- 7:30 right? Can I come over a little earlier? S

Santana was walking into work as she sent out the text.

- Ur welcome 2 come whenever u want bb ;-) B

- Wanky S

- I'll see you tonight :-D B

Brittany had just locked her phone when Mike called out to her. "C'mon Britt, I need you over here." He was annoyed at the newest dancer and it reflected in his voice.

Rachel, in full diva mode all week long, had had four of the show's regular dancers fired for what she said was their complete incompetence in anything labeled 'Fosse.' It took both Brittany and Mike, the lead choreographer, the past few days to make sure all the understudies had their moves right before they suffer the 'wrath of Diva Rachel Berry.' At least that's what Blaine was referring to Rachel as and that made Brittany laugh.

"Watch me again," Mike said to the younger dancer. His usual calm demeanor was worn thin. It seems that the diva was giving him an earful as well for not training the dancers 'correctly.'

Brittany walked over to Mike as the understudy made yet another misstep. Before he could utter any more of his annoyance, Brittany stepped in. "Follow me," she said to the nervous dancer. It was going to be another long day, she thought, as sweat began forming on her lower back.

XXX

"Can't I just pay for a new system," Sugar asked Holly. She was standing on a small ladder and holding several different types of audio cables in her hands.

"No doll, this one is just fine." Holly was very do-it-yourself and didn't like the idea of paying money to repair her already too expensive in-house audio equipment. The night before was karaoke night and there was a couple of way too drunk ladies who thought they could hang from some cables during a heated performance of The Cliks Complicated. Holly would not be able to fuck away the pain of paying to repair the audio system.

"But it would be soooo much easier," the little woman was insistent.

"And what's the point of having a Mafioso father if she can't spend his money," Santana chimed in from behind the bar.

Sugar was "connected" but had been somewhat estranged from her family after coming out. Her father bought her a loft in Tribeca to keep her happy and away from their ultraconservative catholic family. She worked at Holly's bar more to just keep busy then to make any actual money.

"Santana! Don't encourage her! I need this fixed before the crowd comes in tonight." Holly was getting impatient.

"Ok, ok." Santana put her hands up defensively. She wasn't going to joke around when her boss was obviously upset, so she quietly continued with the night's setup. She looked at her cell quickly to check the time and to see if she missed any texts messages from Brittany.

- You can come over to mine to get dressed if you like ;-) B

The text made Santana smile. She was looking forward to going out with Brittany that evening, not just to spend time with her but to meet someone that Brittany had known back in Arizona. It was a friend of the family and Brittany had decided to go out for drinks with them about a month earlier. Brittany insisted Santana come out with them and Santana was not about to deny any request from the blonde.

"Look! Right there!" Holly was directing Sugar to a snapped cable.

"I know Holly, but what am I supposed to do with that? I know how to run the equipment not repair it," Sugar was just as annoyed with Holly as Holly was with her. "I told you that before we started."

- Sounds good Britt-Britt, I'll see you 6:00-ish? S

Santana texted Brittany back before walking out from behind the bar. She walked toward the quarreling duo and grabbed some cables from Holly. "Move it short-stuff," she said to Sugar. She had watched them argue over the job for the last two hours, more for her own humorous benefit than anything else. She had thought Sugar would have had it sorted out by now and when she saw an "I'm gonna kill this kid" look on Holly's face, she decided to step in. "Now let the master do her thing." She made her way onto the now vacant ladder.

"I don't have repairman tattooed on my forehead," Sugar said as she walked toward the bathroom. She didn't really have a filter on what she said, but lucky for everyone she stayed quiet most of the time.

"Give me those wire cutters, will ya Holly," Santana said from a position that had most of her upper body in the bar's dropped ceiling. "And the electrical tape."

Holly handed her both and within a few minutes, Santana reemerged from the ceiling. "Should be good now. Hey, Sugar! Sound check por favor."

Sugar, coming out of the bathroom and drying her hands, walked over to the sound system's control board. She flicked a few buttons and cued up a song.

"Hell yeah, I love this song," Mercedes said as she walked through the front door.

Let's wade in the water,

Wade in the water

Listen to me now, wade in the water…

Mercedes' was singing the first few verses before dropping her stuff in Holly's office. She walked out and into harmony with Santana, who was still on the patron's side of the bar.

I wanna know that you're mine,

Because your love is so fine…

Santana handed Holly her tools in between improvised dance steps. She rhythmically stepped her way to the ladder. Having collapsed it, she sang her way to the back room. She reemerged, still harmonizing with Mercedes.

You know, baby, that you've got me uptight,

Because your brand of loving feels so right…

Santana had pulled Holly into a slow dance when in walked a tall, very familiar blonde. She danced her way away from Holly and toward Brittany. She grabbed her tight and continued singing.

I'm like a ship in a stormy sea

So wade in the water, mami, and rescue me …

She lifted her chin and kissed Brittany hello. They danced a few more steps before Sugar cut the song off.

"It works Holly!" she nearly shouted at her boss.

"What the hell, Sugar?" Mercedes said turning to her. Sugar just shrugged.

Smiling to herself, Santana was glad she had the night off. She would not be able to deal with either Sugar or Holly's attitudes. Mercedes, it looked like was going to have her hands full that night.

Santana smiled at Brittany and asked, "What are you doing here?" She held the blonde's hand and took out her phone to check the time. It was half past four and she had three missed texts, two from Brittany and one from Kurt. She quickly thumbed her phone.

- Rachel's here and Mike is having a go at her :-/ B

- Looks like an early day :D pick u up at work? B

Santana had thought the situation with Rachel would have been sorted out by now. Quinn gave herself the week to try and win her back, but Santana and Kurt thought she wasn't worth the trouble. "If you have to spend more time fixing than you did wooing then it ain't worth it," was Santana's take on the situation. Kurt was more of a romantic and saw that Quinn was trying to win her girl back.

She took a second to look at Kurt's message, fearing it was bad news about Quinn.

- At rehearsals w/Blaine & Quinn. Just thought I'd say that Brittany's sooo HOT! K

Her smile broadened. "Kurt thinks you looked hot today," she said, eying Brittany. "Damn, I hate to agree with him on anything but you do look FUCKING HOT." Santana leaned in to kiss the blonde one more time.

"Huh-uh," Holly cleared her throat. "You guys are so friggin cute but the PDA might drive off Santana's customers." She looked first at Santana and then at Brittany.

Santana looked around the bar at the three patrons who had been there since noon. "Whatever Holly," she said, leading Brittany to a bar stool. She leaned into her girlfriend, "almost out of here ok?" She made her way back around the bar.

The blonde sat in front of Mercedes for the second time in less than a week. She was going to order something when Mercedes, if by some psychic ability had cut her off. "Nah-ah girly, your woman's gonna have to get you something. My shift starts in, ah, 20 minutes," she pretended to look at her watch.

"Thanks 'Retha, couldn't even pull a glass?" Santana said, snapping a bar towel at Mercedes. She almost made contact and braced herself against retaliation in case she did.

"Bitch, I told you about that," said Mercedes, grabbing at the towel. She and Santana were tugging at it playfully until Holly passed by clearing her throat again. "It's gonna be a long night. You two owe me for this." Mercedes pointed a finger in between Santana and Brittany.

Brittany smiled and said thank you, but Santana wasn't letting in so easily. "Whatever Whitney, I've covered many shifts for you, so you could go out with 'Bobby' before." Mercedes answered her with a flash of her middle finger.

"Bobby? Mercedes you're straight?" Brittany asked out of curiosity. She was watching her girlfriend pour her a draft beer. Santana looked up and winked at the blonde.

"As straight as the day is long, baby girl." Mercedes said to Brittany.

Santana set down the beer in front of her girlfriend.

"Yeah she only works here to stare at my ass and get her sing on. Isn't that right, Diana?" Holly was close enough to the duo that Santana didn't fear physical assault from her friend for using racially toned nicknames, but she got the next best thing. Two middle fingers and a mouthed "Fuck You, Satan." Brittany finally understood why Mercedes called Santana that.

Holly walked up behind Santana and told her she could close out before the after work crowd started coming in. Santana didn't hesitate and before Brittany was able to finish her beer, the couple had said their goodbyes and were walking out the door into a very warm spring afternoon.

"I'm glad you got out early," Santana said, pulling Brittany close to her for their first proper kiss of the day.

They hopped on a train to Santana's apartment so that she could pick up some clothes. The apartment was empty when they arrived. Quinn had been planning a surprise for Rachel in an attempt to woo her back and it required Blaine's help to get her backstage after the show that night. Santana thought they must have been roaming around midtown trying to get ready.

"So who is this girl to you again?" Santana asked while rummaging through her closet.

"Kitty? She's a church friend from back home," Brittany stood by Santana's dresser. She was picking up each of a few bottles of perfume that lined the surface. Removing each cap, she smelled each of the sweet scents. Though each was pleasant, Brittany decided that she preferred Santana's natural smell. She smelled like bath soap and laundry detergent, a mixture that Brittany wanted to snuggle into. "Her family and mine are close, I guess."

Brittany walked over to Santana to help her find something to wear; she seemed to be having some difficulty deciding. The blonde stood behind her and moved her hair so she could place a small kiss right behind her left ear. She let her nose nuzzle into Santana's hair.

"Any thing you pick will be fine, you know? You'd look hot in a potato sack." Brittany smiled, knowing Santana was giving her a funny look. She picked a pair of dress slacks and a shirt and handed them to the brunette.

"Not helping, Britt" Santana replied. She took the clothes, folded them carefully and placed them in a backpack along with some other essentials. With a quick look around to see if they forgot anything, the couple left the apartment and hopped on a train.

XXX

Brittany opened the front door to her small Brooklyn apartment. She lived in what was called a railroad apartment. It had a long hallway that ran the length of the apartment connecting the bedroom, which faced the front door, to the bathroom, then to the dining room/kitchen and finally to the living room. Santana remembered living in a similar apartment growing up.

"It's like a time warp, this apartment." Santana said, dropping her bag by the bathroom door. "Freaks me out."

Brittany smiled to her as she locked the front door. "Still can't believe I'm in Brooklyn. It's so different from Manhattan but still so much New York City."

Santana understood what she meant but learned to stop missing Brooklyn a long time ago. She had moved in with her grandmother when she was 14 and had been in Manhattan ever since. The outer borough to her was just a memory that she could revisit by looking out of her window. Standing inside Brittany's apartment was both comforting and unsettling to her.

"I'll make us something to eat if you want to hop in the shower," Brittany said to the brunette, snapping her out of a mild daydream.

"Sounds good Britt," a smile came to Santana's face. She moved to Brittany placing a soft lingering kiss on her lips. "I won't be long." She picked up her bag and chuckled, watching Brittany do a little hop into the kitchen.

XXX

Santana came out of the bathroom in shorts and a T-shirt. "What? We got time," she answered the question that lined Brittany's face. Santana sat across from Brittany at a small, high table that was used to eat on and as a sometimes computer desk. A dusty laptop sat on a small bench windowsill.

Brittany finished her bowl and got up, putting it in the sink. Santana looked down at her own bowl of mac'n'cheese and smiled. "I gotta teach this girl how to cook," she thought as Brittany place a kiss on the side of her head.

"I'll only be a minute OK," the blonde said as she was leaving the kitchen. Her hand, which touched Santana's arm during her small kiss, had lingered for a moment, moving away with the rest of her body toward the bathroom, her fingertips trying to flesh out any lasting contact.

Santana turned and watched the blonde leave the room. She scanned her entire backside within the few seconds it took for her to leave. She was getting good at taking in the blonde at every opportunity. She had gotten to know what she looked like in various times of day and in varying states of undress. She knew what Brittany smelled like after a shower and after a workout or sex or sleep or just at the end of the day. She committed to memory all the sounds Brittany made and how her skin felt and tasted. Brittany had been infused into all of Santana's senses and the thought of that made her skin light up with excitement and desire. The thing that Santana was beginning to get used to though, was that with all the reactions her body had to Brittany, they paled in comparison to what her heart felt for her. She had fallen fast and firmly in love.

Santana had finished her meal quickly and walked to the sink to wash the dishes that they had just used. She let a "Geeze Britt!" slip from her lips when she saw a pot burned at the bottom from being over cooked. She scoured the pot, removing all the cooked on pasta and hung the wet dishes in the dish strainer. She walked into Brittany's bedroom in an attempt to start getting ready.

Brittany got out of the shower, wearing just her towel. She entered her bedroom to find Santana bent over her backpack. She snuck up behind her and put a hand on Santana's ass, feeling her smooth skin under her shorts. Santana stood up and turned around just to see the blonde walking off to her closet.

Brittany could feel Santana's eyes on her. "If you're lucky I might even act a fool while you're hitting it," she said playfully, dropping her towel to the floor.

Santana had taken two seconds flat to pick Brittany up, her hands around the blonde's naked ass, as long legs were wrapped tightly around her waist. Kissing her passionately but sloppily, Brittany took Santana's dark hair in both her hands and pulled it back. Santana had to fight to not lose the feeling of Brittany's tongue in her mouth.

Santana dropped them both down on to the bed but stayed between the blonde's legs. Brittany helped Santana remove her clothes without losing too much body contact. She felt the brunette's hand on the inside back of her thigh and just when she noticed Santana's weight shift to move down her body, Brittany flipped them over so she was now on top.

"I want you inside me San", the blonde said in a low, sensual voice. Her eyes widened when she felt the brunettes fingers slip between them, finding with ease her clit. She rubbed the wet nub slowly, watching Brittany's eyes close and her hips start to move in sync. She moved her hand when Brittany's movements sped up, letting her fingers find their way inside of the blonde.

Brittany rode Santana's fingers wildly. Her arms were up, her hands in her own wet hair and she watched the look in Santana's eyes. She moved her hips back and forth, feeling her fingers deep inside her, then she rode them up and down, aware that this gave Santana a much better 'show.' She watched Santana's eyes follow her breasts up and down and briefly thought, before her own pleasure became too much, that no one had ever looked at her the way Santana does. Not just at her when she's naked, but when they are out, when they are home, when they were eating and even, Brittany suspected, when they were supposed to be sleeping.

The blonde rode her climax out on top of her girlfriend, fingers still moving inside her. She placed her hands on Santana's chest to steady herself and could feel her heartbeat almost as fast as her own. She leaned down, kissing Santana softly at first then after parting her lips and letting her tongue find Santana's full bottom lip, she let loose. She sucked in her lip and heard a moan come from the brunette's throat. She was halted though when her phone went off. She quickly glanced at her alarm clock and saw that it was 7:35.

They were late.

A/N Sorry for such a short chapter everyone, but when writing this it started colliding with the next chapter. I'll update as soon as I can :) And again much thanks to my beta for the motivation and encouragement, you know I need it. Love the reviews and follows, you guys are awesome!