AN: Update is finally here! Sorry for the delay but thank you so much for all the favourites/follows/reviews, they mean everything! They're truly a big part of what keeps me writing :)

For all the Faberry lovers out there... I have started a Faberry fic and the first chapter will be posted tomorrow! I hope you'll check it out and enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed writing it so far.

Without further ado, here's chapter 5 Play by the Rules. Enjoy!

Santana took a deep breath before knocking on the door in front of her. She had been standing outside of Xander's room for over a minute and she figured it was time to suck it up and talk to the man.

The door swung open and Xander looked down at the brunette. "Yes?" he asked.

She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat; what happened the previous night with Brittany couldn't happen again. "I want to join the scouts."

He smiled widely at the news. "I knew you'd come around," he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him in the process, "follow me."

He led her down the stairs and into a room underneath the stairs she hadn't noticed before. "Is this like the scout's headquarters or something?" Santana laughed but quickly stopped when she noticed all the scouts huddled around a table, "Oh."

"New blood boys!" Xander called as he approached the men.

Puck stood and held his hand up, hoping for a high-five from Santana. When she didn't reciprocate, he lowered his hand onto her shoulder. "Welcome to the team Lopez," he smirked at her confidently, "you're just in time."

She gave him a quick, snarky smile back. "When do I start?"

He walked to the other side of the room and picked up a backpack. "Right now," he told her as he threw the backpack to her.

She caught it but that didn't stop her confidence from suddenly slipping away. "There's no training or anything?"

All of the scouts started laughing, all but one. Puck walked over to her and smiled sincerely. "We learn as we go and we watch each others' backs." He put his hands on her shoulders again and looked her in the eyes. "You got my back?"

She looked into his eyes expecting to see doubt and judgement, but was instead met with kindness. Maybe Puck wasn't all that bad. "Of course." She nodded.

"Then I've got yours," he responded as he backed up, whistling loudly. "Let's go boys!"

Santana watched as all the scouts jumped up, hooting and hollering with excitement, and ran out of the building through a back door. They reminded her of a pack of savages and that didn't do much for her nerves; at least they were on her side. "Right now," she said under her breath.

Puck gestured for her to follow the group. "You'll be fine."

Brittany ran up to the roof as fast as she could. She flung the door open and darted to the edge of the roof.

"Goodbye!" She called out and waved her arms in an attempt to get the attention of the scouts. She sighed when none of them turned around, including Santana. It had been days since Santana started working with the scouts and just as long since they had spoken.

The blonde sat down and slouched against one of the vents, holding the How to Kill a Mockingbird novel out in front of her. She opened to a random page and frowned when she couldn't read any of it. "That's the worst way to miss somebody. When they're right beside you and you miss them anyway."

Santana sighed in frustration as she shifted her bag for the fourth time in three minutes.

"Need some help with that?" Puck asked and smirked at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Believe me, I can handle more than this."

He grinned in response. "I believe you."

She rolled her eyes and slowed down enough to walk a few steps behind Puck and the other scouts. She didn't need their help to carry a bag and the truth was that it wasn't her annoyingly, awkward backpack that was bothering her. It had been about six days since that night with Brittany and she was starting to feel guilty.

It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with Brittany. She missed the peppy blonde, but she just couldn't bring herself to face her. However, she wondered if Brittany missed her as well. She chanced a glance at the hospital behind her, scanning the roof for any signs of the blonde; there were none.

She shook her head; of course Brittany wasn't there.

"Lopez, pick up the pace," Puck called towards her.

Santana sped up so she was in line with the other scouts. "Which city are we looting today?"

"No cities," Puck explained, "someone spotted an abandoned camp pretty close to us so we're checking that out."

Santana's brow furrowed. "Another rebel group?"

"Exactly." Puck looked over at a clearly confused Santana. "There's a bunch of different rebel groups but none of them are very friendly."

"What do you mean?" Santana asked.

"He means," another scout by the name of Maddock put his hand on Santana's shoulder, forcing her to look at him, "keep quiet and watch your back." The man gave her a toothy grin before running ahead.

Santana heard a loud, frustrated groan as Maddock stood up. "I'm tired of sitting around doing nothing."

"Too bad," she replied flatly, "we were told to wait here and stand guard."

"Back to being a lookout huh?" Maddock scoffed. "Fuck that, I'm better than this."

"There's nothing wrong with being a lookout." Santana defended.

"Maybe not for some people."

"What does that mean?" Santana stood up and clenched her fists.

"I mean if you're an idiot then it's the perfect job for you."

Santana felt her blood boil and she was sure her face was turning red with anger. She took a few steps toward him and pushed him against a tree. "Listen here you imbecile-"

She suddenly stopped talking and Maddock gave her a puzzled look. "Aren't you going to defend your-"

"Shut up," she whispered harshly and covered his mouth.

Once they were both quiet, the faint sound of voices coming towards them became more audible. It sounded like a group of people, but it wasn't clear enough to tell who the voices belonged to.

Maddock suddenly pushed Santana off of him. "It's probably Puck and the rest of them," he whispered harshly.

"Then why are you whispering?" Santana asked.

Maddock glared at her but nonetheless they both stood in silence until the group of people came close enough for them to make out who the voices belonged to.

"See, it is Puck." Maddock started towards the cluster of trees the voices were coming through.

Santana quickly grabbed his arm. "You don't know what's in there. Either we wait here or we walk around through the clearing we came from."

"Scared of the snakes?" He laughed before shaking off her grip and continuing into the trees. "You don't always have to play by the rules Lopez."

Santana rolled her eyes and watched him walk away but didn't follow; she tried to stop him, he was on his own now.

Suddenly there was a click, snap, and swoosh. Santana stared at the blood in front of her, not completely registering what had happened. "Are you ok?" She called out.

"Santana!" Maddock yelled as he ran over to her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen."

Santana gave him a questioning look; what was he going on about? Wait, how could his blood be on her hands, she was far behind him. Slowly, she looked down at the spear that had lodged itself right into her shoulder.

Brittany had made an executive decision to take a break since nothing interesting was happening, so she had been drawing for the past hour. That is, until she heard commotion downstairs and the sound of Puck's voice.

"Look out! Get out of the way dammit!" He yelled.

Brittany ran over to the railing and looked down at the scouts. They were all running inside behind Puck who was carrying someone in his arms. She couldn't make out who it was before he ran into one of the medical rooms. She quickly scanned the group of scouts looking for one in particular.

"Where's Santana?" She yelled down to them. The one's who had heard her looked up with sad eyes. Most looked away as soon as they saw who was asking. One of them timidly pointed towards the medical room before turning to leave.

The blonde quickly made her way down the stairs, skipping as many as she could without falling. She stopped in front of one of the scouts. She was about to ask what had happened when he started talking.

"It was an accident, I didn't mean for anything to happen to her." He looked down at his hands.

"What did you do?" Brittany asked in a tone that caught Maddock off guard; it sounded more hurt than angry.

"She warned me not to go into the bushes but I didn't listen." He shook his head at his own stupidity. "There were traps set up and I stepped on one; it shot a spear into her shoulder."

"Is she going to be ok?" Just as Brittany finished her question, she heard the door close behind her. A tired Puck came out of the medical room. As she looked down at the blood that now soaked his clothes, tears started to form in her eyes.

Puck quickly wrapped his arms around her in a strong embrace. "She'll be ok Britt, it's alright."

Brittany nodded into his shoulder, she was thankful for him being there. Most people in their little community considered her an idiot and wouldn't give her the time of day; however Puck was never like that. Anytime a scout made fun of her he would always put them in their place and remind them who's in charge.

He waited for Brittany to catch her breath before letting go and smiling at her. He then looked up at Maddock with a cold glare that could make a chill run up anyone's spine. "You know what to do with him guys."

Two other scouts grabbed Maddock by his arms and the group led him outside.

"What's going to happen to him?" Brittany asked.

"He's getting the punishment he deserves." He sighed and took one of Brittany's hands in his. "You have to wait out here until Doc says you're good to visit her. She'll be alright though Britt, I promise. It's just her shoulder."

He offered her a quick smile before walking away and leaving Brittany to wait by herself. She sat down on the floor and stared at the door; it couldn't be that long before she was allowed to see Santana.

"Brittany?"

The blonde looked up at the man they all called Doc. She was never sure he was actually a doctor, but he helped them a lot. "Can I see her?" She stood up quickly.

"You can see her." He smiled and held the door open for her.

Brittany ran in as fast as her legs could carry her. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Santana lying in bed with her eyes closed.

Santana opened her eyes and smiled at her friend. "Hey Britt," she greeted.

After that, Brittany couldn't contain her excitement. She ran over and hugged Santana as tight as she could. Santana winced at the pain of Brittany putting pressure on her shoulder, but she let her have her moment. "I was so scared San. I saw Puck run in carrying someone and I found out it was you and I didn't know what happened or if you were ok but you're ok now so everything's ok."

"Woah, take a breath Britt." Santana laughed. "Also, maybe you could get off my shoulder?"

Brittany looked down and realized she had been leaning right on Santana's wound. "I'm so sorry!" She stood up quickly.

Santana smiled and shifted over. Brittany settled in beside her and the two sat quietly for a while, hand in hand.

"Britt?" Santana felt Brittany shuffle slightly beside her. "I missed you and... I'm sorry."

"It's ok San."

Santana could hear the smile in the blonde's face. "I really like you Britt but... I can't be with you. Not in that way."

There was a long pause before Brittany replied, "It's ok San."

The answer was the same but it held such a different meaning. The smile she had heard in Brittany's voice was replaced with disappointment, hurt, and sadness. A combination of feelings that Santana thought a girl like Brittany should never feel.

Santana felt her eyes cloud with tears. She could protect Brittany from the painful words that made her feel insignificant and small, but she couldn't protect her from this, because she was the cause.

Neither girl knew what to say, nor if there was anything to say at all. So they sat there, enjoying each other's presence and the presence of the unspoken feelings. They would have sat there together for hours, stuck in their own bubble, if it wasn't for Puck bursting into the room.

"Santana, Brittany!" His eyes were wide and it made both girls quickly come back to reality. "You need to get out here; quick!"

He was back out of the room in a flash, leaving the door open for them to follow. They walked outside where the majority of their community was gathered around. Santana stood on her toes, trying to see above the crowd.

"I don't get it." Brittany said and looked over at Santana.

"What? What's going on?" Santana asked. Brittany had the height advantage so she could see over the crowd with ease.

"There's a new person here." Brittany smiled.

Santana's brow furrowed; there wasn't normally this big of a crowd for a new arrival. She pushed and weaved her way through the bodies, making her way to the front of the crowd. Just as she was about to get a glance of the new person, some guy pushed against her shoulder. She winced at the pain and pushed him back. "Watch where you're shoving, asshole."

"Santana!"

The brunette paused at the sound of the voice. "No way." She turned towards the voice. "Quinn?"