It's Brittany's eighteenth birthday and Santana's freaking out a little. Sure she's been there for all of Brittany's birthdays since she turned five, but she's never been in the role of girlfriend and she's never had to worry about the meaning of her presents. Before, when Santana gave Brittany a bracelet with a heart on it, it was a friendship bracelet, but now if she gave that same present it would be a sign of love. Santana's scared. She hopes she gets the meaning right.
Brittany's mom told her to come over at five for the party. Santana loves that Brittany still has a traditional party every year even though, by society's standards, she's long out grown it. Brittany says it's mostly for her little sister's benefit, but Santana knows that's a lie.
When she gets to Brittany's house she's greeted with balloons and banners on the exterior. One is bought from a store and is pink with "Happy Birthday!" written on it. The other is handmade and says "Happy Birthday Brittany!" drawn on with mutli-coloured crayons. Santana likes that one best.
She knocks on the door and waits to be let in. This house may be her home away from home but she's Brittany's partner now and she respects the rules of the house. There's no more sneaking about and, even though at times it's a pain when Britt's parents say Santana can't stay for the night, she loves being able to be open about their relationship so she doesn't mess with the hierarchy.
The door swings open a few moments later and it's Julie, Brittany's mom, who answers.
"Santana! Brittany will be glad you're here! She's upstairs getting ready, you can go on up if you like."
"Thank you, Mrs P," Santana says politely before Julie steps to the side to let her past. It's Friday night and Santana seen Brittany in school only two hours before but she misses her. It's her birthday, and she should be with her girlfriend for her birthday. All of it.
"Hey Britt!" Santana calls out as she approaches her bedroom. "Britt?"
"Just a minute Santana," Brittany shouts from behind the closed door of her en suite. The door opens a few moments later.
"I'm so glad you're here," Brittany says before Santana wraps her arms around her waist and pulls her in for a kiss.
"Happy birthday baby," she says and she can feel Brittany smile on her lips. She swears it feels like her own birthday, she's that happy. "You look beautiful," she manages to whisper when she finally looks at what Brittany's wearing. A knee length blue sundress, her hair tied up in a messy ponytail and a flower in her hair the same shade as her dress.
As much as Santana would love to spend the whole night like this, just holding and staring at her girlfriend, she knows they have a party to attend so they join everyone else in the kitchen just in time to see Julie starting to light the candles on Brittany's cake. It's covered in pink icing with a ballerina on the top that Santana knows Brittany will keep in her memories box that's under her bed.
Everyone gathers round the table and they sing Happy Birthday before Brittany blows out her candles and her mom is shouting for her to make a wish. Brittany looks at Santana quickly before she closes her eyes and smiles. Santana can't help but wonder what she's wished for, but she knows Brittany won't tell her. She's a firm believer that if you tell someone a wish it won't come true.
By eight o'clock they've played nearly every party game in the book – musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey and pass the parcel, to name a few. Santana almost won pass the parcel but 'accidentally' dropped the present so it landed in Brittany's lap just as the music stopped for the final time. Everyone's exhausted and Santana's getting nervous. She still hasn't given Brittany her birthday present.
After saying their goodbyes and Brittany hugs every member of her family – both immediate and extended – who have showed up for the party, they leave for Santana's house where they're spending the night. Her parents are out of town visiting her aunt in Boston and won't be back until Monday, so she has a free house all weekend.
"Did you have fun?" Brittany asks when they're halfway back to Santana's house.
"You know I did, but tell anyone at school that the highlight of my week was beating your seven-year-old sister at pin the tail on the donkey and I don't think this relationship is going to last much longer," Santana says with a smirk.
"Okay, your secret's safe with me, but just remember – I have blackmail material now so you have to be extra nice," Brittany says playfully.
"Babe, I'm always nice and you know it"
They both look at each other and burst out laughing at the same time.
"Okay, okay! Let me rephrase – I'm always nice to you."
Santana's nerves are hitting boiling point when she pulls into the driveway of her house and the lights are off. She didn't tell Brittany they'd have the house to themselves. She wanted it to be a surprise.
"Where are your parents?"
"Oh right yeah, they're in Boston for the weekend. I have a free house."
"Really?"
"Really."
The smile on Brittany's face as she steps out of the car, along with the look she gives – as if she's stripping her with her eyes alone – is enough to make Santana's heart feel as if it's going to come out of her chest.
She hopes Brittany doesn't think this is stupid. It's the first time they've been a couple on one of their birthdays and Santana just hopes she gets this right. She has a track record of fucking up. She hopes this is the start of her track record of getting things right.
Brittany likes surprises so Santana's walking behind her, hands covering Brittany's eyes, guiding them towards her bedroom. Every few seconds she says things like 'watch the step' or 'okay, nearly there'. When they reach her bedroom door she makes Brittany promise to keep her eyes closed for a few seconds while she turns the light on.
"Okay, you can look now," Santana says.
Brittany opens her eyes and Santana hears her gasp. Santana's room is unrecognisable. The bed has been pushed to the side so there's more floor space. Where the bed used to be there's a fort. It's made out of blankets and sheets of all different colours and has a duvet and some pillows inside. On top of the fort, draped over the sheets, are lots and lots of coloured lights – the same ones that are on a Christmas tree. It's magical.
"Santana, I…"
"I thought we could just spend the night together. It's my first time being your girlfriend on your birthday and I just wanted to make it special. I thought we could just hang out in a fort like we used to when we were kids – no TV or laptops or cell phones – just me and you, talking and laughing and stuff."
"It's perfect. It's the best birthday present ever," says Brittany, still looking around the room trying to take it all in.
"This isn't your present, B," Santana says. "This is just to set the mood."
"Oh – I just thought – So, you still have to give me my present?" Brittany's excited now, like a child on Christmas morning.
"Yeah, B. Get changed first though so we can get in the fort and then I'll give you it," says Santana handing Brittany one of her t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants.
They crawl in together and lie down on the duvet and pillows. It's surprisingly comfortable and Santana congratulates herself on doing something right. They both lie on their back facing the roof, their fingers interlocked at their side. The only light in the room is coming from the coloured lights on the roof. From inside the fort they're duller, but still bright enough to appreciate. They lie like that for a while, in comfortable silence, before Brittany speaks.
"Thank you."
"What for? I haven't even given you your present yet."
"Just… this. I'd forgotten how much I loved doing this, just lying beside you."
Santana runs her thumb over Brittany's knuckles before leaning to the side and pressing a light kiss to her cheek.
"I have to give you your present now," Santana says, getting up. Brittany protests a little but Santana continues. "Trust me." Brittany does, with her life, so she lets Santana go.
Thirty seconds later Santana climbs back in beside Brittany and hands her a neatly wrapped box. It's no bigger than a shoebox, and is wrapped in white paper with red ribbon and bow.
"Open it," Santana says. "But then give it to me."
Brittany is confused but Santana gives her the same look she did a minute ago that said 'trust me', so she doesn't question it.
Brittany tears the ribbon and paper off and lifts the lid off the box. Inside is a book. She's seen it before. Santana's carried it around with her in school sometimes and it's been inside her locker nearly every day for the past week. Brittany lifts it out but doesn't open it. The front and back covers are plain blue. She doesn't know what it is, so she hands it to Santana like she promised.
"I know you used to love stories and we used to sit in a fort like this one when we were kids and read to each other. So I wrote a story for you… to read to you," Santana says, willing her nerves not to get the better of her.
"You wrote me a story?" Brittany says, shocked.
"Yeah, I'm not very good at storytelling but I tried. Can I read it to you?"
Brittany just nods and sits up slightly, looking at her girlfriend with total adoration. Santana opens at the first page, clears her throat and starts reading.
"Once upon a time there was a girl who was locked in a tall tower. She spent all day, every day in that tower on her own and no-one could ever get to her. She wanted to escape but she couldn't. There was no easy way down and she was too scared to climb out her window in case she fell.
"So the girl stayed locked in her tower and continued to look out over the land at the trees and the rivers and lakes and wonder what it would be like to be able to explore them. Then, one day as she was looking out her window, she noticed a princess standing on the ground at the bottom of the tower. She couldn't see the princess properly because she was too far away, but she could tell that she had beautiful blonde hair and was the prettiest girl she'd ever seen. None of the princes compared to her.
"The princess had heard about the girl's struggle to escape the tower and she wanted to help her. The princess started to shout at the girl. She tried to offer her advice on how to escape, but the girl couldn't hear her properly because the tower was so tall. The princess tried to climb the tower but she could never reach the top. Still, the princess stayed there. She waited at the bottom of the tower because she knew that the girl would manage to get out one day.
"Somewhere along the way the girl in the tower began to fall in love with the princess. That's when the tower seemed to get even bigger. She'd considered jumping out of the tower so she could see the princess in person, but she was still too scared of falling. Even if the princess would be there to catch her, the girl was still too scared.
"Then, one day a dragon came through the woods. His eyes were full of evil and he noticed the girl in the tower. He noticed how much the girl loved the princess and he thought she was a coward for not jumping out of the tower. So he decided to give her a helping hand. The dragon began to blow fire at the bottom of the tower and set it ablaze.
"The girl could see the flames moving up the tower slowly and she knew they were going to reach her eventually. She started to panic and she knew that the only way to live would be to jump. She was going to have to jump – the one thing she'd never been brave enough to do. She stood at the ledge of the window and willed herself to let her body fall, but she couldn't do it.
"The dragon watched as she stood on the edge, wanting to jump but being unable to do it. He decided to give her no choice. The bottom of the tower had begun to crumble so he swiped it strongly with his tail and made the tower fall to the ground. The girl began screaming and crying. She was falling and she couldn't see the princess anymore. She was more scared of the princess not being there to save her than she was of dying.
"She closed her eyes and waited for the moment where her life ended; when she hit the ground, but it never came. Instead, she landed on something soft. When she opened her eyes she saw that she was in the princess' arms, and they held her protectively so the dragon couldn't hurt her again.
"When the girl saw the princess up close for the first time she couldn't believe how beautiful she was. No amount of looking from the top of the tower compared to even being able to look at her for one second on the ground. She looked around at everything else too. Everything was new and everything was scary. She was familiar with her surroundings, she'd looked at them every day from the tower, but now that she was free to explore them it felt amazing. Amazing and scary.
"But the girl was weak. She'd been stuck in her tower for so long and she'd almost been burned by the dragon, so she was weak. The princess took her in and kept her safe and nursed her back to health. When the girl was better, the princess kissed her and in that moment the girl knew that she should have jumped out of the tower long ago."
Santana stopped reading and closed the book. Brittany just looked at her in amazement. She understood everything perfectly. How Santana was the girl, how she was the princess, how the tower was Santana's fear of coming out, how the dragon had been Finn. She understood it all perfectly and she swears that no-one on earth could have ever had an accurate definition of love until they existed in that moment. She took the book out of Santana's hands and ran her fingers over the handwritten words on the first few pages. The majority of the book was blank.
"How does the story end?" Brittany asks, wondering.
"I don't know, but I can't wait to write it with you."
A/N: This is going to be a three part fic :)