By the time Santana finally shook off her nerves and mustered up the courage to walk into Brittany's room, the blonde had her hospital gown over her head and Santana's grip on the sponge tightened as she openly gawked at her abs. Her first thought was the last time her tongue had been on them until she stepped closer and saw a few scrapes and a huge bruise on the side of Brittany's stomach.
"San?" Brittany asked, still not able to seeing anything through the fabric stuck over her head.
Santana gulped before answering her, "Yeah. It's me." Her voice was low and hoarse and she cleared it before closing the door.
"Can you help me? I thought I could get it off but it's kinda stuck."
Santana rushed to the bed, kicking herself in the ass for not noticing Brittan's dilemma sooner.
She was able to figure out the problem quickly and wrapped her arms around the blonde to untie the strings that were holding the gown together. She may or may not have taken the opportunity to drag her nose along the newly exposed skin and Brittany may or may not have shuttered at the unexpected contact.
Santana pulled away and had to push down the incredible urge to rub her hands down Brittany's skin. Over or under her sports bra, she didn't care. In a second, it seemed, Santana's skin was on fire.
"Thanks." Brittany murmured.
The blonde wasn't ignorant to the way Santana was looking at her with dark eyes. She's seen that look more times than she could count. And she was quite aware that her torso was naked, save for her sports bra.
"So, I thought I could basically do it myself, I just need some help reaching my leg." Brittany explained, knowing that Santana was probably wondering why she was asked to come in. "That…and you're gentler than the nurse…"
"Right." Santana said, dragging her thoughts out of the gutter and getting into helpful mode.
She handed Brittany the sponge after dipping it into the warm soapy water.
"Do you want me to, like, turn around or something?" Santana asked awkwardly.
"No, silly. You've seen this all before." Brittany gestured to her body with a laugh.
Santana just nodded her head and stayed put. There was no way she would be able to sit down in her chair, so close to Brittany, and not touch her. She knew herself better than that.
She tried her damnedest to keep her eyes focused on anything but Brittany rubbing the sponge down her neck with a pleased look on her face as the water dripped down, soaking the top of Brittany's sports bra.
Santana cleared her throat again and tried distracting herself with conversation instead, because it was clear that she wasn't going to be able to keep herself from watching.
"So, um…that's a pretty bad ass bruise on your side. Does it hurt?"
Of course she knew it didn't tickle, but maybe if Brittany said it hurt it would give her an excuse to chew out another nurse about pain meds and relieve some of this sexual tension she felt slowly building.
"Not really." Brittany shrugged while offering Santana the sponge again so she could dip it back into the water.
Santana handed Brittany back the sponge, careful not to make eye contact. Brittany noticed and smiled. She watched Santana's eyes still roaming over her stomach and decided that was as good a place as any to clean next.
She slowly, and maybe even a little enticingly lowered the sponge to her stomach. She ran it over her abs making sure not to cringe when it stung a bit over her cuts. She lifted her gaze and watched Santana staring, her eyes following the sponge like Lord Tubbington following a laser light... or a turkey sub.
A smirk played on the blonde's lips as she casually swiped the sponge lower, grazing and briefly dipping past the elastic of her boy shorts. Santana's jaw slacked before tightening and her brow furrowed almost as if she were in pain as she stifled a moan.
She wasn't sure how much longer she could take this. Brown eyes met blue and Brittany burst into a fit of giggles. Santana let out a sigh and shot her temptress a dirty look, albeit not a very good one. Mean looks never came easily to Santana when it came to the girl in front of her.
"I'm gonna go…wait… somewhere else." Santana said and started walking to the door.
"No wait! I was just teasing; you're too easy. Besides I still need help with my leg." Brittany feigned weakness and gave her a pout when she made it obvious that she wasn't able to bend very far. "I can't reach."
Before Santana had a chance to argue there was a sponge being waved at her. She snatched it from Brittany and waved it back at her.
"No more teasing." She warned as she dipped the sponge into the water and made her way around to the foot of the bed.
Brittany just smiled and laid back, waiting.
Santana lifted the blanket that was still mostly draped over Brittany's leg and moved it out of her way. She leant down, but just before she touched Brittany's skin with the sponge a thought entered her head. Two could play at this game. Just like Brittany knew her better than anybody, Santana knew Brittany's body better than anybody else.
Before starting her cleanse of the clever blonde's leg she set the sponge into the bowl and took off her shirt, leaving herself in just a flimsy tank top. She was sure to get Brittany's attention by tossing her shirt onto the chair next to her head.
Licking her lips with appreciation Brittany eyed the brunette, wondering what she was up to.
Santana retrieved the sponge again from its bowl and slowly rang it out. All her movements were slow until she finally reached the injured girl's good foot. In a flash of tan skin Santana started scrubbing the bottom of Brittany's foot in all the places she knew would make her squirm. And just as expected that leg went flying as best as it could, under the restraints of the heavy cast lying next to it.
"Santana! No fair, that tickl—" Before the words left her mouth the brunette was already running the sponge from the top of Brittany's foot, over a muscular calf, venturing up her inner thigh, and stopping at the bottom of Brittany's shorts. Her hands holding the sponge just right so that her blunt nails followed in its path.
"Oh" Brittany let out with a soft moan. Santana's ears pricked up and her movements froze.
Santana looked up to see Brittany's head back, her eyes closed, and her bottom lip fitted nicely between her teeth.
She was expecting payback but instead her plan backfired because that look… that look was the kind of look that made her stomach flip and a tightness form between her legs.
Santana made her way back down Brittany's leg, this time slower with more reverence and never taking her eyes off of 'that look'.
Brittany's eyes clenched tighter and her head moved to the side while her chest arched out of habit as she felt a wetness pool between her legs. This was habit, maybe not with the sponge, but still…it all felt too familiar.
Santana had had enough. Slowly she started climbing onto the bed. Careful as to not bump into Brittany's cast as her own legs found their place on either side of the leg she had just 'washed'. In a painfully slow motion, she started her ascension up the blonde's body, discarding the sponge and using both of her hands to guide her way up the blonde's flat stomach.
Each finger that caressed a divot or a break in skin was only the predecessor of Santana's mouth, which was trailing closely behind and brandishing each scratch with a kiss. When she finally reached the massive bruise she gave it extra attention, ghosting over it with her hot breath before leaning in to kiss it a few times as softly as she could.
While lavishing all of the exposed skin that her mouth could reach, Santana moved one hand to hold her steady as her other smooth hand was still traveling north. It stopped just under Brittany's breast, blocked by her sports bra, and began stroking and kneading into the skin there, waiting for Brittany to press her chest up, like a gatekeeper granting access.
Brittany looked down through slitted eyes, watching the girl who just broke her heart and left her in a million pieces, trying to glue everything back with luscious lips and skilled hands. A part of Brittany wanted to push her away and let her know how badly this hurt (out of fear that it might be taken away again), but she was putty right now, melting under Santana. She reached her arms down and took hold of Santana on either side of her face, pulling her up. Their eyes locked and excitement shot up through Santana's body and down through Brittany's. There was nothing Brittany needed more right now than those full pouty lips on hers.
Without warning there was a buzzer sound, as if time had run out, followed shortly by a knock at the door.
Santana threw herself off of Brittany and tumbled to the ground with a thud. She jumped to her feet as the door creaked open and was quick to throw the sheet over Brittany's exposed torso.
"Ladies? Is everything alright?" Dr. Lopez asked as he walked in, looking down at his phone before meeting their surprised eyes.
Both girls were at a loss of words. Santana was holding Brittany's blanket up over her chest, the sponge was tossed on the ground somewhere, and they both looked guilty as hell.
"Uh yeah, Mr. Lopez. Why wouldn't it be?" Brittany finally asked.
Santana's dad looked between the girls and around the room (not missing Santana's shirt thrown haphazardly over a chair) before answering, "Well you hit the 'call nurse' button, so I assumed something was wrong."
Santana's eyes darted to Brittany's side where sure enough there was a remote controller looking thing sitting right next to Brittany's elbow. She must have hit it while they were… sponge bathing.
"What were you two doing exactly?" Dr. Lopez asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sponge bath." Brittany said evenly. "Santana was helping me, because I couldn't reach my foot."
Santana just stood there, still unable to say anything after almost getting caught in such a compromising position with her ex girlfriend.
"Mija?" Her father looked to her as if asking her to back up Brittany's claims of innocence.
"Yeah, daddy. I was just helping Britt-Britt. We were actually just finishing up." She said with a confidence in her voice that surprised everyone in the room, including herself.
"Well okay then." Dr. Lopez said still looking a bit unsure. He threw her a damp rag from the nearby sink telling both of them to make sure Brittany's rinsed off so the soap wouldn't leave her skin sticky, and walked out of the room, leaving the girls to breathe properly again.
"Well he was right about the sticky part." Brittany said as she grabbed the rag from Santana and began wiping off her soapy skin.
Santana stood there for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts and figure out exactly what just happened. If Brittany was feeling at all as confused as she was, she wasn't showing it.
"Um, Britt… what just happened?"
"I think we got a little carried away with the sponge bath." Brittany said, having yet to look at Santana directly since her father stepped out of the room.
"Brittany…" Santana wasn't going to brush this off like her avoidy counter part was trying to do. She stilled Brittany's hand and waited for her to look up at her.
"Santanaaaa." The blonde whined out. "That was a bad idea, huh?" She finally asked looking guilty as ever.
"Hey, that's on both of us. Not just you. But I don't regret it for a second." Santana admitted sternly.
"Y-you don't?"
"Not at all. I love you, Britt. I'll always love you and that…that was fucking hot." She threw in that last part for good measure. She was still feeling a little frustrated that they got interrupted, regardless of the consequences of not thinking things through.
"Yeah… I mean, it was SO hot. But…" Brittany looked absolutely torn. Chewing on her bottom lip and pleading with Santana to read her mind so she could help her figure it out.
"Sam." Santana offered.
"Yes, Sam."
"Well?" Santana let go of Brittany's arm and crossed her own arms over her chest; ready to block herself from the rejection she could see in Britt's eyes.
"I don't know, Santana. Sam is nice and funny and he cares about me. He was there for me when I felt all alone… before and after you broke up with me."
Santana wasn't about to argue with that. Instead she played the quiet game and prepared herself to listen.
"But its you Santana... You're my penguin and I've always known that. But you hurt me so bad, San, and I'm scared. I can't go back only to lose you again."
Santana turned around and started pacing around the room. Her forearms were burning and paling under her grip and finally her eyes blinked and an onslaught of tears came rushing down her face.
"I love you Brittany. I love you with everything I am. I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know why I thought it would be better. Maybe it was better for you? I mean you have Sam. But I can tell you that for me, every single day has been absolute hell. I don't think I can take it anymore. I don't know how I ever thought that I could be with out you."
She ended at Brittany's side, basically begging her to tell her she wasn't alone in this torment she put them through, begging her again to love her back and take another chance on her.
"You think it's been better for me?" Brittany asked unbelieving.
Santana shrugged, not even bothering to wipe away at her tears.
"It hasn't been better. Sam has made it…bearable at best. But nothing could ever be better than you and me."
Brittany reached for Santana and palmed her cheek.
"You're it for me Santana Lopez, no matter how confusing you can be sometimes."
Santana let out another cry…mixed with a laugh.
"So, you kinda love me then?" She asked through a cocky, tear-drowned grin, as she leaned into Brittany's touch.
"I kinda really love you… but I want to do this right, before anything like…that" Blue eyes roamed over the sponge still lying on the ground. "…happens again."
"Okay, yeah. You're absolutely right." Santana sat up from her knees and finally wiped away at her tears. "So, you're penguin?"
Brittany just laughed and nodded her head as she explained to Santana about how penguins find one mate and stay with them for life. And Brittany's 'penguin' just watched her with complete adoration. They could worry about Sam and everything else later.
Santana was actually still unsure as to what exactly doing things right entailed.
All of your sweet reviews are totally blowing me away people :) Thanks.
I am away on vacation right now, so the next chapter might take a couple days longer to update than usual. Sorry!
Happy Holidays everyone!