Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 34th cycle. Now cycle 35!

YEAR TWO ANNIVERSARY CYCLE! - It's now been two years since I've started this Gleekathon, and like last year I'm dedicating the cycle to commemorating my 21 favorite one shots or chapter stories from year two (up to the point where I did the planning ;)) A number of those I was very attached to, but left sad to see may have fallen through the cracks, so it seems fair they should get a second shot ;)

Last year there were three categories, but this year I've added two new ones: Prequel, Sequel, POV Swap, and now Alternate Ending, and Additional Scenes. In no particular order... Today's story is an Alternate Ending to #388 "Don't let me down" a Brittany/Santana story originally posted on November 13th 2010.

"Leap of Faith"
Brittany/Santana

She stared to the side, to her bedroom window so the ceiling wouldn't dizzy her. All that did was to remind her Santana was out there, maybe not gone from sight… So she got up and walked to the window… She saw her, but she was already too far away, walking…

Getting away…

The next thing she knew, she was pulling the window open, reaching for something to grip on to. It might have seemed to people like she did this all the time, but she'd never climbed out of her window… well… not this window, at her father's. But she'd seen the side of the house enough times to know it was doable. She just wished she wasn't in such a hurry or she would have been more careful about her path on the way down. As it was, she was going at it blind, hoping she wouldn't fall and break her neck… but that was only a small price to pay when held up against the possibility she might not catch up to her…

"Easy… easy…" she mumbled as she went, her eyes hesitating between squeezing shut and turning them this way and that so she could find her way. She felt her foot slip and gasped… only to find she'd reached the ground – she'd made it. She let out a breath, smiled… then she remembered what she was meaning to do, and she tore off running toward the street, skidding at the sidewalk, looking left… right… No… Where had she gone? Had she lost her, she…

"Brittany?" she heard a voice call out of nowhere, not anywhere near her, more like… above.

"Who's there?" she blinked.

"Who do you think?" It was her; she stood up straight.

"Santana? Where…" she turned, back toward the house, looked up… and there she was, hanging out of the very bedroom window Brittany had climbed out of. "How'd you get back there?"

Walking down that street, on her way to her car, which she'd parked far enough away so not to be within sight, Santana didn't know what to do with her hands. She knew it was a stupid move, to ditch Brittany as her duet partner like this, because of what people might think, but she'd just… she'd panicked. She felt that fear, and she locked into security mode in a flash. That included making her exit.

She hated herself for it more and more with each step she took that carried her away from that house, from her… She didn't know what they were going to be, didn't know… how they were going to be… anything… She didn't even know how she felt about… if she felt… what she…

"Oh, damn it…" she groaned, turning around. She was just going to go back, maybe tell her… she was sorry, for how they'd left things off, nothing more, just so she wouldn't be mad at her and they could get back to a place where they were okay, the two of them… no more of this crap that kept nudging them apart because she panicked…

She got back to the house and through the door, climbed up to Brittany's room… only to find it was empty. She hadn't seen her downstairs, maybe she was in the bathroom, or… She saw the open window and the idea was crazy enough to feel absolutely right. Standing at the ledge, she saw her down there, her eyes searching… searching for her… And in that one moment, something changed… clicked, maybe… But up there on her own, seeing the blonde looking for her, with bits of leaves in her hair and her clothes letting Santana know she'd climbed down the side of the house to get to her… She felt her cheeks rise into an overwhelming smile, which she tried to rein in when her call finally drew her attention and Brittany looked back to her. When she asked how she'd gotten there, Santana laughed.

"Stairs," she pointed back, and she could see Brittany's face shrink into an 'oh'… She hadn't thought of that. "You came after me…" she couldn't help but remark.

"You came back…" Brittany stated, too. There was a pause. "Am I coming back up there, or are you coming here?" she called back.

"Just get back here… and stop shouting," Santana waved her over, looking to either side, hoping they hadn't drawn attention from the neighbors. "And use the stairs this time, you'll hurt yourself."

"Okay," Brittany nodded, jogging back up to the front door, climbing to her room and then stopping at the door when her eyes and Santana's found each other. She wasn't sure what to do now, Santana saw… She wasn't too sure of it either, to be honest. Somewhere inside her she knew exactly what she wanted to do, but it was either too far down, or too new and scary, that accessing it felt impossible… and yet there she was, standing in front of all the reasons for it gathered up in the shape of a girl, and her yearning was enough to swallow her whole. "Do you still… not want to do the duet together?"

"I'm not… I… Can we not… talk about that part yet?" Santana struggled to find her words.

"Got it," Brittany nodded, taking a couple of tentative steps forward. Santana matched them, added a few more until they were almost at arm's length. "What made you come back?" she went for instead. Santana looked to the side, hesitating, then…

"You?" she looked back to her, finding a smile. "I shouldn't have left like that, I wanted to say I was sorry," she explained.

"You didn't have to," Brittany shrugged.

"I did have to," Santana promised. There was a pause. "Why did you come after me?" she turned the question on her.

"I didn't want you to go," Brittany answered as plainly as she knew how to. "Please don't go?" Santana let out a breath, taking another step so she could wrap her arms around the blonde. She felt Brittany's arms close back around her, like a breath warming her body. Santana closed her eyes. What was she supposed to do now? How were they going to… to…. She had no idea what she wanted, and even then it was more like… she had no idea if she could want it… All she knew was that trying to make sense of her head right now would only lead to getting a migraine. It wasn't Brittany herself that made it like that… it was everybody else.

"Not going," she didn't let her go. "Not now, at least… I mean I'm going to have to go home eventually," she tried to lighten the mood, and the chuckle she heard at her shoulder was a good sign.

"That's fair," Brittany agreed. Santana didn't know how long they stood there, arms around each other… she was just lost in the scent emanating from her skin, her hair… If she could have, she would have stayed there, 'not go.' Maybe if she looked at her, made herself look into her eyes, she'd know what she was supposed to do, and she wouldn't panic again.

"Hey…" she whispered, and they pulled back… She knew those eyes even better than her own; her breath caught in her throat. Why couldn't she just say…

All manners of thinking left her brain when Brittany's fingers reached to rest at the back of her neck. How was she always so calm? Santana sure as hell wasn't calm right then, her heart was tripping over itself to keep up. 'What are you doing?' she would have asked, if she had the ability to formulate words in that moment, but Brittany still must have sensed it, because she smiled.

"Just making sure your digestion is good," she sounded almost teasing, recalling what Santana had said before; it eased a laugh out of her, only to have it silenced again, now by lips meeting hers. She knew it wasn't going to solve all her problems, make her life suddenly easy, but just like she probably couldn't think a coherent thought or speak any kind of understandable word in that instant… she couldn't care less… Brittany's touch, her kiss, everything it meant, was all she needed… Maybe she'd finally taken that first step in the right direction, because she'd been lost for too long.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!