A/N: This is the fourth story of a series of one-shots that go together. You can read them out of order and they'd still make sense, or you can read them all in a row. This series is/will be published separately, so it would be silly to add this to story-alert. Enjoy & thanks for reading!
Special thanks to my beta, Zoie!
Brittany rested her head against her locker, waiting for her girlfriend to retrieve the books she needed for homework that night. She stared longingly at Santana, taking in her every feature. Her gaze halted at her lips. God, those lips. She just couldn't get enough of them. The blonde wished more than anything that she could simply lean over and kiss them right now. But she can't.
Brittany and Santana had been official since the end of freshman year and had spent an amazing summer together, just being with each other. But they were back in school now, and Santana wasn't exactly ready to share their relationship with the world. She knew it was hard for Brittany to keep them a secret, and it was hard for her too. She just didn't want the blonde to get hurt by the wrath of not only McKinley's student body, but the whole town of Lima. Brittany was just so carefree and never failed to see the good in everyone, and the last thing Santana wanted to do was steal her innocence by exposing her to that kind of hate. But she knew Brittany wasn't buying it. Santana slowly felt her defenses faltering every time they discussed the matter, and today was no different.
After glee club and then a long, tiring Cheerios practice, the girls dragged themselves to Santana's new black Mustang in the school parking lot. Santana popped the trunk and they tossed their bags in the back and sank in their respective seats. Brittany was especially exhausted. Being the best dancer and gymnast on the team was used against her sometimes when Coach Sylvester decided to make her the token stunt woman, performing all of the most complicated and elaborate flips and tumbles and pretty much creating the entire routine's choreography. The blonde sighed and closed her eyes, sinking down a little and laying her head on the passenger seat head rest. Santana leaned back in her seat as well, but turning her head lazily to the side, admiring how beautiful her girlfriend is even when they just got out of a rigorous practice. She reached over and softly traced down the blonde's arm, intertwining their fingers together when she reached her hand. Brittany didn't look over, but kept her eyes shut and smiled at the adorable gesture.
They heard a car door slam from a few parking spaces down. Neither made a move to separate themselves because thankfully Santana had dark tint on her windows, making it nearly impossible to see inside unless your face was pressed up against the glass. They both shifted their gazes down the few empty parking spots to the source of the sound; Quinn's trunk. They watched as their blonde friend slid into her own driver's seat, momentarily sitting there with the door open adjusting a few things inside her car. Brittany sat in thought as she continued to watch her friend.
"Can't we just tell Quinn?" she sighed hopefully.
"Britt…We've talked about this," Santana whined.
"Come on San, just her. She's our closest friend, she won't tell anyone."
"You don't know that B."
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No Britt," Santana was growing increasingly irritated.
Brittany just couldn't see why it was so bad to tell people about them. Other couples get to walk around holding hands, so why can't she? It just wasn't fair. She tore her hand from Santana's and crossed her arms, fixing her gaze on nothing in particular out her own window.
"Come on B, don't be like that." But she got no answer.
Santana let out an annoyed sigh as she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. The ride home was awkwardly silent, except for one request from the blonde. "Take me home please."
Usually Santana would protest, but she was too tired to have this argument right now, and she knew Brittany was on edge about the subject anyway. She knew that one day soon, Brittany wasn't going to take no for an answer anymore.
She arrived at the Pierce house and pulled into the driveway. As Brittany reached for the door handle, Santana placed her hand on her other arm, stopping her.
"Please don't be mad. I'm sorry Brittany." Brittany's face looked hurt. Santana hated seeing her girlfriend like that. She just wished she could make it all okay, but she can't. At least not yet.
Without giving Santana an opportunity to speak again, Brittany leaned over and placed a chaste kiss on the brunette's cheek, then quickly hopping out of the car. Santana sighed and looked straight ahead, flinching as Brittany slammed the car door. She was afraid that if she spent any more time studying her girlfriends hurt expression, she would cave. Brittany swiftly retrieved her things from the trunk and disappeared inside her house.
When Santana got home, she grabbed her things from her car, marched through (and slammed) the front door, and stomped up the stairs to her room without even sparing a glance to her mother, who seemed to be cleaning the house. She dropped her things on the floor and threw herself onto her bed, burying her face into her pillow and groaning. Why did this relationship shit have to be so hard? She turned on her side and curled into the fetal position, hugging one of her pillows in the process. As she laid, she daydreamed about how much easier life would be if she was a boy. She pictured her and Brittany walking hand in hand, kissing each other just because, and introducing her to everyone in her life as her girlfriend. It just didn't seem possible. There was no way she'd be able to stand the way people would look at them. And what if someone hated them so much that they acted on it? What would she do if Brittany got hurt? Santana immediately regretted letting that thought cross her mind, so she clenched her eyes shut hoping it would go away.
A soft knock on her door thankfully snapped her out of her haunting thoughts. "Mija?"
"Go away, Mama," she groaned. Her door opened anyway. She heard soft footsteps cross her room and a shift in weight on her bed behind her. A soft hand then appeared on her shoulder.
"Mija, what's wrong?"
"I don't really want to talk about it."
A short paused filled the air before her mother spoke again. "Where's Brittany, sweetie?"
Santana rolled over, realizing her mom had no intention of leaving her alone. She was now facing her mother, who was gazing down at her lovingly. She briefly fluttered her eyes at the feeling of the older woman's hand gently running through her hair, successfully taming her anger. Her mom always knew how to relax her.
"She's at home, probably thinking of ways to avoid me at school tomorrow."
"What happened mija?"
"She just…I…nothing. I…I can't really talk about it, Mama."
"Did you two break up?"
"No. Wait, w-what…did you say?" Santana shot up into a sitting position, not sure if she heard correctly. There was no way.
"You and Brittany are together, aren't you?" her mom replied in the most casual manner.
Oh fuck. How could she know? This was not good. She thought she had been really careful hiding her relationship, and now her mother was confronting her about it. A million thoughts ran through Santana's mind and she couldn't figure out what to say. Now what?
Mrs. Lopez saw the panic quickly forming on her daughter's face. She reached her hand up and placed it underneath Santana's chin, lifting her head to look at her in the eyes. A smile graced over the aged features on the older woman's face.
"It's okay, mija. I know. Your father and I both know. And it's okay." Her tone was soothing, filled with nothing but love and truth.
Santana was finally able to choke out one word. "How?"
Mrs. Lopez chuckled at her daughter's shock. "Oh sweetie, you didn't really think that you two are all that subtle, did you? The way you look at each other, the way you take care of her. You always have. Then a few months ago, both of you abruptly stopped mentioning boys, and we figured you girls had finally figured it out for yourselves."
Santana wasn't sure which of her many emotions did it, but tears washed over her before she had a chance to stop them. She cried in fear, she cried in happiness, she cried in worry, but most of all, she cried in relief. She felt her body quickly being enveloped by her mother's loving embrace. It was such an overwhelming feeling to know that not only does her mother know, but that it's okay. It's okay to be with another girl. It's okay to want happiness for yourself, even if you're different. And it's okay to share that with others.
After several minutes, Santana's tears had ceased. She sat up and wiped her face and around her eyes, trying to clean up the makeup that had undoubtedly blotched beneath them. She sniffled and cleared her throat. "Britt is mad at me because I won't tell anyone about us. I'm just…scared Mama."
"Well, mija, I would be lying to you if I told you it was going to be easy. Honestly, it took your father a while to wrap his head around the idea, but over time he has come to realize that it's just who you are and that he loves you all the same. It's going to take other people a while too. Some people will love you and some people will hate you, but there is nothing you can do about that. The important thing is that you love yourself and you know that you have people here who love you too, no matter what. And Brittany is one of them."
"So, you're saying I should tell people?"
"You do whatever you feel is right. I just know you Santana, and I know it will tear you up inside if you don't. You weren't meant to be caged. You may not think you're strong enough to do it but I know you are."
Santana stared at her hands, which were nervously picking her nails. Her mom was right. Keeping her relationship a secret with Brittany wasn't going to get them anywhere. It was only hurting them more. She sighed, nodding slowly. "Okay. I…I think I can do it," she all but whispered.
Both women lifted their heads as they heard the front door open and shut again. They heard the sounds of shoes being discarded and rustling of papers, most likely the mail. Santana looked at her mother, who was smiling knowingly. "Now's your chance to start, mija."
Santana worried her bottom lip, but nodded nonetheless. Mrs. Lopez stood and walked to the bedroom door and stopped, adding one more thing. "One day, my love, the world will change its mind. One day."
She watched her mom leave and sat for a few moments, taking everything in. Her next test was waiting for her downstairs. Her mom confronted her, yes, but can she say it out loud herself? She took a deep breath and just decided to go for it. No stopping now.
Her father was sitting at the kitchen table opening the mail. She sat down across from him and began fidgeting with a torn envelope. Her dad already knew, so why was she so nervous?
"Daddy, can I, uh, talk to you about something?"
Mr. Lopez looked up from his piece of mail, his daughter's uncharacteristically shy tone piquing his curiosity. He simply nodded.
"It's about Britt and I. We're…we're sort of…together." She slowly stretched the last word out in uncertainty.
She watched as her dad put down the paper in his hand, took off his glasses and leaned back, examining her. Panic started to rise in her again the longer it took for him to respond, so she spoke again. "I'm sorry Daddy, Mama told me you don't really like the idea and I'm really sorry but I can't deny who I am and she makes me happy and-"
He put up his hand to stop her, his expression unreadable. "So you're telling me you're a lesbian then."
Santana nodded. "Yeah I…I guess I am."
He sighed before responding. "Well, there's nothing I can do about that, then. You're right when you said I'm not too fond of the idea, but you're still my daughter and I love you."
That's really all she could ask for from him. Santana smiled and got up from her chair, walking around to her dad and hugged him. "I love you too."
She had to tell Brittany. No, better yet, she had to tell Brittany's parents. In hindsight, she was more worried about her own parents' reaction than Brittany's, considering the Pierces were a bunch of hippies. She loved them nonetheless though, they were family. She let go and turned to leave when her father stopped her.
"Thanks for telling me, Santana."
She nodded. With that, Santana flew out the door and ran right past her car. She decided to run to Brittany's house, since she was on such a high from today's events and her confidence was soaring. Why take your time when you can get it all done in one day, she reasoned.
About ten minutes later and several neighborhoods over, she furiously knocked on the Pierce's door. She put her hands on her knees trying desperately to catch her breath when the door opened, revealing an amused Mr. Pierce looking down at her.
"Well hello there, Santana. Did you run here?" he asked as he looked for her car.
She stood up straight, trying to collect her words, but they just fell out of her mouth. "I'm dating your daughter." Mr. Pierce raised his eyebrows at the random spout of information. "I mean, I am now and I want to but I won't if you don't want me to. So, uh, can I?" She wasn't sure why she felt the need to ask permission, probably because it was formal and she wanted to do this right.
Mr. Pierce couldn't help but to smile at Santana's obviously unrehearsed question. He stepped aside, welcoming her in. As she walked past him, he put his arm around her shoulder and walked her to the living room, where Mrs. Pierce was doing some odd looking puzzle on the coffee table. She looked up and smiled as she saw her husband and Santana walking towards her. "Annabelle, dear, Santana has just appeared on our doorstep with a very interesting question she'd like to ask us." Mr. Pierce was clearly finding humor in this whole thing.
Mrs. Pierce looked at Santana expectantly, but when she didn't speak up quickly enough, Mr. Pierce filled in for her. "She'd like to know if she could get our permission to court our precious daughter."
Mrs. Pierce tried to put on a serious face, but Santana could see her desperately trying not to smile. It was like this was one huge joke to them. Well, at least they weren't angry. Mrs. Pierce patted the couch next to her, signaling for Santana to sit down. Santana did as she was told, with Mr. Pierce proceeding to sit in a large arm chair close by.
"So you want to date our Brittany, do you?" Mrs. Pierce questioned.
Santana was definitely not prepared for this kind of reaction from them: pure amusement. But she gathered herself and continued anyway. "Yes, I do, Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, if you'll allow me to, that is." The Pierces looked at each other, feigning a hard decision.
Out of nowhere, a voice caught their attention. "Mom, Dad, who was at th-" Brittany rounded the corner stepping into the living room when she saw Santana. "San? What are you doing here?"
Santana shot up off of the couch, stepped over to her girlfriend and threw her arms around her. Though Brittany was confused as hell, she didn't hesitate to hug back. When they parted, Santana stared directly into those bright blue eyes she loved so much and smiled. "I'm here for you, B." She looked down, running her hand down Brittany's arm to her hand, intertwining their fingers. She watched as Brittany's expression changed from confused to excited, and back to confused again. The Pierces smiled at each other before Mr. Pierce cleared his throat.
"Brittany, sweetheart, Santana is here to ask us if we'd be alright with her dating you. What do you think, baby girl?" he asked his daughter with a warm smile.
Brittany's eyes went wide as she looked from him to Santana for confirmation. Santana smiled and nodded, blushing in the process. She beamed as she looked back up to her father, nodding frantically. "Yes yes yes, oh please daddy, say yes!"
"Well with excitement like that, how could I say no?" Mr. Pierce laughed a soft, hearty laugh as he motioned Brittany towards him. She grinned at Santana before letting go of her hand and walked over to her father, who pulled her gently onto his lap. "You know, I remember the day Brittany met you, Santana. She skipped off the school bus right into the house and proudly announced to us that she had found her knight in shining armor. She told us how someone from school beat up a mowhawked boy who was picking on her, and that she was going to bring her new friend home after school the next day to meet us. Brittany was beaming when she dragged a little feisty girl with a scowl on her face through that front door the next day, hand in hand." Both Brittany and Santana laughed at this, and he went on. "You had our daughter from day one, Santana. We know you'll take care of her, you always have. I think it would be hard for you two to find someone better than each other."
With watery eyes, Brittany hugged her father tightly. Mrs. Pierce got up and walked over to Santana and pulled her in for a hug as well. Santana was in such shock at Mr. Pierce's speech, she could barely process what was going on. Brittany bounced over to her mother to hug her next. Mr. Pierce stood up out of his chair and walked over to Santana, whose feet were still firmly planted. He smiled at her as she stuck her arm out, preparing for a handshake. In true Pierce fashion, he stepped past her jutted hand and wrapped his arms around her, holding her in the warmest, safest fatherly embrace she'd ever experienced. She closed her eyes. "Thank you," she mumbled against him, and in response he squeezed her tighter for a moment before letting go.
Brittany pranced by them grabbing Santana's hand in the process, effectively dragging her towards the stairs.
"Oh and girls," Mr. Pierce spoke up again, to which they turned around. "I hope you realize this means we'll be implementing an 'open-door' policy from now on." He received a respectful nod from Santana and an eye roll from Brittany before they disappeared upstairs.
When they reached Brittany's room, the blonde jumped up and down squealing, and wrapped her arms around Santana, lifting her and spinning her in circles.
"I can't believe you did that! What made you change your mind?"
Santana laughed as Brittany put her down. "Well my mom confronted me today after our fight. Apparently my parents knew the whole damn time, like even before we did. My mom kinda helped me realize that if I kept you a secret for too long I might lose you, and I would die if I lost you Britt-Britt."
"You could never lose me Sanny. I still can't believe you told my parents!" she clapped. "So…does this mean we can tell…everyone?" the blonde asked hesitantly.
Santana smiled and nodded. "Anything you want."
"Like at school and stuff? Glee club?"
"Yeah B. We can tell everyone."
Brittany leaned in and kissed Santana with so much love and appreciation that Santana thought her heart may fly out of her chest. They stood there for a few moments, moving their lips together feeling every emotion the other had to give. It wasn't until Brittany backed Santana up towards her bed that the brunette broke the kiss. "Uh…Britt." Brittany pushed Santana backwards and began to climb on top of her. "Britt wait." But the blonde ignored her. She attacked Santana's neck, sucking and nipping at her pulse point. "B-Britt, seri-ously, h-hang on a sec." As much as she didn't want to, she moved Brittany to her side. "We can't right now. The door, remember?" she said, gesturing towards the open bedroom door that would soon become her enemy.
Brittany tried to pout, but Santana leaned in and kissed it away. The blonde smiled and laid down on Santana's shoulder, draping her arm over her stomach. The brunette sighed contently as she wrapped one arm around her girlfriend's waist and ran the other one up and down the arm draped over her, tracing small patterns that elicited quiet giggles from Brittany. This girl is what's going to make everything worth it.
The next day was a long one for both of them. They had agreed to not tell anyone until glee rehearsal at the end of the day, because those were their friends and the girls wanted them to be the first to know. Brittany was too excited and fidgety to concentrate (not that she ever concentrated on school anyway), and despite the previous day's events, Santana was nervous as hell. Thankfully though, she seemed to keep herself pretty composed since nobody noticed anything different in her demeanor.
Finally the bell for the last class of the day rang. It was time for glee club. The walk there was a blur, even with Brittany bouncing next to her in excitement. The girls walked in finding most of the group chatting idly amongst themselves. Mike and Tina were making cute faces at each other in the back row, Kurt and Mercedes were having a calm debate about fashion lines, Puck and Lauren were thumb wrestling, and Quinn and Rachel were strangely sitting next to each other and were, what looked a hell of a lot like, flirting. Santana made a disgusted face but shrugged it off as her and Brittany took their seats. She had other things she needed to worry about right now. Finn, Artie, and Sam were the last ones to trickle in, followed by Mr. Schuester.
Immediately at the sight of the club director, Rachel snapped out of her Quinn trance and stood up. "Mr. Schue, I have some suggestions that I think we should go over as we prepare for sectionals this year. I-"
Santana stood up and cut her off. "Can it, Manhands. I've got something to say first." She received an odd glare from Quinn, but again, she shrugged it off. She held out her hand for Brittany, who grinned and eagerly took it. "Actually, we have something to say." They shuffled down the steps and to the center of the room. This is it Lopez; the moment of truth. There's no going back now.
"This may come as news to you all, but Britts and I are together. Like together, together. That's right losers, she's my girlfriend. She has been for a while now. So if anyone has a problem with that, they can take it up with me. And let it be known that if you mess with Britt, I will go all Lima Heights." Santana held her head high as Brittany chuckled and kissed her on the cheek. She scanned the room, looking for any sort of reaction from her fellow students.
Suddenly, she heard a fit of laughter fill the room. Everyone was watching as Quinn threw her head back, actually laughing at Santana.
"What the hell is your problem, Fabray?" she snapped, glaring at the seated blonde.
Quinn calmed herself a little before speaking up. "I think it's hysterical how you actually thought that would be news to us." The rest of the room nodded and chuckled a little in agreement. "I mean, you're terrible at hiding these things Santana. I can hear you guys making out when you two sleep over. Not to mention you can't keep your hands off of each other during practice."
"Or ever," Mercedes added from the back.
"Alright alright, I get it. We weren't exactly subtle," she growled. "But I just wanted to tell everyone that it's not a secret anymore."
Rachel stood up again causing Santana to roll her eyes. "Well I for one think that it's really brave that you told us Santana. You must really care for Brittany, seeing as this probably isn't something you would have done on your own. And I will be the first to say congratulations to the both of you."
"Uh…thanks, I guess. You hear that Quinn? Is there anything you'd like to announce? Like how all of a sudden you have the hots for Berry?"
"I do not!" Quinn quickly defended, earning a gasp and a glare from the tiny brunette.
Mr. Schuester found this an excellent time to jump in, hopefully avoiding any physical violence. "Alright! Well if that's all ladies, I think we should move on to this week's assignment!"
Brittany and Santana made their way back to their seats. Once again, Brittany leaned in and kissed Santana on the cheek. She then whispered something in her ear that made Santana melt. "I'm so proud of you."
Santana couldn't tell you what happened after that in glee that day. She spent the remainder of rehearsal thinking about how happy she felt knowing she and Britt don't have to hide anymore. When she looked at Brittany, she saw her happiness, and possibly a future with her. But for the time being, she was finally able to show her girlfriend off to the world. Santana smiled as she reached over to Brittany, and for the very first time, held her hand in public.