A/N: This is the end of the road for this story. Sorry it took so long to get up. As you may or may not have noticed, each chapter took place over the course of a single day…not that it matters or is important or anything, I just felt it was worth mentioning. This sort of shows the aftermath and offers some closure even though it's such a short final chapter.
A/N2: Special thanks goes out to all of you that put this on your alert and/or favorites list and especially those of you that reviewed. I hope everyone enjoys the conclusion.
Chapter Three: The Aftermath
Wednesday
"I still think it's unnecessary," Santana asserts, arms crossed over her chest and a scowl settled on her features as she leans against her closed locker to stare at the blonde.
"I know you do 'Tana, but I still feel really bad," Brittany frowns. "Besides, Lord Tubbington told me this was a good way to get rid of the rest of those candy canes sitting in my sock drawer," she adds, proud for finding a solution to that problem, at least.
"B, those candy canes are from three months ago. Why wouldn't you throw them away or give them to Tubbs?" She asks, a faint smile playing on her lips.
Brittany sighs as she closes her locker. "Throwing them away would be wasteful and you know peppermint gives Lord Tubbington gas," she reminds the Latina.
"Oh wow. I don't know how I could forget," Santana rolls her eyes at herself, a cold chill creeping up her spine as she recalls what happened back in 2008. "Fine, I see your point," she concedes, wondering how she's going to explain the candy canes to the others in a way they'll understand…but then she decides to not even bother.
"Yay!" The blonde dancer claps her hands with enthusiasm before unzipping her backpack. "Here, hold these," she instructs the Latina as she grabs two fistfuls of candy canes and handing them to her. "Thanks for helping me make these 'cause I don't think I could've finished them all by myself last night without you," she says gratefully as she opens up a folder and plucks out a pink pastel piece of construction paper folded in half.
"Please, please don't mention it…like, ever," Santana pleads, glancing around to make sure no one around them overheard that.
Rolling her eyes playfully, Brittany zips her backpack up again and plucks a candy cane out of Santana's arms, where she's cradling the dozen or so candy canes against her stomach. "And hold this," she tells her, forcing the shorter girl to shift all the candy canes so she can take the folder with the index and middle finger of her right hand.
"Seriously, Britts?" Santana asks as the blonde offers her a sweet smile before swiftly turning, inadvertently smacking her in the face with her ponytail, and flouncing off six lockers down.
Feeling something in the air around him shifting, Puck glances up only to find a blue frowny face on pink construction paper staring back at him, centimeters from his face. "Gah!" He yelps, jumping back a step.
"I brought you these," Brittany smiles as she thrusts the paper and candy cane at the mohawked boy.
"Thanks Britt," Puck says warily as he carefully takes the items from her. "What is it?" He asks in reference to the paper, choosing to ignore the fact that she gave him a candy cane in March.
"I made you a card," she beams proudly, sure that this will ensure that there are no hard feelings after the last couple of days. She hates hurting other people's feelings and it makes her sad having others angry with her.
Puck opens the handmade care and reads the thoughtfully printed words. I'm sorry I said your head looks like a poorly shaved dog's ass. He shoots the Cheerio a quizzical look. "Brittany, you never said that," he states simply.
Giving it some thought, the blonde's face tinges red. "Oh yeah, I may have said that in the Cheerios locker room yesterday," she chuckles sheepishly.
"Why would you-"
"No reason," Brittany cuts him off before turning and quickly walking back to the Latina. It's not her fault that a Freshman Cheerio asking Santana if she was still sleeping with Puck made her feel a little…bitter and defensive.
"All good?" Santana questions at the taller girl's approach.
"Yep," Brittany chirps. "Let's go. I want to hand out as many of these as possible before first," she smiles, taking the folder from the other girl before practically bouncing down the hall.
"The things I do for you," Santana mumbles to herself as she trails behind her.
"You love me," Brittany grins over her shoulder, waiting for her friend to catch up before placing a short kiss on her cheek. "But it's totally cool 'cause I love you too," she is sure to remind the Latina, who is now beaming back at her. "Oh! There's Kurt and Rachel," she announces, pulling out the two cards, snatching two candy canes from the other girl and thrusting her folder against Santana's chest before skipping off.
"Uh, hi Brittany," Kurt greets the blonde as he is the first to see her coming, prompting Rachel to turn around and cast an odd look towards the flustered and mildly disgruntled looking Latina standing a few feet away. The both wisely choose not to address the fact that both girls are now sporting matching band-aides on the same place on their foreheads from the lockers yesterday.
"I'm sorry," Brittany smiles as she shoves a candy cane and card in each of their faces.
Kurt can't help but smile at the crudely drawn unicorn on the front and how the inside simply reads Sorry I was such a scary beyotch. He writes off the candy cane as little more than a Brittany thing. "Thanks Britt-Britt," he says.
Rachel, meanwhile, is still reading hers…the inside of her card covers both pages. The blonde apparently realized that she had a lot to apologize for over the course of the last two days. …I'm sorry I called you 'Hymen'…I'm sorry I threatened to flush you down the toilet…And I'm sorry I spit in your dairy-free soy ice cream when you weren't looking. The list just went on. "Yeah, thank you Brittany," she offers a weak smile, her head spinning from everything she's reading.
Before Brittany can say anything else, the bell rings to signal they only have five minutes before they get to their first class. "Oh, boo," the blonde frowns, turning to take her folder back from Santana and grab her arm to drag her with her down the hall.
"Slow down B, I'm going to drop the candy – oomph!" Santana grunts as she runs into the taller girl's back, effectively crushing several of the candy canes.
"Here Finn, I made this for you," the blonde says quickly as she hands him a freshly broken candy cane before taking Santana's arm again and flying down the hall.
The Cheerios make it down the hall and around the corner before the baffled quarterback even opens his card. I'm sorry I suggested that we chop down your freakishly large body to use for firewood.
Later
Shutting her locker, Santana jumps back and gasps when she is immediately confronted with a Big Gulp.
"I gotcha something," a sweet voice announces from behind the cup, sounding very pleased with herself.
"What?" The brunette questions with furrowed brows.
"Your favorite flavor," Brittany grins as she shakes the cup for emphasis, prompting the Latina to take it from her.
"You got me a slushy?" Santana asks in confusion.
"Yeah, blue raspberry," Brittany confirms, her smile never faltering, not even upon seeing the perplexed look on the shorter girl's face. "You said the grape and cherry ones taste like cough medicine and the Pepsi slushy was an ejaculation," Brittany explains with a nonchalant shrug.
Looking up abruptly, the brunette shoots an incredulous look to the girl beside her before her expression softens into one of understanding. "You mean an 'abomination', right Britts?" She hopes to clarify, earning a noncommittal shrug in response. "Why did you get me a slushy?" She then wonders, knowing how much Brittany hates it when she throws them on the losers at this school. When Brittany's phone vibrates and she pulls it out to glance at the screen, Santana thinks nothing of it.
"It's for you to drink 'Tana," the blonde giggles as she hooks her pinky with her counterpart's and begins to lead the way down the hall.
"You know I can't B. There's, like, 1800 calories in just half of this and we're on that new diet that Sue…" the Latina trails off when Brittany shoots her a stern look over her shoulder. "Fine," she groans in acceptance before sticking the straw in her mouth and sucking up the flavored frozen sweetness. "Mmm, thanks Britt," she hums in contentment.
"Welcome," Brittany chirps, infinitely pleased that Santana is enjoying her treat.
"Why are there two slushies?" Santana asks after a moment of being led around the school as she notices the blonde holding another Big Gulp.
"This one's for me," is the simple enough answer.
"But you don't like slushies, you think they're too sweet," Santana points out. Brittany merely offers a cryptic smile in response as she brings them to a stop outside of the boys' locker room.
A few boys from the football team trickle into the hallway from the locker room, having used their free period to do some weight training. One of the last to leave is Mike, who winks at Brittany and shares a sly smile with her. Seeing this, Santana snaps her head towards the blonde, trying to pull her pinky from the other girl's, but Brittany holds tight.
"What the hell was-" Santana's rage (and jealousy)-fueled rant is cut off when Brittany turns to her, a mischievous shine in her eyes and an uncharacteristic smirk that can only be described as sadistic. The Latina is understandably startled into silence.
The door to the locker room opens again and the last of the football players steps into the hall. "Azimio," Brittany beckons him to come closer with the tone in her voice. He approaches with a cocky smirk…which is immediately wiped away by the deep purple sludge running down his face and drenching his clothing and shoes. "You should totally start keeping your eyes to yourself from now on," she informs him matter-of-factly with a stern nod at the end before dropping the cup at his feet and pulling an amused and complacent brunette behind her by their still joined pinkies.
"What just happened?" Santana laughs as they turn a corner.
Brittany's face blushes pink. "I didn't like the way he was looking at you during gym," she confesses.
"Oh?" Santana urges her to continue with an arched eyebrow, her lips twitching as she fights off a grin.
"He kept staring at your butt during volleyball…you were wearing those shorts," the blonde says by way of explanation, knowing that the other girl will know that she's talking about those small, short black shorts that drive her absolutely.
"Brittany!" Santana exclaims with a feigned admonishing tone. "By the sounds of it, you were having a hard time taking your eyes off my ass too," she playfully accuses, not able to keep the flirtatious tone out of her voice.
"Of course I was," Brittany chuckles like it's the most obvious thing in the world before turning serious. "Besides…" she trails off in a low voice as she leans closer to the Latina, reveling in her heavy breathing as she manages to pull her pinky free from the distracted girl's "…your ass is mine, after all," she grins, using her newly freed hand to land a firm, but not hard, slap to ass in question.
This results in Santana releasing an uncharacteristic yelp as she jumps nearly a foot in the air at the unexpected contact and almost drops her slushy when bringing her free hand to the affected cheek. "Britt!" She squeals, her voice sounding more than just a little high-pitched.
Standing in front of Santana, Brittany simply smiles innocently before lightly bopping her on the nose. "Boop," she giggles before swiftly turning around to skip down the hallway, leaving a flustered Santana in her wake.
Choir Room
"You're joking, right?" Santana scoffs incredulously, slurping at the dregs of what remains of her slushy.
"Seriously Santana, after the last two days, you are no longer allowed to question what makes sense or not anymore," Quinn asserts, the others murmuring their agreement. She's relieved when the others continue their discussion about the assignment and no one thinks to ask why she's not sitting in her usual spot beside Santana in the back with Brittany. Quite frankly , Quinn's been a little afraid of Brittany since the blonde gave her a handmade card during lunch. Sorry you're not Cheerio Captain anymore. Sorry I called you those names and got super-jealous and stuff when you touched or hugged Santana. Though not so bad on its own, there was a line of writing at the bottom in parentheses: (But no, seriously, 'Tana's mine so hands off before you lose them.)
"Who's dumbass idea was it to do a mash-up of Korn and the Spice Girls in the first place?" Santana barks, ignoring the tug to her pinky as everyone stares back at her in disbelief.
"Thank you!" Rachel exclaims, glad that someone feels the same about the idea as she does.
"San, it was your idea, remember?" Brittany is quick to point out.
The Latina snorts her disbelief as she sets her empty cup under her seat. "As if."
"It was on Monday when you and Britt were acting all bizarro," Puck prompts in hopes of jogging her memory.
"I don't recall that," she maintains her poker face, choosing to study her nails to determine how desperately she needed a manicure.
"Come on 'Tana, you gotta remember 'cause I remember everything. And we even talked about your Korn/Spice Girls idea a while ago," Brittany reveals, all eyes now on Santana.
"Never happened," the Latina replies, sound far less confident than she had moments ago. "Maybe Lauren slammed my head against that locker yesterday hard enough to affect my memory," she accuses the larger girl.
Lauren simply smirks down at the other girl. "So, you do remember something then?" She points out, not missing the fact that the Latina remembered the lockers. Seeing the bandages on her right hand immediately brings her back to the incident as well as the card Brittany made for her. Sorry I gave you a black eye and threatened to maim you and calling you names…and also San's hair slicing your hand.
"Whatever," Santana grumbles petulantly, unable to keep up the scowl in the face of Brittany's contagious smile. "Are we doing this or not?"
"Unless anyone has any better ideas," Will looks around the room for any raised hands…other than Rachel's. "Okay then!" He claps enthusiastically. "Let's get to work on some choreography," he instructs, ready to see this come together.
Thirty Minutes Later
It doesn't take long for the room to empty out once they finish their first day of working on this mash-up. Artie glances up from the green card on his lap, surprised to find that he's not alone after all as Brittany and Santana stand in front of him, pinkies still linked.
"Did you read it yet?" Brittany asks her former boyfriend, nervously biting her lower lip as she waits for his answer.
Artie thinks to the straightforward words inside: Sorry I was rude and broke up with you the way I did. "Yeah," he nods, comforted somewhat by the way her body relaxes with relief.
"Good," she smiles slightly.
Glancing at the awkward and uncharacteristically quiet Latina beside the blonde, Artie turns his attention back to the taller girl. "So, we're still together, right?" He tries to confirm his interpretation of her words with a confident smile.
"Sorry Artie, but no," Brittany shakes her head.
"What? Why not?" He practically demands, looking back and forth between the two girls for an answer.
Santana and Brittany share a look before Brittany speaks. "Santana and I were talking last night and we decided that we're a couple now," she informs him, unable to keep the smile off her face.
"Like, we're official now," Santana confirms with a grin of her own which is, surprisingly, a grin of happiness rather than gloating.
Brittany giggles at her girlfriend's words. "Yeah, we totally made it official three times last night," she elaborates. "After we had our first date in the bathtub though, of course," she is sure to add.
"Of course," Santana repeats with a nod of agreement.
"Of course," Artie echoes to himself, unable to get the image out of his head, his voice reminding them that they're not alone.
"I hope you understand and you don't hate me," Brittany bites her bottom lip again, afraid of upsetting the other boy.
"No Britt, I don't hate you," Artie shakes his head sincerely. "I'm happy for you…both of you," he says, surprising all three of them when he realizes that he genuinely means it, unable to deny that he always knew the two girls had the chemistry that he and the blonde never did.
"Thanks Artie," Santana nods, directing a soft smile at the boy before releasing her girlfriend's pinky, much to the blonde's confusion, before instead taking her hand in hers and lacing all their fingers together.
Brittany beams at the Latina. "I wantz to get all up on dem toes," she playfully mocks as she pulls Santana from the room, earning a hearty laugh from the smaller girl.
Yes, I simply had to revisit the mash-up from the first chapter and it somehow just felt right to end this with a reference to Santana's thing about having her toes sucked (which I think is a good enough weird kink to equal Britt's thing with her armpits). I also thought it was appropriate to have them maintain some aspects of when they were under the influence of their head injury rather than going back to exactly how they were (jealous Brittany is always fun to write, no matter how mild).
Feedback is always welcome. I want to know how you liked my second complete Glee story /first complete Glee multi-chapter story. So, if you like, feel free to tell me what you think.
For those of you reading Within You Without You, the next chapter will be up by first thing tomorrow, but fair warning it's pretty short compared to the chapters before it.
