Author's Note: So this story was partially inspired by one of my favorite Britney songs and partially inspired by too much time spent watching Brittany stare at her computer screen. The song is "I Will Still Love You."
It's five in the morning when she wakes up. Her alarm doesn't go off for another half hour, but she's been waking up this early for the past few weeks, whether she wants to or not.
She's getting ready to go back to sleep, because that extra half hour is always totally worth it, when she sees the flashing light coming from her nightstand. It takes her a second to realize that it's her phone and the light is telling her that she has a message, but as soon as that hits her, there's only one thought in her mind.
Santana.
She almost falls out of bed with how quickly she reaches for her phone. She knows she woke up Lord Tubbington, because he's scowling at her, but she's still mad at him, so she doesn't care. Once she's re-situated on her bed, she unlocks her phone to see two new messages from Santana.
12:37 AM: r u still up?
12:46 AM: (No subject)
Brittany really wishes she were a lighter sleeper so that it would have woken her up. The second message is a media file that seems pretty big. At first she thinks it might be a bunch of new pictures, but Santana usually emails those and it's not like Brittany's gotten tired of the last batch.
The image of Santana comes up on the screen and Brittany's so happy she could almost cry. She's wearing the grey University of Louisville tank top that she got when she visited for freshmen orientation. It's easy to recognize because it came in a sleepwear set and Brittany's wearing the matching bottoms. She's not wearing any make-up or false eyelashes and her hair's pulled into the loose bun she likes to sleep in; she's the most beautiful thing Brittany's ever seen. She's even happier when she sees that it's a video.
"Hey, Britt-Britt." Brittany waves at her phone without even thinking about it. The way Santana kind of half snickers to herself lets her know that she knew Brittany would do that, so it's practically like she saw it. "I know it's really late, so I hope I didn't wake you up or anything. I just wanted to let you know that I got your text about being back on the Cheerios, and I'm so happy for you." She gives her best "enthusiastic" smile, but if falls kind of flat.
"Anyway, Kurt sent me this obnoxiously long email the other day. I mean ridiculously long. Like, a 'someone needs to find him a job or a hobby or at least one friend who isn't four feet tall and loud, because, like, he clearly has way too much time on his hands' kind of long. Sorry, I'm rambling." Santana always rambles when she's tired.
"So, my point was that he mentioned that you guys were gonna be doing some Britney Spears in glee club. I wish I could have seen that, but I know you were awesome. I mean, I really thought I was done forever with Schuester's weekly assignments and all that, and it figures he'd finally assign something cool after I leave. Anyway, I was thinking about you and me, and this one song just seemed to sort of fit, so..." She scrunches her face up and kind of shakes her head a little, like she knows she's about to do something super lame. Brittany makes a mental not to take a screenshot of that the next time she watches this, because she's tried describing that exact face to Santana more times than she can count, but Santana always says she doesn't know what she's talking about.
She keeps looking like she's going to start, but then she keeps stalling. Brittany groans and says "come on" to the recorded image of her girlfriend. Santana waves her hand half defensively and says "okay, okay," because she knows Brittany would say that, so it's practically like she heard it. "It's actually supposed to be a duet and I don't really have any music or anything, but, yeah, here goes nothing." She closes her eyes and starts nodding her head, like she's playing the melody over in her mind. She hums the first few bars before opening her eyes again.
"I promise that you'll be my one, my only everything,
I'll never be untrue.
And I promise back that for your love,
I will do anything.
I would give you the stars,
I would buy you the moon.
And even through the longest of our nights,
And even through the darkest days,
Our love will find a way."
When she gets the chorus, Brittany can hear that she's getting a little choked up. She doesn't remember starting to cry herself, but the moisture on her cheeks kind of gives it away.
"And when the stars are falling, I'll keep calling,
I will still love you
And when your dreams are fading, I'll be waiting,
I will still love you"
For that last line, Santana looks right into the camera, something Brittany knows she hates doing. Santana likes to be able to see herself, so she knows that she's in frame and that it's not a weird angle and that no one behind her is making weird gestures. It kind of hits Brittany in that moment that this is the closest she's been to looking into Santana's eyes in almost two months. Neither of them looks away.
"You are my summer breeze,
My winter sun, my springtime song,
My autumn touch of gold.
You are my sky, my rain,
The earth in which my love grows strong,
The smile in my heart,
And the breath in my soul."
For a second, just a second, it feels like Santana's right there with her instead of two hundred and some miles away. She really hates math.
"Even if we find ourselves apart,
We will hold our hopes and dreams
Forever in our hearts."
This time, the chorus is softer. Santana has her eyes closed now. Brittany almost wants to close her eyes, too, but she doesn't want to miss a second of Santana.
"Time will take us apart, that's true,
But I will always be there for you.
You're in my heart and you'll be in my dreams,
No matter how many miles between.
I promise you that I won't forget
The day we kissed or the day we met.
The sky may fall, and the stars may, too,
But I will still, I will still love you."
She sings the chorus one more time and at this point she's practically just whispering the lyrics. It's probably because she's in her dorm and people are studying and doing college-y things and Santana doesn't want to interrupt them, but Brittany's pretty sure it's also because this song's just for her. After she's done, she takes a couple deep breaths, composing herself. It's probably a good idea, because Brittany's not sure what she'd do if she saw Santana actually crying when she couldn't just reach out and hold her.
"So, anyway, I guess I just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you and I miss you and…and I know this year's gonna be hard, but I know we're gonna get through it. I love you, baby." Brittany doesn't even hesitate before saying "I love you, too," and hugging her pillow close to her as if it were her girlfriend. Santana smiles, more genuinely than before. Brittany knows it's because she knows she did it, so it's practically like she felt it.
That smile's still lingering on her face as she reaches towards the camera and the video ends.