Author: letsgetdizzy
Rating:R
Pairing: Brittany/Santana
Summary: A retelling of the blue lagoon. Santana and Brittany are marooned on an island for years and struggle to readjust to society after their rescue
Disclaimer: not mine
Spoilers: None. AU.
Santana's hand was sore from Brittany holding tight the whole plane ride, and she shook it to try to get some feeling back into it. They were sitting in a cool, comfortable room, again, and the same flight attendant who had taken them to the plane was sitting in a corner of the room, watching them intently. She stared back hard, and felt a little burst of satisfaction when she looked away. The room they were in had a wall that was just a window, and just outside she could see people, walking so fast and in so many directions it made her dizzy. But she kept staring, because she kind of couldn't believe that she had probably seen thousands of faces since they were picked up and not one of them was the same.
'Why are we here?' Her own voice took her by surprise. It came out sharp, like she was angry. The attendant looked at her.
'Your parents are meeting you here.'
'Here, where?' She needed more than useless bits of information. The attendant looked surprised.
'The Juan Alvarez Airport. Mexico,' she added. 'It's written all over.' Santana scowled.
'Why? Why are we here? Why did we stop here?' Her voice sounded angrier, and now she was feeling it. 'You can't just keep dropping us off and taking us wherever you want! We don't even know where we are!'
'San.' Brittany's eyes were fixed on her knee.
'Listen, I'm just supposed to stay with you until your parents get here, I don't know anything else.' Brittany looked up.
'Our parents?' Brittany's voice was rough, desperate, wanting, and Santana felt her stomach twist in a way that it had been doing every day since they had been picked up.
'I have their names right here.' The attendant waved a piece of paper around. 'I was told they would be here in an hour or so.'
'Then what?' Santana asked. She tried to keep her voice neutral. The attendant looked surprised, again.
'I don't know.'
Brittany wasn't looking at her; her gaze was fixed firmly on the door, waiting. Her hand drummed nervously on her knee and she jumped when Santana reached out to hold her hand. Every time the door opened she jumped, and scanned each face for anything familiar. Brittany didn't move her head; she just stared at the door so hard Santana expected it to disappear from the force of her gaze. Instead it swung open, and she was so busy chewing her nails that it took her a couple of seconds to register the gasp, and Brittany being wrenched from her side into the arms of a very tall, very bearded man. A beautiful woman was standing next to him, crying and stroking Brittany's hair. Brittany still had hold of her hand, and it was stretched awkwardly in front of her, pulling her forward. She stood up, and the movement pulled Brittany away from the people. Brittany was crying too, and the twist in Santana's stomach doubled until she felt tears fill her eyes. She felt Brittany grab tighter onto her hand and pull her slightly in between her and her parents. They stared, looking at Brittany like she was made of the sun. Brittany blushed, and sidled behind Santana some more.
The door swung open again, and a woman rushed over to Santana, only slowing down when she saw her visibly stiffen and take a step back. She stopped in front and took Santana's hand gently, pressing it her cheek. Santana could see that her hand was shaking in the lady's and it took her vision blurring to realize she was crying, hard. The lady brought her hand up to cup Santana's cheek and she flinched, feeling her soft hand stoking her face.
'Mi hija.' She wasn't exactly how Santana remembered: she was shorter, her face soft and eyes crinkled with lines, but her eyes were the same dark and deep black that were the only thing Santana had never forgotten. A fresh wave of tears came up and she pulled away, because the lady- her mother- was holding on tight, and it didn't feel like it did when Brittany did it. It felt suffocating.
Brittany was staring at her parents over Santana's shoulder, her initial happiness starting to give way to shyness. Her parents still looked like they wanted to sweep her up again, but they were obviously trying to give her space.
'Hi,' Brittany whispered. It was the first thing she said since they had walked in, and just as everyone was about to start crying again a man walked in. He reminded Santana of the Captain; as soon as he entered the room everyone turned to look at him automatically. He ignored them, though, and moved to stand next to Santana's mom. He held a hand out, and she automatically took it. It was easier to interact with him, because she barely remembered him. He smiled.
'I've just finished talking to the consulate. We'll have to spend a night or two here, but they'll have sent over passports and travel papers before the end of the week. So we can go.' He looked at them expectantly.
'Where are we going?'
'To a hotel.'
'I thought we had to stay here.'
'No, not here in the airport. Just in the country,' he explained. 'I've already booked us into the nearest Hilton.' Brittany had to pull on her hand to get her to start walking, and her mother fell into step next to her. Now that the initial rush of emotion had died down the whole group was awkward, not sure what to do next.
The attendant, they had left sitting forgotten in a corner of the room rushed up.
'I'm sorry, I need to confirm your identification before you can leave, and I was told to give you this letter.' Santana's dad took it and scanned it quickly.
'What is this? Immunisation? Proof of guardianship?' The attendant looked like she was going to pass out.
'I'm sorry; these are the regulations for unaccompanied minors with no official ID.'
Santana could see that all the adults were gearing up for an argument, and she took the opportunity to pull Brittany away for a second. She could see Brittany's mom gesturing the same way Brittany did when she was angry, and her dad hadn't stopped lecturing the attendant yet.
'Your dad is really scary,' Brittany said. Santana stared out of the glass to the outside. She couldn't be sure, because the glass was warped and some parts were coloured, but it looked like there were lots of people standing right outside. She moved closer to get a closer look, and jumped when the glass hissed and pulled away, letting the sun in. She shivered, only now realizing how cold she had been inside the airport. Brittany stepped outside and tilted her face up to feel the sun. The doors hissed shut behind them, leaving them outside, and Santana managed to make out someone shouting 'no!' from inside just before the doors closed. The next thing she knew she was surrounded, people shoving things in her face and yelling questions. She couldn't see Brittany anymore and the people around her were talking too fast to catch what they were saying.
'Santana-'
'Tell us-'
'Parents are-'
They crowded in closer, and she began to lash out, trying to make them stay back. Instead everything just got louder, and there were flashes going off in every direction, blinding her. Someone scooped her up from behind and she thrust her head back, feeling it connect. The person holding her – a man- swore, but didn't let go, and started to speak instead. The people stopped shouting and to eye the powerful, angry man with his slip of a daughter hanging from his arms.
'If the pictures of these children are published,' He waited until everyone fell silent. 'I will sue you all for exploiting the likenesses of minors, and you will be lucky to find work developing photos at a booth.' She recognized the voice as her father's, and she stopped trying to hit him and looked around for Brittany instead. Santana's father carried her back in, and as soon as they had closed the doors he dropped her so he could hold his nose. She looked around and guiltily noted that his nose was bleeding. Brittany was being led inside by her father. She was panting, and all the blood had drained from her face.
'Let's go,' her dad said. She was still in shock, and she let herself be herded in the opposite direction, to a small door in the corner. They stepped outside onto a lonely stretch of tarmac, far away from where they had been ambushed. Two large black cars rumbled a few feet away. Brittany's mom was holding her hand, and pulling her gently towards one car, and Santana's mom had a hand on the small on her back, guiding her towards the other one.
'Wait.' Brittany had frozen too, just out of reach.
'We have to go, sweetie.' That was Brittany's mom, smoothing her hair back from her face. Brittany flinched away, and Santana took courage from that.
'I'm going where she is.'
'We're going to the same place, we just need to split up for a little bit to get there.'
'No.' She stepped forward so Brittany was in her arms, and honestly, it felt like getting all her air back. She shifted so that she could wrap her hands around her waist, and hold one of Brittany's hands in hers.
'Santana-'
'No.' If they thought that she was actually going to get in a car without her they were insane. Brittany was quiet, staring at the ground and still in Santana's arms. She only held her tighter. Santana could hear that their parents were having a whispered and heated conversation, but after only a couple of minutes they looked back at them, their faces strained.
'Okay,' Brittany's dad said. 'You two can ride in that car with your moms, and we'll take the other one and meet you at the hotel.' Santana nodded, and got into the back of the nearest car. Brittany got in next to her, and their mothers climbed into the row of seats in front of them. The car moved off with a jolt, and they sped away.
Santana's mom reached into the back, and Santana flinched. She stopped, and gestured to the back of her seat. 'Seatbelt,' she explained, and she leaned forward and snapped both Santana's and Brittany's seatbelts into place. Both the mothers were looking at them like that were afraid that they would suddenly vanish from the back of the car, and she shifted uncomfortably under their scrutiny.
'You look good,' Brittany's mom ventured. She fixed on Brittany. 'I missed you.' Brittany looked up and locked eyes with her. It felt weird to be looking when they were both so obviously unaware of anyone else, so Santana looked her mother instead. She looked so different from how she remembered; dressed in loose trousers and a top, not the pencil-thin suits she remembered, and she was smaller, older, softer. She took Santana's hand, and clasped it on both of hers.
'You look just like I did when I was in school. You're so beautiful.' She laughed low in her throat.' I must sound so vain.' Her hands were was soft and warm, and Santana could feel the rough parts of her hand rasping against her mother's. 'We left as soon as we heard... we didn't even wait to hear that it was you for sure. Were you really alone, all this time?' She looked so sad, and angry.
'I wasn't alone.' Her voice came out rusty, scraping against her mouth as she spoke. Words were hard when you had someone looking at you like you had saved them.
'I can't believe we stopped looking.' The hand that her mother was holding started to burn, and the movement of the car was starting to make her feel sick. This wasn't what she remembered. Her mother didn't hold her hand, or run onto a plane just to see her. This wasn't what she had been preparing for, and it felt like a stranger was claiming her as theirs.
'You were looking?' Brittany had stopped talking to her mother to listen, interested.
'Of course, baby,' her mom said, surprised. 'We hired as many people as we could to look all around where you were supposed to be, but no one thought you had gone as far off course as you did. Did you think we didn't?' Neither girls spoke, and Santana watched the lines on her mother's face deepen.
The rest of the car ride was heavy and uncomfortable, and as soon as the car stopped Santana hopped out and began to walk away, only stopping reluctantly when she was called back. They walked into the lobby, where both her dad and Brittany's were waiting for them. Her dad's nose had stopped bleeding, but it had gone all swollen and bumpy.
'I'm sorry. About your nose.' He waved his hand dismissively.
They had been booked into the huge room that as full of rooms and soft couches, and was decorated in greens and yellows. Santana went over to the window, which took up most of one wall and looked out onto the ocean. The height and size of the window made her dizzy, and she leaned closer, pressing her hands against the glass. Brittany came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist, staring out into the ocean. She kissed Santana's neck and tucked her chin into her shoulder.
'We were thinking about going out to get you some clothes, and shoes,' Brittany's mom said.
'Can we come?' Her mom looked at Brittany, surprised.
'We thought you would want to stay here.'
'No,' Brittany said, pulling Santana with her. 'I want to see where we are.'
They got back a little while later, loaded down with bags, and exhausted. It had taken a while to find things that would fit (you're so skinny,' Santana's mother had said sadly) and by the end Santana was jumpy and irritable, and Brittany had gone quiet again. As the shopping trip went on each mother had made a concerted effort to pull their child a little closer, but it only only made them jumpier and more tense, and they gave up eventually. Someone had ordered so much food that it was covering almost all the tables in the suite, and Santana hesitated before picking up a bowl of jellybeans and perching on a sofa. Her mother and Brittany's parents sat opposite as well, and Brittany squeezed herself in next to her. The room was silent for a while as she and Brittany happily made their way through the bowls of sweets.
'They didn't really tell us how they found you.' Brittany's mom said, startling her out of her sugar high.
'There was a fire,' she mumbled around a mouth full of jellybeans. 'The Navy saw it.'
'What happened?'
'Our fire got really big and it got to the trees.' Brittany avoided Santana's eyes as she spoke.
'How did you even have a fire? I can't even imagine what you've been living on,' Santana's mom added, watching her shovel jellybeans into her mouth. 'It's a wonder you didn't poison yourselves.'
'We weren't alone.' Santana said.
'I know, dear, you were together.'
'No, I mean we had Will.'
'Who's Will?'
'He was with us. He took care of us,' Brittany explained.
'There was someone else on the island with you? A man?' Brittany nodded, and her mother took a deep breath.
'Where is he now?' The questions were getting hard. Why couldn't they just ask easy things like they were doing before?
'He's gone.' The air had grown tighter, thicker, pushing them closer together.
'Did he leave? Why didn't he take you with him?' Brittany's dad sounded a little bit angry.
'No, he didn't want to, he's gone, he got hurt, he left. He didn't want us to leave him there.' Brittany wasn't making any sense, but she was clearly getting upset and. Her dad moved in swiftly to change the subject.
'Hey, Brittany, do you remember your sisters?' She nodded, and he continued. 'We didn't tell them that we had found you at first, because we wanted to be completely sure, but they will be so excited to see you.'
'Will they remember me?' He laughed gently. 'Of course they will. They never forgot. Katie's home from college now and Louise will come back as soon as she hears. She's...' He kept on talking and Brittany listened, rapt, hungry for details of sisters she had idolized. Santana listened too, curious about the people who Brittany had talked about constantly in the beginning. Brittany's father was a good storyteller, and as the day wore on the whole group relaxed.
'Where are we sleeping?' Brittany asked, because she had missed the nap they usually took in the afternoon and her eyes were beginning to droop.
'Well, the suite has three rooms, and they are all ensuite... have bathrooms in them,' Brittany's mom explained. 'So you two can have one. Brittany nodded, and stood up.
'Come on, San. Let's go have a shower.' Santana followed her into the room, and the adults blinked at each other.
'Did they just-' Santana's mom asked.
'Yup.' Brittany's dad rubbed his cheek. 'She probably just wants the company.'
'That's probably it,' she agreed. They were silent for a minute, and they watched the sun sink into the sea and turn everything in the room to gold.
'They are so beautiful,' Santana's mother said. 'Aren't they?' Brittany's mother turned to face her and she watched tears sliding down Maria's cheeks, glinting in the light. She reached over and grasped her hand, and let the crushing fear and gladness she had been holding in the whole day show on her face.
'They're perfect, Maria.'
Santana was sitting on the beach and staring out into the sea when Will came running to her, smiling and waving. She got up to run towards him, but pulled up short when she saw that the flesh on his legs was splintered and cracked, and blood was running thickly down his calves. He stopped, and began to cry out, and she heard a wet crunch as the bones in his legs crunched and broke and popped through his skin. He began to cry, and scream, and she had just turned around to run when she woke up, thank God.
She shifted around, trying to get comfortable on the too-soft mattress that made her feel like she was sinking into the bed. She reached out for Brittany, and after a couple of minutes of letting her hand wander around the bed she gave up and sat up. The sun had set and ut was pitch dark outside, and the only light in the room came from a tiny lamp in the corner of the room. Brittany was perched next to the lamp, her hand hovering over the light and sending shadows fluttering over the room.
'What are you doing?' Brittany started a little.
'Oh, hi San. Look.' She covered the lamp with her fingers until her hands glowed red. 'Isn't that cool?'
'Yeah... Why is it dark?' Brittany laughed gently.
'You fell asleep for ages, and I couldn't wake you up.'
'Where are our... the-'
'They went to bed too; your mom came in to tell me.' Brittany left the lamp alone and sat on the bed, resting her back against the headboard. 'You were making weird noises when you were sleeping. It woke me up.'
'Sorry.'
'Bad dream again?'
'Yeah.' She shifted uncomfortably, and Brittany let it drop.
'Your parents seem nice.'
'I like yours.'
'My mom is shorter than I remember though. It's weird.' Santana raised an eyebrow.
'That's the thing you notice? Out of everything?' Brittany poked her in the ribs playfully.
'No, it's just what I noticed first. You know, before all the crying.'
'They all keep on crying whenever we look at them. It's super weird.' She yawned as Brittany nodded, and she felt herself begin to slide down the mattress.
'San.' She forced her eyes open.
'What?'
'I'm not sleepy.' Brittany grabbed her hand and tugged her closer, her eyes twinkling in the dim light.
'Well, I am.' She tried to pull her hand out of Brittany's and got a gentle pinch to the back of her hand for the trouble. Brittany used her other hand to trail her fingers down Santana's side.
'Do you think you could maybe be sleepy later?'
She was soon very, very wide awake.
Maria was woken up by the sound of the door to her room squeaking open, and she turned around to see Carlos trying to sneak into the room. He saw she was awake and smiled guiltily.
'Sorry.' She sat up and tried to rub the sleep from her eyes.
'Where were you?'
'Sorting out immigration. We left a bit of a mess behind, but we should be able to leave tomorrow.'
'That soon?' He caught the apprehension in her voice and frowned.
'We can't just stay here, Maria. This isn't a holiday.' His tone of voice sent a flare of irritation down her chest.
'I know, Carlos. I just thought we would have more time to...'
'What?' She gestured helplessly.
'Adjust. I don't know.' He opened his mouth to reply, but he was interrupted by a faint noise coming down outside the room. They waited a second, but it only got louder. Maria climbed out of bed and walked into the hall, Carlos behind her. At the exact second she figured out what the noises were the Pierces came out of their room, sleepy and curious.
'What is that?' Nora asked, pulling at the ends of her hair irritably. Maria blushed, and after a moment Nora gasped and her hand flew to her mouth.
'It's not-' Maria nodded helplessly.
'What's going on?' Albert demanded impatiently.
'It's the girls, Albert. The noise.'
'What? What are they-' His eyes bugged out
'Oh. Oh. Crap. What do we do? Do we stop them? Oh, shit.'
'No, I really don't think we should go in, we'll all just get even more traumatised, and we'll probably freak them out.'
'Well, I can't sleep with that,' He gestured down the hallway, 'as background.' He looked like he wanted to bolt.
'Why don't we deal with talking to them tomorrow, and go into the lounge for a nightcap for now?' All the adults jumped at Carlos' suggestion and hurried into the living room. It wasn't long until they were all settled in the lounge with a glass of brandy. Nora spoke first to break the semi-awkward silence.
'So how did things go at the consulate today?'
'Good. They should be sending temporary passports by tomorrow.'
'Then we can take them home.' At the word home, Maria downed the rest of her brandy in one gulp, and when she put the glass down all everyone else was staring at her, curious.
'It's going to be hard. After all this time, having them live in different houses.'
'We don't live that far apart, Maria.'
'I know, but, did you see how she looks at me? She's never going to trust me.' The last words came out in a whisper, and she bowed her head in shame. The brandy had gone straight to her head, and she was blurting out things she had said out loud maybe once.
'Brittany will probably be the same, Maria.'
Maybe. Hopefully. No, that was a horrible thing to think.
'I think the, um, noise has died down. Shall we go to bed?' Albert asked.
Her bed was still warm, and it didn't take long for the burn in her stomach and the not-entirely-pleasant buzz to lull her to sleep.
When they got to the airport the next day they went through the back, just in case, and Santana and Brittany made sure to stay close to the group. The consulate had delivered temporary passports to the hotel in the morning, as promised, but they had been warned that the girls would probably need immunisations before they would be let onto the plane. Neither set of parents had though it would be necessary to tell the girls beforehand. That decision went as well as could be expected, and by the time they boarded the plane Brittany was still sniffling and Santana was nursing sore knuckles.
This plane was a lot bigger that the one that had taken them out of Tahiti, but most of their section was empty, and the group had a whole row to themselves. They settled in, and waited for the plane to take off.
Maria was watching as Carlos frowned and fiddled with his iPad.
'What is it?' He showed her pictured that had been posted online of the disastrous run-in with the reporters the day before.
'I hoped I had put a stop to this.' She rolled her eyes.
'Honestly, I have no idea why you though that threatening the press was a good idea. You're just lucky that they didn't print that little speech of yours. He grunted and put the iPad away as the pilot's voice began to broadcast through the plane.
As soon as the plane landed in LA they went straight into a private lounge to wait for the car service to bring the car around to a back entrance.
'How did they find us again?' Brittany's father asked, exasperated.
'Someone must have leaked our flight details. It used to happen all the time to me, when I was working,' Brittany's mother said wistfully. After a couple of minutes of sitting around aimlessly Santana plucked up her courage and sidled over to Brittany's mom.
'Um, Brittany's mom...'
'You can call me Nora, dear.' She smiled warmly at Santana, who shuffled her feet.
'And you can call me Albert,' Brittany's dad added.
'Okay. Where are we going now?'
'Well, we were thinking that you and your parents could come over to our house for lunch.'
'Our house?'
'Albert's and I. And Brittany's house too.' This didn't sound good.
'Then what?' Nora quickly picked up on where things were going.
'It's not far, Santana. Your parents have a house pretty near where we are. It's only half an hour away.'
That meant nothing to her.
'That's not going to work.' Santana turned around as she heard someone speak behind her. Brittany had stopped playing with the hem of her dress, and she was looking right at them, her arms crossed.
'Brittany, we live in separate houses, that's how it has to work.'
'Why?'
There was silence, and Brittany jumped on the opportunity to speak more.
'I'm not living separate from her.' It was a good thing Brittany's voice was so strong and steady, because Santana could feel her throat closing and her vision had started to blur.
'Brittany.' Her dad was talking slowly, clearly. 'That's just the way it is. You belong to your family, and Santana belongs to hers. We don't live together. You can see each other all the time, and talk on the phone, and go to the same schools-'
Schools?
Santana's mom put up a hand to stop him. 'I think that's a bit fast. The point is, it just doesn't work to have you two in the same house. I'm sorry. We'll do everything we can to keep you two close together.'
Brittany stood up, finally, and stood next to Santana. 'We didn't come back to be separated, and if you try, we'll run away.' Her voice was calm, and still, but sure.
'Brittany-'
'She's my family. She's been my family for longer than you have.' She ignored the hurt that streaked across their faces at that sentence. 'Think of another plan.'
Nora made a quick decision, and took a deep breath.
'Maria, would you and Carlos like to coma and stay with Albert and I for a while?' She locked eyes with Maria, trying to let her see what she was thinking. We can't lose them this soon. She didn't really have a choice.
'I would love to, Nora.' She made herself smile, and all the adults took a breath.
'We can go now, the cars are here,' Carlos said, and everyone stood up hastily. On the way out Santana grabbed Brittany's hand.
'Thank you,' she whispered. Brittany looked at her, a little confused.
'What for?'
There were a couple of reporters who were hanging around the back, and Santana's dad slung an arm around her to shield her. She let herself relax, and felt like she was being hugged by a bear.
Brittany's house was pretty big, and was full of bright, warm colours. Santana left the adults standing awkwardly in the entryway and wandered into a big room that had pictures of blonde, happy people all over the place. She recognized the littlest person in one of the huge family portraits hanging on the wall, and moved closer to examine it.
'I remember you,' she whispered. Brittany looked almost the same in the picture as she had the first time Santana had ever met her, only she looked a lot nicer in this one, without all the blood on her face.
'It's weird, she looks just like her older sister now.' Santana jumped and whirled around to see Brittany's dad -Albert- smiling. 'Come on, you can take your stuff upstairs.' She followed him upstairs, and she saw Brittany standing in a room with her mom looking forlorn. She stopped at the doorway.
'What is it?'
'Everything's different. My mural used to be right above here,' she pointed to a blank space on the wall, 'and all my dolls were on that shelf.' The only shelf in the room was covered with dusty books. The whole room looked like no one had been in it for ages.
'We cleaned up, after you disappeared.' Nora looked guilty.
'Brittany was still frowning, so Albert clapped his hands and put on a smile.
'Why don't you unpack as quick as you can. Katie will be here soon, and then we can have dinner.' Brittany nodded.
'San, go get your things, and we can unpack.' Nora opened her mouth to say something, but Albert shook his head and pulled her out of the room. Santana went downstairs to get her stuff from downstairs, and on the way back she could hear Brittany's parents talking softly and urgently.
'I thought you said we were going to try to put them in separate rooms.'
'Not, today, hasn't it been stressful enough?'
'But they-' He stopped when he saw her coming, and she smiled weakly as she stepped past them and slipped into Brittany's room. She shut the door, and turned to face Brittany, who was drawing circles on the window.
'They took everything down,' she murmured. Santana wrapped her arms around her.
'We'll put it back up,' she promised.
'No, I don't think I want to. Do you think they'll let me paint in here?'
'Probably. What do you want to paint?' Brittany turned to kiss her gently, and smiled.
'I want it to be a surprise.'
