Ch.1 Is It You?

Santana Lopez sighed heavily as she pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, feeling the onset of a headache begin to grow. It was one of those dreaded days that frequented the surgery from time to time. It was barely 11 and already she was feeling drained.

The torment of the gale-force wind that had blown all night, combined with the incessant pounding of the rain against her bedroom window had been so loud, that she had given up on any chance of drifting off.

Instead, she'd opted to getting out of bed and taking her duvet to the sofa to watch some crappy late night television and resentfully catch up on the ever-growing pile of paperwork that she'd be en putting off all week.

However, this erratic sleep pattern wasn't something new for Santana Lopez. To be brutally honest, she had become a borderline insomniac and had been this way for a few years now. The sofa had become a regular haunt for her to grace during the early hours of the morning, in a vain attempt to bore herself to sleep. Therefore the constant yawning during working hours inevitably became a regular part of her day.

She chuckled inwardly as she remembered what a heavy sleeper she'd been through high-school. The amount of times she'd registered in late had grown beyond a joke, thus resulting in many hours sat in detention. But she hadn't minded. All those hours in isolation contributed greatly to her badass reputation at the school.

Being head cheerleader and going out to the coolest house parties almost every night were the cause of her late starts. Her fellow members in Glee club had been astonished that she had been able to graduate whilst juggling such a hectic social life.

Ha! If only they could see her now! A young GP with the social life of a pensioner- well at least old people had bridge club, all she had were late night re-runs of Friends.

As ashamed as she was to admit it, Santana Lopez had turned into her parents- everything her hardcore partying teenage self had promised she wouldn't be. But those days were long gone now, and now her 24-year-old self lacked the teenage vigour that she had regretfully not appreciated at the time.

But it wasn't to say by any means she was letting herself go...Oh no, Santana Lopez prided herself on her appearance, keeping her body toned with regular late night jogs and her hair glossy with regular trips to the spa. It was clear to any outsider that had a lot of free time on her hands.

To her Mother's dismay, Santana's regular stream of boyfriends had fizzled out after college and she displayed no interest in looking for another relationship. Naively, she put it down to the heavy workload that comes with being a GP. Santana grimaced; if only her Mother knew the real reason...

Wanting to have some idea what she was up going to be up against before the solace of her lunch break arrived, peered furtively out of her office door. She groaned inwardly as she saw the busy waiting room; it was filled with a mix of truanting school students hoping to get the day off and hypochondrical new mothers, fretting over their young one's runny nose.

Rolling her eyes and huffing submissively, she closed the door and went back to her desk, waiting for her next arrival to knock. She loaded up the file on her computer to review the patient's background history.

A 2 year old female named Aubrey Jameson. The girls file didn't give her much to go by, she was a new patient who had only registered with the surgery a couple of months back. Curiosity soon grew; Lima was a small town, and Santana knew pretty much most of the patients registered at the surgery. It was a novelty to see a new face. Contemplating the new patient, she leant back in her chair and closed her eyes tiredly breathing deeply through her nose...

A small rap on her door snapped back into reality and out of her absentminded day-dream about where she'd planned to get lunch later. (She was wavering towards just getting a burger and breaking her ill-attempt at a new healthy eating resolution.)

"Come in.." She called, swiveling round in her chair as she usually did to greet the patient. She reluctantly prised her heavily eyelids open, ready to meet the newbies. However the sight that met her was something that was she had not been expecting whatsoever and she almost toppled out of her seat. She felt her heart skip a beat with shock, and heard herself suck in a sharp intake of breath. Could this really be happening right now? She quickly blinked again, checking that her eyes weren't deceiving her. Nope, definitely reality.

A tall blonde stepped hesitantly into her office, with a small girl of the same hair colour hanging onto her hand reluctantly. The kid was a spitting image of her mother, even to the point of having the same smattering of freckles pepper her nose. She was looking down at the child, coaxing her inside with a reassuring smile. The girl obliged, trusting her mothers judgment and tottered into the room. The young woman began to turn her head back round to face the stunned Doctor.

"Hi Doctor Lo- Santana?" Eye contact was forged as blue eyes locked onto brown. Hers widened with recognition and her mouth instantly split into a brilliant smile. Shocked by her reaction, Santana couldn't help but mirror the two took in each others appearance, eyes trailing over the differences between their memories of each other and the present profiles before them.

It seems that Brittany. hadn't changed at all, dressed in faded blue jeans, tan boots and a white hair was slightly shorter, resting just past her shoulders and Santana wondered if she still used that coconut shampoo that smelled so good... Oh jeez, what was she doing?! Suddenly she checked herself, and forced a professional atmosphere back into the room. She cleared her throat uncertainly.

"Hello Brittany, long time no see." She cringed internally at how ridiculous she sounded, but the blonde seemed unfazed by the awkward aura filling the room. She plonked herself down onto the chair next to the desk and hauled her mini-me onto her lap.

"Too long if you ask me San, how have you been?" She asked nonchalantly, rocking the girl gently with her knees as she curled her face into her mother's neck. Acting as if this chance encounter had been expected.

Santana watches intently as Brittany shows her maternal side, brushing the childs hair off her face. How absurd, this was not the same care-free girl from William Mckinley High School. Wow, how things change.

"Erm-" She clears her throat again, had her mouth been this dry this whole time? "Yeah not too bad really, never left Lima though." She chuckles, more to herself as she thinks back to her teenage dreams of New York and stardom.

So foolish-she now thought with the benefit of hindsight and a well paid job. She wondered how Berry was doing, hoping she hadn't starved to death in some dingy shoebox apartment.

"And yourself?"

Brittany studied her face as Santana spoke, and despite her best efforts, couldn't help herself stealing quick glances at the woman's lips. She subconsciously licked her own before replying. "Well I went to LA for a little while, tried my hand at becoming a dancer, and it went pretty well...But things didn't quite go to plan there"

She rests her chin against the top of Aubrey's blonde head, emphasising what she meant. Santana glanced at the child, flashing her the best attempt of a friendly smile that she could muster during this scenario. Aubrey looks uncertainly back surveying her with large blue eyes, but she returns the smile nonetheless.

She looked very cute, dressed in a pretty pink frock with small yellow ducks embroidered all around the hemline. Her little legs were swinging rythmically, but other than that, she stayed still on her mothers lap.

"Then I went here and there, and now here we are, back where we started in Lima" She smiles, but Santana can't help but notice that it doesn't quite meet her eyes, which look slightly distant and tired.

Trying to stay professional, she steered the conversation back to the reason that fate had reunited them in the first place. Still trying to process this overload of information that has come with the arrival of her old best-friend. (Was that all she had been to her, what should Brittany be defined as?) Her head is spinning so she focuses on what she knows."So what brings you here today?"

"Well, we came here today because Aubrey here-" She bounces her on her knee, causing a musical tinkle of laughter to fill the room, a sound that causes both women to grin stupidly. "She has had a fever and and upset tummy for a couple of days, so I thought it best to check it out."

Santana nods as she listens, yet she still can't quite comprehend that Brittany has a baby. How very surreal this all felt. So instead of trying to wrap her head around this new information, she carries out routine checks; listening to Aubrey's chest, taking her temperature and timing her pulse. The child was as a good as gold for her, keeping still and holding out her arm when Santana asked for it.

All the while Brittany watches amused, also slightly shocked at seeing her old friend act so professional and the natural way she was interacting with her daughter.

"Well it's nothing too serious," Santana states, slumping back into her chair, unable to wipe the smile off her face everytime she makes eye contact with Brittany. This was ridiculous, she'd thought these feelings were long gone, but yet there was a small flutter in her heart everytime the young woman smiled at her. She wondered what Brittany was feeling right now...

Her mind couldn't help but wander back to the times that they had spent together; the lazy summer afternoons that had been filled with careless attitude that came with adolesence...


They were both lying on their sunbeds next to the pool in Santana's back garden, enjoying the last few days of the summer break before they were forced back into the mundane routine of school. Santana had been quite content to just lie there and so had Brittany- for about three minutes. She squirmed about restlessly on her sunlounger, alternating positions every other minute and sighed loudly soon after.

"Saaaan, " she whined. "Can we go swim, I'm so bored just lying here, cooking myself. Pleaseee?" She had propped herself up on her elbow so that she could use her puppy-dog eyes to their full effect. Santana though, had grown wise to Brittany's ways of persuasion and avoided eye contact at all costs.

"Not yet Britt, we only just got out here, I needs to get my tan on." She replied, hastily turning a page of her gossip magazine in the hope that she looked completely disinterested in the other girl. But really though she kept looking out the corner of her eye behind the safety of her sunglasses.

She couldn't help but smile at her friends shameless begging as she tried to get her own way. Brittany huffed childishly and threw herself onto her back, crossing her arms as she did so. After that she was quiet for a while and allowed Santana to finish reading. She put the paper on the floor and closed her eyes, relishing in the warmth of the sun. Brittany watched her and grinned as she devised a second plan to get her best-friend into the water.

Santana suddenly felt lips move slowly against her own. She recognised the familiar sensation and began to kiss back, astonished about how eager the other girl was to deepen the kiss. Not that she was complaining though. She kept her eyes closed and let out of soft moan of appreciation.

However just as quick as the kiss came, it was gone- before she could really begin to work her magic. Without even having the time to prise her eyes open to question Brittany's motives, she heard a splash. She looked over to the pool and saw the just the girl's head as she held onto the side. She was looking not at Santana, but at her sunbed. Santana followed her gaze, and to her delight, saw her bikini top lying ontop of her towel.

And just like that, Santana was in the pool.


Pulling herself out of this reverie, the Brunette states "Seems that she has a stomach bug, I'll prescribe a course of antibiotics and that should clear everything up. She'll be right as rain in no time." She begins to print off a prescription.

"Thank you, San," Brittany says, chewing nervously on her bottom lip. A mannerism she owned that those close knew signaled that something was playing on her mind. Of course, Santana instantly recognised the giveaway. Brittany turns her attention to the child, "Say thank-you Doctor Lopez, Aub." The girl who was chewing on her fingers, mumbled an incoherent "dockor lopez" a thick lisp. It truly was adorable.

There was a moment of silence that allowed tension to seep into the atmosphere. They both knew that the appointment was up, but neither wanted to accept it was time to say Goodbye. Panicked, Santana struggled desperately to conjure up a reason to see Brittany again...

"Yerp, just pop back in a week to-" The lame is cut short as Brittany interrupts her with a blunt request.

"Go to dinner with me tonight?" She blurts. The way it's said doesnt really imply it was a question, more of a demand really. Santana feels her heart elate. "We have so much to catch up on, I have missed you, San.." She mumbles, quieter than before. Blue eyes find Brown, and look pleadingly into them. Both shocked and ecstatic, the Doctor nods her head and smiles, causing Brittany to smile too.

"Breadstixx?" She suggests to the woman, causing a torrent of memories to marr her mind and her eyes mist as she recalls the times they went there together, so many years ago.

"Sounds perfect." She blonde smiles.

The two women exchange numbers and agree to meet there at seven later that evening. They make an awkward goodbye, refraining from embracing, but both clearly yearning to re-establish the contact. Both too nervous to make the first move, unsure where the boundaries are between them anymore. Instead, Brittany takes Aubrey's hand and they slope out of the room at the snails pace set by the tot.

Before she's out of sight, she turns and flashes one last smile before she closes the door leaves Santana alone in her office, head spinning and heart racing at what has just happened.

"Breadstixx here I come.." She breathes to herself, in an futile attempt to try and bestill her beating heart. But her heart had other ideas...