Ryan was only a half hour's drive from the snowy mountain town which was to be his home for the next three months. He drummed his cold fingers upon the steering wheel and thought longingly of his destination. He had rented a beautiful, isolated log cabin; no neighbours, no phone, no wireless, no distractions. In his briefcase were the outlines for the sixth season of Glee. He had disappointed almost everyone with the previous 2 seasons, even, although he wouldn't admit it out loud, himself. The three months of isolation were to serve as a writing retreat, he would work solely on the final thirteen episodes and make it up to all of the fans. Well, everyone except those damned Brittana fans, he had something extra special planned for them. For everyone else however, he would make things right. He hummed along to the Journey track on his endless Journey playlist and ran through some dialogue in his head, he really could not wait to get started. The sun was low on the horizon, reflecting off the bright snow, shining into his eyes. He had been driving for some time, his concentration was waning and his driving had become erratic. His heart leapt to his throat as he hit the ice slick and started to drift. Panicking, he stomped hard on the brake pedal and the car spun fast off the road. Ryan closed his eyes and held on tight to the wheel as the car flipped down the hill, his possessions flying all around him. With a great thud and a groan of settling metal the car came to a halt. He looked around, snow gleamed at every window, he was lodged in a huge drift. Slumped awkwardly on his back, his shoulder wedged between the steering wheel and the cold doorframe, he became vaguely aware of a warm liquid running down the side of his face and then blacked out.
Next thing Ryan knew he was waking up on an unfamiliar couch in an equally unfamiliar cabin. He blinked his vision into focus and peered around the room. On the far wall a fire crackled in the grate between two mismatched armchairs, one of which, Ryan saw, had his clothes folded up neatly on its seat. A patchwork quilt covered him up to his shoulders; underneath the weight of it, he could feel his legs aching dully. On the nightstand beside him stood a tumbler of water, condensation rolled tantalisingly down the sides of the glass. As Ryan tried to sit up, pain bloomed behind his eyes. Taken by surprise, he hissed and swore through clenched teeth. Immediately, he heard footsteps; quick, light taps coming from behind the wooden door at the foot of the couch.
A girl stood in the doorway, she wore faded jeans and a tshirt, and bounced ever so slightly on the balls of her feet. "Mr Murphy, you're awake, thank goodness" she said as she strode forward to help him sit up. As she adjusted the pillows behind him, Ryan stared at the leg warmers that adorned her arms. He could not explain why, but the misplaced accessory filled him with a thick sense of dread. "I was worried you would never wake up! I tried to get you to a hospital after I dug you out of that snow drift but the roads were just too bad. Lucky you landed in my backyard, hey?"
"Yes," Ryan looked into the girl's beaming face as his brain stumbled over her words- he had been in an accident? Last thing he remembered was listening to Journey in his car. "um, thank you, Miss… I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"
"Miss Santana. But you can call me Brittany."
"Britt-" Ryan glanced at the leg warmers and alarm bells rang in a distant part of his brain "your name is Brittany Santana?"
"Mmm hmm, I had it legally changed two years ago"
Ryan willed his brain into gear and reassessed his surroundings. Looking closer at the homemade quilt he saw it was devoted to two of his Glee characters: Brittany and Santana. Their pictures were lovingly rendered in fabric, amongst a hundred quotes hand-stitched with obsessive precision. Her tshirt was emblazoned with the words 'Proudly So'. Ryan broke out in a cold sweat.
"Well, isn't that great!" he said with forced enthusiasm "say, you didn't happen to fetch my briefcase from the car did you?"
"Oh, absolutely, Mr Murphy. I went back after I had got you set up on the couch. There were papers all over the back seat, I guess it had popped open in the accident." Ryan's eyes widened, had she seen what was in store for her favourite couple? "Don't worry, nothing was ruined, that's why I went back. It all looked pretty important and I didn't want to chance any of it getting wet, what with the car being buried in snow and all."
"Did you read-"
"Oh, heavens, no! I wouldn't dream of going through your personal things! Not without your permission, of course…" she looked hopefully at Ryan and a brief, awkward pause hung between them "…so, I just gathered it all up and brought it in the house, ready for when you woke up." She pointed to the where the case was wedged between the couch and the coffee table.
Ryan breathed out a sigh of relief "that was very thoughtful of you Brittany, thank you." He chuckled and settled back on his pillows.
"Of course, it would be a nice gesture of thanks to let me read it, considering you pretty much owe me your life."
Ryan sat bolt upright 'What a terrifying way of wording it,' he thought nervously and without thinking, his mouth formed the word 'no'.
"No?" Brittany pursed her lips and folded her arms over her chest.
"I mean, I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."
"Yes, well," Brittany Santana adjusted the bedspread and avoided his gaze "you must be famished. I had better make you something to eat." And with that, she spun on her heel and tapped her way out of the room.
Ryan sank back once again into the wall of pillows at his back. He reached one arm out from under the Brittana quilt and rested a hand on his briefcase. The cold metal of the combination lock had never felt so comforting. 'Thank goodness' he thought with a smirk 'thank goodness this deranged fan hasn't seen what I have in store for those damn cheerleaders!'
…
After eating the tuna fish sandwich that Brittany Santana had made for him, Ryan fell into a light, dreamless sleep. He awoke an hour or so later to find Brittany standing over him, clutching his season six notes to her chest. Her eyes were blazing with fury, her body tensed like a coiled spring.
"This is not how it ends."
"You opened my case?" Ryan peered over the side of the couch at the unopened briefcase.
"THIS," she thrust the notebook in his face pointing a trembling finger at the offending page "IS. NOT. HOW. IT. ENDS!" she punctuated her sentence with hard jabs to the paper "BRITTANA. IS. ENDGAME!" her face had turned red and spittle dotted the left side of her mouth. Ryan thought she looked like a wild animal.
Ryan, actively trying not to meet her gaze looked through the open door into the kitchen. There he saw a dartboard with a large, extensively punctured picture of Chord tacked to it. He swallowed hard and finally met eyes with the girl. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Brittany straightened up and said, very calmly- "Rewrite it."