she follows through snapping his head back forcefully. The man already on his knees falls forward and lands flat on his face. The punch shouldn't have been fatal unless she was careless but it wasn't unheard of to break a vertebrae from the punch even if it was rare. She put her fingers on his neck when she felt a soft thump on her fingers she pulled them back.

Unlike when she kicked Lucas, she kind of felt bad about kicking Lauren's father in the balls but she figured he has probably done plenty to deserve it. She walked back out into the hallway and grabbed the twine to tie him up. None of them would be out for more than 15 to 30 minutes unless they were like her and were completely sleep deprived, which she very much doubted. She bound his hands first and then tied his feet. She was contemplating how to safely gag him because of his broken nose and also where they would stash her gear when she heard a door in the house close.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home." Snow hears Lauren call from downstairs right next to the front door. She closes her eyes and drops her head shaking it.

_This couldn't be easy for just a few minutes. It would have been a lot easier to capture Lauren with my gun. _She takes a deep breath, her eyes pop open and she runs full tilt out the bedroom door. Her bare feet pad pretty quietly on the carpet but she isn't exactly attempting to be stealthy; her training just seems to kick in automatically. She rounds the staircase rail and flies down the stairs. Lauren is standing by the front door at the foot of the staircase. She looks up to see who is coming down the stairs and sees Brittany half naked, hair flying behind her and a blankness in her eyes that could scare a serial killer.

Lauren's eyes go comically wide at the young spy but she recovers quickly and reaches frantically into the jacket she is wearing. Snowbird reaches the second stair and she puts her right foot onto the wall and then she puts her left foot onto the wall as well appearing to run along it for a few steps. She pushes off the wall with her left foot, spinning in the air she brings her right leg over her left kicking out snapping her leg so hard the air cracks from the sheer force. While the strength in the kick was more than enough to knock Lauren out she had successfully drawn her gun and her arms bring it to bear right in the path of the kick. Snow knocked the .45 across the room but did little actual damage to Lauren other than a bit of shock.

Unfortunately she had planned on knocking her out with one kick so her back ended up facing Lauren. Not really a position she wanted to be in. She did a spinning capoeira style kick that wasn't really intended to land just to spin her around so she wasn't at all surprised when her leg caught nothing but air. She moves in close and punches at Lauren's face. Lauren just takes the punch her head barely moving. Lauren seemed like she was waiting for the blow and lashes out with a punch of her own. It collides with Snowbird's ribcage an instant after her own blow lands. Snow feels a rib crack but she doesn't think it's totally broken. Lauren was surprisingly fast much to the detriment of her wrestling opponents, but worse than that she hit really hard. Snow recoils and steps back from the fray.

"That the best you got Pierce?" Lauren says advancing slowly towards Snowbird. "Gotta say it ain't enough. Where are my parents and brother?"

"They got a little sleepy." She responds her rib throbbing but she is pretty sure she still has most of her movement even if it was going to be a bit painful. Snow was reminded uncomfortably of Lauren's fight with Santana and how easily she threw her around. Santana wasn't exactly a novice to fighting either; she had beat the living crap out of Puck Freshman year for copping a feel and he had to be out of school for a couple of days. This was of course before they started their off again on again dating/fucking thing. "They'll be fine though. Nothing permanent."

Lauren advances on Snowbird and she backs up slowly moving into the hallway she ran down when she burst into the house. Snow attacks Lauren out of no where striking faster than Lauren can even react to kicking at Lauren's chest trying to knock the air out her lungs, or just do some damage to try and get an advantage, any advantage, in this fight. The blow lands and Lauren just laughs when she grabs Snow's leg at the knee. Lauren takes a step in putting her hand on Snowbird's rock hard abs and pushes hard slamming her solidly into a nearby wall breaking the drywall. She then picks the spy up like she is a rag doll and throws her down the hallway.

"I would make a 'shouldn't trust you as far as I can throw you' joke but I just threw you pretty damn far." Lauren chuckles darkly as she continues advancing slowly towards Snowbird. Snow was more than a little worried. She understood now how Lauren took State so easily; she was extremely well trained in fighting. Lauren kicked Snow in the stomach and Snow rolled with the blow as best she could but it still felt like being kicked in the stomach by a horse. She is also pretty sure that Lauren finished the job breaking her rib.

Snow was watching her situation spiral out of her control. Lauren was a brutal opportunistic fighter who knew where and how to hit to cause maximum pain. The kick was in the exact same place as the punch so it was obvious to her that Lauren aimed it perfectly. She was systematically disassembling her. It was a very wrestler type strategy and Snow couldn't deny its effectiveness.

Snow awkwardly and with no small amount of pain climbed up the small mail table she landed near. She saw a letter opener and ignoring the pain in her side snatched it up and threw it as hard as she could. She screamed in pain at the motion but she wasn't the only one. The opener imbedded itself into Lauren's left thigh missing its intended mark by only a few inches. Snow grasped at her side in pain from the knife throw.

Lauren goes to pull the opener out of her thigh. "Wouldn't…do…that if I were you." Snow wheezed out. "I was aiming for a tendon so you couldn't walk but I missed and I am pretty sure I hit your femoral artery. Pull that out and I'm fairly certain you will bleed out in a few minutes." Snow smiles at her. This was still going to be tough but she managed to get her advantage.

Lauren takes her hand off the hilt of the letter opener and glares down at the wounded Bird. "Remember when I said I was going to make it quick. I changed my mind. I think now, I am going to beat you to death with my bare hands."

Snow moved away from the table takes a deep a breath which hurts more than she wants to admit so she pulls in as much air as she can and runs full tilt at Lauren jumping in the air and coming down with her left fist on Lauren's face. It didn't have as much impact as her right would have but she doubted she could have done that without passing out. As it was this action caused her an excruciating amount of pain but she swallowed it down and just kept moving. Lauren took this punch too but looked as if it rung her bell more than a little.

Snow moved into a more offensive stance. She didn't like it but her right side hurt way too much to properly defend herself. She knew body blows weren't going to be enormously effective because of Lauren's bulk. Snow needed to hit vital areas and she had to avoid the letter opener in Lauren's thigh so that she doesn't bleed to death. She also had to do this without letting Lauren fulfill her promise of beating her to death. Fun times.

She was trained to fight southpaw and she desperately wanted to take a southpaw stance so she could effectively use her left hand but doing that would expose her right side and broken rib to Lauren's meaty fists. Not an option

Snowbird stomps on Lauren's right instep with her left foot and Lauren takes a step back on her already injured other leg.

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU CHEER BITCH." Lauren says setting her foot back down and limping on both legs as she moves back into the fray.

Lauren punches out twice with a left and right jab. Snow manages to dodge the left but the broken rib cause her to dodge slower and the right hits her in her left eye and her head snaps back hard. The force of the blow was sure to leave a black eye and it cut the skin underneath the eye, causing blood to leak down her cheek to her chin.

Snow knew she had seconds before her eye began to close and her vision would become impaired so she decided to just go all out or she was done. She threw a left hook that collided hard on Lauren's temple but there wasn't enough force to knock her out. Lauren's eyes went foggy for a second but she shook it off and lashed out with a responding right jab into Snow's face aimed for her nose. Snow pulled her head back a bit, but it was too late. The fist impacted into Snow's mouth fattening her lip and making her vision go dim for half a second.

Snow punches out and hits Lauren in the nose breaking it like she did to her father but Lauren seemed less stunned by the blow even if it did still make her eyes tear up and blood to rush into her mouth. Lauren pushes her unstabbed knee up between them to try and get some distance to get her bearings, this fight was not going as easy as she had hoped. Snow didn't let the opportunity pass though, she dropped her center of gravity low and pushed hard into the wrestlers knee knocking her off balance and causing her to fall backwards onto the ground.

Lauren hit the ground like a ton of bricks shaking the floor around them violently. She smacked the back of her head on the floor when she fell even on the carpet she looked a bit dazed. To Snow's great dismay however she was still conscious and she assumed it wouldn't be more than a few seconds before Lauren was back up again. Part of her really wanted to go for the letter opener which she knew would take her out of the fight. She also knew that it would probably kill her and she doubted she would get much cooperation out of the rest of the family if she killed Lauren.

Instead Snow moved to capitalize on Lauren's prone position. She elected to return the favor and kicked hard into Lauren's ribs four times. She hears a rib crack.

"Turn about is fair play Lauren." Snow wheezed through pained breaths. She watched Lauren curl into herself and Snow kicks again. Lauren grabs the incoming kick and sweeps Snow's legs out from under her. When Snow's back hit the ground she clipped her broken rib and she screams out in pain. She was pretty sure that the fall hurt worse than the rib actually breaking. She sucked up the pain and rolled on top of Lauren. She begins punching her face over and over again. Lauren's bloody face becomes more bruised with each blow.

Lauren's massive arm comes knocking into Snowbird's unbroken side. It doesn't hurt Snow much but it does manage to dislodge her attacker. Fortunately for Snow Lauren doesn't really seem to be pursuing her. Snow stands back up and walks over to Lauren who is doing her best to glare at her. She takes a loose stance again though it hurts a lot more this time. She again throws an uppercut but this time with her left hand landing on Lauren's temple her head falling hard to the side and knocking the big girl unconscious.

She looks down at the knife wound and sees it bleeding a bit more profusely than Snow would like. She doubted her Medical skills were good enough to stop the internal bleeding so that means she would need to call someone. She had to find a phone first. She hadn't seen a landline while moving through the house but she assumed one of them has to have a cell phone. She also needed to find something to tie Lauren up since she didn't think there was enough curling ribbon left on the roll to tie Lauren up as well. She patted down Lauren and found a phone. Snowbird also found a pair of handcuffs with key which Lauren and her family were probably going to use to transport Snow to her final destination. She puts the handcuffs on Lauren's wrists and stands up as straight as she can.

She enters Robertson's number into Lauren's phone and waits a few seconds.

"Robertson." Her mentor says as his usual greeting.

"It's Snow."

"Yes Snow what is it?" He sounds a little exasperated.

"Oh you know not much just dealing with my own little version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Chained to a wall, almost raped, and beat to living hell."

"WHAT?"

"Turns out I was right about the Zizes family and I want them arrested for kidnapping and unlawful detention of a federal agent. So I need a team here ASAP. More importantly though I need a Doctor who can keep their mouth shut. I have one perp down with a broken nose, another has a broken nose, probably a few broken ribs and letter opener in her femoral artery. I also have a broken rib and a split below my eye so sooner would be better than later."

"There is an NSA unit in Lima because of the tank factory in the town. I am fairly certain that they have an on-site doctor. I will see if I can't appropriate their team to come patch everyone up and take the Zizes Family into custody. Did you find any evidence for the rest of the charges?" Robertson says.

"Not as yet no, I got captured upon entry and I just escaped. I will look around while I wait, I don't think they were expecting me so there is probably evidence around the house somewhere."

"All right I need to hang up so I can make calls. Look fast they will probably be there soon.

She thought about searching the whole house from top to bottom but the thought seemed daunting in her current state of health but the phrase "everyone talks" came through even the haze of pain she was floating in. Snow walked into the kitchen and grabbed an assortment of knives in many sizes from the cutlery drawer and the knife block and she wrapped them in a kitchen towel.

Picking up her makeshift kit she walked into the cell they had been keeping her in. When she got in there Lucas was awake and moving but he hadn't worked out the socks from his mouth yet. He was grunting angrily at her eyes full of rage and threat. She knelt down next to him. Setting the kit down with a muffled clang. She looks at Lucas with no emotion in her eyes at all.

"I am going to take the gag out of your mouth now. You are welcome to scream but I should make you aware that your family is in a similar position as you and are completely unable to help you." Snow pulled the socks out of his mouth and then spit at her.

"What the fuck happened to you?" He said smiling.

"Your sister, she got hers though." Snow replied cold and emotionless.

Lucas began to thrash in his chains and tried to lunge for Snow. "I am going to fucking slit your throat while I rape you from behind."

She ignored him and just stared at him letting his threats get more and more colorful and descriptive. She sat there for thirty seconds and when it seemed he wasn't slowing down she just ignored him and began unwrapping the bath towel revealing the knives. Lucas shut up very quickly, his eyes going wide in fear.

"Technically, torture is illegal in the United States but if I get caught I will just get a slap on the wrist. At this point I really don't give a shit. Your family's shenanigans are responsible for someone I care about getting tortured and for my current appearance, and that isn't even considering the four years of my life I spent in this shithole town, so I am going to return the favor of pain unless you tell me exactly what I want to know."

Snowbird takes out a paring knife and gently cuts Lucas arm. Lucas hisses in pain. "What the fuck bitch you haven't even asked me anything yet."

"Oh I know, I just wanted to let you know I wasn't bluffing when I said I would torture you. Where did you stash my gear?" Silence. "Shame." She pulled the paring knife up. "The first incision into you was meant to do minimal damage. This one will be to cause maximum pain with minimal damage. Each successive cut will hurt more and be more debilitating and I do mean permanently. The sooner you answer the better off you'll be. Please answer, I don't like doing this sort of thing but I am good at it and my personal aversion to it won't stop me." She stabs the paring knife in a spot into his inner thigh. Lucas screams loudly.

"The pain can stop soon." She says twisting slightly eliciting an even louder scream. "TALK."

"FINE. Your gear is downstairs in the basement."

"See that wasn't so hard. Words are cheap, surgery is expensive. Two more questions and I will leave you alone til the feds and the doctor show up."

"What?" He asks through gritted teeth.

"Where is your computer and what's the password."

"My computer is upstairs in my room the password is EXTERMINATE. All caps. Just leave my family alone."

"They will be fine even Lauren. Well, I'll be honest Lauren might be in a bit of trouble if the doctor doesn't get here soon. It wasn't intentional but as long as she gets medical attention in the next 30 minutes or so she'll be fine."

Snow gets up and walks out of the room, the whole time Lucas screaming profanities at her for hurting his "little" sister.

Things were kind of a blur after that. The intel she got from Lucas was solid she found all her gear and changed in only a little over a minute though it was quite painful while she was doing it. She then looked for Lucas' room and found a laptop on his bed next to a bottle of lotion and some Kleenex. She paused for only a second of disgust before she opened it and typed in the password. She took it downstairs with her and began sorting through its hard drive while she waited for the team. She was about 20 minutes into the hard drive sitting next to Lauren's bound and gagged mother when the NSA agents burst into the Zizes living room.

She stands and holds her hands up while they clear the house room by room. She identifies herself to the strike force and then leads the doctor to Lauren who is awake by now and she is pissed but doesn't fight because she knows if she does she dies. The doctor makes sure everyone is tended to including herself, which consisted of a wrap for her ribs, a butterfly band aid for her eye and a medium pain killer. Snow tears through all the incriminating evidence while holding a cold pack to her face and when she is done with the hard drive she forwards everything pertinent to Robertson.

She calls Robertson once the Zizes family were taken away.

"I sent you the evidence sir."

"I got it Snow. Not your cleanest operation for sure but still a job well done."

"Thank you sir."

"Now for the heavier stuff you want the good news first or the bad news?"

Snow grimaced at this. "Umm, the good news I guess."

"I sent the FBI the files you sent me, and I guess it worried them more than a little so to avoid any further backlash from the Berrys the feebs are en route to dropping them off right now. They should be there in the next 30 minutes or so. The amount of money we are going to have to give them to keep their mouth shut is less good but still a good job on your attention to detail at least they weren't tortured we would have had to break the bank to pay them off, if we even could have."

"Ok so what is the bad news Robertson." Snow says worried.

"NSA refuses to release the perps to the FBI until you give them a statement." Robertson says with obvious annoyance in his tone.

"Not a big deal I will just head over to their out…"

"No Snow." Robertson interrupts her. "They want you to come to the NSA agency headquarters."

"In Maryland?"

"The same. They also want you immediately. Your flight leaves from Toledo in three hours so your vacation is going to have to be put on hold for a bit."

"Isn't Toledo airport a cargo plane only kind of place?"

"Yes, you will be boarding an AC-17 that was forced to land there for refueling and immediate repairs and is now on hold waiting for you but we can only hold it up so long. You will have to go out of cover for them to let you on the plane it is a military attack craft after all so you need a security clearance of secret to even get on it. You should probably go now. It may not be a passenger airport but they still have pretty beefy security."

"Understood sir, I am on my way." She hands the laptop to one of the NSA investigators to finish going through it and heads back through the orchard to her VW. After changing into a spare set of sweats she keeps in her trunk, she starts her car and begins driving to the Toledo airport. She pulls up to a stop light right by WMHS and she stops while it is red. The sun is beginning to set and she looks at the school that had plagued her for the past 4 years and she realized that the choir room and the people in it were the only things she was really going to miss.

On a decision of pure impulse when the light turned green she made an illegal U-turn and headed to say goodbye to Rachel. She pulled up in the cul-de-sac that housed not the largest houses in the small town but they weren't far off either. It looked like Rachel and her dads had pulled in only a minute or two before but they weren't alone. They were accompanied by two black SUVs and a cadre of FBI agents. Rachel and Hiram both were clinging close to LeRoy who seemed to be the emotional rock of the family.

All she had to do was wait for the FBI to leave and she could go up and say goodbye to Rachel. She watched as the FBI entered into their house with Berrys. She waited in her car for a good twenty minutes getting more and more frustrated before she realized that she just couldn't wait any longer. Snow slammed her hands down on the steering wheel before she started the car and resumed course to Toledo.

She got there with plenty of time to spare but as soon as she cleared security and boarded the AC-17 they were prepping it for take off. She sat next to an Air Force gunnery operator with a captain rank. He was by all measure of standards good looking but not in a stand out kind of way just a nice looking guy. Snow smiled at him.

"Agent, you look like you've been put through the ringer and not all those bruises look fresh." Captain Wyatt said. She got his name off his flight suit.

"Comes with the territory Captain." Snow said in response.

"Please stop me if it's too personal but you don't seem very happy to be on this plane."

"It is too personal, but I wouldn't mind someone to talk to."

"Didn't expect the job to be this rough?" He asks curious but still obviously with a light flirting tone.

"It isn't that at all I am just leaving something unfinished and that bothers me." Snow says sadly.

"Not ready to leave Ohio just yet huh?"

"It isn't the leaving that's bothering me, it's the fact that I don't think I will be coming back."

"Oh, I see leaving something behind bother you" He says as the jet engines begin to turn.

"Not something." Snow says as she finally lets a single tear fall down her cheek she whispers so low now one could hear her but herself and even then it was a strain.

"Someone."

**A/N 2: Finn was never my favorite character but I don't have the hate that a lot of the shows fans did for him. Rest in Peace Cory Monteith**.


	15. Epilogue: Song of the Nightingale

**A/N: I have a song in this epilogue that when I began writing this I had no idea it existed. I only found out about it from an episode of Family Guy a few months back and I was like "holy crap I need that at the end of my fic." So…here it is, the end, complete with large amounts of dialogue.**

**Epilogue: Song of the Nightingale**

Rachel rushed around the loft she shared with Kurt. She wasn't late for the first day of her second semester by any means, it was just in her nature to worry. Kurt had gotten up early for his job at Vogue . com , so she had the flat to herself this morning. Rachel still felt awful that Carmen Tibideaux had told him that he needed to work on his emotional resonance with the pieces he performs before he auditioned for her again but she did leave the door open for him so Rachel couldn't be too upset. He had set up a May audition and if all went well Kurt would be matriculating with her as a freshman in September. Rachel had been assisting him with this since she won the Winter Showcase and she was sure by the time came she would at least get Carmen to go misty.

She was about to leave early so she could stop by a coffee shop to get her favorite herbal tea and lemon before class started when a noise on her laptop pulled her over to it. She picked up her laptop and sat on the couch. She opened up chrome and she had a notification on her Facebook tab. When she opened the tab Rachel noticed she had a chat box up and a message from Quinn.

_**Quinn  
><strong>Hey Rach are you busy?_

_**Me  
><strong>I am about to leave for school but I have a few minutes. What can I do for you Quinn?_

_**Quinn  
><strong>Do? Nothing. You didn't come home for Christmas, or Chanukah for you I guess and we haven't talked in a few weeks I just wanted to catch up._

_**Me  
><strong>I only have about 10 minutes right now, which are of course yours, but I also think we should spend some time talking on the phone soon. Tonight around 7 or so?_

_**Quinn  
><strong>Yeah sure. My plans for tonight fell through, Santana is busy._

_**Me  
><strong>How is Santana anyway?_

_**Quinn  
><strong>Focusing hard on her goal to be a lawyer. Her first day back to school was yesterday so she is at a study group tonight. Hence my lack of plans. She doesn't say anything about Brittany anymore but I catch her staring off into space and I just know, but all in all she is doing good._

_**Me  
><strong>I bet she is. ;-)_

_**Quinn  
><strong>I don't think I have ever seen you use an emoticon._

_**Me  
><strong>I know, normally I abhor them but I needed to convey the teasing nature of the comment and I did not think it could be accurately portrayed in any other fashion through this particular medium._

_**Quinn  
><strong>OK Rach, put the thesaurus down before someone gets hurt. :) Still not sure how you found out about us. We have been pretty careful to keep it on the DL until we figure out what we are._

_**Me  
><strong>I saw a bit of tension between you two at Nationals but I figured it wouldn't amount to anything because you two are both so stubborn._

_**Quinn  
><strong>Hey!_

Rachel had left that gap in her messaging just for that reaction so she smiled when she got it. Rachel continued.

_**Me  
><strong>When Brittany disappeared and I saw how you comforted Santana I knew there was something more there. Well I guess you comforted each other, she was one of your best friends too._

_**Quinn  
><strong>What about you? You were practically dating her by the end._

_**Me  
><strong>Oh believe me I miss her very much and I'm more than a little worried about her._

_**Quinn  
><strong>You haven't heard from her recently have you?_

Rachel hated lying to a friend, but she had heard from her more recently than anyone else. Not that it was much more recently. In August of last year she had received a postcard from Miami but postmarked in Orlando with the words "Can I burn the mazes I grow?" on it. The lyrics from the song they sang together were enough to let her know that she was alright but she hadn't received anything since then and it was now late January.

_**Me  
><strong>I wish I had, believe me._

_**Quinn  
><strong>Subject change to get rid of bad feelings yes? Seeing anyone Miss Berry?_

_**Me  
><strong>Not really. There was this guy when I first started at NYADA. His name was Brody and he was beautiful. If you took all the guys from Glee and added their handsomeness up, it would have been like half of Brody (slight exaggeration but I want you to get the point). We hit it off and we were dating pretty seriously for a bit there._

_**Me  
><strong>But, there was just something wrong with him. I could never really put my finger on it and things got a little awkward at the end so I ended it. I still see him around school and we are friendly to each other. I don't know I just get a weird vibe off him. I went out on a couple of dates after that but no one rated a second date. I guess part of me is still missing her. I won't let it stop me from trying though.  
><em>

_**Quinn  
><strong>Well if you get too lonely I'm sure Santana wouldn't mind if you came and visited and we had some fun. Please read into that whatever you like and take it as an open invitation._

_**Me  
><strong>LUCILLE QUINN FABRAY!_

_**Quinn  
><strong>RACHEL BARBRA BERRY :)  
><em>

_**Me  
><strong>I cannot believe you seriously just propositioned me to have a threesome with your current significant other without her prior permission._

_**Quinn  
><strong>I may not have her permission but believe me when I say she will have no problem with it. If you decide to join us we will talk more in detail. No pressure by the way just keep it in mind._

_**Me  
><strong>Oh very well. I don't want you to think you've scared me off or anything but I really do need to be getting to class. I don't want to be late on the first day after all._

_**Quinn  
><strong>OK midget ttyl_

_**Me  
><strong>Talk to you later Quinn. Oh and I hate your chat speak, but at least it isn't as bad as San's I can barely read what she sends me half the time. I wish there were a way to portray frustration in an emoticon but that would be two in one session, far too many. Have a good day Quinn._

Rachel closed her laptop, grabbed her book bag, and made her way out the door of the loft making sure to lock the multiple locks on the door. It may be the greatest city in the world but it certainly isn't the safest. She made her way to the subway and took two trains that set her close enough to NYADA that it took her five minutes from the station to reach the front door.

Rachel only had three classes today: Advanced Vocals, Intermediate Theater Dance, and finally English for Theater Majors one of her degree prerequisites. It was still a college and they do have to provide education along with their specialty degrees after all.

The school really wasn't very large so while she had never been in the classroom her schedule was directing her towards she knew exactly where it was. She walked in the class and she instantly felt the comfort of a choir room and she couldn't hold back her smile. She found a seat in the middle not wanting to look too eager and she noted that she was only one of six in the room currently. Only three others came in by the time the professor walked into the room. He was middle aged and balding, fat around the center and skinny everywhere else. Calling him ugly while not kind wasn't really unfair either. He did have a big smile on his face though and he seemed very friendly. He grabbed a chair and sat down on it backwards looking at his nine students.

"Wow I think this may be the largest class I have ever had at once." He said looking at each of them individually. "My name is Dr. Theodore Grayson, you can call me Doc, and this is Advanced Vocals. You should be made aware that you only get into this class on recommendation from a faculty member. Take a look around. You guys are the cream of the crop here at NYADA." Everyone smiled. "Now that the pleasantries are over I am going to discuss my plan here. I may be a nice guy but I am also just as difficult a taskmaster as Miss July is, I just go about it in different ways. I will work you all hard but when the semester is over I think you will see some pretty serious vocal growth. As long as you try you will pass my class with flying colors. I have only ever failed 5 students in my time as a teacher and only because they didn't put forth the necessary effort. For these first three sessions I will be analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. On the syllabus I emailed to each of you last week you were asked to prepare an acapella song that you have never performed before but still in your comfort zone. The reason I do this is I want something unpolished so that I can truly measure your voices.

"At the end of the song or at worst the end of class I will assign each of you a song I want you to prepare for me. I should warn you that the songs I choose for each of you will probably make you scoff at me. Trust me there is a method to my madness. I am trying to get you out of your comfort zone so your voice can grow. With these songs you can prepare or find a karaoke track if it makes you more comfortable or helps you stay on key. I don't expect the songs to sound perfect. I am looking for hard work and improvement so don't be intimidated by what I choose just work hard and do your best and by the time I am done with you, you will be able to rock anything I throw at you. Okay everyone we are going to start with Mr. Ward please regale us with what you planned. Oh I almost forgot, please on all these songs and for the rest of the semester keep choreography to a minimum. I would honestly prefer none at all but I tried that once and I got students who held themselves so stiff they couldn't sing because they put all their effort in not moving. Try and just stand still to the best of your ability Michael."

After the first three performance she knew Doc was right saying this was the best of the school, even unprepared the performances were incredible but after each song Doc would pick their next song and the look of terror on each of their faces was telling. Rachel went up fourth.

"Okay Rachel what have you chosen and why?" Doc asks.

"The song I have chosen reminds me of someone but beyond that my reasons are personal. I will be singing Anne Murray's Snowbird." Rachel says and Doc waves her to begin. Rachel begins singing the song at a slower tempo than the original or even Elvis' cover of it hitting every note strong and clear.

_Beneath this snowy mantle cold and clean  
>The unborn grass lies waiting for its coat to turn to green<br>The snowbird sings the song she always sings  
>And speaks to me of flowers that will bloom again in spring<br>When I was young my heart was young then, too  
>Anything that it would tell me, that's the thing that I would do<br>But now I feel such emptiness within  
>For the thing that I want most in life's the thing that I can't win<em>

_Spread your tiny wings and fly away  
>And take the snow back with you<br>Where it came from on that day  
>The one I love forever is untrue<br>And if I could you know that I would  
>Fly away with you<em>

_The breeze along the river seems to say  
>That she'll only break my heart again should I decide to stay<br>So, little snowbird, take me with you when you go  
>To that land of gentle breezes where the peaceful waters flow<em>

_Spread your tiny wings and fly away  
>And take the snow back with you<br>Where it came from on that day  
>The one I love forever is untrue<br>And if I could you know that I would  
>Fly away with you<em>

Doc looked at Rachel a little annoyed. "That was beautiful but I have a hard time believing you prepared that in a week. Tell me the truth how long have you had that in your wheelhouse?"

Rachel looked like a deer in headlights. "Doc I swear the first time I ever sang that song was seven days ago."

"How many times did you practice it?" Doc asks knowingly.

"A lot, maybe a hundred." Rachel said panicking a bit now she didn't want to be on her teacher's bad side the first day.

"I see." He said and he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Rachel you obviously practice a lot, but what you likely consider your biggest strength can be a weakness as well. Over practicing can remove the heart of a song and turn it into cookie cutter garbage. Look at the state the pop industry has become recently. While the Anne Murray song sounded amazing, this song I am going to give you will sound worse the more you polish it. This song you will need edge. Moxie! I will also rescind the movement on this one song but I don't want choreography I want wildness. The song I am going to give you is by a metal artist." Rachel's eyes flash in fear. "Next class I want you to sing Funeral For Yesterday by Kittie. There isn't any screaming in this particular song because I don't know if your voice is suited for yelling and I don't want you to wreck it, but it is still a heavy song that will be different for you since you can't practice the hell out of it without ruining it."

Doc gestures for Rachel to sit and she sits her heart pounding already in anticipation of her performance the following week. She only half watches the remaining performances but each of them was fantastic and not one of them left that room without a sense of nervousness about them. She realized that Doc was likely insane or brilliant. Probably a bit of both. She could tell that this was either going to be her favorite or least favorite class but it was far too soon to tell.

She had hoped that things would have gotten better with Cassandra July but the second she heard the word Schwimmer come out of her mouth she knew this semester of dance was going to be just as bad as the previous. She hated this class but Miss July was a phenomenal dancer and she knew that every day she spent getting tortured and belittled in it made her incrementally better herself. She walked out of her second class physically and emotionally spent from her day already. Not to mention her level of sexual frustration was extremely high. She may have disliked Cassandra July but there was no doubt that she was gorgeous and very flexible.

She really hoped her last class of the day was an easy one since she had a feeling this is how she was going to feel every Tuesday of the semester. She walked into the class and the teacher wasn't present but a few of the students had begun to file in. This class had about 30 seats and half were already filled. There was apparently a seating chart so she located her seat and sat in it. Her desk was in the back of the room. She looked around and saw a name written on the white board Dr. Cattie-Brie Williamson. She sat in her seat somewhat exhausted by her day. She lays her head down on the desk closing her eyes allowing the remaining students to make their way into the classroom.

She hears the door close and the click clack of heels. She looks up to see a woman with light brown wavy hair and a rather stunning rear end writing on the board. She wrote 'A Streetcar Named Desire' on the board and then turned around to face the class.

"Good morning I am Dr. Cattie-Brie Williamson and I will be filling in for Dr. Brooks for the semester while she is on maternity leave." Rachel's jaw hit the floor and it took all of her will power not to get up to throw her arms around the girl. "I am a professor of Literature at Columbia University and when Dr. Brooks said she was leaving NYADA your school asked us if we could loan them a professor. Since I was the FNG I was "volunteered" for the position." She made air quotes when she said volunteered.

Someone in the class raised your hand. "Yes Mr. Miller." The guy looked taken aback that she knew her name.

"What is an FNG?" He asks.

"The fucking new guy, or girl in this case I suppose." The class laughs.

"How old are you? You seem awfully young to be a doctor or even a professor for that matter." Someone just blurted out without raising their hand.

"I am 22." Cattie-Brie responds. "And before you question my credentials because of my age, I have dual PhDs in Linguistics and 19th Century Romantic Literature. I am currently working on a third doctorate in Psychiatry but I am teaching at the same time so I think this one will probably take me quite a while."

"Can you sing?" Dr. Williamson rolls her eyes and smiles at the girl who asked.

"I am a decent singer but not anywhere near you guys would be my guess. However, I can probably out dance anyone in the school." She hears several scoffs but Cattie-Brie just lets it roll right off her back. "Anymore questions?" She waits for a moment. "Good, back to the syllabus. I realize most of you are expecting this class to be a breeze because of your particular area of education but I spoke with Dr. Brooks about her curriculum and she believes as I do that you are in college and while you are here you should learn something. Because of your major however we will be mostly focusing on plays with some poetry primarily in the form of epics. We will be beginning with A Streetcar Named Desire and then we will be moving on to…"

Rachel's focus kind of faded out as she looked at the girl that has been on her mind for the last six months. She tried to think of what to say to Brittany or Snowbird or I guess Cattie-Brie now. Before she knew it the class was vacating. There were a few people who stayed to ask Dr. Williamson a question or two but she waited until the last person left and approached her while she was sorting papers.

"Can I help you? Miss Berry right?" Rachel responded to her snark by punching her in the arm. "Ow."

"Oh shut up Snow like that actually hurt you." Rachel said smiling lightly.

"No not really." She said hugging the smaller girl. "You can call me Cattie-Brie by the way."

"That name is ridiculous." Rachel says giggling.

"Hey, that's my actual name." Cattie-Brie says a little affronted and Rachel stops laughing.

"Sorry, Cattie-Brie. It's an usual name. Where did it come from." Rachel says trying to get back on her good side.

"My dad gave it to me. He was a really big R.A. Salvatore fan so he named me after a character from the Drizzt novels. My mom calls me Cat though."

"Your dad calls you Cattie-Brie though?" Rachel asks trying to learn as much as she can about the girl now that she can apparently talk about herself.

"No. He passed away when I was young but he usually did from what I remember." Cat said sadly.

"Oh sorry to hear that." Rachel responded sincerely.

"It's okay, I'll never be over it but the pain isn't unbearable anymore."

"Lets change the subject. What happened with the case?" Rachel asked curious. "I never really found out since I was in jail and when I got out you were gone"

"It's an amazing story and I will fill you in on all the gory details later but to sum up. Lauren was responsible." Rachel gave Cat a look of utter disbelief because she had heard the Zizes house burned down not too long after she got to New York with everyone in it dead. "They outright refused to openly work against their family but when we threatened to charge them with treason their tune changed really fast. It's amazing how much being charged with a crime that has a minimum sentence of life in prison changes minds. We ended up faking their deaths and putting them in witness protection and in exchange they showed us how to monitor their operation."

"Lauren Zizes? Didn't see that one coming at all." Rachel said awestruck.

"Believe me neither did I." Cat replied.

"So why are you here in my school and not in Prague?" Rachel asked.

"Prague?" Cat said snickering.

"Or Barcelona, or Sri Lanka, or Lake Titicaca." Rachel giggled joining in on the fun.

"Well if you really want to know?" Rachel nods enthusiastically. "After I left, and I did stop by your house to say goodbye but the FBI was still there and I had a time limit. Anyway after I left the CIA cleanup crew showed up to pick up my car and prep my house for sale or for use as a safe house which is standard operating procedure after an operation ends. I warned them about the traps I set before hand but I still got a call from them and we had to set up a skype phone call so I could help them disable the traps. I spent four hours on the phone with them walked them through step by step and there were still three injuries. One of them almost died."

"So you got in trouble then?" Rachel said worried.

"Actually just the opposite. R&D were so impressed with my work on the house and car that they pulled me out of Deep Cover Missions and put in for a transfer to their department. I refused outright. Robertson, my handler, fought for me and we all eventually came to a compromise. I would go into recruiting while still doing short term Freelance operations and in return I would also do freelance for R&D…which they have to pay me contracting fees for. Robertson is quite the negotiator, I have made quite a bit of money in the last few months."

Rachel was silent for a few seconds. "So you are recruiting agents from your classes?"

"Schools technically. Though my classes are much easier to pull from." Cat answered

"You don't need to give me any names but find anyone good?" Rachel nosed in. Once a gossip always a gossip.

"Well I really just set possible agents with training whether they make it or not is up to them. I have found two candidates though and…"

"And?"

"Well there is this third candidate that I am really interested in. Intelligent, athletic, multi-lingual and absolutely freaking gorgeous. Just looking at her makes me want to throw her ankles over my shoulders and go to town."Rachel looks down at the ground looking a little sad. "Well I hope she says yes." She says sadly.

"Me too." Cat says then throws her arm around Rachel's shoulders. "So, what do you say?"

"Huh?" Rachel said confused.

"I was talking about you stupid." Rachel looks up at Cat with big eyes. "So I ask again, wanna be a spy…Nightingale?"

"Nightingale?" Rachel asks and Cat nods at her. "Nightingale and Snowbird. I kind of like the sound of that. What about my dreams? I like the idea of being a spy and serving my country but I don't think I could give up Broadway."

"Give it up?" Cat shakes her head. "Celebrities as spies are extremely useful, believe me you wouldn't be the first. There were even a few KGB Hollywood actors back in the cold war era. In fact the CIA would actually help you achieve your goals so that you are in a position to be most useful."

"I have to say that is incredibly tempting but can I have some time to think about it?"

"Of course you can this is a huge life altering decision take a few days take a few weeks if you need to just don't tell anyone. I do have another question though Rae. What about us?" Cat said and Rachel saw an expression she was not used to seeing on the girl's face. Cat was Nervous. She had known the girl for four years and she was almost always confident.

"Cat, can we even date if you are trying to recruit me to the CIA?" Rachel asks the girl not pulling away but not moving closer.

"Yes. I won't be your handler just your recruiter." Cat says. "You will probably be a freelancer as well which means we could even be partners if we request it." She finishes with a big smile on her face.

"There is still one more problem with us being together." Cat furrows her brow confused. "You're my teacher now." Cat face palms.

"I actually volunteered to teach at this school just on the hope I would run into you and I did. Can't believe I forgot I would be your teacher and you my student. I feel really dumb."

"So I guess we will have to wait until the semester is over and you go back to Columbia." Rachel says sadly. "I guess I'll see you next week." Rachel finished looking at the forlorn expression on Cat's face. She starts walking towards the classroom door when she stops half way. Rachel closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She drops her books on the floor.

"Fuck it. We've waited long enough." She spins around and runs towards Cat. Rachel throws her arms around Cat's neck and slams her lips onto the taller girl's shocked mouth. Cat was caught off guard but she recovered quickly sliding her arms around Rachel's tiny waist and pulling her closer to her. She closed her eyes and sank into the kiss.

It was their first real kiss and the peck they had on the bus back from Nationals didn't prepare the girls for the reality of the two of them coming together. Fireworks exploded behind their eyes as their lips slid over each others. Rachel's knees got weak when Cat slid her hand up her back to tangle itself in her dark hair. Cat found herself holding the tiny girl up and she loved the way Rachel felt in her arms.

When Rachel moaned and opened her mouth their tongues were drawn to each other like opposite poles of a magnet and they both fell apart. Cat could feel the hair on her arms standing up from the jolts of electricity rushing through her veins. She forced her tongue out of Rachel's mouth through an act of will just so she could suck on Rachel's bottom lip and slow the kiss. Cat bit Rachel's bottom lip before licking it softly and finally pulling away.

"Wow." Rachel said.

"Wow indeed. I assume this means I can take you out on a proper date right?"

"Oh you'd better Cattie-Brie." She says and kisses her again though much more chastely.

"I like it when you say my name." Cat says running a finger across her cheek.

"Oh you do, do you? Well lets see how you like it when I'm screaming it." She smiles wickedly and Cat feels a bit of wetness pooling down below at the suggestive image that forced itself into her brain. It became a real problem when Rachel's lips attached to her neck.

"Okay Rae. I can't believe I'm going to say this but we really need to stop. We can save it for later because I am not going anywhere and I really don't want to lose my job."

"Fine. Pick me up at eight tonight take me out to dinner and we'll see what happens from there." The way Rachel said that left no doubt in Cat's mind what will be happening later. Rachel walks back towards the door. "See you tonight."

"Wait." Rachel turns around and self-consciously wraps her arms around herself. "There has been something bothering me for months and as much as I don't want to know the answer, I need to." She closes her eyes and sighs keeping her eyes shut as she asks the question. "Okay Snowbird, which of my fathers is the one who likes straight porn?"

**THE END?**

**A/N: Well that's it folks. At least for now. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who read my story whether they liked it or hated thank you for your time. Again a special shout out to those who reviewed I appreciate your words as I hope you appreciated mine. Full List of Songs used and deleted scene in the final note.  
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	16. Author's Note and Deleted Scene

**A/N: Why the update after so long? Well I went through and did another edit of the story and while I did it I removed most of the Author Notes and decided to create a full list of songs at the end rather than by chapter. Still it is pretty crappy to give you guys a new alert with no new content so I added a deleted scene at the bottom of the songography. (I don't think that is a word but meh) Please know it is just a scene not a chapter there is no real content just a bit of fun. I am working on a sequel but it is coming along a bit slower than I want. The reason being is that I don't want it to feel like a sequel because lets be honest, no one needs another Boondock Saints 2.**

**Chapter 2: I used four songs in this chapter if you don't recognize the first one, I ask you to please crawl out from under the rock you have been living under for the last 15 years.**

**Song 1: Everlong by the Foo Fighters (Acoustic Version)**

**Song 2: Criminal by Fiona Apple**

**Song 3: Big Empty by Stone Temple Pilots**

**Song 4: Walking in LA by Missing Persons**

**Chapter 7:**

**Weird Science by Oingo Boingo**

**Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) by Concrete Blonde**

**and the (recycled) Mash up of Michael Jackson's Thriller and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Heads Will Roll as performed by the Cast of Glee.**

**Chapter 8 : Songs mentioned only**

_**New Directions:**_

**Horizons by Puscifer**

**Haunted by Poe**

**The World is Not Enough by Garbage**

**The Loneliness Is Worse by Veruca Salt**

**The Boy is Mine by Brandy and Monica**

**Love Song by The Cure**

_**Noises On:**_

**Cornflake Girl by Tori Amos**

**Hunger Strike by Temple of the Dog**

**Over Now Alice in Chains**

**Blow Up the Outside World by Soundgarden**

**Just a Girl by No Doubt**

**Tonight Tonight by Smashing Pumpkins**

_**Bromantics:**_

**What Is and What Never Should Be by Led Zeppelin**

**Love Reign O'er Me by The Who**

**Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival**

**Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leopard**

**Here I Go Again by Whitesnake**

**Mötley Crϋe's Home Sweet Home**

_**Georgia Peaches:**_

**Fallin' by Alicia Keys**

**Apple and Firebomb by Meghan Tonjes (Watch on youtube or buy on itunes if interested.)**

**(original songs are Apple and Cinnamon by Utada Hikaru and Firebomb by Rhianna)**

_**Knights of Knotes:**_

**So Long Toots by Cherry Poppin Daddies**

**Chapter 10: Mentioned only**

**Goodbye by the Pretenders**

**When I'm Down by Chris Cornell**

**Chapter 11: **

**Mobile by Avril Lavigne (Partial lyrics only)**

**Chapter 12:**

**Mentioned - Goodbye, Goodbye by Oingo Boingo**

**Virgin State of Mind by K's Choice**

**Epilogue:**

**Snowbird by Anne Murray (or Elvis Presley)**

**Mentioned - Funeral for Yesterday by Kittie**

Brittany still couldn't believe how amazing of a job Kurt had done on her dress. She had seen the Wizard of Oz a ton of times, what kid hasn't, but she had always seen Glinda as somewhat of a fashion disaster. This dress was for lack of a better phrase, exquisite. The dress was a pastel pink with white accents. The dress was form fitting down to her knees where it tapered out several feet. She couldn't dance very well but her choreography for today was pretty limited. The dancing for the first two numbers was a lot more fun but her dress was way too tight for the quick change that would be required the same was true for Rachel's costume. Rachel about had a fit when she found out she was singing two whole words but she took some solace in the fact that she looked amazing.

New Directions was slated to take the first slot so they were waiting backstage for the show to start, They were nervous but happy that they had the opening salvo. From the wings the choir already in costumes awaited Jason Segel to take the stage. As the minutes stretched some of the members started to get antsy even to the point of bouncing.

The Master of Ceremonies took the stage to thunderous applause. Jason Segel strutted around the stage milking the praise for everything it's worth. "Welcome back to the Show Choir National Championship for Day 3. This is our last day of competition and we have weeded out the ten best choirs from the best groups in the country. What follows today should be pretty darned amazing. Up first we have the choir that took first place in the preliminary round with an Undead Dance Party. I have seen their costumes as I was coming through to the stage and I am pretty sure that they have an interesting show to put on. So once again please welcome to the stage, New Directions."

The spotlights on the stage, in multihued brilliance, begin spinning around the floor making a spiral. A few seconds later the iconic Wicked Witch of the East music began playing through two loops before the sound effect of the crash of the Kansas house.

Tina purposely stumbles on to the stage dressed like Dorothy. she looks around for a few seconds and then moves forward a few steps. An acoustic guitar riff starts sounding and while it plays. All of the kids minus Brittany, Sam, Sugar, Finn and Mike move onto the stage. They skip, frolic, hop bounce and frolic all dressed in Kurt and Mercedes Munchkin originals. The intro to the song is short so immediately Puck moves over to Tina and begins to sing.

_**Puck**_

_Dust devil swept you away_

_It's still not real_

_Ash and urn and silence_

_Talk to me_

He sings directly to Tina not looking away from her until the last note is sung. As he finishes he dances out of the way and Rory moves in. The dancing continues in this way one person twirls out another or two twirls in to take their place.

_**Rory**_

_Dust devil swept you away_

_My recollections are all that's left of you_

_Swirl and sway_

_Without me_

_**Quinn lead and Puck singing Harmony**_

_Dust devil swept you away_

_Whirling playful dancing_

_About you_

_**All**_

_What's left of you is_

_Ash and urn and this_

_Silent_

_Horizon_

_**Artie**_

_Dust devil swept you away_

_It's still not real_

_Ash and urn and silence_

_**Kurt with Quinn singing Harmony**_

_Dust devil swept you away_

_My recollections are all that's left of you_

_Swirl and sway without me_

_**Mercedes**_

_Dust devil swept you away_

_Whirling playful dancing_

_What's left of you_

_**All**_

_Ash and urn and this silent_

_Horizon_

A brief music break occurs organically in the song so the Munchkins dance around Tina moving closer and Tina looks visibly nervous.

_**All**_

_Swirl and sway without me_

_Dust devil swept you away_

_Whirling playful dancing_

_About you_

_What's left of you_

_Ash and urn and this_

_Silent _

Puck very obviously points in a the direction of the opposite end of the stage. The Munchkins move off the stage as quickly as they came in and in much the same manner as they appeared. Off stage they quickly moved to a set of privacy screens they set up for their quick change. They had about three and a half minutes before their cue but they wanted it done in 3 so they stripped as fast as they could boys on one screen girls on the other.

The lights go out very briefly and they pulled their prop, a backdrop of a gnarled and broken forest. As it happens they didn't bring the backdrop with them but they asked permission of the theater to use theirs when Kurt found it snooping. While it is being deployed Tina, Mike, Finn and Sugar take their positions on stage. The music starts and the lights move to Tina who is holding onto herself as if scared and cold.

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

Tina wanders through the stage slowly softly singing. A spotlight appears on the floor revealing Mike dressed as the scarecrow and Finn dressed as the Tinman.

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

She rushes over to the two boys and addresses Mike when she starts singing.

_Come here, pretty please_

_Can you tell me where I am?_

Mike shakes his head no but begins to dance to the music. She turns to FInn who is standing stock still.

_You, won't you say something?_

_I need to get my bearings_

Finn moves in the stilted manner of his dancing but with the Tinman costume it actually kind of works. She turns to the two of them and sings the last line in the verse m before joining in the dancing and heading into the chorus

_I'm lost and the shadows keep on changing_

_And I'm haunted_

_By the lives that I have loved_

_And actions I have hated_

_I'm _

_Haunted_

_By the lives that wove the web_

_Inside my haunted head_

The dance they three perform is wistful and sad and towards the end of the song the three begin to walk across the stage once more.

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

On the opposite side of the stage another spotlight appears on Sugar dressed as the Cowardly Lion and she appears to be crying. Tina moves over to the girl.

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

Tina looks at Sugar softly before gently placing a hand on her shoulder to sing to the crying lion.

_Don't cry, there's always a way_

_Here in November_

_In this house of leaves we'll pray_

She points at the backdrop of the gnarled forest.

_Please, I know it's hard to believe_

_To see a perfect forest_

_Through so many splintered trees_

_You and me and these shadows keep on changing_

They all take hands and walk as they move across the stage and Tina sings the chorus again. During the chorus the rest of New Directions minus Brittany, Sam and Rachel rush onto the stage dressed as the flying monkey and harass the 4 while the chorus continues. As she finishes the chorus the monkeys move off stage

_And I'm haunted_

_By the lives that I have loved_

_And actions I have hated_

_I'm _

_haunted_

_By the promises I've made_

_And others I have broken I_

_I'm haunted_

_By the lives that wove the web_

_Inside my haunted head_

_**(Rachel softly from backstage**__)__**Hallways, always**_

Tina walks to the edge of stage left and then turns to look at the three of them and addresses the first line at all three.

_I'll always want you_

The second line she says to the TInman

_I'll always need you_

The third she says to the Cowardly Lion

_I'll always love you_

The final line she says to the scarecrow before turning and walking away.

_And I will always miss you_

_Ahhh_

Rachel is the only one of them actually wearing makeup but it is easy on easy off green paint. She steps on stage looking every bit the Wicked Witch of the West. She beckons at TIna who no longer looks frightened and addresses Rachel with confidence and bravado.

_Come here, no, I won't say please_

_One more look at the ghost_

_Before I'm gonna make it leave_

Tina bends down and picks up a handmade broom holding it easily at her side and strides in Rachel's direction.

_Come here, I've got the pieces here_

_Time to gather up the splinters_

_Build a casket for my tears_

Tina turns to the audience to sing her last chorus addressing them for the first time.

_I'm haunted_

_(By the lives that I have loved)_

_I'm haun, I'm haunted_

_By the hallways in this tiny room_

_The echoes there of me and you_

_The voices that are carrying this tune_

She glances quickly at Rachel who is smiling darkly and she sings a few :

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

Tina turns and begins to stalk towards the witch again chasing her down and finally disappearing of the stage at the last note.

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

_Ba Da Ba Ba_

The Stage is black during their standing ovation and the backdrop is pulled back up. The jazz band usually did their music at performances but this number had a full string orchestra and that was a bit out of their budget to bring with them so they just brought a backing track.

Brittany stepped on stage hand in hand with Sam who was wearing a very nice suit with tails and gold pocket watch with chain. When not dancing the two by and large face the audience.

_**Sam**_

_I know how to hurt_

_**Brittany**_

_I know how to heal_

Here Sam performs a very basic sleight of hand magic trick causing a ball to appear in his hand.

_**Sam**_

_I know what to show_

Brittany takes the ball and makes it vanish in a similar fashion as Sam made it appear.

_**Brittany**_

_And what to conceal_

_**Sam**_

_I know when to talk_

_**Brittany**_

_And I know when to touch_

_**Sam**_

_No one ever died from wanting too much_

Each time the chorus appears the two do a different waltz type dance with each other before stopping and singing at the audience once again.

_**Both**_

_The world is not enough_

_**Brittany**_

_But it is such a perfect place to start my love_

_**Both**_

_And if you're strong enough_

_**Sam**_

_Together we can take the world apart my love_

_**Brittany**_

_People like us_

_**Sam**_

_Know how to survive_

_**Brittany**_

_There's no point in living_

_**Sam**_

_If you can't feel alive_

For the next line they had considered having Brittany kiss Sam on the cheek but it was decided that considering that it was a kiss that caused them not to win the year previous that it would be in bad taste.

_**Brittany**_

_We know when to kiss_

_**.Sam**_

_And we know when to kill_

_**Brittany**_

_If we can't have it all_

_**Sam**_

_Then nobody will_

The second waltz had them spinning the other one when they were the one that was singing.

_**Both**_

_The world is not enough_

_**Brittany**_

_But it is such a perfect place to start...my love_

_**Both**_

_And if you're strong enough_

_**Sam**_

_Together we can take the world apart...my love_

For this part of the song Sam projects an aura of confidence while Brittany one of excited nervousness.

_**Sam**_

_(I...)I feel safe_

_**Brittany**_

_(I...)I feel scared_

_**Sam**_

_(I...)I feel ready_

_**Brittany**_

_(I...)And yet unprepared_

The final waltz they wanted to kick it up a notch but found the vocals being shaken so they settled for the very end of the song to end in a dip.

_**Both**_

_The world is not enough_

_**Brittany**_

_But it is such a perfect place to start...my love_

_**Both**_

_And if you're strong enough_

_**Sam**_

_Together we can take the world apart...my love_

_**Brittany**_

_The world is not enough_

_**Sam**_

_The world is not enough_

_**Both**_

_No nowhere near enough... _

The crowd exploded into applause and the whole group came out on stage and took their bows for a few seconds before rushing off to allow the next group to take their place.


End file.
