AN: So this Friday's the wedding... deep breaths.
Thank you for the support everyone, much love as always! I hope you enjoy this chapter. It was one of the hardest to write so far but also one of my favourites. I had planned this chapter since the beginning and her parent's reactions are very important to me. The name of the fic comes from this chapter, and the ending means a lot to me so I really hope you all like it.
Enjoy!
Sam heard the soft thud of someone running up the stairs followed by the sound of the front door unlocking. He looked up and saw Quinn heading his way. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself for another berating. "I'm packing up my things, I just took a quick break."
"We need to talk." She told him calmly.
"Again?" He walked to the couch and sat down. "Look Quinn, I get it ok? Just let me finish packing my stuff."
"No, you don't get it." She sat down across from him. "You really screwed up, but I've known you forever Sam and I really hope you wouldn't do anything to purposely hurt Britt."
"I wouldn't."
She nodded. "I believe you. But that doesn't change the fact that you did, and now you need to fix it."
"How am I supposed to fix it? They hate me."
"Santana probably does, yeah." She shrugged.
"You don't think Brittany does?" He asked hopefully.
"Calm down, she definitely doesn't like you. It just takes a special kind of person to make Brittany hate them." She stood up and looked down at him. "Before you and Brittany started dating you were just her friend. You've done it before; you can do it again."
He watched as she walked out of the room. "Thanks Quinn." He called after her.
"Hurt them again and you'll be looking for a new place to crash."
Sam walked into the building and looked around the lobby. He was about to walk up to the front desk when he spotted the person he was looking for. "Santana!" He called after her.
She stopped and turned around. When she saw who was calling her name she rolled her eyes and kept walking. "What do you want? And how did you find me?"
"I want to apologize and Quinn gave me the address."
She pulled out her phone. "Hold on just let me set a reminder to kick Quinn's ass next time I see her."
"Would you just let me apologize?" He followed her down a hallway with multiple recording studios.
She stopped in front of one and punched a code into the key pad then turned to him. "Apology accepted." She told him and walked in so the door would shut behind her.
Sam could tell by her tone that his apology had definitely not been accepted. He quickly slid through the door behind the woman.
She turned when she heard the sound of him struggling as his foot got caught in the door. "Get out." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"My plan was never to purposely break you two up."
Santana rolled her eyes. "Tell me you don't want her to break up with me and go back to you." She waited a few seconds for a response. When he didn't have one, she continued. "Right. Maybe you've convinced yourself that somehow you're doing the right thing but here's the cold hard truth; you're not. You're being selfish and immature and if you actually loved Brittany the way you claim to, you would stop screwing with her. Whatever your plan was, it didn't work. Britt and I are going to meet her parents this weekend. She's moved on, maybe you should too." With that she turned around and went into the recording booth.
"What was your plan?"
Sam turned to see Mercedes sitting on a couch against the wall. He hadn't noticed there was someone in the room with them. "What?"
She stood up and offered her hand to the man. "Mercedes Jones."
He shook her hand. "Sam Evans."
She smiled at him. "I know who you are. You're the one that's been messing with my girls."
He sighed and looked towards the door. He wasn't in the mood to be yelled at again, even if he was starting to agree that he did deserve it. "The one and only."
Mercedes sat back down and patted the cushion beside her. "So, what was your plan?"
It seemed as though she wasn't going to yell at him so he joined her on the couch. "I just want to make sure Brittany's happy."
Mercedes looked skeptical. "Are you sure? Because to me it seems like, not so deep down, you really want her back."
He sighed. "I thought I was doing it for the right reasons. Now I don't know, and I just want to fix it."
"If you want to fix it you should leave them alone."
"You tell me to leave them alone, Quinn tells me to go and apologize. This is why I don't know what to do!"
"I've got an idea." Mercedes leaned forward and placed her hand on his knee. "How about you listen to the opinions that really matter. Like maybe Santana's or Brittany's?"
Sam looked into the recording booth to see Santana adjusting a microphone. What did she want from him? He turned back to Mercedes. "Do you want to go for lunch?"
Santana watched Brittany slowly and carefully folded her clothes. She watched as her girlfriend neatly put them in her bag and organized them in a specific order. Santana knew Brittany was usually fairly organized to help her keep track of everything but this was taking it to a level she had never seen before. Normally when they packed to go away Brittany didn't care about everything being in order, she just wanted to make sure she had everything.
She walked over to Brittany and wrapped her arms around her waist from behind, resting her head against the blonde's back. "What are you thinking about?"
Brittany stopped folding and turned around in Santana's arms. "Everything. My parents, Sam, the fact that eventually you have to go back to LA."
"First, don't worry about LA. Second, no matter what happens with your parents it won't change us. Third, Sam tried to apologize today. Again." Santana rolled her eyes at the last part.
"Really?"
"Yeah, and once again, I sort of just told him to leave us alone." She shrugged and went back to packing.
"What did he say?"
"I didn't really give him a chance to say much." Both women continued packing. "I found out later though that he and Mercedes went out for lunch."
Brittany froze for a second but didn't look up at Santana. "Oh."
"She seems to think he's a pretty cool guy. They're going out for dinner next week." Santana watched as her girlfriend processed this new information. "It's a good thing Britt."
Brittany shrugged and looked down at her bag. "Maybe."
"No, definitely." Santana couldn't believe what she was hearing. What about this situation wasn't good?
"Mercedes is a really good person San." Brittany zipped her bag up.
Santana's brow furrowed. "I'm aware of that Britt, I work with her."
"I just hope that everything that's been going on with him isn't like, the new Sam. She deserves better than that. She deserves the old Sam. He used to be a good guy."
"I don't doubt that." Santana closed her bag and put it beside the bedroom door.
"Why not, after everything he's done?"
"Because you dated him." She walked over and picked up Brittany's bag, placing it beside hers. "I can't see you dating a bad person."
Brittany smiled and walked over to Santana. She pulled her girlfriend close and kissed her slowly and lovingly.
Santana smiled into the kiss. They parted and she looked curiously into blue eyes. "What was that for?"
"For finally agreeing that you're a good person."
"Take a left here." Brittany pointed a bit ahead of them.
They turned onto Brittany's street and Santana watched as the little, multi-coloured houses went by them. It wasn't the nicest of neighbourhoods. The houses were small, squished together and had little to no property. It was extremely different than the neighbourhood Santana had grown up in.
"Which house babe?" She asked Brittany, who was also distracted by all the houses. Santana wondered if she was thinking about the families that lived in them, since she probably grew up with most of them.
"Oh, um. That one with the small green car out front. Up there on the right." Santana slowed the car down. "Just park on the road."
After she parked the car they got out and Brittany started getting their things from the trunk. Santana took this time to study Brittany's childhood home. The house, along with all the others, was brick but with a green door. It had a tiny stair case, about two stairs, that lead up to the door. It had two floors but overall, it was a very small house. "Is there room for us?" Santana hadn't meant for it to be rude but she feared it had come off that way when Brittany stopped to look at her.
"There's room. We'll be staying in my old room." She closed the trunk. "My parent's room is downstairs and we'll be staying upstairs."
Santana nodded but then something occurred to her. "They won't think it's weird we're sharing a bed? I mean, they don't know we're dating."
"I told them it was fine for a weekend and they didn't think anything of it."
Santana nodded, picked up both their bags and started walking towards the front door. Noticing that Brittany wasn't beside her, she turned around to see the blonde standing still, staring up at the house. She put the bags down and walked back to her girlfriend. "If you aren't ready we can go home. We don't have to do this yet."
"We could go home..." Brittany nodded slowly and started to smile. "I think this is the first time I've ever walked towards this house and considered somewhere else home." She looked at Santana and smiled wider. "Let's do this."
Santana picked up the bags and followed her girlfriend to the door. Brittany knocked and the women waited patiently for an answer. Brittany looked nervous but Santana couldn't help but feel excited. Brittany had never told her much about her parents. She knew that Brittany had a somewhat hard childhood and that she had to take care of herself a lot of the time. She also knew her girlfriend didn't have the best relationship with her parents anymore. Which is part of why they were here.
The door swung open and a man stood in front of them. He looked tired and worn, but with kind blue eyes that matched Brittany's. "Baby Bee." He exhaled a sigh of relief.
"Hi daddy." Brittany walked forward and her father quickly pulled her into a tight hug. The way he held onto her made it clear he hadn't seen her in a while and that he had missed her every second. It gave Santana some hope for the outcome of this visit. Brittany backed away and gestured towards Santana. "This is Santana."
"Your friend?" He asked.
Santana looked at Brittany. The blonde had no clue how to answer this, but it was obvious she wasn't ready to tell him. "We live together." Santana answered for her girlfriend.
"Well, welcome to the family then Santana." He smiled at her and took the bags. "Come in girls. Mom's in the living room." The women followed him into the house. He placed the bags at the bottom of the stairs and turned to them. "Dinner's almost ready." Brittany looked towards what Santana assumed was the living room. Mr. Pierce nodded towards the room. "Go see her B." He squeezed her shoulder and walked into the kitchen.
Santana waited patiently for her girlfriend to take the first step. She looked around the room, it was very cluttered and far from clean. The walls were covered in pictures, most of which consisted of Brittany, Sam, Quinn and Puck.
Brittany started walking into the living room and Santana quickly followed behind. "Mom I'm here." Brittany walked around the couch and Santana watched as she kneeled down in front of the woman that was sitting down.
"Brittany!" Santana smiled at the excitement in the woman's voice. "You're here. You're never here."
"I know, it's been a while and I'm sorry." Brittany grabbed her mom's left hand and held it.
"It's in the past B. I'm just happy you're here now." Her mom leaned forward and wrapped her right arm around her daughter.
"I have someone I want you to meet." Brittany smiled and walked over to Santana, pulling her by the hand towards the couch. "This is Santana." Her mom looked at the Latina, confused. "She's the friend I told you about. We live together."
"Oh yes, Santana!" Her mom smiled, but there was something off about it. "I'm so happy you could come."
Finally Santana noticed what was different. The woman only talked and smiled with half of her face. She offered her hand to Mrs. Pierce. "Me too."
"Ok my lovely ladies, dinner is served." Mr. Pierce walked into the room. "Well it's ready, go help yourselves while I help your mother."
Santana followed Brittany into the kitchen. "Britt..."
Brittany turned around. "I know, I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For not warning you." Brittany grabbed two plates and started getting them some food.
"About?"
"Everything. The neighbourhood, the house..." She paused. "My mom."
Santana took a fast glance around the room before placing a gentle kiss to Brittany's cheek.
"Ok girls." Santana quickly backed away at the sound of Mr. Pierce's voice. Both women turned to see him standing in the doorway. "Mom's at the table. How about you join her."
The women nodded and walked into the other room, sitting down beside each other at the table.
Dinner had been going fairly well and Brittany silently hoped that everything would be put off until tomorrow. "So Britt." She looked over at her mother. "Where's Sam? I thought for sure you'd bring him home with you."
Brittany took a sip of water before answering. "I wanted to talk to you guys about that actually. I'm um..." She cleared her throat and looked down at her plate. This was much harder than it was supposed to be. She felt Santana's hand on her knee and smiled quickly at her girlfriend. "I'm not getting back together with him." She faced her parents again.
"You aren't?" It was her dad who spoke up.
"No."
He made some sort of quiet 'hm' noise and went back to his meal. "Why not?" Her mother asked.
"I-" Brittany began but she was quickly cut off.
"You were so happy with him. You make such a beautiful couple."
"I was happy with him but I'm happier now." Brittany told her parents. She looked to her dad for support but he avoided eye contact.
"Alone?" Her mother scoffed. "Brittany don't be silly. You two are meant to be."
"No we aren't." Brittany slammed her hands down on the table. "We were what you wanted. I'm done shaping my life around what you two want."
"Pretty sure you reached that point when you moved to New York to teach dance." Her father finally chimed in.
"Woah, hold on." Brittany looked beside her to see Santana glaring at her dad.
"San." Brittany warned.
"No. You can be upset all you want that she isn't going to marry the blonde haired boy next door, you'll get over that, but you need to know that what she does with those kids is amazing. She is an incredible dancer and an even better teacher. She actually helps kids. Did you know she won the award for teaching excellence? She beat out every other teacher in the whole company. You can't possibly be disappointed in that, and if you are then your priorities are clearly out of whack." Santana took a deep breath and closed her lips tight, this was not the first impression she was hoping for.
Mr. Pierce eyed the woman sitting next to his daughter. Brittany couldn't help but think back to the kitchen and wonder if he knew about them. "You're right; I shouldn't open old wounds. Britt if you don't want to be with Sam, we'll learn to live with that."
"I just don't get it." Everyone turned to face Mrs. Pierce. "You two are perfect together Brittany, why would you give that up?"
"We weren't perfect together mom."
"You'll never find someone to love you like him." Mrs. Pierce shook her head and stared down at her plate.
Brittany felt Santana shift beside her. "I already have. No, let me correct that. I found someone that loves me more than him."
Santana's eyes widened and she looked at Brittany. "Britt." She whispered harshly. She wanted Brittany to tell her parents about them but not this way. Not out of anger. She didn't want Brittany to regret any of it.
Mr. Pierce narrowed his eyes at Santana but directed his statement towards his daughter. "Go on."
"Santana and I live together because we're dating." Brittany told her parents and waited patiently for a response. When she didn't receive one she looked over at Santana who smiled weakly at her.
"You're a lesbian?" Her mom asked.
"No. Why does everyone feel the need to put a label on what I am? I just..." She sighed. "I just love Santana."
"You loved Sam."
"Maybe, I mean I definitely thought I did. I think I just loved the idea of him. I loved having someone to love me and I loved having your approval. I love Santana so much that the whole approval thing," Brittany shrugged, "just doesn't matter anymore."
Mr. Pierce hadn't pulled his eyes off of Santana the whole time. "Do you love our daughter?"
Santana looked over at him and smiled. "I love her more than anything in the world."
He nodded. "Baby Bee, what kind of parents would we be if we didn't love you no matter who you love?"
Brittany let tears run down her face as she walked over to her dad. He stood up and hugged her. "Besides, I already welcomed her into the family and I can't take that away now, that would be really awkward."
Santana watched Brittany brush her hair as she got ready for bed. Her girlfriend hadn't said much since dinner. "It could have gone worse."
Brittany put the brush down and turned to face Santana. "I guess."
Santana stood up and put her hand against a poster on the wall. "This is hot." Brittany looked at the, some-what provocative, poster of Britney Spears. "How did your parents not know?" She joked.
Brittany giggled. "I put that up when I was a kid, I loved her music."
"Oh please." Santana walked over to her girlfriend and smirked. "You still love her music."
Brittany shrugged. "Maybe a little."
Santana walked over to the dresser to see a variety of figurines and toys. It reminded her of the way Brittany decorated their apartment. "Why didn't your parents do something with this room?"
"They never come up here, so they had no reason to. I think my dad must have cleaned it though." Brittany shrugged.
Santana turned back to face Brittany. "What happened with your mom?"
"She had a stroke when I was little and her whole left side was paralyzed. She used to be in a wheelchair but now, cause of therapy and stuff, she uses a cane and my dad." Brittany sat on the bed and Santana joined her. "But she still can't go up the stairs."
"I'm sorry you had to grow up with that Britt." She put her hand on Brittany's thigh. This explained why Brittany took care of herself so much as a kid and why she spent so much time with Quinn. Maybe it could also explain Quinn's protectiveness.
Brittany smiled. "It's ok, really. I had friends, dance and..." She stood up and smiled wider at Santana. "I have something I want to show you." She started excitedly looking through drawers.
Santana laughed. "Ok, you find whatever you're looking for. I'm going to get a drink, I'll be right back. You want anything?" Brittany shook her head and looked towards Santana. "Ok, see you later." Santana winked, causing Brittany to roll her eyes.
Santana was heading down the stairs when she heard a voice. "What do you think of Santana?" It was Mrs. Pierce's voice.
"I like her. She's got a lot of..." Mr. Pierce hummed, trying to think of the right word. Santana imagined him staring up at the ceiling the way Brittany did when she was thinking. "Spunk."
Santana smiled, she did have 'spunk'.
"I just don't get it." Mrs. Pierce sighed. "What did we do wrong? We did our best raising Brittany."
"We didn't do anything wrong, it's just who she is." Mr. Pierce replied.
Santana continued down the stairs, this wasn't a conversation she was supposed to hear.
"Why would she give up Sam to be with that girl?" Santana froze. Mrs. Pierce had said it in a tone that made her stomach turn.
"Her name's Santana, and she makes our daughter happy. Did you see the way she stood up for Brittany tonight?"
"You think I don't want Brittany to be happy?" Mrs. Pierce sounded defensive.
"That's not what I said." She heard the sound of Mr. Pierce laying down in bed. "Look, I don't really get it either, but I like Santana. What's so wrong with Brittany being with a nice girl?"
"The girl part?" Mrs. Pierce stated, as if it were obvious.
Mr. Pierce sighed, he was clearly ready to give up. "Maybe it won't last and she'll end up with a guy, either way she's still our daughter."
Santana turned around and headed back upstairs; she had heard enough. Before getting out of ear's shot she heard Mrs. Pierce speak again. "I love Brittany and I like Santana, but I just don't like this." Now she had definitely heard enough.
She opened the bedroom door to see Brittany sitting in bed with a book in her arms. "Welcome back." Brittany smiled at her girlfriend.
"Thanks." Santana sat on the bed beside the blonde.
"Didn't you leave to get a drink?" Brittany looked confused.
"Oh." Santana looked down at her empty hands. "I changed my mind."
Brittany studied her girlfriend's face. "What's wrong?"
The brunette sighed. "I overheard your parents talking." She turned to Brittany who was listening intently. "I don't think they completely support us B. Maybe your dad, but your mom..." She let the sentence fade and waited for Brittany to respond. "Say something Britt."
Brittany moved closer to Santana and put the book she had been holding into the woman's lap. She opened the cover to reveal photographs. "I danced when I was a kid to help take my mind off of everything but it wasn't my only hobby."
Santana looked at the photographs. There were so many, and they were beautiful. "You took these?" Brittany nodded. "They're gorgeous Britt."
Brittany smiled and pointed to one. "That's a picture of some old sneakers, and you think it's beautiful?"
"Yes." Santana answered sincerely.
"Some people would just look at that and see a picture of some old dirty shoes, and some people see a work of art. Love is like art that way; everyone interprets it differently. Some people will see a picture or a painting and think it's a masterpiece and others will hate it. But in the end, all that really matters is what it means to you." She smiled again and looked up at Santana, who was now staring at her girlfriend, astonished by her genius. "To me we're a masterpiece."
Santana smiled and swallowed, fighting off the tears threatening to fall. "We're a masterpiece to me too."
Brittany leaned in and kissed Santana slowly, wrapping her hand around the back of Santana's neck. She pulled away and locked eyes with the Latina again. "Then that's all that matters."