Santana awoke to a commotion in the next room. The crashing of pots and pans stirred her from her deep slumber. She opened her eyes slowly, squinting to help adjust to the harsh, early summer light which was beginning to seep in through the window. Turning her head, she fixed her eyes on the panda shaped clock sitting on the bedside table which read 7:16 am. She scowled, it was her day off and she had planned on sleeping in for a change. Jamming her eyes closed as she rolled back over, she tried to fall back into an endless sleep- she was definatly not a morning person-but was disturbed soon after by the sound of something smashing, followed by a sharp yelp. The young Latina jumped out of bed unsteadily, rushing to the source of the noise, the kitchen.
"What are you doing Brit?" Santana said as she entered the well-lit kitchen. Slumping against the doorway, she was suddenly wide awake and wiping the sleep away from her eyes. She scanned the kitchen briefly before fixing her eyes on the blonde kneeling in the centre of the room that was carefully picking broken pieces of glass off the floor.
"Brit stop! You're going to hurt yourself" she said, concern laced in her voice. She took a step forward and out stretched her arm to help Brittany up. Brittany hesitated slightly, looking down at the mess before dropping the shards of glass back on the floor which made a 'tinkle' noise as the fell back against the wooden floor. Santana gently led Brittany away from the broken glass, suddenly aware she had bare feet.
"I made breakfast" Brittany said simply as she stood up, fixing her hair slightly. Santana couldn't help but smile at her girlfriends' innocence as she laid a gentle kiss on her lips- one that was initially intended to be a peck, but turned out to linger for longer than originally expected. Santana carefully brushed a loose strand of Brittany's long, blonde hair behind her ear, smiling deep into her sky blue eyes.
"I love you B" Santana said, her voice still rusty from just waking up, but Brittany could still hear the pure honesty behind it. Brittany's smile widened.
"I love you too San" Brittany took a step backwards, towards the kitchen counter. "Now go sit down, before this gets cold" she said excitedly as she let go of Santana's hands and pulled out a chair for her to sit on. Santana sat down, finally noticing that the table was set, with a bouquet of her favourite daffodil flowers, which were placed in the centre of the round table, in a crystal, clear glass vase.
"Brit…" She started, but trailed off as she leaned in to smell the flowers. She smiled, opening her eyes as she turned to face her girlfriend, who was busy putting food onto the two plates in front of her. "What's all this for Brit? Did I forget about an anniversary or something?" Panic slightly in her voice and she tried to rack her brain for what it could be. Brittany seemed to make a habit of celebrating any anniversary that she could think of. 1/4 of a year together, 3/4... Santana had thought she had writen them all in her diary so as not to forget them, but she hadnt checked it in a while. Brittany laughed as she saw the guilt in Santana's soft, dark, brown eyes.
"Babe, no, it's nothing like that" She smiled and picked the plates up carefully. "I just felt like doing something special for you, because it's your day off and I love you San" she placed the plate in front of the brunette before taking a seat next to her. Santana smiled down at her hot breakfast before leaning in to place a soft kiss on Brittany's lips.
"Thank you" she said earnestly, picking up her knife and fork. "I love you too" Santana couldn't remember the last time she was as happy as she was at that moment. Brittany sure brought out the best in her with her carefree spirit. Santana's smile widened, making her eyes sparkle as she began to eat the food that her girlfriend had spent all morning preparing. Just for her.
Santana and Brittany both sat on their living room faded blue sofa in a comfortable silence, sipping on hot chocolates. Even though it was summer, there was still a cool breeze in the air which made the warm summer air chilly, even in the late afternoons. The TV was switched on, turned down low, but neither of them were watching it. Santana glanced at her girlfriend briefly, noticing the focused look on her face.
"What's up B?" Santana could read Brittany like no other. The furrowed eyebrows and the way she was biting her bottom lip was the look of perfect concentration and meant the young blonde was in deep thought. "Brit?" Santana continued when she got no response. Brittany didn't say anything, but turned to face her girlfriends' concerned face.
"Would you ever consider having kids?" She blurted out suddenly. It caught Santana off guard. She had honestly never thought about the subject. She had never been a kid person, and Brittany knew that, so it baffled her that Brittany seemed so in to the idea. The Latina looked into the blue eyes staring at her. Santana could always read her eyes- They never lied, they always told the whole story.
"Where did that come from?" Santana asked, still slightly confused. Silence fell upon them again. Santana noticed Brittany's expression change from her train of thought to a look of guilt. Her eyes narrowed. "What are you not telling me?" She asked matter-of-factly. Brittany swallowed, and averted her eyes, not liking how Santana could read her so well.
The blonde shook her head, looking back at her magazine.
"Just asking" she said shrugging. She buried her face further into her magazine, hoping Santana wouldnt be able to see her guilty expression which she couldn't take off her face, but she wasn't fast enough.
"Brit, come on. What is it?" She reached over and gently took the magazine off her, forcing Brittany to lock eyes with her again. Santana raised her eyebrows suspiciously at Brittany trying to mask her expression.
"Well?" She finally added when Brittany failed. The blonde sighed.
"Rachel's pregnant. She told me I wasn't allowed to tell anyone because she hasn't told Finn yet, but I found the pregnancy text box when I was over there last and- and I hate keeping things from you San but…"
"Babe, stop!" Santana cut her off trying to contain a laugh. "You had me worried for a bit then!" She admitted, a smile returning to her face. "Rachel's pregnant!?" Santana clapped her hands over her mouth in excitement.
"San.." Brittany started slowly. "She can't know that you know, and don't you dare tell Finn just to watch his face freak out." Brittany knew her so well. She had already been picturing his face contorting into the realisation that he had gotten another girl pregnant. She chuckled to herself.
"Okay, okay Brit, don't worry. I won't say anything, I promise" Brittany smiled, looking relieved. Santana didn't promise things very often, but when she did she always meant it.
"Wait.. Is this why we are all going to her place tomorrow afternoon? I knew she sounded weird on the phone!" Brittany nodded slowly, turning her attention to the TV which was still turned on, but not paying attention to what was on.
"What's wrong Brit's?" Santana asked, noticing something was still bothering the blonde. Brittany paused for a minute, pondering for the right words.
"Are you... happy?" Santana held her breath. She wasn't expecting that. She looked into the blue eyes staring innocently at her, a hint of sadness in them. She searched for answers, clues to why Brittany was bringing this up all of a sudden.
"What are you talking about Brit? Of course I'm happy. Why are you asking?" Santana's words trembled slightly as they tumbled out of her mouth. Deep down, Santana was still the self-conscious, insecure girl she was when she was in high school. It had taken many years to finally be okay with herself, but sometimes she still worried about what people were saying behind her back. She still felt weak at times and sometimes she still felt like she was dreaming. Like one day Brittany would realise that Santana wasn't good enough for her. Brittany always seemed too good to be true. Maybe this was the day she had always been dreading in the back of her mind.
Brittany sighed deeply.
"Because, I'm so happy right now, and I wanted to make sure you were too". Santana withdrew the breath she had forgotten she was still holding, relief filled her limbs with warmth and love. She kissed the blonde firmly on the lips, smiling to herself.
"I cannot remember the last time I was this happy" she said honestly. "And that's because of you Brit Brit. I don't know where I would be without you babe" she said with a glint in her eye. Brittany's smile turned into a megawatt smile.
"I will always love you Brit" Santana usually wasn't one for words, especially when they were about feelings, but for some reason she felt like Brittany needed to be reassured. The blonde too used to be quite insecure when they were in high school. Some traits are hard to get rid of, Santana would know. Santana placed a kiss on the top of Brittany's head and linked her pinky through Brittany's. Something which they had been doing since they were young and which always seemed to unite them. "Always and forever B" Santana finished, squeezing the blondes skinny finger against her own. Brittany didn't know why she had doubted Santana being happy. Maybe she had just wanted to hear Santana's reassuring words. She knew she shouldn't doubt her. She was in love with her. Really, honestly. In fact, Santana never leaves her mind. She's always there. Mentally and physically. It's just incomprehensible. She's her one stable force. And even though her life is constantly changing, Santana's place in her life never does, because she knows, her beautiful girlfriend will always be close by. That was really the only reassurance she ever needed.
Santana and Brittany arrived at Rachel's just after 8 pm. It was a warm night, the full moon lighting up the sky quite brightly. They walked up the drive way hand in hand in a comfortable silence, enjoying the cool breeze brush past their faces. Rachel's house was a large, white brick mansion with a vast green front yard. Santana had always loved her house, not that she would ever admit that to Rachel.
Brittany firmly knocked on the door and heard Finn shout out something from inside the large house which had been left to Rachel by her two fathers after they moved to New York.
Just as Finn opened the door, Santana's phone started ringing in her back pocket. Giving Finn a bright smile, she quickly gave him a warm hug and excused herself to go answer her phone. It may have been her day off, but she was still on call at the hospital, so she figured it may be an emergency she was being called to.
Finn lead Brittany into the kitchen, where Quinn, Mercedes, Puck, Artie and Tina were all assembled around the dinner table, picking at dips and bread. Rachel was fussing about by the stove, stirring away at pots and pans, throwing extra herbs and spice where needed.
After Brittany said quick 'hellos' to everyone and got settled in a chair next to Tina, Santana reappeared in the doorway.
"Hey babe, come sit here" Brittany said pointing to the chair on the other side of her. Santana hesitated slightly before making her way over, giving everyone a once over as she said 'hello' to everyone in the room. She sat down quickly, glancing sideways at Brittany, who was talking to Tina.
There was another knock at the door, making Santana jump slightly, which Brittany noticed. The blonde turned anxiously at her girlfriend, but Santana looked away quickly, starting a conversation with Quinn across the table.
A few minutes later, Sam and Kurt entered the room, and sat down at opposite ends of the table.
It had been so long since they had all been together as a group again. Everyone was so busy these days.
Mercedes was well on her way to releasing her first album, she now lived in LA and hardly ever had time to take the trip back to Ohio. This had been a once off as she was briefly here to promote her album.
Sam had gone to university in California to become a music teacher, Artie had gone to New York to persue his dream of being a directer. Puck was a manager at one of the local clubs, which he loved. Free alcohol and more girls than he could dream of. And Tina and Mike both got married and moved to LA to start a family.
Everyone, it seemed was well on their way to have everything they ever wanted. None of them ever thought their lives would end out this way. Especially not back in high school when they were the school losers in Glee club.
Rachel smiled, emerging from behind the stove.
"Dinner is ready" she said excitedly, clapping her hands and looking lovingly over at Finn. Santana rolled her eyes. Some things never change, she thought to herself.
Dinner went by quickly, and as everyone talked amongst themselves, Santana was once again excusing herself to answer her phone. They were now sitting in the large, open lounge room, filled with photos of Rachel when she was a child. Her frozen, smiling face looming over them all. There was a karaoke machine sitting in the corner of the room from when Rachel was in high school, and an obsessed Glee student, whom everyone in that room at some point despised.
Rachel's voice broke up the chatter amongst everyone as she stood up in front of everyone.
"Guys, it's been lovely seeing you all again, it has been far too long! But me and Finn have an announcement to make" she trailed off, holding her hand out for Finn to join her, which he immediately did. A crooked smile glued to his face, his scruffy hair tousled and sticking up slightly. The room fell deadly silent, as everyone stopped to look at the couple standing before them. Silence filled the room as everyone awaited eagerly to hear the news.
"We're pregnant!" Rachel finally announced proudly, sub consciously rubbing her stomach. There were cheers within the room as Tina and Quinn immediately went up to congratulate the two with giant hugs.
"Congratulations dude!" Puck said, with a smirk on his face. Brittany scanned the room, suddenly very aware of Santana's absence.
"Where did Santana go?" Brittany asked, interrupting the baby talk as she stood up.
Everyone hushed, looking around the room and also noticing the Latina's absence.
"She was outside last time I saw her" Sam piped up. "I'll help you look for her if you'd like" he said as they walked out of the room.
Sam could tell Brittany was worried, he knew her pretty well back in the day. He used to be in love with her, but deep down, he always knew she was in love with Santana. He put his arm around her, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly, receiving a small smile from Brittany's pale lips.
After a quick scan in the backyard, it was clear that Santana wasn't outside. There wasn't even any sign she had been out there. In fact, she was nowhere to be found. She was simply- Gone.
Confused, Brittany walked to the front of the house, only to notice that the car they had arrived in was missing.
"Weird…" She trailed off to Sam, who was still with her. Her heart started beating faster as she tried to think of where she could have gone.
"Maybe we should go back inside" Sam suggested, leading Brittany back inside. "We can try call her on her mobile." Brittany nodded her head, her eyebrows furrowed in deep confusion. Why would Santana have left without saying anything? Where would she have gone? Did Santana not want to be with her anymore? Was this her way of telling her it was over? No, even for Santana, that was mean. She wouldn't do that to her. Maybe she had to go to work. Brittany's head was filled with questions. Questions that no one knew the answers to- No one but Santana.
Brittany dialled the familiar number she knew by heart, and put the phone to her ear. Everyone was watching her, all wanting to know what had happened to the young Latina. Silence filled the air, as they all tried to hear the other end of the line.
Brittany bit her lip as she listened to the soft ringing of the phone. On the fifth ring, Santana answered. She sounded out of breath as she was panting heavily on the other end.
"Santana?"
"Shhhh, Brit" Santana whispered on the other end. Brittany's heart began to race again.
"What is happening?" Brittany asked, instantly aware something was wrong.
"Ben's here" Was all she said. Brittany's face turned a sickly colour of yellow at the name of her girlfriend's ex.
"Where are you?" Brittany managed to ask, despite the lack of saliva in her mouth.
"I'm at home" Santana's voice was muffled "Oh shit"
"Santana?" Brittany's voice was getting louder.
"Brit, go to the police, you have to go to the police. Tell them to look for Ben- Oh shit- Tell them.. Tell them.." Her voice was getting frantic as she spoke. "Im so sorry, I love you Britta…" Brittany heard loud footsteps on Santana's end, followed by a scream before the line dropped dead.
"Santana? SANTANA?!" She dropped the phone, her face pale, her hands shaking.
She'd been taken.