Author's Note: Hey guys, I'm starting this collection of Dantana one-shots and drabbles, so feel free to leave a prompt in the reviews if you have any ideas. This will include both prompted and unprompted stories.
"This is her 12th visit to the show, everyone please welcome one of my favorite guests: Dani Harper!"
Dani walked out on the familiar stage in her signature jeans and leather jacket with studs. Smiling and waving to the studio audience, she moved to greet the famous older woman. Her newly blonde hair bounced in curls down her back, and she tucked some behind her ear, before twisting her wedding ring around her finger a few times – a nervous habit of hers. Even after more than a decade in the music industry, she still felt nervous before interviews.
"Hey Ellen it's good to see you," she grinned, giving the TV show host a hug. The singer adjusted herself in the armchair as the studio audience settled down.
"So Dani, I believe it has been exactly a week since you dropped that surprise album on us," Ellen said with a proud smile on her face (she had been there at the start of Dani's career). The older blonde paused as the audience broke into applause once again. "I think Portia almost had a heart attack."
Dani laughed. "Well I do apologize for that, maybe I'll send her a care package." The 28 year-old singer was always charming, especially when she was able to do an interview with someone she actually liked.
Ellen winked at her and pulled a copy of Dani's album from the side table. "So, minus the surprise factor, this album is very different from your past ones, any particular reason?"
"Well for this album, I really wanted to show more of a mature side, and I feel that I'm at a point in my career where I can be really honest about things like addiction, and personal problems, and love."
"There is definitely a more mature feel to it," Ellen agreed, "particularly the song Goddess." Dani turned red and put her hand to cover her eyes, of course Ellen would bring that up. "There's this one line, I think the exact lyrics are 'I'm coming home expectin' you'd be watching cable, to find you waiting on the kitchen table. baby, there's nothing like the kitchen table' hmmmm..." Ellen said playfully, looking slyly at the audience.
Dani couldn't help but laugh along with the studio audience. "Well I do like the kitchen table," she said with a shrug, still blushing and laughing. The audience only got louder. "My wife's gonna kill me."
Ellen chuckled, prepared to push the subject, "you know I would think Santana would be tired after those long days on set...and you've been touring lately..."
Dani laughed again, red creeping onto her cheeks, "Ellen, all I will say is that it's been four years now," she held her hand up, showing her ring which gathered more cheers from the audience, "I love my wife very much, and she loves me very much as well."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to find out more when she comes on the show next week, won't we" Ellen smirked. The singer smiled and adjusted her jacket, not really knowing what to say. "Speaking of next week, Valentine's day is coming up, do you have any plans for that? Maybe the kitchen table will be involved?"
Dani just covered her face again laughing. Leave it to Ellen to use her own lyrics against her.
"Just kidding," Ellen laughed, "but we do always know how to get you blushing. In fact, lets play the video."
"You don't have a video."
"But of course I do."
As everyone turned to the screen, Dani peeked through her hands to see a video of her 18 year-old self blushing as she met Ellen's "surprise guest" Jennifer Aniston. The young singer had mentioned her biggest celebrity crush during her first visit to the show, and Ellen had apparently pulled some strings to bring out the "Friends" star on Dani's next appearance.
"I can't believe that was 10 years ago, I still look so hot," Ellen joked.
Next was a clip of her at age 21, when Ellen had shown a picture of an Instagram posted by Santana Lopez from when her and Dani had first met. Dani had dropped her second album at that point, and with 2 Grammy's – along with several other awards – she was quickly becoming a global superstar.
"Just met THE ddlovato" Ellen had read, the audience awwing at the young singer's reaction. The older woman then proceeded to tease Dani about 'getting with' the Latin actress. The at-the-time blue-haired girl had only resorted to her blushing ways and avoided eye contact with the TV show host, much to Ellen's entertainment.
Following that was a video of Dani's reaction a year later, when Ellen had shown a paparazzi photo of Santana and Dani getting Starbucks.
"Ya we're really good friends," Dani had claimed, red creeping up her neck, when Ellen had wiggled her eyebrows. Most people hadn't suspected a thing at the time, considering Santana was more than 5 years older than the singer, and they were often seen with several other people.
The next clip was from the blonde's 6th visit. By that time she had become a really good friend of the show, often sending in tickets for the host to give out, as well as other memorabilia. Ellen had shown a slideshow of Dani's trip to Hawaii, where the last picture was the photo that made her and Santana official to the public: the dark red-haired singer and the actress kissing on a hammock to which the audience had "awwww"d.
Ellen had joked, "You guys look like really good friends," and Dani had covered her face blushing and laughing like she usually did.
While watching the video on stage, Dani was still doing the exact same thing. But it also caused her to think about how much she missed the Latina — it had been a month since she'd seen her because Dani's tour had been in Europe.
Looking back up to the screen Dani saw a clip of her sitting on the armchair in shock as Ellen's crew wheeled out dozens of flower bouquets. She had been the guest during the Valentine's Day episode and Santana had surprised her with the flowers and a special performance where she sang Dani's song 'Catch Me.'
After that whole incident, Dani had tweeted a picture of her girlfriend and all the flowers with the caption 'My everything' followed by a bunch of heart emojis.
Following that was a clip where Ellen was admiring Dani's engagement ring. "So she's 28 and you're 23?" Ellen had asked her.
"Yeah she always talked about how she'd be married by 30," the blonde had replied cheekily, smiling widely with red appearing on her cheeks.
The last clip was from her most recent visit, when Ellen had scared her in the bathroom before the show. Dani had literally fallen onto the floor in shock and immediately turned red in embarrassment.
The whole studio audience was full on cracking up at this point, to the blonde's expense. Ellen turned back to Dani when the video ended, watching her cover her face and laugh.
"She threatened me and made me promise to never scare her again after that one," Ellen told the audience while waiting for the girl to recover.
"So Dani, I know I like to take credit for all that blushing but it seems like most of that was due to a certain Latina actress."
"You're making me miss her more," Dani pouted, "Also that video was so embarrassing, screw you Ellen."
The TV show host just laughed at her and continued, "you told me earlier that you hadn't seen her since before your European tour started a month ago, is that right?"
"Yeah, it actually just ended and as soon as I got into the States I headed over here, which means I haven't seen her yet. So no offense, but I kind of can't wait until this is over," the younger blonde joked, making the audience laugh as Ellen pulled a hurt face.
"Anyway, I know I promised not to scare you again but-"
Dani's "what" got cut off when a pair off tan hands appeared from behind to cover her eyes, causing her to jump in surprise. She recognized the familiar scent and clambered out of her seat with a squeal. Standing there was her wife with a huge grin waiting for the impact that was sure to come.
"Surprise baby," Santana greeted, "I heard I make you blush a lot," she teased. But the shorter girl was already wrapped around her wife, smiling huge with her face buried in her neck.
"Alright, we'll let you guys do your thing," Ellen chuckled. "Ladies and gentlemen, Dani Harper. Again her album is out in stores and on iTunes, not that any of you didn't buy it already."
Dani turned and gave Ellen a big hug, thanking her and waving bye to the audience, before grabbing her wife and pulling her to the side of the stage. Santana just grinned at the older blonde TV host, who winked and shooed her off.
When the reunited couple finally got backstage, Dani turned and pulled Santana into a long and deep kiss. Even with the crew present, both girls didn't care as the singer sucked on her wife's bottom lip, feeling more in love than ever.
Arms still wrapped around each other, Dani leaned her forehead against the raven haired girl. "I love you so much," she whispered, staring into her eyes.
Santana just leaned in and brushed their lips together, before pulling the blonde into another sensual kiss.
"Come on, the rest of my cast want to welcome you back with some In-N-Out," the Latina said causing Dani to laugh.
For the rest of the night, Santana always found a way to be touching her wife, whether it was an arm around her waist, or pulling her onto her own lap. On her part, Dani just couldn't stop kissing the Latina.
She may have never blushed more than that evening, but frankly she didn't really give a crap because her wife was right next to her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear, and she knew that was exactly where she was meant to be.
