A/N: This fic is a fill that I'm in the process of writting for a prompt over at the glee angst meme.

How Easily

How Easily I Bruise, How Easily You Assume

They teach you not to lie but they don't teach you that telling the truth isn't always enough.

It's funny really, how easily things can get out of control.

xxxxxx

Santana is the first to ask. The bruise is on Brittany's right wrist and it's a shade of blue that contrasts sharply with her pale skin. They're standing in front of their lockers and she notices it as Brittany reaches up to close her locker door.

"Britt," she asks, "What did you do to your wrist?"

Brittany just looks at her clearly confused, "What?"

Santana takes Brittany's hand and gently taps on the bruise on her wrist. "Where did this bruise come from?"

Brittany looks down at the hand that Santana is holding, titling her head to the side, she scrunches up her brow in concentration. After a minute she finally shrugs, "I don't know."

Santana watches Brittany carefully, the bruise is rather large and it seems unlikely that she wouldn't know where it came from but, this is Brittany, and it seems more unlikely that she would lie to her about it. "Does it hurt?"

Brittany shrugs again, "no, not really."

"You're sure you don't know where you got it?" Santana asks again quietly, something about the bruise still bothering her despite her belief that Brittany wouldn't lie to her.

"Ya S, I'm sure," Brittany responds slowly, unsure of why the other girl is still asking her questions. She pulls her hand out of Santana's grasp and smiling, albeit somewhat uncertainly, she offers her her pinkie instead.

Santana can't help but smile back at Brittany, those damn eyes get her every time. She takes the offered pinkie and she lets the subject drop.

xxxxxx

Quinn is the second to ask. The bruise is just below Brittany's left elbow and it's so dark that for a second Quinn thinks that Brittany has drawn on herself with a sharpie again. They have a competition on Saturday and Coach Sylvester is going to be so mad if that doesn't come off. Quinn groans to herself thinking of the lecture she's going to get since apparently being head cheerleader also means it's her job to keep track of Brittany, even if Santana's way better at that than she is. It isn't until she reaches for

Brittany's arm with the vain hope that she might be able to wash it off that she realizes that it's actually a bruise, a rather nasty looking bruise.

"Oh Brittany," Quinn says quietly, almost apologetically, when the blonde looks up suddenly at the contact. "What happened to your arm?"

Brittany pulls her arm away from Quinn and bends it so that she can look at the bruise. She stares at it almost fascinated until Quinn questions again. "Brittany?"

Brittany's eyes meet Quinn's then and she looks uncertain. "Oh umm…I don't really know?"

Quinn watches Brittany, she's a dancer and perhaps the most graceful person that Quinn knows and so she's not exactly prone to random bruising. "You don't know where you got the bruise?" She finally asks sceptically.

Brittany nods her head. "I guess I can't remember."

Quinn sighs. Perhaps Brittany not remembering isn't so hard to believe. She lets it go.

xxxxxx

Artie asks next. Brittany's sitting cross legged on her bed and the way the hemline of her Cheerio's skirt has raised has revealed a purple bruise on her right thigh.

"Geez Brittany, that looks like it hurts. What happened?" He asks her reaching out and gently touching the bruise.

Brittany thinks a minute before deciding. "I don't know…practice maybe?"

"You didn't have practice today Brittany," Artie reminds her patiently, "and you didn't have that bruise yesterday so it's not from cheerleading. Where'd you get it?" The last question comes out a little more forceful than he intended.

Brittany just stares at him. She doesn't understand why everyone keeps bothering her about the bruises. She's trying her best to remember where they came from, honestly. "I can't remember," she finally tells him, since that seemed to work with both Santana and Quinn.

He looks at her unsure, he doesn't really want to let it drop but she looks something akin to hopeful and so he sighs. "Okay."

xxxxxx

Kurt is the first to ask and not let it go as easily. He happens across Brittany in the choir room, she's alone and twirling in seemingly aimless circles. He watches her a minute before he clears his throat.

"Kurt," she giggles as she wobbles slightly, dizzy from spinning.

"What are you doing Brittany?" He smiles at her, her grin infectious.

"Twirling," she informs him as if that should have been obvious.

He shakes his head ever so slightly, still smiling though. He should have known to be more specific. "Why?"

She's still looking at him like he should already know the answer, "because it's fun."

"Oh," he answers not really sure what else to say.

"Fun," she repeats, twirling slowly once more for emphasis.

It's as she twirls that he notices it, a yellowing bruise that disappears under her Cheerio's uniform towards her left shoulder blade. "Where'd you get the bruise on your back from?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me where I got a bruise from?" She replies, completing ignoring his question, though that seems unintentional to him, since her voice is reflecting nothing more than curiosity.

Kurt's lips purse at her statement. It bothers him that multiple people must have noticed bruises on her. "I don't know. You don't usually have bruises, I guess. Where'd you get it?" He repeats his original question.

"I don't remember," she says quickly, repeating the line that has worked thus far in making people stop asking questions. Answering questions she doesn't actually know the answers to is frustrating, it feels too much like school, and she'd really like it to stop.

Perhaps he's more suspicious because the only bruises he ever gets are from being pushed into lockers. Regardless of the reason, he doesn't let it drop and instead he asks. "Did someone hurt you?"

"Someone?" Brittany is clearly confused now. "Why would someone hurt me?"

Kurt sighs. "I don't know." It's true, he has no clue who would hurt her or why. "But if someone is hurting you, you don't have to lie about it, okay?"

"I don't lie. Lying is wrong." She says it in her standard monotone but she's frowning at him now.

He hates seeing her upset. Brittany frowning is far too unnatural, so he sighs. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry." When the frown doesn't disappear he tries again. "Want to show me how fun twirling is?"

That request gets a grin out of her and he grins back, letting the subject of where she's getting bruises from drop for the time being.

xxxxxx

Sam is the first ask without actually asking Brittany directly. He's in History with Santana, which comes right after the English class he shares with Brittany, when he decides to talk to her about it. He probably should have just asked Brittany directly, especially because, though they sit beside each other every day, Santana has a tendency to ignore him, but they'd had a test that day in English and he hadn't had the chance.

"So…uhh," he starts, ignoring the eyebrow that Santana raises at him, "I noticed that Brittany has a lot of bruises on her arms. Like a lot."

Santana just narrows her eyes at him, obviously waiting for him to continue.

"Is she uhh…" the stare intensifies and Sam shrinks back in his seat a bit, "is she okay?"

"What do you mean?" Santana asks quickly.

"Where are the bruises coming from?" He settles for asking instead of directly answering her questions because he's not exactly sure what he means, he's just concerned.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me?" Santana responds quickly again.

Sam sighs, he probably would have been better off just waiting to talk to Brittany. "You're just her best friend or whatever, I thought you'd know. I was just worried."

Santana's expression softens a bit before she speaks again. "She has new bruises again?" The worry slips out in her voice, even though she tries to conceal it.

Sam shrugs, "I guess, she didn't have most of them yesterday and she has them today…so, yes, they're new."

"Did she say anything?" Santana's staring at him intently again.

Sam shakes his head quickly, "no," he pauses a minute before deciding that he should tell her what he's thinking. "You don't think someone's hitting her do you?"

At first he can't read the expression that flashes across her face but it quickly settles into something recognizable, though, he's never seen anyone look quite as angry as she does in that moment. For a second he thinks that maybe she's going to attack him, instead, she tells him, "thanks for worrying about her," through gritted teeth and turns to the front, raising her hand.

"I'm not feeling well. Can I go to the nurse?" Santana asks the teacher, though she doesn't wait for him to confirm that she can leave before she's already standing with all of her stuff gathered.

Sam watches as she leaves hastily, letting the classroom door slam behind her. She's obviously just had a revelation, though he's not really sure what that revelation is. He can't help but think that he should maybe follow her because he doesn't really know her well enough to be a hundred percent sure that she's not about to commit homicide and, well, that would probably be bad, really bad. He sighs before raising his hand and asking to be excused too.

It would seem that the time to let the subject drop has passed.

xxxxxx

Sam can't find Santana. He checks everywhere, well except for the places he can't check like the girl's washroom and the teacher's lounge, but he checks almost everywhere. He finally gives up when the bell rings signalling the end of the period and also the end of the day. They have a glee club meeting this afternoon and so he decides to just head in that direction, maybe she'll turn up there.

As it turns out, she's already there. She's the only one in the room and she's sitting with her arms crossed, staring intently at the door. Frankly, he's more scared now then he was when she stormed out of class.

"Err…" he's not sure what to say and, when her glares intensifies, any attempt that he was about to make at conversation dies in his throat, leaving him just standing there awkwardly.

Mike and Tina enter the room shortly after that. "Uhh…what's going on?" Tina asks.

Santana doesn't even look away from the door and Sam just shrugs.

The awkwardness continues as Rachel, Mercedes and Kurt enter the room and try to strike up a conversation. Santana just continues to ignore them all, her focus still solely on the door.

Artie's the next to show up and he hasn't even made it the whole way through the door when Santana's already standing and bounding towards him. She puts her arms on his chair, halting his entry into the room, and leans her face in so that it's inches from his. "Did you think no one was going to notice what you're doing to her?"

The words come out even and barely above a whisper, yet the look on her face terrifies Artie. He tries to roll himself away from her but she just strengthens the hold she has on his wheelchair, for how small she is, she's surprisingly strong. "What exactly are you talking about?" He asks when he realizes that he's stuck.

"You're too smart to play dumb Artie, don't even." Santana's voice is still low, though some of her anger is beginning to slip out. "Did you think I was just going to let you hurt her?"

"Honestly, I have no clue what you're talking about," Artie puts his hands up as if this might help prove that he's telling the truth and also to try and get her to back out of his personal space a bit.

Santana seems unmoved by this action and she takes a menacing step forward pushing his chair backwards in the process.

"Santana, what are you doing? Maybe you want to let Artie go?" Rachel interrupts.

Santana turns and glares at the other girl. "Shut it man hands. This is between me and cripple mc-douchebag here."

"And what exactly is this?" Kurt asks, concerned about the direction that whatever is going on his headed.

"This is me knocking his teeth in and then rolling him down a flight of stairs," Santana responds deadly serious and Artie gulps.

Puck and Finn come into the room at that exact moment. Sam is already heading towards Santana with the clear intent of pulling her away from Artie before she can do any real damage but Puck gets to her first. It actually ends up taking both of them to pull her back though.

"Whoa there tiger," Puck chuckles a bit, not sure what he's walked in on.

"Let me go Puckerman," Santana growls, struggling against the grasp that he and Sam have on her arms. "I'm going to kill him."

"Umm…why?" Finn asks scratching his head wondering if he is the only one who has no clue what is going on.

"Violence is never the answer Santana," Rachel pipes up when the other girl seems to ignore Finn's question.

"Tell that to him," Santana snaps, glaring at Artie. "He's the one with a violence problem. He doesn't get to hit Brittany and get away with it. Sorry, no dice."

Now everyone turns to Artie, whose eyes have gone wide. "I would never hit her. Why would you say that?" He says quickly and he feels like it's come out more defensive than he intended it to because now everyone is looking at him accusatorily.

Sam is the first to speak, now that Santana's said it he realizes that it makes a lot of sense. He'd thought maybe one of the school bullies was picking on Brittany but this alternative seems a lot more logical. "Man, she's covered in bruises and you are her boyfriend so you better start explaining. Hitting girls isn't cool."

"I don't hit girls!" Artie protests again, the volume of his voice rising. "I don't hit anyone!"

"Then where are the bruises coming from?" Kurt asks him sceptically. He's always liked Artie but he has to admit that he's not convinced that he isn't guilty. Brittany has been so evasive about where the bruises are coming from that it seems like a strong possibility that someone is hurting her.

"I don't know," Artie sighs. "I keep asking her but she won't say." To be honest, the thought that someone has been hurting her has crossed his mind too. He looks away from Kurt and over at Santana. "How do we know you're not the one hitting her? You spend more time with her than I do and it's pretty obvious you're the one with anger management issues."

Now everyone is looking at Santana, some of their gazes definitely veering towards accusatory. Santana struggles against Puck and Sam again, wanting to lunge at Artie, how dare he accuse her of something like that? "Quit trying to deflect Artie, I would never hurt Brittany and you know it."

"Do I?" Artie responds, the more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense that Santana is the one hurting Brittany, why else wouldn't Brittany just say?

"You do seem to have a violent predisposition," Rachel speaks up. "And we all know that Brittany can be, well…challenging to be around sometimes."

Santana tries to lunge for Rachel then but Sam and Puck still have a firm grasp on her. "Watch it Berry. You talk like that about her again and I'll be knocking your teeth in."

Rachel yelps a bit, moving to stand closer to Finn in case Santana does manage to break free.

"You're not really helping yourself here Santana." Puck whispers to her, he feels the need to protect her. He knows that Santana would never hurt Brittany but he also knows how she's coming across right now. Of course, if it isn't Santana than she's probably right and it's Artie hurting Brittany. Puck is pretty sure he's going to kill that boy himself when there aren't so many witnesses but for now he'll focus on making sure Santana doesn't kill him.

Quinn and Brittany enter then and the tension in the room is palpable. Quinn is the one to break the silence. "What exactly is going on in here? We could hear you shouting down the hall."

Brittany shifts nervously when she realizes that everyone is staring at her. She looks back and forth between the various glee club members trying to figure out what is going on.

Artie moves, starting to roll closer to her but he stops when out of the corner of his eye he sees Sam drop Santana's arm and start to step towards him. It bothers him that Sam actually thinks he would hurt Brittany at all, let alone in a group full of people, but he tries not to think about that, instead focusing on Brittany. He notices that her arms are covered in a bunch of fresh bruises and it makes his stomach clench, with a pointed glare in Santana's direction he speaks. "Brittany if someone is hitting you, you can tell us. No matter what they told you, it's not okay."

Brittany gives him a strange look, she's really confused. "No one is hitting me."

Santana watches Brittany as she shifts, she looks really nervous and it makes her heart hurt. "Brittany if Artie's hitting you, you can tell me. I'll protect you, I promise." She hadn't wanted to ask in front of Artie, figuring it would be harder for Brittany to answer with him here, but Artie wasn't really giving her many options and she wasn't one to beat around the bush.

"Artie isn't hitting me," Brittany responds quickly, even more confused now.

"So than it's Santana who's hitting you?" Finn asks, thinking he's got it figured out. If it's not Artie, than it has to be Santana right?

Brittany shakes her head and shifts again. She really doesn't understand what is going on. "Santana isn't hitting me."

"So then who's hitting you?" Sam asks, looking over at her quickly, though he's still keeping his eye on Artie. He's pretty sure it isn't Santana but he's still not convinced it isn't Artie.

Brittany's forehead scrunches up in confusion. "No one is hitting me?" Hadn't she already said that?

"Brittany," Kurt said gently. "I now it might be hard, especially since they're in the room right now," he looks back and forth between Artie and Santana not really knowing who to suspect more, "but you have to tell us so that we can make it stop okay."

"Make what stop?" Brittany is getting more and more confused. Why is everyone still looking at her like that?

"Hitting Britt," Kurt clarifies, still speaking softly. "If you tell us who's hitting you, we can make them stop."

"But no one's hitting me." Brittany answers him. Maybe she hadn't been speaking out loud before when she'd said that?

"You don't have to lie," Quinn tells her, taking her hand in her own. She's obviously missed most of the conversation but it seems clear by the way that everyone keeps looking back and forth between Artie, Santana and Brittany that they suspect that one of those two is hitting the blonde. It makes her angry to think that someone has been hurting Brittany but it would be a logical explanation for the bruises. Of course, if someone has been hitting her it's most likely not Santana, so Quinn can't help but glare at Artie.

"I'm not lying." Brittany answers, pulling her hand away from Quinn. The usual monotone in her voice is slowly dissipating, as frustration starts to seep through in her answers. "I know you're not supposed to lie ever, mom told me that. I don't lie." Why won't they just believe her, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to her. She's telling the truth, just like she's supposed to, why isn't it working?

Santana feels bad watching Brittany struggle, she glares at Artie once more for good measure before telling Puck to let her go. When he does she quickly steps towards Brittany, ignoring everyone else. "You're sure?"

"Yes," Brittany says, starting to chew on her lip. If even Santana won't listen to her than she has no clue what she's supposed to do.

"Okay," Santana says, she can't handle watching Brittany look so upset. "I believe you." It's not exactly true, she's still suspicious of Artie, but it will have to do for now. She takes Brittany's hand and is glad when Brittany doesn't pull away like she did with Quinn. She offers the other girl a small smile and is glad when it's returned.

Mr. Schue comes into the room then, oblivious to what has just happened and tries to get started on the meeting. He ends up letting then go early when it becomes clear that not one of them is concentrating on singing.

xxxxxx

In the subsequent days the tension in the glee club is at an all-time high, which is sort of unimaginable considering the past causes of tension. No one comes right out and specifically says anything about abuse to Brittany, Santana or Artie again but the not so subtle looks and frequent hushed whispering makes it clear that no one has actually dropped the subject.

Knowing that people suspect you of hitting someone you love is hard on both Santana and Artie and it doesn't go unnoticed by either of them that the glee club seems to be going to great lengths to make sure that neither of them is left alone with Brittany. However, Santana and Artie are also expending a great deal of energy being suspicious of each other, which, oddly enough, keeps them mostly distracted from the accusations of their peers.

Brittany on the other hand does not have the luxury of a distraction and, unfortunately, even she cannot remain oblivious to the way that everyone is always looking at her. What's worse is that without anyone expressly saying what they are thinking she spends most of her time extremely confused about what is going on. She thinks that maybe she's done something wrong but, no matter how hard she tries, she can't figure out exactly what it is or how to fix. She does wonder if maybe they're angry that she doesn't know where the bruises are coming from because people do seem to ask her that a lot. The thing is though that even if that is the problem she doesn't know how to fix it because she can't actually figure out where the bruises are coming from.

All in all, it really doesn't seem like things could be any worse. Of course, then everything gets worse.