Santana grinned and wrapped Brittany in her arms. For the first time in months Santana felt at peace with herself and the world. She knew what she needed and she fully intended to let it be known. "I need you."

"Hmm?" Brittany asked, not understanding what she was talking about.

Santana decided to backtrack a little so she took Brittany's hand and they started walking around the track together. "I have a proposition."

The blonde was intrigued so she nodded to spur Santana on, all of her sleepiness forgotten.

"I really love being with you," Santana forced the words out, exposing her heart for the blonde to gently protect or smash into a million pieces, "I love kissing you and the sex is…amazing. I think we both know that. And I know that I'm really crazy about keeping this a secret, but I just…I don't want…have you seen they way Kurt gets treated at school? I don't want that to happen to you," Santana looked at the ground as she continued to talk, "I want to protect you, but I know I can't be there all the time. I just don't…I don't like for people to be mean to you and they're mean to Kurt because of who he is."

Brittany bit her lip and listened. What Santana was saying was making sense. More so than all the times before when she'd just tell Brittany they couldn't hold hands in public and that was that.

"But," Santana stopped walking and stood in front of Brittany, holding the blue eyes, "I want to stop sleeping around and dating guys that I don't care about because when I'm with them I only think about you and it makes me think of how many other guys have been with you and are taking you out on stupid dates that I want to take you out on."

"Are you saying you want us to date?" Brittany asked, trying to reign in her smile, but was not really winning.

Santana gave her a small smile and a smaller nod, "But we still have to keep it sort of a secret."

"Can I tell our glee friends?" Brittany asked carefully with a face construed in a deep thoughtful look.

The head Cheerio took a deep breath and nodded, "Sure."

The blonde started jumping up and down and threw her arms around Santana. Then she drew her in for a long, passionate kiss that was long overdue. Although Santana knew that if anyone was awake and looking out their window, they would be caught, but at this point Santana didn't care. She'd gone without Brittany for way too long.

Finally when Brittany pulled away, Santana grinned. She looked at the slight droop of Brittany's eyes and reached up to caress her face, "I'm sorry I woke you up for this. You're so tired. I've just…been out here all night thinking." She softly kissed Brittany again, "Let's go to bed."

They slept in Santana's room until the early morning wake up. They both got up and were the first ones outside on the field. Santana was having trouble keeping hands to herself as they lay in the grassy field under the stars.

Brittany closed her eyes as Santana absently stroked her thigh. The brunette probably didn't know what she was doing to the taller girl. So Brittany let out a raspy, "San," before Santana looked over and realized where her hand was.

"Sorry," Santana bit her lip in front of a sly smile. She rolled onto her side and kissed the curve of the blonde's neck.

Brittany moaned, "San, I…" Santana gently biting down on the skin stopped her train of thought. Brittany brought her hands to Santana's wrists to stop them from going any lower. If this got any farther, she would have to drag Santana into the woods so they could finish.

Santana got the hint and pulled away. She smoothed out the side-swept bangs that hung over Brittany's brow before adding, "Do you wanna go on a date tomorrow night when we get home?"

Brittany grinned and nodded, "Yeah."

"Good," Santana kissed her one last time as the door to the dorms opened and Quinn led the rest of the Cheerios out. "I'll take you home and then you can get dressed, then I'll pick you up."

"Let a real date?" Brittany's eyes lit up, matching the star-studded sky.

Santana grinned and stood up, offering her hands to Brittany. The blonde took them and Santana pulled her up. "It is a real date."

The blonde smiled and took a deep breath, hoping that this was everything she thought it was. Quinn walked over to them and yawned, resting her head on Brittany's shoulder. Brittany finally broke eye contact with Santana and looked at Quinn.

"I'm so tired," Quinn sighed, "Following Rachel around an amusement park is like following a five year old."

Brittany chuckled and smoothed out Quinn's hair.

Santana watched, jealous of the contact, but not saying anything because at the end of the day, Brittany was hers and that was all that mattered.