Chapter Two
It had been another month since Brittany and Santana had met and, needing to relieve some stress, Brittany was cycling. She viciously peddled the stationery bike as sweat pooled on her neck and dripped off her bunned up hair. It shone on her brow and dripped off her forehead down her nose.
"You know," she began, turning her head toward her adopted brother, Mike, "This celibacy thing is doing wonders for my body. It's like I'm on this cleanse and my entire being just feels new again."
Mike laughed and cycled along with Brittany, trying to match her pace as she raised the level, "You're not celibate, you're just not getting laid." He chuckled, wiping his forehead as he gripped the heart rate sensors along with his sister and peddled faster.
"Which means that, technically, I'm celibate." Brittany said with a roll of her eyes as she gripped the sensors with sweaty hands and fastened her pace while Mike tried to keep up.
"Santana's still not giving it up, huh?" Mike asked with a cheeky smile as Brittany huffed.
"It's not about her giving it up, it's about her actually acknowledging that she may have feelings for me." She said, raising her cycling level again and wiping a drop of sweat from the tip of her nose, "But, no. No sex yet."
Mike laughed and shook his head as a loud, deep voice boomed a greeting from behind them, "Hey!" Exclaimed Liam Pierce as he approached the two while their heads turned to face him in unison, "My two kids working out together. Better keep up, Mikey, she's smoking you." He said as he patted his son's shoulder and pecked his daughter's sweaty cheek as she gave him a high-five.
Brittany had incredibly strong legs from her cycling days in her teens - she used to compete in cycling races and would almost always finish in the top three. She was fit as a fiddle, "Dad, Britt's literally been cycling for an hour and fifty-two minutes." Mike panted, "I got here ten minutes ago."
"What time did you set it to?" Liam asked Brittany and she sniffed as she buried a sweaty hand in her hair, digging her fingers underneath her messy bun and massaging her head.
"Two hours." She muttered, holding the sensor with one hand as her other rubbed her scalp. Liam nodded, impressed as Brittany raised the level to its limit and gripped the sensors with both hands again.
"What about you, Mikey? How long?" Liam asked, giving his son's shoulder a squeeze.
"Half." The boy replied, struggling to keep up with his sister.
"Half an hour?" Liam asked incredulously before letting out a chuckle, "Better strengthen those legs, my boy, we have the family cycle race in three months and you're participating."
Brittany snorted at the pained expression on Mike's face and she sped up, "Keep up, Mikey. Push yourself." She instructed as her father smiled at their efforts to prepare for the family race and began to walk around the large gym, observing all the people training and working out.
"My legs aren't as strong as yours." Mike said, "I'd kill you in crunches, though."
"Is that right? Well, then let's go, pretty Asian."
"No, it's not she comma did. Who the fuck wrote this?" Brittany grumbled as she edited the two thousand and twenty-seven page book, Arrangements. She'd stayed overtime to finish editing the fourth chapter and her mother had left her the keys to the building.
Her phone buzzed on her desk, bouncing with the vibration.
S. J. Lopez: You still at the office?
Brittany inhaled deeply and replied, running her tongue across her teeth and hitting send.
B. S. Pierce: Yeah. Editing that bitch of a book.
She continued correcting the grammar, punctuation and spelling errors in the fourth chapter, sighing at how obvious and Fifty Shades of Grey the mistakes were. It was ridiculous. Her phone buzzed again and Brittany picked it up, reading over the text with a small smile.
S. J. Lopez: Jesus. It's eleven-seventeen at night. Have you eaten?
The woman's concern for her made the blonde's stomach twist up in knots and she happily typed out a reply.
B. S. Pierce: Not since twelve this afternoon.
The reply was instant.
S. J. Lopez: I'm bringing Burger King.
Brittany smiled and felt a sense of warmth rush through her at the thought that her crush was concerned about her wellbeing. Concerned enough to get dressed out of her pajamas, go to Burger King and have dinner with her in her dimly lit office. Surely Santana's concern meant she had feelings for the blonde however, she would explain her concern by saying: "You're my best friend, Britt. Of course I'm concerned." Which, while sensible in theory, didn't faze Brittany. She had a gut feeling that Santana's concern dove a lot deeper than just friendship.
The elevator doors dinged open and a tired brunette wearing a messy bun, overalls and panda slippers padded onto the ninth floor and toward the light in Brittany's office where the blonde was focusing deeply on her computer screen, glasses perched on her nose and frown in place. Santana tapped her fingers against the glass of the door and pushed it open, Burger King bag in hand as she shut the door and seated herself opposite Brittany.
"Hi, hard worker." She greeted the woman who moved her glasses to her head and smiled tiredly.
"Hey. Thanks for doing this. I was just gonna grab dinner on my way home." She said as Santana handed her a pepsi and began to unpack the bag. She pulled out a large, double whopper with large fries and placed it in front of Brittany, smiling widely as the blonde's stomach spoke to them at the sight.
"Don't be silly. I couldn't sleep anyways." Santana brushed it off, pulling out her nuggets and fries, crumpling up the bag and tossing it into Brittany's trash can.
"Nice shot." Brittany smiled, eating a fry and sipping her pepsi, "I love you so much for doing this right now. I'm sorry I had to take a rain check on our movie night. This book is an editor's nightmare."
"I know. It was missions to read. But the story's good." Santana said, biting into a nugget and chewing as she threw her leg over her knee and leaned into the comfortable chair.
Brittany nodded in agreement and happily opened her burger box, picking the large burger up and biting into it earning a laugh from the woman sitting opposite her, "So gud." She mumbled as she wiped some sauce from the side of her mouth. Santana chuckled and ate the rest of her nugget before sipping on her own pepsi and sighing.
"I'm happy that you're happy." Santana smiled as she lifted another nugget and bit into it.
"Thus us tha best fud eva." Brittany moaned through a mouthfull of her whopper. Santana smiled widely and continued to eat her nuggets, announcing she was full when she'd eaten seven and pushing them towards the almost finished blonde, "T'anks. You full?"
"Uh-huh. Eat up, blondie." Santana said, nibbling on a fry as she gave the rest to Brittany.
The ravenous blonde greedily finished off all of her fries, her entire burger, all of Santana's fries and the five remaining nuggets before chugging down half of her pepsi and letting out a loud belch. Santana laughed and shook her head.
"You're so gross." She whined, picking up her drink as Brittany bashfully excused herself and cleared her throat.
"Sorry. I ate too fast." She mumbled as she moved her glasses back to her nose and looked back at her computer screen, "You're great, you know."
"I know." Santana smiled a cheeky smile and Brittany rolled her eyes.
"Wow. Listen to this: He pulled her comma close and caressed her full stop cheek before kissung the tipe of her nose and comma givung it a small bite." Brittany read from the text and huffed, correcting it and shaking her head, "Did this guy not finish school or...?"
"Nope. Dropped out in the ninth grade." Santana told her as she chewed on her straw, "He can write but, he's not so good with the spelling and punctuation."
"Definitely not. And this book is so damn long. It's gonna take me months to edit the whole thing." Brittany complained and Santana pouted in sympathy.
"At least tomorrow's Saturday. You can sleep in and you don't have sit behind a computer all day editing other people's crap." Santana offered, watching Brittany contemplate her words.
"Yeah, I guess. Are you busy tomorrow?" She asked.
"Uh, I'm taking my niece to the aquarium." Santana said, "If you're not busy you can come along. I'm sure she'd love you."
"Yeah, alright. Great. Sounds good. I'll meet the two of you there."
"Aunty Britt'ny! Look! Look at the shark!" Gabi squealed as she clutched onto Brittany's hand and dragged her toward the large window displaying large sharks swiming around in their tank. She pressed her face up against the glass and Brittany smiled at her adorable antics while Santana chuckled and leaned down, pecking Gabi's cheek lovingly, "Wow! Tha's a big fishy!"
"Yeah, it is pretty big, huh?" Brittany mused, "Have you seen how big their teeth are?"
Santana smiled as she watched the two converse, "Uh-uh." Gabi shook her head, "How big?"
"Humungus!" Brittany exclaimed, stretching her arms out and widening her eyes. Gabi giggled and tugged on her hand again, dragging her to the other end of the glass window to see the biggest shark swim around the tank.
"Tha' one gots big teeth, huh?" She asked with a curious look and Brittany nodded.
"Yep. That one's teeth are probably huge."
"Gabi, you wanna go see the penguins?" Santana asked from behind the two girls. Gabi swung 'round and her eyes widened excitedly.
"Yeah!" She exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together before rejoining her small hand with Brittany's bigger one and taking Santana's hand in her other as they walked toward the penguin exhibit.
As they entered the penguin section of the aquarium, Gabi gasped in awe at all the black and white birds either bathing themselves or waddling around on the rocks.
"Aunty S'tana, look at the birdy. He looks like Happy Feet." Gabi squealed, pointing at a baby penguin and giggling happily. Brittany hovered close behind Santana and rested her chin on the brunette's shoulder.
"She's so adorable. She gets so excited about everything." She mumbled into Santana's ear and the brunette subtly shivered at the feeling of Brittany's hot breath enveloping her ear.
"Mm." She hummed as she watched her niece attempt to read the information on the penguins, pressing her index finger to her chin as her tiny brows furrowed in concentration, "She's just like her mother. And she has an amazing singing voice for a four year old."
"Really? I'd love to hear her sing sometime." Brittany whispered, eyes on Santana's flushing tan cheek as she played with the hem of the woman's shirt, "I'd also love to hear you sing. I'm sure you're great."
Santana smiled and bit her lip, "Well, I- Whoa! Gabi, don't climb in there, sweetheart, you're not allowed to touch them." She said, moving away from Brittany and rushing to her niece who was currently trying to climb over the large rock separating them from the penguins. Santana lifted Gabi into her arms and moved back toward Brittany, "They bite, babe." She told the girl who pouted and gave her aunt a nod.
"Sorry, Aunty S'tana. I just wanted to make Happy Feet dance." Gabi said and Brittany smiled, brushing a stray strand of brown hair from the girl's face.
"I don't think these penguins have very happy feet." She told the girl gently and watched her nod in understanding.
"Can we go get food? I hungry." Gabi told her aunt who smiled and pecked her cheek, putting her down and taking her hand.
"Let's go grab lunch and then we'll get Gabi a stuffed animal from the gift shop." Santana said, allowing the young girl to forget about the penguins and excitedly begin to chatter away about what stuffed animal she wanted to get.
As soon as they were seated at a table in a restaurant, Gabi ordered drinks for everyone and gave the waitress a thumbs up as she smiled and left the table. Evidently Gabi had ordered each of them a chocolate milkshake.
"Did you see that nemo blow the bubbles?" Gabi asked with wide eyes as she knelt in her chair and placed her palms flat against the table, "It was so cute!"
Brittany and Santana chuckled in unison before Brittany gave the waitress a smile in thanks as the girl placed their chocolate milkshakes down in front of them and took their food orders from Gabi.
"And the oktahpussy." Gabi nodded, proud with her pronunciation.
"Octopus." Santana corrected with a bubbling laugh, "Don't say that in front of your parents."
When Brittany heard the tiny brunette's pronunciation of octopus she almost choked on her milkshake in laughter. She'd never heard a four year old say 'pussy' in her life.
"Yes. Good plan." Gabi agreed, giving her aunt a thumbs up before standing on her chair, "Can I go play?"
"Of course. Just be careful." Santana warned as Gabi climbed off her chair and moved to the playroom.
"Aw, man, I can't wait to have kids." Brittany thought out loud with a smile.
"Really?" Santana asked.
"Yeah. You don't want kids?"
"It's not that I don't want kids - I definitely do - but, I'm twenty-two so, I'm not thinking about that just yet." Santana replied as she twirled her straw around her fingers.
"Ah. Well, I'm twenty-five but, I've been thinking about that since I was seventeen."
"Why am I not surprised?" Santana teased, "Ugh, god, I have to go into work tomorrow to pick up Shelby's goddamn glasses."
"She's making you pick up her glasses?"
"Yeah. It's my job; I'm her assistant. Picking up her glasses is... assisting her, I guess." Santana huffed and sipped her milkshake.
"Well, my mom mentioned you at dinner the last month - I forgot to tell you." Brittany said, watching Santana's interest spark, "Apparently she wants Shelby to promote you. She said when she was visiting the ninth floor she bumped into you?"
"Oh! Yeah. Last year. I was working on... something. And she just so happened to see what I was working on. She seemed impressed." Santana said.
"How come you never told me you write?" Brittany asked earning a bashful smile.
"Well, if I had told you, you would've wanted to read my work and the first time somebody read my work, they threw it out the window." Santana informed her earning a gasp.
"What?! Bitches." Brittany said earning a soft laugh, "Well, when you're ready, I'd like to read your work."
A sigh, "Alright." Santana said, "I'll let you know."
"Great."
"...I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." Santana read as she watched Gabi fall asleep, perfectly tucked in to her snug big girl bed. She closed the book and kissed her niece's cheek before standing up and putting the book back in the book shelf, "Goodnight, beautiful girl. Sleep tight and sweet dreams with the angels and the fairies."
And with that, Santana shut off the light and quietly left the room, moving back downstairs and toward the living room.
"...mechanical engineer." She heard Puck say as she turned the corner and walked into the cozy yet spacious living room to join her sister-in-law, her brother and Brittany.
The blonde had agreed to meet Gabi's "mommy and daddy" and the little brunette introduced her happily before dinner. Brittany was invited to join them and was then subtly grilled by Rachel about her relationship with Santana. And, after a delicious dinner of pork, crackling, roast potatoes and carrots, Brittany continually thanked the chef's for the amazing meal.
Currently they were seated in the living room conversing over their jobs when Santana walked in and took a seat next to Rachel.
"Rach is a director. She's working on a movie right now." Puck said, sipping his coffee as Brittany pulled an impressed expression.
"That's awesome. Would I have seen anything else you've directed?" She asked and Rachel nodded.
"Perhaps. I directed The Gentleman. It won eleven Oscars."
"You directed The Gentleman? That's my favorite movie." Brittany told her, "Wow. I know the person who directed my favorite movie, this is crazy. Would you sign my hand?"
Rachel, Puck and Santana laughed as Rachel picked up the lone pen laying on the coffee table and signed Brittany's hand.
The four adults talked for hours until Santana finally ended the conversation by saying she had to head into work the next day. Brittany nodded and the two of them left but not before Rachel shoved the rest of the roast potatoes into Brittany's hands in a tupperware. The blonde smiled widely and pecked the small woman's cheek before getting into her car after hugging Santana goodnight and leaving.
"That woman is smitten with San." Rachel muttered as she watched Brittany pull out of the driveway followed by Santana, "I bet San'll crack in two months and sleep with her."
"I'll take that bet. I know my sister. Hundred dollars says it takes a year." Puck smirked and Rachel smiled, waving at Santana as she drove off.
"You're on."
A/N:
Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows. I appreciate them greatly. Also, to the guest who complained it was G!P Brittany - which I have a feeling is the same person that complained in ALDLL - it's in the summary that it's G!P Brittany so, if you don't like it, don't fucking read it. And, also, don't open the story just to complain if you hate G!P Brittany. Jesus.
Thanks to the rest of you for your lovely reviews! Keep 'em coming.