Rating: PG
Pairings: Brittany/Santana
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, this is purely a work of fiction based off of these characters.
Summary: A thunderstorm hits New York and Brittany is scared out of her mind but she doesn't want to wake up Santana with her childish fears. How will she cope and will Santana wake up to be there for her? Future Brittana. ONE-SHOT
Author's Note: This idea came to me during the week because where I am, we've been getting a lot of thunderstorms because it's been so hot lately. So I thought it would be cool to write a Brittana fic about thunderstorms. It's a future fic.
For those of you waiting for chapters for either Coming Back to You or Accepting Love, I am currently working on a chapter for Coming Back to You. Hopefully that doesn't take much time so that I can get onto Accepting Love. I write chapters back and forth so that everyone is happy.
I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine.
Italics are thought.
I hope you enjoy.
Watching the Lightning
It's been seven years since Santana graduated high school and six since Brittany did and now they were living their lives together in New York City. After Santana spent some time in Louisville as a cheerleader eventually she moved to New York to live her real dream. New York was significantly farther from Lima then Louisville but both Brittany and Santana were willing to make it work until Brittany had graduated. Once she had, her and Santana got an apartment together. They had been living happily ever since that moment.
For the last couple of days it had been screaming hot outside to the point that they almost wanted to walk around outside naked but that would be cause for getting arrested. Usually with heat came thunderstorms but lately they had somehow missed them all. It'd been hot but there hadn't been any cracks of thunder at night until this very night.
It was about ten to midnight when a loud crack of thunder crashed above them. In an instant Brittany shot up in bed her eyes wide open. She looked around for the source of noise that had startled her awake but to no avail, she couldn't find it. With that she laid back down in bed and closed her eyes. Just as her eyes shut, thunder echoed outside which startled Brittany back awake and back upright. This time however her breathing was erratic and her eyes were darting all over the room. It was as though she had woken from a bad dream.
She looked over at the window as she saw a flash and seconds after a crash of thunder followed. She flinched at the sound.
Brittany was never a fan of thunder, ever since she was a child. She would often go into her parent's bedroom and curl up in between her parents. Even then though, she never fell asleep. Her parents would be fast asleep but she would be shivering and lay awake with wide eyes. She'd see the flash, then scrunch up her entire body waiting for the crash and went it came she'd shake uncontrollably for a moment. It was a cycle and it would go on and on until her mother would wrap her in her arms but even then, she stayed awake.
Being in this moment, at 25 years old, she looked over to the sleeping beauty next to her. Somehow Santana was like her parents and was able to sleep through a storm like this. Brittany wanted to just shake Santana awake and get her to tell her everything would be okay but she didn't want to wake her up for such childish reasons. It was a storm, she should be over it by 25 yet she wasn't. They still freaked her out immensely.
Maybe if I snuggle with Santana, maybe that will get me to sleep, Brittany pondered in her mind as another crash echoed above them. The storm was definitely right above them. She looked at Santana who was facing away from Brittany lying on her side. I could just wrap my arms around her and fall asleep, she thought seeming a little excited that she might have found a cure. Another crash occurred and she was pulled from her thoughts.
She lied back down on the bed and slid as close as she possibly could to Santana and wrapped her right arm over Santana's middle. It was like Santana was so used to this that even in her sleep, she moved back so she was flush with Brittany and intertwined her left fingers with Brittany's right. Brittany knew for sure that Santana was still asleep because if she had woken for that she would have said something but she didn't. She did it like it was second nature to.
Brittany couldn't help but to smell the scent of Santana conditioner. It made her smile because she realized that the conditioner was the one that she used. Santana must have run out of her own so she just used Brittany's tropical scented conditioner. It smelled so fruity and delicious.
For just a moment, she had forgotten about the storm. It was just an afterthought as she lied here in Santana's arms until there was a loud crack of thunder in which she involuntarily shivered.
Again, being that it was second nature to Santana, she knew that Brittany often got cold at night so shivers were a norm for her. She didn't wake up; she just pulled the covers higher up her body and pulled Brittany as close as possible. Her subconscious knew how to keep Brittany warm after being together for so many years.
Brittany couldn't help but smile at the gratefulness of Santana. Awe even in her subconscious, I am always on her mind, Brittany couldn't help but think as she was being pulled closer and covers were cocooning them.
Once it seemed as though Santana had done her job, Brittany felt calm and she closed her eyes thinking maybe this was the moment she would fall asleep. She didn't see the flash of lightning that came moments later which created a loud crack of thunder mere seconds following. Again, she involuntarily shook but this time was longer because she wasn't prepared for it, she didn't see the lightning to know the thunder was coming.
"Britt, are you okay?" Santana lazily whispered as she turned her head with her eyes still closed.
"I-I'm fine," Brittany squeaked out in the smallest of voices.
Santana knew Brittany wasn't fine. She didn't shake uncontrollably for any reason very often. It was only sometimes and each time Santana was there to help her.
"You're not fine, I can tell," She whispered as she turned her body over to look Brittany in the eyes. "Tell me, what's wrong?" She knew that Brittany could potentially convince the brunette that she was fine with her back facing the blonde so she decided to just turn over so she could see what was in her eyes. Brittany eyes never lied. She tried but it never worked. Not on her at least.
"It's childish," Brittany averted her eyes and looked down at her hands. She knew as well as Santana that Santana had a way to tell if she were lying.
Santana reached over and placed her hands on Brittany's, "It's not childish, now tell me what it is." Just then she saw a flash peak through the closed blinds on their bedroom window and soon after a crack of thunder which in turn made Brittany shake in fear. Realization washed over Santana's features, "It's the thunder isn't it?"
Even in the darkness of their bedroom, Santana could see Brittany nodding her head up and down.
"Awe, babe, come here," She opened her arms for Brittany to wrap herself in them. Without any hesitation, Brittany snuggled into Santana's embrace resting her head against Santana chest as this was a very awkward way to hug. "It's okay," Santana rubbed Brittany's back as she felt another shiver run throughout the blonde's body when another crash occurred.
After a moment Brittany pulled back to look into Santana's eyes, "I know it's childish but the thunder really freaks me out."
Santana, whose hands are wrapped up around Brittany's hands, shakes her head, "No it's not childish. Fearing thunder is not childish. It's okay to be afraid." She said reassuringly trying to convince Brittany it was okay.
"But you're not afraid anymore. When we were kids, you and I would get so scared most times that whoever's house we were having a sleep over at we'd end up in our parent's beds. I mean, you would practically scream at the sound of thunder, yet here you are sleeping through it like it's nothing." Brittany rehashed the memory remembering it so clear because it was a time when both of them feared the same thing. They were always there for each other but this time Santana didn't have the same fear.
Santana smiled at the memory of them cuddling together in between whoever's parents house they were having their sleep-over at. Most times, they would just lay awake, but they did it together so it dulled down the intensity of the storm and made it a little more bearable.
"I never screamed," She looked shocked like she wouldn't do such a thing. "If that gets around, I'll lose my reputation."
Brittany couldn't help but chuckle at Santana's attempt to make her laugh with her insane theories on not being cool. "You definitely did used to scream." She stated knowing it was fact.
"You may be right about that but do you want me to tell you how I overcame it?" She asked knowing that Brittany would light up and want to know the secret.
Brittany nodded her head, "Yes, I do."
"It's the lightning," She stated with nothing following it leaving Brittany looking very puzzled. "In middle school and then when we were in high school, whenever there was a storm, I would find the best place to sit and just watch the lightning. Whether it was cloud-to-cloud or cloud-to-ground, whether it was purple or white, I watched it until I got sleepy. Then I would go to bed and fall asleep." Santana said as she ran her fingers along Brittany's arms trying to distract her thoughts from the storm outside.
"That's all you did?" Brittany asked not being able to pull her mind from the feeling of Santana's fingertips running along her skin.
Santana nodded, "Yup, so if you would like we could do that together right now?" She put it out there hoping that Brittany would want to. "I don't get to see storms much anymore unless they are during the day because I just sleep through them."
"But we work tomorrow. We'll be losing sleep to watch the lightning. I don't want you to miss your beauty sleep. I know how you get when you don't get enough sleep." She pointed out knowing that Santana can be a little bitchy when she's running on only a few hours of sleep. She isn't bitchy to Brittany but she was to everyone else.
"True, but you aren't going to sleep anyway so why not? Besides, I won't be able to sleep now knowing that you can't sleep." She reasoned as she sat up in bed and looked down at Brittany. "What do you say? Want to watch the lightning with me until you feel tired?"
Brittany couldn't help but smile from the excitement in Santana's eyes to watch lightning. "Okay, let's do it." She too had a bit of excitement in her voice as well.
They threw off the comforter and sheet and crawled out of bed. Santana walked over to the window and opened the blinds. "Come on," Santana ushered Brittany closer as there was a crack of thunder. "I promise, you'll like it," She smiled.
Brittany walked closer to Santana and as she did Santana stood behind Brittany and wrapped her arms around her middle and rested her head on her left shoulder. Brittany's hands found a place on Santana's hands around her and they watched the lightning show.
There were more cloud-to-cloud lightning then cloud-to-ground as the sky light up like a Christmas tree. There were white flashes all over the sky. The thunder was dying out as the storm continued to move but they could still see the lightning. Sometimes they would actually see the bolt run across the sky.
Even though Santana couldn't see Brittany's eyes she could tell that they were definitely lit up because as the thunder continued, Brittany's shivers decreased. The thunder was still there but it wasn't making her shake. She was too lost in the lights of the sky. This put a smile on Santana's face as she was helping out her girlfriend.
As they continued to watch Santana's eyelids began to droop so much so that at one point her head was completely resting in the area between Brittany's shoulder and neck.
Brittany could tell that she was beginning to doze off as she was getting very antsy. She was constantly moving. "Are you falling asleep on me here Santana?" She asked already knowing her answer.
"What? No way, I'm just resting my eyes," She was too tired to come up with something far cleverer.
Brittany turned around in Santana's embrace, "Why don't we just go to bed?"
Santana looked at Brittany' through half-open eyes, "It's only been like half an hour, you haven't experienced it enough." She tried to reason but her brain just wanted to sleep.
Brittany couldn't help the smile that took her own features as it still warmed her heart to know that Santana loved her so much that she would risk losing sleep for her. "Oh well, you can wrap your arms around me and keep me safe from the big bad storm. Sound good?"
Santana just nodded her head as she made her way to the bed not even bothering with an answer. She was far too tired to comprehend words any longer.
After Brittany closed the blinds again they both got back into bed and could still hear the thunder echoing in the distance. It was still there but not as loud. It was still a little freaky for Brittany but not to the extent that it was before.
Once in bed, Santana slid her body right close to Brittany's and did as Brittany had suggested. She wrapped her left arm around Brittany's body and snuggled her head into the pillow right next to Brittany's head.
As Brittany closed her eyes she heard a faint 'I love you' from Santana before she felt the brunette's body go limp as she dozed off back into dream world.
Brittany looked at the window and could see flashes through the blinds and faint sounds of thunder and for some reason she didn't seem as scared as she did before. Santana really was the cure for everything in her life.
THE END