They woke the next morning impossibly close to one another. Brittany's arm was laced around Santana's waist, her other tangled in her hair on the pillow. Both of Santana's hands were covering Brittany's where they rested on her stomach.
Santana was first to wake but she didn't want to move and disturb Brittany. She just lay there feeling Brittany's body rise and fall with each breath she took. The sound of her breathing was soft and steady and it relaxed Santana in a way nothing else could. She remembers that, if she doesn't fuck up again, there's a possibility that this is the way she'll wake up, every day, for the rest of her life. She's usually scared of commitment and forevers, but today it only relaxes her more.
Brittany stirs around fifteen minutes later and Santana rolls over so they're face to face and presses a soft kiss on her lips.
"Happy birthday baby," she says.
Brittany brings her hands up and wipes the sleep out of her eyes before replying, confused.
"San, it's not my birthday anymore. That was yesterday. Remember? You gave me presents and… presents," she emphasizes the second mention as she pulls Santana's hips closer to her as a reminder of just the sort of presents she was talking about.
"You think I'd forget that, Britt? Seriously? I'll be remembering last night for the rest of my life," Santana replies, laughing. "I know it was your birthday yesterday but I've decided to extend it and make it a birthday weekend. I want to make up for all those other birthdays when I should have been your girlfriend but I wasn't. So you're having a birthday weekend."
Brittany's face lights up in a way Santana's never seen before. She wasn't this bright after winning sectionals or even after she won class president.
"And I've got you another present, but you'll get it later," Santana says as Brittany pushes their noses together and gives her a kiss.
"Santana you didn't have to…"
"No, I didn't, but I wanted to. For you."
Two hours later they're in the park walking beside each other but not holding hands. Brittany hasn't tried to show any affection in public. She knows Santana's not hiding them anymore, but she also knows that the people in Lima are judgemental and sometimes there are worse things than just a glaring look that could happen to an openly gay couple here. Just look at what happened with Kurt and Karofsky.
Santana brings them to a halt on a bridge with a small river under it. She leans over the side and watches the water flow beneath them.
"What are you looking at?"
"The water. We're going to play a game," Santana says, turning to face Brittany who is smiling from ear to ear at the mention of the word 'game'. Santana reaches into the shoulder bag she'd brought with her and retrieves a small package before giving it to Brittany.
"Open it."
Just like the previous night, Brittany takes no time in pulling the paper off and opening the box. She lifts out the contents.
"Rubber ducks? What sort of game are we going to play with rubber ducks?"
"Pick one. The one you want to be yours. I mean, they're both yours – you can keep them – but for this game one of them has to be mine."
Brittany examines them carefully and Santana smiles at her because she's taking this far too seriously for her own good. The first duck is pink, is covered in flowers and has a purple beak. The second is yellow with a red beak, like a typical rubber duck, but it's wearing a sailor's hat and has a neck scarf on.
"This one," Brittany says, holding the pink duck in her hand and giving Santana the yellow one.
"Good choice, Britt. It means I get the sailor," Santana replies, smiling. "Okay, follow me."
Santana takes them down a small dirt path beside the bridge that leads to the riverbank. The river isn't deep but the water is flowing fast enough for this to work.
"Okay, so we're going to have a race. Both of us put our ducks in the water here and the first one to reach the next bridge wins. If your duck wins you get your present now. If my duck wins you'll get it later but, because I won, I get to do something that makes me happy. Deal?"
Brittany smiles back at her, her face the picture of excitement. "Deal," she says before they shake on it, making it official.
They lean down at the bank and place their ducks in the water beside each other.
"You can say when to go, Britt."
"On your marks… get set… GO!" she shouts, and she says it with so much force that Santana almost forgets to leave go of her duck, giving Brittany an early lead.
They scramble back up to the path and follow it alongside the river. The next bridge is about fifty meters down from this one so it won't take long for the race to be over. Brittany's duck gets temporarily held back by a log floating in the water and loses the lead, then Santana's decides to go sideways instead of straight on so they end up level pegging again.
They reach the bridge before their ducks do so they have time to fish them out with a stick and they don't keep on going. Santana knows how upset Brittany would be if she didn't get to keep the ducks, especially after the fun they've had here.
With a few meters to go, Brittany's duck gets stuck in the bushes that are overhanging the bank leaving Santana's duck to sail on and win the race. She leans down to pull it out of the water with a stick she found on the bank, while Brittany reaches into the bushes and retrieves her own. Santana hands the yellow duck with the hat back to Brittany.
"I told you the sailor would do me favours," Santana says. "So now I get to do something that makes me happy."
Brittany's bottom lip is jutting out in a pout because she lost and it gives Santana the perfect excuse to do the only thing that would really, really make her happy.
Brittany's shocked when she feels Santana's lips on her own. Santana's never so much as held her hand outside of the security of Glee club or their homes, so to be kissing her in public, on a Saturday afternoon, in the middle of the park is entirely new. It's not a scared kiss. It's not a peck that she's pulling away from two seconds later. It's a proper kiss. It's deep and sensual and they're lost in each other; it's everything a kiss should be.
Santana pulls away after long moments, but doesn't open her eyes right away. She wants to make sure she's committed everything about what just happened to memory. The first time they kissed in public as a couple. She's been dreaming about this for years and not one of her dreams compared to reality. As they both open their eyes and look at each other, they can't see anything else. Brittany speaks first.
"I…That felt amazing. No, it felt… What's a word for better than amazing?"
"Perfect?"
"Yeah. That felt perfect," Brittany says, stroking her hand over Santana's cheek before they both lean in and their lips meet for a second time. This is definitely something they can get used to.
They spend the rest of the day walking around the park holding hands because, once they'd started being open in public, they really just couldn't stop. It was worth the risk.
Santana could see that Brittany was getting impatient waiting for her present but was being too polite to say it.
"I've really enjoyed today, Britt," Santana says while they walk.
"Yeah, me too. But I like this – she squeezes Santana's hand in her own - and this - and places a quick kiss on her lips – the most," she says with a smile.
"Do you want your present now?" Santana asks, knowing the answer already.
"Only if you don't have another game for us to play."
"No… I don't… at least not for now." Brittany looks at her with that 'what are you planning!' and 'how did I ever get so lucky to have you?' face and Santana swears she'll do anything and everything she can to keep Brittany this happy.
She reaches into her bag again like she did earlier, and pulls out a box that's roughly the same size as the one that held the book the night before. She hands it to Brittany without saying anything, but leads them both to sit on a bench at the side of the path so Brittany can open it.
When they sit down, Brittany starts taking the wrapping paper off, but she's doing it slower now. She's starting to want to really take in all of these moments because if the last two presents are anything to go by, it's going to be something special. She doesn't want to rush it.
It takes a few seconds longer than it did the last two times, but Brittany opens the box and looks at what's inside. She gasps.
"Santana… How… Did you keep… Oh, my God."
In the box is a framed picture of both of them when they were nine years old. They're both wearing those paper hats that you get from a cracker – Brittany's is blue and Santana's is red. They're sitting on the floor playing with Lego, building something that closely resembles a house. The smile on both of their faces is the brightest thing in the picture.
Below the photograph in the frame are two party hats. One blue, one red. They're a little worn and have a few rips in them. After all, they are nearly a decade old and made of tissue.
"How did you get these?" Brittany asks, her finger tracing the photograph over the frame.
"I took them home with me that day. You took yours off so you could put on a Santa hat, so I kept it. I think…," Santana pauses and takes a breath before she continues. "I think that was the day I fell in love with you. I didn't know what love was back then or what it meant to be in love, but I remember building that house with you and thinking that I'd like to build a real house with you and live together. When we finished building the house we made our dolls move in and you played with a blue Power Ranger and I had a Barbie and we made them be married. You pretended that you were coming home from work and I pretended to be making you dinner and I remember thinking that I wanted that with you in real life, not just with toys. I didn't know what that meant back then but maybe if I did it wouldn't have taken us so long…"
Santana trails off as she starts thinking about how that day was nine years ago and it's taken her that long to actually admit how she felt. She starts beating herself up internally and Brittany can see right through her.
"Hey," she says, taking Santana's hand in her own. "You weren't ready back then. There's no way we would have worked if you weren't ready. I mean, I know you were far from ready when that election ad aired but you came out to your abuela on your own. You've accepted yourself now and that's why we work. It doesn't matter how long it took you, you got there in the end."
"Yeah, you're right. We're here now and there's nowhere else I'd rather be." Santana leans her head on Brittany's shoulder and they both look down at the picture in her lap, silently reminiscing about how simple things used to be back then.
Brittany doesn't tell Santana that she still has that blue Power Ranger and Barbie in a box under her bed for safe keeping because she thinks maybe that was the day she fell in love too. She thinks she'll leave that for another day.
