"Brittany, open your door!" Santana roared, knocking on the wood with hopeless abandon. "Babe, I won't leave 'till you open this door!"
"Go away! I don't want to see you!" Brittany yelled, her voice torn by some unseen sadness.
"Babe, please... We need to talk..."
"I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to see you, just go away!" Brittany swallowed her tears with a hitching sob that could be heard from the other side of the door. "Go away!"
Santana shrugged sadly. Three days. Brittany had been ignoring all her calls for three days. Why that was, she wasn't really sure. Truthfully she had no idea.
Okay, they had hard time agreeing their schedule, that was a fact. They were often missing each other's calls, and Santana had struggled to find a calm and quiet place to call her sweetheart in the mess that was the Louisville College's campus. But that was nothing organization couldn't fix. They just needed time to figure out how to make things work; how to find a balance to be able to bear this long distance relationship.
In Santana's defence however, she had called Brittany every single evening; had texted her sweet words, even when cheer training left her a boneless mass craving nothing but sleep. She had called her, even when it had been almost painful to keep her eyes open and focus on the conversation. If that wasn't commitment she didn't know what was.
Three days. Three days of falling on Brittany's voicemail, her love's breathy voice sounding somewhat bittersweet now. She had hoped to find Brittany waiting for her at the train station. She had made sure to text her the exact time of her first return to Lima, even if the blonde hadn't answered at all. On some level Santana had hoped to find Brittany there, burning with the same excruciating need to fall in each other's arms and kiss like there was no tomorrow, refilling the huge hole in their hearts that distance had caused with love. Sadly, only her parents had turned up on that lonely platform, quirking their eyebrows at their daughter's downtrodden expression. Santana loved her parents, but at that particular moment, god, she had regretted seeing them.
She had left her luggage at home, had given all her laundry to her mother and then sprinted to Brittany's house, lungs burning and everything else aching with longing. She'd kept ringing the bell of the Pierce's front door, rang Brittany's phone and even the house phone that nobody had picked up. She had waited for long minutes, moments from giving up and trudging dejectedly home, before seeing a curtain move. The same curtain that had very conveniently hidden their lady loving from curious neighbors' eyes. It fluttered open briefly and Santana knew, with striking conviction, that Brittany had been spying on her, alone in her house, from up there.
It was now out of the question to give up knowing that Brittany was in there. Santana had shouted up to the closed window that she would come back, when Brittany's parents would be back from work. The curtain hadn't moved a fraction since but Santana had known Brittany had been listening. Complaints from neighbours be damned, Santana had yelled to the closed window that she'd come back no matter what, tainting her voice with all her courage.
When 7 o'clock came around, curious neighbours looking over their hedges could still make out the unmoving shadowed figure of Santana Lopez. She had been there waiting, arms crossed and eyes riveted on the closed curtains of Brittany's room. When Brittany's dad had finally come home, turning the car in and narrowly missing his daughter's girlfriend, before opening the front door with apologies for Brittany's conduct and the, ahem, near death experience. Santana had barely listened, only darted in and taken the stairs two at a time, before furiously trying to force the handle of Brittany's door.
Santana seriously considered breaking down the door. Even if the idea was indeed tempting, she was probably overestimating her bones' shock-resistance. She was decided to win her lover's heart back, she just needed the idea that would unlock the situation. And the door.
"You know what, fine! Leave this door closed if you want, I'll find a way to get in anyway!" Santana threatened ominously.
"GO - AWAY!" Brittany kept refusing.
Santana stormed back downstairs, passing Mr. Pierce and Britt's little sister in the hallway who shared a concerned glance, and rushed out of the house under the dumbfounded stares. She looked at the sacred window nervously, hands on hips and biting her lips. The door was a blocked way, fine. The window however was a possibility. She was willing to break the glass and pay for the reparations if that was what would bring Brittany back to her.
She grabbed a tiny rock in one of Mrs. Pierce's prized flower beds. She took a breath, pulled back her arm and threw it right at Brittany's window, in the same way she had done thousands of times before, when she had come to Brittany's house in the middle of the night to sneak into her favorite blonde's bed.
"I'm coming, Brittany! I swear I'm coming!" Santana screeched, way past the point of embarrassment now.
The curtain moved and she caught sight of one of the marvelous blue eyes she loved so much. Brittany hid back immediately.
"You see this tree right by your window? I don't fucking care, I'm climbing it!"
Brittany peeked again and hid once more. Brittany was convinced to the bone that it was a trick. Santana would hardly risk her life, would she?
"I'm doing it!" Santana threatened one last time. However, nothing moved.
Santana braced herself. She stared at the tree for a long moment, sizing it up. It was obviously solid, its branches were long and thick, and Santana's light weight wouldn't make it bend or break any time soon. She sighed and took her shoes off, throwing them on the green grass carelessly. Heels would be totally useless on that one. She lifted her skirt up and checked if her shirt wasn't too tight. She adjusted the position of her bag and tensed her soldiers as she walked towards her personal Mount Everest. Santana grabbed the first branch, adjusted her hold to see if she could indeed get a great support, and allowed herself a couple of minutes to figure out what would be the best way to climb up. Once the whole plan was engraved in Santana's mind, she took a deep preparatory breath. It was time.
"I warned you!" she shouted. And then, she was grunting as she began to climb all the branches leading to Brittany's window.
Brittany, hearing the sudden commotion, hurriedly pushed the curtain away and threw the window open. "Don't do that! You're gonna get hurt!" she panicked, but Santana was already on her way, taking the branches one after the other with the agility of a well-trained cheerleader.
"If I die, it's going to be 'cause I love you too much to care!" she explained determinedly, sliding her leg on a higher branch.
"Get down! Santana please, get down, I'll open my door! I promise!" Brittany kept pleading, drying the sudden sweat on her hairline with a trembling hand.
Like a sort of Romeo half-way to her Juliet's balcony, Santana ignored all Brittany's pleas while scratching her bare legs on the rough bark. She heaved herself up until she could reach the closest branch, a big and solid branch that was pointing right to Brittany's window. She straddled it, taking a strong and safe position to talk to Brittany straight in the eyes.
"Babe, get down, please..."
"Hell no! I did not climb up here for nothing, so now you're going to listen to me!" Santana pointed menacingly in Brittany's direction.
Brittany froze, witnessing her love on the verge of falling if she made one false move or forgot momentarily about her precarious position. Petrified, her face lost all its color, leaving a sick pale skin behind.
"I don't have a fucking clue about why you're so mad at me, but you know what, I don't care! Because I fucking love you, and wherever your thoughts got lost, you're wrong! You got everything wrong, Blondie! So you pull your shit together. I love you way too much to hurt you! Do you hear me, I love you way too much for that! Whatever you think I did, it's not true and I'm sure it's a misunderstanding-"
Brittany just about died. "Santana, please, get d-"
"I am not getting down! I'm willing to risk my own life if it's the only way for you to believe me!" she emphasized, making sure to torment the blonde with the proof of her love.
Brittany held onto the window frame as she leaned out, holding her hand out to convince Santana to come to her.
"I AM NOT GETTING DOWN! You listen to me, I'm not finished!" Santana shrieked animalistically.
Brittany stepped back immediately, obeying Santana's orders, taken hostage by her lover's risky position and not knowing how to proceed.
"Brittany Susan Pierce, I love you body and soul and I will not come down until I'm sure you're sure about that. I love you more than I ever thought I could possibly love someone, and if you think I don't, I want you to look at this," she held the branch with one hand to pull her bag with the other. She lost her balance for a second, but clutched her thighs hard around the branch to be steady again.
"Oh my god, please, I beg you..." Brittany felt tears stinging her eyes.
"Nuh huh!" she shook her head, rummaging through her bag for a precious little box. "I got you this earlier today," she threw a little box covered in black velvet in the air.
Brittany caught it in mid-air and opened it with trembling hands and watery eyes. A pretty ring shun up at her, a little round diamond stuck on a white gold ring.
"Holy smokes," Brittany let out in a gasp. "Are you serious?!"
"Fuck yeah I am! I want you to wear it, and every time you're doubting that I love you or whatever, I want you to remember that one day you'll be Mrs. Lopez. There is no other option than that, do you hear me? One day, we'll be living together, we'll get our place, we'll get married, and you'll be fucking Brittany Susan Lopez. Or Lopez-Pierce... Pierce-Lopez? Or I'll be Mrs. Pierce," Santana got lost in her wondering.
Brittany trembled as the love of her life poured her heart out as she hung from a branch, with the insanely dangerous void under her feet.
"Anyway! We'll be Mrs something and I'll fucking love you until the end of time. I love you from Sunday to Saturday, January to December, every minute, every hour, and I am not letting you believe otherwise!"
"I love you too Santana, but come back to me, please," Brittany cried out.
"Do you now realize how much I love you? Do you?" Santana asked for confirmation, looking straight in Brittany's eyes as she considered whether to actually come in.
"Yes, I do..."
"Do you understand that I'm willing to do anything for you, that I love you no matter how far we are from each other?"
"Yeah..." Brittany admitted from the bottom of her heart, sniffling sadly. She sat on the window frame to get a greater support to pull Santana in. "Please come in..."
"I'd swim a whole ocean if it was the only way for me to get back to you, you get it?" Santana almost threatened. Her voice was hard, course, and left no room for argument. She wouldn't leave this branch until she was sure that Brittany wasn't calling her to safety out of worry.
'I'd do the same for you, please, come in..." Brittany begged, her eyes melting with tears.
"Brittany, this is not an engagement ring, this is a promise ring. I'm giving it to you 'cause I'm promising right here right now that I'll do everything I can to make this future happen. And it sure will! Someday, I'll ask you to marry me, down on one knee and we'll get engaged and stuff; just... not with me on a branch. Like, you deserve a better proposal than that, mi amor..."
Maybe the sun had finally come out from behind the cloudy sky, or maybe it was just Santana, but Brittany felt her whole body burning. She melted. Her heart, her mind, everything melted. She threw the box with the ring on the closest piece of furniture and straddled the window frame to get closer to Santana, in a position she knew would be strong enough to support her soul-mate.
"Please..." Brittany whispered, offering her hand out.
Santana pulled herself together to start a path to the window. Slowly, and carefully she advanced on the branch, holding onto it fiercely and trying to keep her cool. She could put a foot on the house porch's roof soon, just a few more steps. Brittany grabbed her hand with a strength that surpassed her and pulled her love through, embracing her as if her life depended on it.
"You scared me so bad!" Brittany cried out, dissolving into long overdue sobs.
"Don't lock yourself in like that ever again," Santana breathed out in her girlfriend's neck.
"I promise," Brittany said right before crashing their lips together.
Lips and tongues dancing, the hole in their chests finally disappeared. They had missed each other so much that kissing again seemed like kissing for the first time.
Santana pulled away a little, "I meant everything I said."
"I know..."
Without letting go of Brittany, Santana stretched to grab the little forgotten box on the desk. The ring that had cost her a decent amount of money, the money she had saved to pursue her New-York dream, deserved to be displayed on something better than cheap furniture. Something like Brittany's ring finger.
"I did not do all of this to see it decorate your desk," she kidded lightly.
Over Brittany's shoulder, she pulled the ring out of its case and threw the empty box away with little care. She stroked her lover's arm until she'd reach her hand, and looked for the right finger. Brittany dried her tears, her face reddening happily and a smile eventually shining through the drying tear tracks. Smirking, Santana went to slide the ring on the finger. She paused right before passing the second knuckle and raised an eyebrow, asking for permission.
Brittany chuckled, torn by emotion. "Yes... Yeah... I love you so much", she breathed out helplessly.
Without needing to be told twice, Santana slid the ring home and she then intertwined their fingers. Brittany threw her arms around her future fiancée and resumed kissing her with a new hunger and passion they'd never known. The kiss seemed to never end. Minute after minute, they craved even more of each other. They were forced to pull away reluctantly, their lungs on the verge of shriveling for want of air. They chuckled, breathing heavily.
"Why were you so mad at me?" Santana softly inquired.
Brittany blushed, now realizing her fears had been nothing but irrational. "I thought... I thought you were cheating on me," she admitted, embarrassed.
"What?!" Santana croaked out, startled. "Why?!"
"You weren't answering your phone, I got scared! And when you did, you weren't paying attention to what I was saying, you were barely speaking... I thought you'd rather be with someone else, or that someone was distracting you, I don't know..."
"Babe! I wasn't answering because I was at training and it gets me freaking exhausted! Each time I had time to call you, I was actually sleepy. I was just sleepy, I promise!"
Brittany stared back with puppy eyes.
"I missed you... so much!" Santana insisted.
Brittany relaxed. She gazed at her girlfriend, took deep breaths to refill her lungs with her perfume, the smell she had craved for so much. "You really want to marry me... one day?" she whimpered.
Santana scoffed. The answer was so obvious, it didn't need an actual spoken answer. Brittany stretched her hand out to contemplate her ring, a rather marvelous crown gracing her hand. "How can you afford that? It looks so... so..." she had no words.
Santana giggled. "Just take the bling, babe... I have my ways..."
If Brittany knew that she had spent some of the money that had been saved for her future, Santana knew her girlfriend would just kill her with a few choice words, saying things like how her future was much more important than her. So she'd just keep it quiet. Deep down, Santana knew the rest of the money would indeed be spent on New York, in exactly one year from now. When Brittany graduated, when Santana could leave Louisville, and when they'd move together to the Big Apple to start their official life as a couple.
Thanks for reading :) !