Brittany's fast pace walking down the street enables the passers by to see that she is obviously in a hurry to be somewhere.
She looks at the signs, and the different stores surrounding her and pouts, she had never been very good at directions. She takes another look at her phone screen, the message having not left it since she received it the previous night and raises her eyes to the street once again, letting out a frustrated sigh.
After a further ten minutes of searching, she finally finds the small café, secluded in an alley with no obvious signage. She enters and spots her at once, she'd able to find her anywhere, she does a quick once over and makes sure her outfit hasn't been set out of place from the fast pace walk here and then moves towards her, slipping into the seat across from her effortlessly and drawing her attention from the small child beside her.
"Britt…"
The girl breathes out, holding eye contact for what seems like forever and then allowing a small smile to grace her features.
"How are you?"
Brittany breathes out slowly, and then returns the smile.
"I'm good thanks San-"
Her sentence is interrupted by the young boy, obviously angered at the lack of attention from Santana and pounding his fist on the table.
"Mijo, that is no way to greet a friend"
Santana coos, turning the young boy in her arms and placing a small kiss upon his nose. The young boy relaxes his face instantly and stares up at the woman, bringing his hand to his cheek and running it across her face, receiving a grin from both Brittany and Santana.
"Britt, this is the number one man in my life, Luca. Luca, this is Mami's oldest and most favorite friend"
Brittany's eyes snap up to Santana's; Mami? She hadn't mentioned anything about having a child. A silent conversation happens between them, both girls easily falling back into old habits.
Luca breaks the concentration again, crying out at his mother and fisting his small hands into her shirt.
"Aren't you a cutie"
Brittany says, moving the boy's concentration from his mother.
"He's amazing"
Santana breathes, the nerves painted all over her face disappearing with Brittany's eagerness to talk to her son.
"He's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen"
Brittany returns, refusing to break eye contact.
4 years earlier.
"Baby, I'm home"
Santana called out as she closed the front door to their small apartment, making sure she pulled the door extra hard so it didn't 'accidently' open at an inconvenient time…again.
"I'm in the kitchen beautiful"
Brittany returned, urging Santana to quicken her pace through the apartment.
She waltzed into the kitchen and her breath taken away once again by her girlfriend, clad in an apron, no pants and an old McKinely high t-shirt, cooking what seemed to be a bubbly concoction.
"What's cooking good lookin'?"
Santana giggled as she placed a small kiss on her girlfriends cheek and proceeded to follow it by kissing every inch of her skin from the neck up until she finally reached her lips, placing a firm a long kiss against them.
"mmm"
Brittany sighed.
"I made a cake, and then I felt like cooking dinner, so I began to cook spaghetti and the recipe just got confusing so I'm not really sure, we'll see how it comes out I guess"
Brittany stated as Santana grimaced internally, not allowing the smile to slip from her lips and wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's waist from behind.
"Baby, I'm all for experiments, but promise me if this one ends up toxic we'll just get Chinese? Please?"
Santana whispered, biting the taller girls earlobe softly.
"Ugh, fine San. But don't come crying to me when you're a fat lawyer because you never let me cook for you so you only ever eat take out"
Brittany huffed, turning in her girlfriend's arms and placing a kiss on the corner of her mouth.
"How was school babe?"
She asked into her lips, moving the shorter girl's arms from her waist to her shoulders and returning her own hands to the small of Santana's back.
"It was good, I just can't wait until next year when I finish and I become a lawyer"
Santana groaned, recalling her absurdly long day.
"Well at least you're home now beautiful"
Brittany said, running her hands through the other girl's hair.
Later, when the table had been set, the cooking had become a fiasco due to the girl's inability to keep their hands off each other and the Chinese take out had been delivered; Brittany and Santana sat either side of their small kitchen table, holding hands and picking through their meal.
"I uh, I got a letter from that dance school I told you I wrote to Baby"
Brittany said, raising her eyes to meet Santana's.
"Ah yeah"
Santana said, sipping slowly from her wine glass.
"Which one was that again Britt?"
She asked, recalling Brittany writing to a number of schools looking for a teaching position. The girl was easily employable, having danced with a number of famous musicians on tour and dabbling into choreography frequently.
"Well, I got offered a four year contract to teach contemporary ballet"
Brittany whispered, looking down at her meal.
Santana burst into a grin automatically, jumping from her seat and moving to wrap her girlfriend in a hug.
"Baby! That's fantastic, I'm so proud of you, you're so smart"
She shouted, peppering kisses over Brittany's face.
Brittany pushed her away, her features remain neutral when she replied to Santana.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity San, and when I finish, any school anywhere will want me."
Santana's smile grew larger then, moving herself to kneel in front of the taller girl.
"Baby, how are you not as excited as me right now?"
She asked, her smile fading when she saw tears forming in Brittany's eyes.
"It's the Royal Academy of Dance, Santana"
She whispered, threading her finger's through the other girl's.
"The Royal Academy of Dance in London"
She said, and let the tears fall.
"I'm so sorry Santana, I said yes"
Santana's breath left her.
Santana cleared her throat when the drinks arrived, having been consumed by Brittany's eyes and her memories. A donut is placed in front of her son and he readily reaches for it, already transferring the majority of icing found on it's surface to his clothes and face, coating his cheeks and chin with sprinkles.
"It's been so long Britt"
She says quietly, bringing her coffee to her lips.
"It's nice to see that old habits die hard though"
Brittany says, giggling as she watches the smile on Santana's face after taking a large gulp of the hot drink.
"You've always had trouble functioning without your coffee"
Santana smiled at her sweetly, relishing in the fact she can still make the girl giggle.
"And where did you come from little man?"
Brittany asks, reaching out with her finger to wipe the small amount of icing on Luca's nose off and sending him into a fit of giggles.
"I thought we'd covered that topic Britt"
Santana says, smirking at Brittany with a teasing glint in her eyes.
Returning the smirk confidently Brittany meets her eyes.
"Oh we did San, but I was under the impression that the way you liked it didn't result in miracles"
She says, allowing her voice to get deeper at the end of her sentence.
"Especially miracles with their Mami's eyes, smile and hair"
Santana allows herself to laugh out loud, urging a number of dirty looks from the people sitting around them.
"Luca is my shining light in darkness"
She replies to Brittany.
"He came along when I wasn't in a very good place, it was a uh- he you know, I kind of-"
"It's okay San"
Brittany says, reaching across the table and taking her hand.
"You can tell me another time, I think someone's getting tired too"
She says, smiling sweetly.
Santana nods her head and turns her attention back to her son, who is snuggling into her neck with his eyes growing heavy.
"So uh, how was London?"
Santana asks, shifting nervously in her seat. They had been dancing around the topic for the hour that they had been in the small coffee shop.
Brittany smiles at Santana and Luca, Luca being curled up on his Mother's lap asleep.
"London was good. It was an amazing experience and I met a lot of really nice and great people. I never really good used to being called Miss Pierce though"
She says, making Santana laugh nervously.
"I don't really see you being a Miss Pierce"
She teases, causing Brittany to join her in laughter.
"No, it didn't last very long to be honest. It became Miss P or Miss Brittany very fast, like first class fast"
She responds maintaining eye contact with Santana whilst she shifts anxiously in her chair, juggling her son.
"It's good to see you San, I missed you"
She says quietly, losing her eyes contact with the other woman when she glances down to the floor and clears her throat.
"So, uh what's the plan now? When are you going back?"
Santana asks, not doing very good at hiding the sad tone in her voice.
Brittany lowers her head down to gain the upper hand, forcing Santana to look into her eyes.
"My contract finished actually."
She says, causing Santana's head to snap up.
"I've moved all my things back here and I bought a studio, I'm going to open my own dance school. I was actually going to ask you if-"
"Anyway Brittany, I have to get this little guy home, it's been good catching up, maybe we can do it again"
Santana says and stands up abruptly, gathering all her things. Brittany stands also, her moves graceful and slow, helping Santana move everything into her hand bag.
"Okay San"
She says moving towards her and wrapping her arms around the small Latina's waist, hearing her breath hitch at the sudden contact. She holds the woman and the small child close to her for a moment too long and then releases her.
"Please message me, or call me. I don't want to have to lost you a second time" She says, and kisses her on the cheek, walking to the door of the coffee shop and exiting with a small wave.
"Don't forget to call me"
She shouts, as Santana with Luca resting on her hip raises one hand to her cheek, consciously aware of how her body has tingles all through it.