"What are you doing here?" Brittany says when Santana appears on her doorstep.
"It's Friday night."
Brittany stares at her.
"It's date night," Santana says in a small voice.
Brittany blinks a couple of times. "It's date night when two people are dating."
"Yeah, I know," Santana says, wringing her hands together. "Britt...I know what I've said before. But I miss you. And tonight I just-really want to take you on a date."
"On a date."
"Yeah." Santana looks up at her with those vulnerable brown eyes. "Please," she adds.
"Okay," Brittany says, and Santana breathes.
...
Santana drives them to BreadStiX. In the car, they smile sideways at each other, then glance away. Brittany feels both awkward and elated. She steals Santana's phone and scrolls the music library until she finds a song she wants. Santana half-watches her while she drives, like she's both nervous and relieved to have Brittany controlling her music again.
...
Sandy shows them to their regular booth. She hands them menus, but Brittany shakes her head and says, "We don't need them. I know what this one wants."
Sandy looks flustered, but smiles. She turns to Santana and asks, "And do you know what she wants, too?"
Santana hesitates before she answers. "Yeah," she says. "Yeah, I do."
...
Brittany orders a salad, light dressing, and spaghetti for Santana. Santana orders a salad, regular dressing, and shrimp for Brittany.
"And to drink?" Sandy asks.
"Water," they say together.
"And near the end of the meal, she'll want a Dr. Pepper," Santana says, nodding at Brittany.
"Oh, right, that's right," Sandy says, suddenly remembering.
...
"So what's the news with glee club?" Santana asks. "Has Finny destroyed it yet?"
"Almost. He keeps trying to act like Mr. Schue. He only writes one-word topics on the board, and he does that really uncomfortable shoulder clap to Artie, like, all the time."
"Sounds like Finn," Santana snorts.
"It's definitely different. The new kids have way too much drama between them, and Blaine spends all of his time crying-like I'm pretty sure he must have those Sarah McLachlan animal commercials playing in his mind, like, all the time-but Sugar and Tina and I hang out a lot, and we have fun."
"Good. I miss them."
"They miss you, too. They're always asking me about you."
Santana looks down at her salad. "And what do you say?"
Brittany smiles. "That you're as awesome as ever."
Santana meets her eyes, and then they both laugh because they don't know what else to do.
...
"Tell me about U of L," Brittany says as she picks off one of her shrimp.
"Well, classes are good, cheerleading is almost over, and my friends have already started arguing about housing arrangements for next year."
"Oh," Brittany laughs. "Is that a big deal?"
"I don't know, kind of. Megan's trying to micromanage, of course, and Taylor wants to live off campus, and Jess and I don't want to deal with any of it yet."
"Sounds intense."
"Not as bad as glee squabbling," Santana offers.
"Or trying to work out cheer camp sleeping arrangements. Remember how mad Quinn was freshman year?"
"Because we wouldn't agree to share a tent with her Snore Queen ass? I don't regret it."
"Neither do I," Brittany says, "especially since you kissed me that one night."
Santana blushes and her eyes go soft. "Yeah," she says. "I don't know what I was thinking."
"I think you weren't thinking at all," Brittany says seriously, "and that's why it was perfect."
...
"Do you want to get a Redbox?" Santana asks as they leave the restaurant.
"Okay, sure. Did you see Madagascar 3 yet?"
"No," Santana laughs. "I gotta be honest, I haven't seen many of those movies since we-"
She stops suddenly, and Brittany pulls her lips into her mouth, watching her.
"Sorry," Santana says.
"It's okay," Brittany says. "I know I have silly taste in movies."
"You have great taste in movies," Santana says, and she speaks the words so quickly and earnestly that Brittany can't do more than breathe. "I just meant that I-well I don't exactly have anyone in my life who would want to watch those movies with me, other than you, and even if someone suggested it, I'd say no, just because it wouldn't feel right to watch them without you-"
"San," Brittany says, pulling on a lock of her hair. "Come on, let's go to Redbox."
...
They end up renting Love, Actually, because the local Redbox has been stocked for Christmas, and because this film has always been one of their favorites.
"I haven't seen this since we watched it together last Christmas," Santana says quietly.
"Me neither."
"Funny how that happens."
"San?"
"Yeah, Britt?"
"Why are you here?"
"What?"
"Why are you here?"
"I-" Santana frowns. "I told you, I wanted to take you out on a date."
"No," Brittany says quietly. "This is bigger than that. Why are you here?"
Santana looks hard at her. She swallows and drops her arms to her sides, still clutching the Redbox DVD in her hand, and Brittany recognizes the girl who came to her locker all those months ago.
-that I love you. I love you! And I don't wanna be with Sam, or Finn, or any of those other guys-I just want you.
Brittany takes the DVD out of Santana's hand and drops it to the concrete. She places her hand along Santana's jaw and holds Santana's eyes with her own.
"You asked me a long time ago," she says, "to say that I loved you back."
Santana lowers her head and looks up at her with those dark frightened eyes-What about you and I?-and Brittany reaches for her hand.
"I do love you back. I loved you then, and I love you now, and we don't have to be official girlfriends and we don't have to Skype all the time and we don't have to promise forever yet-but I love you and I want to be with you. Can't that be enough?"
Santana's tears spill out of her eyes and down her face, and she wipes them with her coat sleeve while Brittany wants nothing more than to kiss them away, and then she sniffs a few times and says, "I want to be with you too."
"Then let's be together."
"You don't hate me for breaking us up?"
"No," Brittany says, with half a laugh and half a cry. "No."
"Will you kiss me even though I'm crying?"
Brittany cries and laughs again, and so does Santana, and for a few seconds they rest their foreheads against each other's and swallow down the rest of their tears. Then Brittany smoothes Santana's hair back, clutches the back of her head, and kisses her. It's wet and sloppy, and they both laugh a little bit as it happens, but as soon as they pull away Brittany wants nothing more than for it to happen again.
Santana squeezes Brittany's fingers and her breath catches. "I missed that."
"Me too."
"Do you know, the morning after we broke up, I started crying after I put my lip gloss on?"
"Why?"
"I didn't think you'd ever kiss me again," Santana says, "and here I'd gone and put lip gloss over our very last kiss."
"Santana," Brittany breathes. She moves closer to her and kisses her again.
...
They turn the movie on in the darkness of Brittany's basement. Santana sits wrapped up in a fleece blanket, and when Brittany turns away from the DVD player and walks back toward the couch, Santana opens her arms to invite Brittany into the blanket with her.
"You're so warm," Santana whispers.
Brittany laughs. "You always say that."
"I've missed it."
They cuddle up and let the sounds and scenes of the movie wash over them. Santana rests her head on Brittany's shoulder and Brittany loses herself in the scent of Santana's hair, so sweet and so strong that Brittany feels like she's baptizing herself with it. She kisses Santana's hair and with each kiss she feels like her heart reconstructs itself just a little bit more.
"'M falling asleep," Santana mumbles.
"I know," Brittany says into her hair. "It's okay."
"Okay," Santana says quietly.
...
They wake up the next morning with sore necks and tight limbs. Brittany doesn't remember having fallen asleep.
"Hey," Santana says as she rubs her eyes.
"Hi," Brittany says as she stretches her arms and legs.
"Sorry I fell asleep on you."
"I'm glad you did."
"Can I make you breakfast?"
"Only if I can make you coffee."
Santana smiles. "Deal."
...
They carry their scrambled eggs and toast out onto Brittany's back deck. It's early and cold, but they have the fleece blanket with them.
"So-what do we do now?" Santana asks.
Brittany studies her while she chews her toast. "We eat our breakfast."
"I mean about us."
"I know."
"It's hard to make this work, Britt. It's hard to be away from you."
Brittany takes her hand. She runs her thumb over each one of Santana's fingers, then draws circles into her palm. "We'll figure it out as we go. I don't care how we make it work as long as we can be together."
Santana leans into her and presses her lips against her shoulder. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah."
Brittany kisses her forehead. "Good. Now eat your toast, or I'm gonna steal it."
...
"I'll come over later," Santana says as she puts her coat on.
"I know. Tell your parents I say hi."
"I will."
"Button this up," Brittany says, tugging on her coat. "I don't want you to get cold."
"I won't get cold, Britt," Santana laughs.
"You're a Kentucky girl now. I just want to make sure."
"I'll always be an Ohio girl at heart," Santana says, and when Brittany looks at her, her eyes are dark and deep.
They kiss each other goodbye. Santana walks out to the driveway, and when she reaches her car, she turns around and winks at Brittany. Brittany leans against the doorframe and watches her go.