Chapter Two: The Alphabet y Mi Abuela


It was a full school year later when Santana would consider them best friends. Brit had tugged her around by her pinky leading her from place to place as the incomprehensible voices had washed over her for the first few weeks. All year Brittany had been her partner for all group work. Brittany's patience, Rachel's never ending rambling, Puck's willingness to name anything she pointed to, and the rest of the class had led to vast improvements in her English. And slowly Santana had soaked it up, to the point that she could now converse entirely in it though with a distinct accent. On the other hand, no one had really learned much Spanish. Even Brittany had only learned a few phrases, Puck a few bad words.

Today was the last day of class and tonight they were putting on a show for the parents. Each had been assigned a song or part of a song. After some struggling, the teacher had given Britt the alphabet, hoping she could manage the simplest song Mrs. Parks could think of. Santana had one of six parts in the five little duck song.

They were rehearsing today and Rachel was singing the Star Spangled Banner as the opening number.

"She's really good," Brittany whispers.

They are sitting beside each other in the auditorium.

Santana puts her feet up on the seat, "Whatever".

She pretends to be indifferent even as she is amazed at the number of words Rachel has memorized, and kind of jealous too.

"Don't be mad San," Brittany whispers again, her breath tickling Santana's neck, "You know you're the best".

Santana shakes her head and is about to respond, you're the best, when the teacher sends them a be quiet look. Santana is silenced but Brittany's oblivious.

"5 little ducks went out one day. Over the hill and far away," she sings softly, "Come on San, you have the best part. You go first. Sing with me! Mother duck said..". Brittany is staring at her expectantly.

Puck's pulled some kid's hair and the noise provides a cover.

"Quack, quack, quack, quack," Santana giggles bending toward Brittany, "But only 4 little ducks came back".

Brittany frowns, "Where'd the other one go San? Why doesn't the mommy go looking for them? She just keeps losing her duckings".

"Ducklings," Santana corrects absentmindedly.

Brittany's pout brightens, "You are getting good at English".

Santana nods, "Don't you remember? She calls and they all come back at the end".

"Brittany you're up," Mrs. Parks calls.

Brittany springs up and they release pinkies. On the way to the stage Britt glances behind her and Santana gives her a thumbs up sign.

Brittany is standing up there all alone. The lights make her look like she's glowing, but Santana can see the fear in her eyes.

"A, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l," she pauses.

Come on, Britt. You got this! Santana hopes. They had sung the song everyday for the past two weeks. But this section always tripped her up. Brittany would reverse the m and n or squish it all into one word elenemoe, emmenn, nnemm.

"h, i, j, k, l.." Brittany tries again, her face turning even paler.

"M, n, o, p," the teacher prompts her, "From the beginning please Brittany".

Brittany swears she tries her best to remember but it just comes out all wrong.

"Mrs. Parks," Santana finally calls out unable to take the look on Brittany's face.

All eyes turn to her, her English may be improving but that doesn't mean she speaks up much in class.

"Yes, Santana?" the teacher replies. "Maybe we could switch parts," Santana offers, "I know the whole alphabet".

"So does everyone who's made it through pre-school," Rachel says under her breath, this was taking time away from perfecting her solo, maybe adding a dance routine.

Santana glares at her and nearly pounces but Puck yanks her back.

"Cállate. Si alguna vez dice algo acerca de ella, otra vez, que implica que ella es estúpida. Voy a hacerte daño," Santana threatens furiously.

"Santana," the teacher warns.

Rachel looks frightened and confused.

"I don't know if Brittany could memorize your whole part by tonight," the teacher continues on, reluctant to admit she doubts Brittany could remember anything for this show.

"I already know it," Brittany chimes in.

While Brittany is singing about ducks, Santana stalks toward Rachel. She leans in close to the girl and hisses, "I said shut up. If you ever say anything about her again, ever, that implies she's stupid. I'm going to hurt you".

Rachel's heart is pounding when Puck pulls Santana away.

"God, watching you is like a full time job," he complains.

"Oh please, all you were doing is plotting how to steal people's snacks," Santana answers, rolling her eyes.

"Like you don't want more animal crackers, Lopez," he replies bumping shoulders with her.

Santana ignores him and watches Brittany finish the song perfectly. The performance goes well.

Brittany comes off stage and tells her "I like ducks now, that song is fun." "Quack, quack," Santana answers with a laugh. "But I still like kitties best," Britt assures her, "and unicorns too".

Santana nods and makes her way on stage.


A few days later and Santana is already tired of summer. Instead of seeing Brittany at school everyday and for play dates at her house on Saturdays, she never sees her. Britt lives in Lima Heights, a brand new fancy subdivision. Santana lives in Lima Heights Adjacent. Her parents are struggling to pay off med school debt for her dad. They can barely cover the loans and mortgage between her mom's work as a waitress at a diner and what her dad makes as an intern. Their neighborhood isn't the nicest, even though it's only a few minutes from Brittany's.

It doesn't really matter though. Santana usually goes and sits in the diner at the counter after school. She does her homework, reads, and usually gets a milkshake. But doing it everyday is really boring.

Today Maribel's shift is ending and it's already 11pm. Antonio dropped her off at 7pm when he had to start his shift at the hospital. Santana ate a late dinner here, grilled cheese and fries. That was hours ago. Maribel nudges her and says its time to go. The little girl can barely keep her eyes open and is happy when she's picked up. Her mom smells like burgers, and Santana falls asleep in her arms with ease.

She's in bed late and woken up early so they can get to mass on time. Santana tries not to fall asleep in the pew and remembers that after this they are going to her abuela's house. They eat dinner there every Sunday with her cousins. Brittany is always begging to come with and Santana tries to dissuade her. Her abuela's house is in a slightly better section of town but it's even smaller than Santana's. She hasn't even brought Britt back to her house yet, not after seeing the mansion Brittany lives in. Also, though they all speak English, her abuela insists on only speaking in Spanish so they don't "forget where they came from". But today because Brittany asked her mom instead of her, she's coming. At least they aren't going to her other grandparents, who had called her "cara de basura" ie garbage face and were so mean Britt would have spent the whole time crying.


Brittany runs out when she sees their car, Bridget trailing after her.

"Your coat," the ten year old says full of self-importance.

Santana would have snarked but Britt simply says, "Thanks big sis" and clamber into the car.

Brittany's blond hair is done in one long braid and she's wearing jean capris and a pink t-shirt with the Cheshire Cat on it.

"His eyes and teeth glow in the dark," Brittany informs her proudly, catching her stare.

The smile fades and Britt says, "I guess I'm not really dressed up though".

Santana looks down at her own white church dress with a flowered applique and white shoes, "This is just from church. I'll change too once we get there".

"Muy…bonito," Brittany says, "Is that right San? Very pretty?"

"Muy bonita," Santana replies, "You too Britt-Britt".

When they get to the house, people are spilling out onto the lawn. Santana bites her lip and looks to see Brittany's reaction. Britt just grins and pulls them out of the car. Her cousins Julio, Sergio, Rafael, and Marco are fighting with pretend swords but quickly crowd them.

Brittany's eyes widen and she reaches for Santana who links pinkies with her.

"This is Brittany," Santana introduces, "We'll come play later".

"Oooo, Santana's got a girlfriend," Rafael teases her.

"Do not," Santana huffs as she tugs Brit away, up the stairs.

"Come on, Tana. Don't be like that. He was kidding. It's not like you'd really fall for a girl. You can be on my team. No mine," the boys call as she stomps into the house.

Brittany looks at her face, it's all stormy thunder clouds, "Come on San," she says softly, "Let's go meet your abuela".

Santana's face brightens.

"Abuelita, esta es mi amiga. Se llama Brittany," she calls eager to be heard over the noise.

"Santana, mi carina" her grandmother exclaims pulling her into a hug.

Brittany is dragged forward too by their interlocked fingers. It isn't long before she's included in the hug.

"Hola Abuelita," Brittany greets.

Santana giggles, "That means grandma, Britt".

"Oh, I thought it was her name," Brittany giggles back.

Then her grandmother does something Santana is still grateful for, she breaks her own rule.

"Hi Brittany. It's nice to meet you. You can call me Abuelita too if you want," she says with a wink, "I've heard a lot about you from Santana".

Brittany's face lights up.

"She can talk, Santana!" Brittany exclaims sticking her tongue out.

Santana had been trying to prepare her for abuela only talking in Spanish, at this she just rolls her eyes.

"You're right Britt," she answers.

Santana changes her clothes and she and Brittany spent the afternoon running around with the boys and her dad, Antonio. They have her abuela's rice and beans for dinner, her uncle cooked fajitas, and her mom and aunt made tres leches for dessert. They eat at a big picnic table out back. Lantern lights are twisted in the trees and the sun is setting. Brittany had gotten along well with everyone, no surprise there.


After dinner, the boys run off somewhere in front and the adults go to clear the dishes. Santana takes the time to climb into her abuela's lap, Brittany standing beside her.

"Can we play boda?" Santana begs, "Please".

Her hands come up to cup her granddaughter's face, "Of course, nieta. Did you ask Brittany first though?"

Santana's face flushes, "Wanna play wedding Britt? It's lots of fun!"

Brittany nods immediately, whatever Santana want to play is always fun.

Santana brings down a basket full of old clothes from the upstairs bedroom. It's quiet outside, just the three of them. Santana immediately pulls out a white shawl and wraps it around her like a dress. Then she carefully removes the veil. Normally she'd hand it to her abuela to be placed on her head just so. But this time she gingerly places it on Brittany's blonde hair.

"What are you doing chica?" her grandmother asks, "You can't both be the bride".

Santana frowns, "Why not? It's the best part. I don't want to be the groom!" she whines stomping her foot.

"We could just have two brides get married to each other," Brittany offers innocently.

Santana nods.

"That isn't the way it works. The Bible says only a man and woman can be married," her abuela corrects.

Brittany's eyes are filling with tears. Santana doesn't really want to play anymore.

"Fine, Britts can be the bride," Santana huffs wrapping the shawl around her friend.

"You can be the maid of honor, Santanita," abuela says, lifting the little girl's chin, "You still get to wear a pretty dress and it means you're her best friend".

Santana's face brightens, "okay," she agrees digging in the box.

Her abuela finds a long red shirt and tugs it over Santana's head.

"Muy bonita, red is your color," she exclaims.

Santana grins and so does Brittany.

They walk down a makeshift aisle, Santana first then Brittany while abuela hums the wedding march. She asks what boy Brittany's going to marry today. Britt insists all boys have cooties but finally relents to the idea of marrying her kitten Lord Tubbington.

On the ride home Britt confides "But he's missed the ceremony, San," worriedly.

Santana had reassured her they could do it again, Bridget could be a bridesmaid and once her baby sister was born she could join in too.

"Our sister," Brittany corrects, she had promised to share the baby with Santana because she had no siblings.

Now after seeing her crazy cousins, Brittany's even happier she has all sisters.

Santana nods, "Did you have a good time?"

Brittany smiles, "Yeah, I want to go every weekend".

Santana looks away and Brittany can tell she is trying to build up courage to ask her something.

"What is it San? Can you not remember the English words? We can figure out what you mean together," she offers.

Santana shakes her head and her dark hair spills over her shoulders. She wants to ask what Brittany thinks of the house, it's small, with mismatched furniture inside and peeling paint outside. It looks a whole lot like her own house and Santana can't bring herself to ask.

"Never mind Britts," she answers, "Mami can you put on the CD?"

Santana's determined to teach Brittany some Spanish so they are rushing though "cabeza, hombros, piernas, pies" AKA head shoulders legs and feet, AKA head, shoulders knees and toes in English, as fast as they can on the last repetition and fall into laughter as they pull up to Brittany's house.

Brittany hugs her tightly, "I had the best day with you today, San," she whispers before dashing into her house.


Santana looks at Brittany sprawled across her bed. Her blond hair is strewn across the pillow. Santana wonders if Brittany ever learned the whole alphabet and decides Rachel had only grown more annoying as she aged.

She never did bring Brittany home to Lima Heights Adjacent. When they were in 5th grade they had moved into Lima Heights and Santana started having her over. She pretended they'd lived down the street all along. In 6th she started using her past as a threat and she assumed Brittany had figured it out. But she didn't know for sure, she'd yell "Soy de Lima Heights Adjacent" and Brittany would find Puck and together they would drag her away.

Now she had a bedroom with a sitting area and a walk-in closet. Her dad was making bank and Santana loved her new house with the huge outdoor fireplace and indoor movie theatre. But sometimes she misses when they were so squished together, constantly in each other's space, constantly together. Now her parents attend doctor's functions and leave her in an empty house.

It does have some advantages, like the blond currently in her bed. Santana slips off her robe and gets under the covers. Brittany's cold feet immediately find hers and intertwine. Santana allows this because it means she can use Britts as a pillow without feeling guilty.

This closeness, this sex that isn't dating, is why Brittany hasn't been to another Sunday dinner in years. She had come every Sunday until 7th grade, when they first kissed. Santana couldn't pretend it was just friends on her part and her abuela was way too perceptive, so she just stopped bringing Britt. She doubted her grandma would recognize the blond now.

"San," Britt murmurs in her sleep.

Santana is stirred from her thoughts and cuddles in. Not that she would ever tell anyone she's the cuddler.

"Night B," she whispers ghosting a kiss onto her forehead.

Santana closes her eyes and falls into a contented sleep.


A/N: So this is chapter two. Thanks to everybody who is still reading. Once again I'd love to know what you think. Hopefully, Santana's abuela was in character and you could see the love she had for her granddaughter but also her views being set up for later. Let me know what you think. The next chapter will probably feature the formation of the UnHoly Trinity, maybe. We'll see. Thanks for reading, I know this was a longish chapter and please review. Thanks!