The next few days are an endless cycle of numbing sadness for Santana. Luckily it's the weekend, which suits her fine as she wants to do nothing apart from mope around her apartment aimlessly. Rachel calls a couple of times to make sure the swimmer's head injury has healed sufficiently, but each time Santana gives a few simple answers and then ends the call as bluntly and quickly as she can.

She can focus on nothing else except the guilt that is consuming her, plaguing her with flashbacks of the hurt on Brittany's face, the betrayal the blonde had so obviously felt when Santana had rejected her so harshly. Santana is filled with regret, and wants nothing more than to grovel in front of Brittany on her hands and knees and beg for the woman's forgiveness. But Brittany is ignoring her calls and texts, and as Santana listens to the tone of Brittany's answering machine for the millionth time today, she rubs at her temple and lets out a deep sigh of frustration mingled with a small sorrowful sob.

She spends the rest of her evening curled up on the sofa in her sweatpants and oversized jumper, watching Friends re-runs and trying not to let her scattered thoughts drift back to that dazzling smile and those enchanting sapphire eyes…


Santana wakes up the next day feeling pretty much the same; her heart heavy with remorse and melancholia, just wishing there was a way to rectify her harsh, senseless words.

She knows that contacting Brittany on the phone is hopeless, as the blonde has now turned off her phone; with that being pretty much a lost cause, Santana eventually resolves to find Brittany at work first thing Monday morning, so she can apologise and clear this entire thing up.

With that decision in mind, she feels slightly better, and spends Sunday cleaning her apartment and devising a heartfelt apology speech to Brittany in her head. But her thoughts are disturbed by her phone ringing loudly from her bedroom, and she drops the rag she is cleaning with and races across the living room, almost breaking her neck in the process. She lunges across the bed for her phone, eyes burning into the screen.

'Rachel calling…' it reads.

She sighs, shoulders drooping, her hopes of Brittany calling back dashed within seconds. But she composes herself a little, straightening up before answering with a resigned:

"Hello Rachel."

"Santana, hi. I take it you've recovered from your little head trauma the other day?"

Santana inhales deeply, her blood boiling at Rachel's snarky tone. But she supresses her anger, clenching her fists before muttering:

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Good. Now, as you well know, we've got Mr Chang's charity event tomorrow night, which is being hosted by his wife Tina and himself."

Crap. Santana had completely forgotten about that. She shakes her head, pulling herself out of her thoughts and listening to Rachel who is still babbling on.

"…and you have been asked to be the official representative of our agency, so I expect you to be here bright and early tomorrow morning so we can brief you on what to say and then send you into hair and make-up to make you look your utmost best."

The swimmer takes a deep breath, before putting on an overly-cheerful tone and replying:

"Sure. I'll be there. Bright and early."

"Great. Bye!" Rachel calls, ending the call with a resounding click.

Santana takes a moment to think, her mind whirring. She decides that she has to get to Brittany tomorrow morning before she is whisked off to the charity event and loses a prime opportunity to talk to the blonde. If that happened, she would have to wait even longer to see her and Santana doesn't think she can wait that long.

With her plan formulated in her mind, she packs up her cleaning things and sets about preparing for an early night; she has a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a pretty long day.


The swimmer arrives at the Lima training centre for athletes at 7am, coffee buzzing through her system. She is pumped and ready, fully set on finding Brittany and straightening out this mess so they can go back to how they were before Santana's tactless words had carved such a deep canyon between them.

As Santana is walking towards Rachel's office, she suddenly has a revelation; whenever there is a charity event like this one, she's always been allowed to take a plus one. In the past she had always just gone with Blaine, because neither of them had anyone to bring and Rachel liked the idea of the two gay sportspersons being each other's 'beards', but now… now she could ask Brittany. The sheer simple brilliance of the idea has Santana beaming, and there is a spring in her step as she approaches the corridor that houses the head offices. But her journey is abruptly brought to a halt when she suddenly comes face to face with none other than Rachel.

"Rachel! I was just-"

"Lopez, there's no time for any funny business! You are to come with me right away so we can prep you for your speech tonight – we don't want you getting carried away and blurting out something stupid like that moron Sam Evans did last year."

Santana gulps a little as she recalls the previous year's mishap, which triggered a rather angry committee board and ended with Sam, one of the swimmers on the company's synchronised swimming team, being expunged from the organisation; in Layman's terms, he had been fired faster than a midget out of a canon at the circus.

So she simply nods to signal her agreement, following Rachel meekly, keeping one eye peeled for any flashes of flaxen hair flitting past her vision. But, to her dismay, Brittany is nowhere in sight.

However, she is soon occupied with memorising the pre-prepared speech, and thoughts of Brittany are pushed to the back of her mind for later. Hours of posture-correction and diction lessons pass, and she lets out a sigh of relief when she's finally set free, determined to find Brittany now and clear up this mess before the event tonight.

But, before she even makes it to the door, Rachel is blocking her path, a bemused expression on her face as she looks up at Santana.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Santana panics, then decides to tell Rachel the truth. Well, kind of.

"I, uh, I was going to find Brittany, to ask her if she wanted to come as my plus one tonight. You know, just to give her the experience of going to an event like this, while she works here."

Rachel scoffs, rolling her eyes before placing her hands firmly on Santana's shoulders.

"Lopez, there is no way in hell that is happening. You're going to go to this thing with Blaine, to maintain your heterosexual facades, like you always do, and you can see your friends in your own time. Okay, sweetcheeks?"

Santana nods miserably, feeling her heart sink into the pit of her stomach, her mind clouding over with despair.

"Wonderful. Now, be back here in an hour so we can get you fitted for a dress. A lovely evening gown will be perfect for this kind of thing, don't you think?"

Rachel saunters off without waiting for a reply, leaving Santana feeling distraught. The swimmer begins to race around the facility in the allotted hour of free time, becoming more and more panicked when she can't find Brittany anywhere. The need to make things right between them is eating her alive; she's never felt a need like this before, a need to be close to the blonde again, to see her warm smile, to hear that infectious giggle. She knows what she's doing is dangerous, and that she's risking everything she's worked hard for, but she also knows that Brittany is special, and that letting her go would be the most foolish thing she has ever done.

A flash of movement unexpectedly catches her eye, accompanied by a swish of golden hair, and she bolts towards it, grabbing a swinging arm wildly as the faceless woman rounds the corner ahead of her. But she then looks up to see Kitty Wilde, one of the gymnasts on Blaine's team, regarding her with a quizzical expression as she surveys Santana's hand clamped around her wrist.

"Uh, sorry." Santana mutters, letting go rapidly. "Thought you were someone else."

The short strawberry blonde smiles cautiously before turning and continuing to walk towards her destination, turning to look back at Santana curiously before disappearing into one of the adjoining rooms that lie off the narrow corridor they are currently in.

Santana lets out a cry of frustration, desperation building within her as the seconds tick by. She slumps against the wall, sliding down before burying her face in her arms, pulling her knees up against her chest. She feels tears building in her eyes, but is roused from her distress by a familiarly soothing tone.

"Santana?"

"Oh, hey Blaine." The brunette sniffles, as the petite man crouches in front of her, his dark curls bouncing around his face as he tilts his head, his ample eyebrows creased with worry.

"What's up, buddy?" he enquires softly.

Santana had liked Blaine from the moment they had met; this was down to the man's infallible likeability and his incomparable ability to make any situation feel better with his soft voice and comforting words.

But she doesn't think even Blaine can help her with this, so she simply collects herself and turns to Blaine, a smile plastered on her face.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Just a little stressed about tonight."

Blaine can sense the forceful strain behind her smile, but decides not to push the matter, instead helping Santana to her feet and looping an arm around her neck.

"Come on then, San. Let's go see what hideous outfits they've prepared for us tonight." He chortles, even managing to entice a tiny giggle out of the troubled brunette.

Blaine leads her back towards the prep room where she had worked on her speech, arm draped loosely around her shoulder, a gesture that she finds unexpectedly reassuring. But her moment of serenity doesn't last long as they are herded into the room by Rachel, dresses and tuxedos thrust into their faces; the brunette finds herself being hustled into a lilac floor-length dress, which is actually a lot nicer than she was expecting, while Blaine is prodded into a tailored suit that actually makes him look rather dapper. Then, before Santana even knows what's happening, she is being bundled into a limo with Blaine and finds herself entering the grand building where the event is being held all too soon.

She takes a moment to peruse the décor, slightly in awe of the grandeur awaiting them inside. The floor of the main event room is entirely coated in white marble, which is flecked with dashing speckles of rich amber and deep jade crystals, embedded in the snow-white stone to create a striking contrast beneath the aristocrat's feet as they walk the length of the room with their acquaintances. The windows too are mesmerising, adorned with intricate designs entrenched in the glass itself, the frames swathed with velvety white curtains that hang down elegantly. The room is lit by a large chandelier, but its simplistic yet beautiful silver design reduces the judgmental tones that Santana usually reserves for pompously narcissistic displays such as this.

After she has taken a moment to lose herself in the elegant splendour of the room, she returns to the fragmented thoughts that have been rattling through her mind all day. She comes to one final conclusive decision, and vows to find Brittany as soon as she can once the event is over to talk to her about everything that has happened.

But, as Santana turns to greet a colleague of Rachel's from another sporting agency, she stops dead in her tracks as she sees an all-too familiar blonde head of hair across the room. Her words die in her throat as she stares, wondering if she is imagining this. But as she sees Blaine follow her line of vision and wave, she knows this is real. And she is frozen with horror.

She can't believe this is happening.

Of course Brittany would be here.

Of course Rachel would bring her assistant along to an event like this.

And of course she would choose this exact moment to turn around and see Santana walking arm in arm with Blaine as they enter the hall.

Santana sees Brittany's face fall, the hurt etched deep into her crystal blue eyes as she watches the brunette saunter in attached to Blaine. She then watches as the blonde hurriedly composes herself and fixes a too-bright smile on her face as she and Rachel approach Mike and Tina Chang, the benefactors who arranged the event. Santana sees pleasantries being exchanged, but she cannot tear her eyes away from Brittany's, those cobalt orbs, normally so full of light, now dull and dark with pain.

Santana knows that this is only adding fuel to the fire after what she said to Brittany at the restaurant, and wishes there was a way to just fix everything right now.

Santana spends the rest of the evening in a haze, robotically greeting fellow athletes and spouting her memorised speech on the stage before slinking back to her seat, her mind firmly settled on how she is going to make this up to Brittany. The image of Brittany's wounded expression is burned onto the back of her eyelids, and every time she blinks it serves up a fresh reminder of how badly she has hurt the innocent woman and how desperately she wants to right the wrong she has committed.

She begins thinking of ways to show her regret for her callous words, and is in the middle of wondering which flowers Brittany would like most when she sees her across the room, laughing hysterically at something that is being whispered into her ear by an alluring blonde woman with hypnotic hazel eyes. Santana feels red-hot jealousy flare up in her chest as she recognises the woman as Quinn Fabray, one of Lima's most accomplished lawyers and a notorious womanizer, and she fights to control her breathing as a red haze descends over her eyes.

As she watches Quinn trail a finger slowly up Brittany's arm and another bolt of jealousy spikes within her, Santana realises that, while she cares about her career and maintaining a certain image, she also cares a hell of a lot about Brittany.

And then it dawns on her; what Rachel has been spouting to her over all these years is, in fact, wrong, and more importantly than that, it's immoral. She should not be hiding who she is in order to have a successful career; if anything, she should be using her societal pedestal to inform people and help others who may be struggling themselves with personal issues like confusion with their sexuality and self-identification.

With that stunning revelation firmly in mind, before she has even completed her next thought she finds her feet carrying her over to where Brittany is standing. The blonde senses movement coming towards her and her eyes widen as she spots Santana storming across the room, making a beeline for her. Brittany opens her mouth to ask what Santana is doing, but before she can get the words out, Santana has already gently covered her lips with her own, her hands travelling up to softly hold Brittany's face as she kisses her once, lingering momentarily before pulling back slowly, eyes fluttering open, dark brown orbs flashing with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. A heavy silence blankets the room as one by one, all eyes fall upon the scene that is unfolding.

Brittany is frozen, eyes glazed over, staring at Santana, utterly speechless. A few unbearably tense moments pass, until a resounding clap is heard from within the swathe of people surrounding them. One by one, the claps multiply, building to a crescendo until the room is filled with whoops and cheers.

Santana's eyes find Brittany, who is grinning from ear to ear. They embrace tightly, while the blonde who had previously captured Brittany's attention edges away slowly until she dissolves into the crowd.

"This out enough for you?" Santana smirks, taking Brittany's hand and intertwining their fingers together reassuringly. Brittany giggles, ducking her head shyly. The hubbub around them eventually subdues, the rest of the event goers returning casually to their conversations, much to Santana's surprise.

Her joy doesn't last long, however, as a painstakingly familiar tone drifts across the room.

"Lopez!"

"Uh-oh…" Santana mutters, wincing a little as Rachel comes storming towards her.

"I only have one thing to say to you Santana…" she states, and Santana bows her head, bracing herself for the worst.

"Genius!"

"Huh?" the brunette's head whips up, ogling Rachel with a look of complete and utter confusion on her face. Brittany looks just as baffled, as Rachel grins, throwing an arm around Santana's shoulders.

"Coming out like that, making such a bold statement? It's brilliant! I don't know why I didn't think of this before!" she continues.

"But… you said-" Santana begins.

"I know what I said; it would be bad for your reputation, blah blah blah. But it's occurred to me; gay is now okay! So instead of hiding who you are, we should be proclaiming it to the world! And who knows, this could win you some sponsorships deals from companies like Subaru; you know how they love their lesbians!" she winks, before walking over to the wine bar, shaking her head in amazement.

Santana and Brittany stare at each other momentarily, before letting out squeals of ecstasy.

"I can't believe it!" Santana exclaims, pulling Brittany in for another hug.

"I'm so proud of you." The blonde murmurs into Santana's ear, before pulling back and kissing Santana's knuckle softly.

The brunette blushes and averts her gaze shyly, before meeting Brittany's eyes once more, her own eyes shining with happiness.

"Well, now that no one exploded or died with that revelation, I've got an idea. How about we get out of here and give that dinner another go?" Santana smiles, faltering a little as she waits for Brittany's response.

"I thought you'd never ask." Brittany grins, much to Santana's relief. She tugs on Santana's hand, leading her out towards her car, the moon shining brightly in the darkening evening sky, illuminating the beginning of something beautiful.


I know this was a short story overall, but I hope you all enjoyed it nonetheless! And let me know what you all thought of this last chapter, reviews are very much appreciated as always :)