Chapter 1: Old School

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or anything else from Glee. Non-Glee characters are mine.

Fighting Brittany

I.

The first time I fought Brittany, it lasted about four and a half seconds until she dropped me with a spinning kick to the head. She was pronounced the winner, and I shook her hand.

"Thank you. For letting me fight you," I said with a crinkle at the corner of my eye.

"Um. Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes I am," said I.

As we were the only two adult females in our division, we walked together to the award table.

"Shouldn't you be doing, like, Yoga or Tai Chi instead?" she said.

"Ya, that's what my doctor suggested, too," I said. "But they don't have impact. I like impact."

"Yeah, me too. Summers I do motocross. Well, I did until I totaled my bike." She paused for a moment. "Are you really okay?"

"Yeah. The teammate I train with most hasn't dropped me yet, but she gets me in the head all the time. I'll learn to get out of the way eventually. My girlfriend totally doesn't get it, but she's really supportive of my nutty habit. Our kids, too. Let's face it, I'm less likely to yell at them if I've been kicking a bag."

We were given our medals at the award table, then we walked off the fighting floor together. My girlfriend met me at the door and helped get out of my sparring gear. I introduced her.

"I'm Brittany, pleased to meet you," said Brittany.

"Did you see her awesome head shot?" I asked.

"I heard about it. I couldn't watch," said my girl. We laughed.

"Wait," said Brittany to me, "You guys have gray hairs, like how old are you?"

"Fifty. You?"

"Um. Seventeen."

"Your coach sent you to fight adults?" I was horrified. What if I'd been beating up on a minor? Jeez. Oh, yeah. She'd dropped me in less than five seconds and the referee called it.

"Yeah, I came to fight." She shrugged. "I used to do kickboxing, but my coach moved, so I decided to try taekwondo."

"I came to fight, too."

An attractive dark-haired girl strode up.

"Britts, you were amazing. She didn't stand a chance. In fact, she barely had a chance to stand up, did she?"

"Um, Santana? This is her."

"Oh. Hi there. Ooh, you're like, older than my mom."

"Yeah, Sweetie. Kicking myself younger, though." I grinned.

"This is Santana."

I introduced myself and my sweetheart.

My girl smiled and said, "I'll catch up with you when you're ready. The baby's about to fight." She headed back to the stands.

"The baby?" asked Brittany. "You sent your baby in to fight?"

"He's in first grade. He took second at Nationals last year."

"How long have you two been together?"

"Twenty-six years," I said, "I've been with her longer than I've been without her."

She exchanged looks with Santana. I smiled. "You?" I said.

"Oh," she said, "We're not dating."

As they walked off together, pinkies linked, I overheard Santana saying, "Talk about Old School. Serious!"

"Serious," said Brittany, "But kinda old cool."