I don't own Glee.
Brittany had only been in town for a few days and since she had been busy unpacking, she hadn't gotten the chance to see Santana. So when she got to school she was surprised by the Santana that stood in front of her.
There was something different about her that Brittany couldn't quite put a finger on. She still smiled and hugged her best friend, but she still studied Santana like she was a complete stranger.
Finally Santana asked Brittany if she liked the upgrades. At first Brittany didn't understand so Santana pointed to them. Brittany gasped when she realized how Santana had spent her summer vacation. Something about them unnerved Brittany a little, but she kept her mouth shut. Sure that was a change, but Brittany knew something else was different.
Things were happening really fast around her and then next thing Brittany knew, she was in the glee room. She looked around the room and remembered all the good times the glee club had had. She couldn't wait to start again.
Brittany giggled in excitement to herself and skipped out the door, knowing that this year that the potential to be a lot better than the last.
The classes that Brittany did manage to make it to were short and boring. When the last bell of the day rang she looked next to her and saw Santana smiling at her. This was going to be the first time in two months that they'd gotten to hang out.
They made their way to Santana's house and rushed up the stairs to Santana's bedroom.
After Santana had shown Brittany her assets, they lay in bed watching TV.
"Why did you fight with Quinn?" Brittany asked quietly a few minutes into the TV show.
Santana lulled her head to the side to look at the blonde, "Because she took my spot on the Cheerios. I don't really want to talk about it."
"Oh," Brittany sighed, "But are you mad that I didn't help you?"
"Of course not," Santana turned down the TV and rolled on her side to make it easier to study Brittany's reactions and emotions, "I know you don't like to fight. What happened was between Quinn and me."
Brittany bit her lip and thoughtfully looked at the sheets under them. Then she nervously brought her eyes up to Santana's face, "Can I still be her friend?"
Santana sighed, knowing that Brittany wouldn't be happy if she said no. "You can, but I won't be around her."
The blonde didn't smile. Instead she sighed heavily and dropped her head onto the pillow, "Why are you two so mean to each other?"
"Because she doesn't want me to have anything. She took the Cheerios. She took my popularity. I'm surprised she hasn't tried to take you. She hates me." Santana brought her fingers up to run through Brittany's hair.
"Why?"
Santana shrugged, "I don't know."
With that answer, Brittany turned back to the TV, curling up against Santana's side.
Santana sighed, thinking about everything that happened over the summer. Everything seemed to lead back to the same place.
Brittany is the only one that gave Santana purpose. To protect. To cater to. To teach. To shelter. To love. And when Brittany was gone Santana realized this. She got angry that Brittany was her only real friend and that Brittany was so woven into her very being that she felt depressed after a few days without the blonde.
Without Brittany she didn't feel anything but empty. She felt stupid and ugly because Brittany always looked at her like she was smartest, most beautiful person on the planet. She never realized before that the majority of her self-esteem hinged on Brittany.
Her mom telling her that she looked like hell when she'd go downstairs to eat breakfast didn't help. So one day Santana decided to do something about it. The one thing Brittany always assured her was perfect was the one thing that the majority of other girls had that were better than hers. Her dad was out of town at a medical conference and her mom was rushing out the door when she asked and offered her mom the form to sign.
So a few days and a credit card payment later, Santana woke up with a body any model would be jealous of. However, she didn't feel complete like she'd hoped. At least she mused that Brittany liked boobs. Like, really liked boobs so when she got back she'd have more to play with.
So far that theory was correct. Brittany did seem to enjoy herself. However there were very few things that Brittany couldn't find some sort of joy in.
As much as Santana didn't want her to, Brittany had to go home at nine. So Santana walked her the three blocks home and hugged her goodbye before returning to her large, empty house.
The next morning during her first class, Brittany was walking through the empty hallway on the way back from the bathroom when Quinn caught up with her.
"Hey Brittany," Quinn smiled sweetly, "How's it going?"
"Going where?" the taller girl asked.
Quinn rephrased the question, "How are you?"
"I'm okay," Brittany replied.
"Awesome. Do you wanna go to a movie after school?" Quinn smiled at the other blonde Cheerio.
Brittany grinned, "Sure." The bell rang and the hallway started to flood with students.
The head Cheerio nodded, "Great. We can leave from glee." She hugged Brittany, "See you later."
Brittany happily walked down the hallway until she felt a strong, but gentle hand on her arm. "Hey."
She beamed when she saw Santana, "Hey."
"You're coming over after school right? To work on our Spanish homework?" Santana asked with a small smile. She slung the backpack she shared with Brittany over her shoulder. She was glad school was back in because she'd have an excuse to ask Brittany to come over every night.
"Of course," Brittany linked her pinkie with Santana's, "I'll asked Quinn if she'll drop me off after the movie."
"What?" Santana stopped dead in the middle of the hallway.
Brittany turned around and looked confusedly at Santana, "I said I'll asked Quinn if she'll drop me off after the movie."
"I heard that," Santana huffed. She started walking again disengaging her hand from Brittany's. "I can't believe her."
"Believe what?" Brittany scampered to catch up with Santana.
"Quinn's trying to steal you," Santana started firmly, "You're all I have left and she's coming after you."
Brittany shook her head, "She can't steal me. We're just friends."
Santana turned into the Cheerios locker room to get ready for practice. "I'm gonna kill that bitch."
"No," Brittany grabbed her hand just as they stepped inside. She twirled Santana around, "You can't kill her."
"I didn't mean literally," Santana sighed.
"Oh," Brittany dropped her hand that was on Santana, "Just…can you not be mad at her?"
"She's trying to ruin my life B," Santana shook her head with a determined fire in her eye, "I can't let her do that." With that she turned and walked off, into the gym. Brittany stared at the ground for a few minutes before following Santana. She was wanted to keep talking to the other Cheerio, but when she walked in she saw that Santana was on the bottom of the pyramid, struggling to hold the rest of the girls up.
"Brittany!" Sue called through a megaphone, which was completely unnecessary because Brittany was only a few feet from her, "Get up on the pyramid. You're with Quinn."
Brittany's eyes shot to Santana who looked like she was about to dump everyone off and jump Quinn. However Quinn let a smug smirk out and made sure to step on Santana's back hard as she was climbing to the top.
"Watch it Fabray," Santana growled.
"What are you going to do about it?" Quinn quipped back and kept climbing.
Santana was about to say something when she felt tender fingers gently rub the place where Quinn's foot was before straightening out her uniform. Santana immediately felt calmer as Brittany's fingers grazed the small of her back before she used another way to get to the top with Quinn.
After practice, Quinn walked into the glee room. There was no one there yet because she was a little early, but that was fine with her. It would give her a chance to snoop through the sheet music and hide some horribly tragic songs before Mr. Schue could force it on them.
Just as she was looking over a new song, she heard the door open. When she turned around she saw Santana stalking toward her.
"What the hell is your damage?" Santana growled through her teeth as she got closer.
Quinn crossed her arms, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm talking about Brittany," Santana narrowed her eyes, "And your little play date to the movies."
"What about it?" Quinn rolled her eyes.
"You're trying to take her away! Just like you took everything else!" Santana took a step toward Quinn.
"You're insane!" Quinn yelled taking a step toward Santana, "Brittany's the only friend I have at this school! You don't own her!"
"Maybe you'd have more friends if you weren't such a fucking bitch!" Santana shoved Quinn.
Quinn grabbed Santana's ponytail and yanked her down. Santana kicked one of her feet behind Quinn and leaned into her. The blonde tumbled backwards, pulling Santana by the Cheerio uniform with her.
"Stop it!" a shrill voice cut through the air. The momentary distraction gave Santana the chance to scramble to her feet. Quinn got to her feet, watching Santana.
"Why can't you both see that you're hurting the one person that cares?" Rachel asked the two feuding girls, Finn hovering behind her. "Brittany has been nothing, but nice to anyone and she's sitting in the parking lot crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said you two were fighting. She's in the Cheerios' locker room right now."
At the sound of their friend in trouble, Santana and Quinn stood to go find Brittany.
"Stop," Rachel called, "I just talked to her and she doesn't really want to talk to either of you right now. So I suggest you sit down and we find a resolution."
"This is all your fault," Quinn muttered as they sunk into the plastic chairs.
"Shut up Quinn," Santana resisted the urge to push Quinn down onto the ground.
Rachel looked them over, "Do you both agree that you need a third party to settle this? And you agreed to the terms set forth today?"
"Are you a lawyer or something?" Santana quipped.
"No, but my dad is," Rachel explained and looked behind her at Finn, "He has be big case and he's been working at home a lot. Anyway, you two need help if you're going to keep Brittany as a friend."
"I wasn't having any problems until Quinn decided to ruin my life," Santana stated with her arms crossed.
Before Quinn could reply, Rachel interrupted. "How about you split days?" Rachel suggested, trying to diffuse the situation. "Like every other week or Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays or something?"
"Like joint custody?" Quinn asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Yes," the singer nodded.
Finn added, "How about by class? I've seen you both helping her with different things."
They briefly looked at each other before nodded.
"She has to come over with me when she has a science test. My dad's a doctor," Santana stated, "He can help."
"Then I get her for Spanish and English," Quinn calmly added.
"Fine," Santana shrugged, "Then I get Math. Oh and History."
"No way. I'm way better at history than you," the blonde looked to Rachel for a resolution.
Santana rolled her eyes, "Whatever." Her eyes too found their way to the singer.
Rachel thought before adding, "Show me your tests from yesterday."
Both Cheerios riffled through their bags and presented Rachel with their test. After looking them over Rachel looked up, "Santana gets History."
Santana shot a smug smirk to Quinn who glared back.
"What if there's two tests on the same day?" Finn asked.
"Then," Rachel paused, "Two hours at each house. That's enough to study."
"What is there's no test?" Finn asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Then she gets to decide where she goes. No pressure from either of you," Rachel warned with her finger pointed at both of the Cheerios. "If there's pressure whoever is doing it loses a subject to the other for each infraction. And if you keep doing it, I'll ask her to start coming over to my house. Weekends are entirely up to Brittany. You may ask her over, but you cannot pressure her. Deal?"
"Deal," Santana and Quinn sighed in unison.
Santana eyed Quinn, confident that whenever there was a choice Brittany would come over to her house.
"Now all we have to do is get Brittany to agree," Finn added.
Rachel turned to him, "She already agreed. This was her idea."
Quinn and Santana momentarily forgot their rivalry to look at each other in disbelief. Finn had a similar look on his face directed at Rachel.
She just smiled at him, "Wanna go get something to eat?"
He shrugged and followed her out the door.
Before Quinn could blink, Santana had her phone out and was texting Brittany to see if she wanted to come over. The blonde finally realized this and slapped the phone out of Santana's hands, "No fair."
"Bitch," Santana shoved Quinn just as she was about to reach for her phone. Then she scooped up her phone and ran out the door, knowing that her text would reach Brittany first.
Later that night, Santana was absently running her fingers through Brittany's hair as they just lay in her bed, fully clothed, Brittany with her head in Santana's lap. The brunette asked, "Are you okay?"
Brittany looked up at Santana confused, "Yeah, why?"
Santana shook her head, "Nothing." Then she dropped a kiss on the blonde's forehead, "How was the movie?" As Brittany explained Santana nodded at all the right time and 'hmm'ed and 'ahh'ed when appropriate. She wasn't really focused on the detail of the movie thought. Her mind was in a much darker place. She was thinking about how her world would be if she really did lose Brittany.
After a few seconds, Santana finally realized that Brittany had stopped talking. She looked down and saw big blue eyes looking up at her. Two words left Brittany's lips and hit Santana like a tone of bricks. "You're sad."
Santana swallowed and forced a smile onto her face, "No I'm not. I'm just tired." She leaned down and kissed Brittany full on the lips surprising the blonde. When she pulled back she assured her, "It's okay."
Brittany just nodded, not fully believing Santana. She glanced over at the clock on the wall. When she realized what time it was, she sighed and heaved herself up off of the bed. Santana looked at the clock and knew that Brittany had to go home.
Once she was gone, Santana fell back into her bed. As she lay there, she could smell Brittany's perfume on the pillow next to her. She grabbed the pillow and buried her face in it. She knew that she didn't want to lose Brittany, but today they hadn't gotten to spend very long together and she felt like Brittany was starting to slip away.
Santana didn't want to think about that right then and took a deep inhale smell Brittany left behind, letting it comfort her until she fell asleep.