AN: Thank you for the notifications. Lots of love to every last one of you! The reviews definitely keep me motivated.

What did you think about that wedding? I'm willing to put aside some of the parts I didn't like due to the fact that there was a lot of great Brittana.

Of course a special thanks to brittanaisendgameforever (my beta) she's awesome and, if you haven't already, you should check her stuff out.

Enjoy!


Brittany slowly ran her finger across Santana's bare stomach, smiling when the sensation made her girlfriend shiver.

"Keep this up and we might have to go for another round." Santana joked.

"You know what the best part about having sex with you is?"

"The fact that you get to have sex with me?" Santana smirked. Brittany stopped gliding her finger and pinched her girlfriend's side playfully, eliciting a shriek from the Latina. "Hey, I was kidding! Sort of."

"The best part is this, the post-sex lady kisses and cuddling." Brittany pulled herself in closer to Santana and rested her head on the woman's chest.

"I don't know if I'd say it's the best part." Santana teased. "But it's up there."

Brittany sighed. "I can hear your heart beating."

"I'd be worried if you couldn't." Santana was a bit confused but she had learned to give Brittany time to explain. The blonde hardly ever said something that wasn't worth saying.

"You have to leave tomorrow and I won't get to hear that sound again until Christmas."

Santana looked down at Brittany and ran her fingers through the soft blonde hair. "You could come with me."

Brittany sat up and looked down at Santana. "We don't have the money San."

"Well…" Santana looked down at her hands. She had been waiting for the right time to bring this up to Brittany, and now she was running out of time. "I was talking to my mom a couple days ago and I told her about everything and she sort of offered to pay for your trip to LA."

"We can't accept that Santana."

"Here's the thing." Santana looked up at Brittany and smiled innocently. "I already did."

"Santana!" Brittany got out of bed and started getting dressed.

"What? Britt, they have the money and she wants to help us. What's the big deal?"

"We can make it on our own San." Brittany crossed her arms.

Even though Brittany was obviously upset, Santana couldn't help but smile. "Of course we can." She stood up and walked over to Brittany, gently grabbing the woman's arms and pulling her towards her. Brittany sighed and wrapped her arms around Santana. "But it's ok to accept some help every once in a while. Just think of it as a late birthday present."

"Your mom already got me that fire extinguisher for my birthday."

"Ok, an early birthday present then." She smiled sweetly at Brittany and flashed the best puppy dog eyes that she could. "Please baby?"

"Fine." Brittany agreed.

"Yes!" Santana cheered and started getting dressed.

"But we should do something nice for them then."

"What?" Santana furrowed her brow.

"Maybe we could host Christmas here so they don't have to do the work." Brittany suggested quietly.

"Hell no! Britt, my family wouldn't even fit in our apartment."

"I was thinking maybe we could have a small Christmas this year." Brittany walked to their dresser and started looking through her makeup. "We could invite your parents here and maybe my parents too."

Santana finished getting dressed and watched her girlfriend mindlessly move things around on the dresser. "Are you sure?"

Brittany turned around to smile at the brunette. "Yes."

Santana smiled back. "Ok let's do it. Now get packing because we have a couple days of pure bliss in LA before Mercedes gets back."


Brittany stepped out of the taxi and felt the hot sun hit her skin. "It's so nice here San!"

Santana smiled as she grabbed Brittany's bag from the trunk. "Calm down Britt, we haven't even gone to the beach yet." She teased.

They walked up the stairs and made their way into the apartment Santana had been staying at. Brittany looked around and frowned at the lack of decorations. Aside from the furniture there was barely anything in the apartment, not even pictures of them. "This place is nothing like our apartment."

"It's not supposed to be." Santana told her as she carried the bag to her bedroom.

"Why not?"

"Because it's not my home, so it shouldn't feel like it." Santana stated. Brittany could hear that some thought had been put into that conclusion.

She walked over to the window and opened the curtains. The apartment looked over a busy street and she watched as cars drove by, people rode by on bikes, and couples walked by hand in hand. Brittany had always pictured herself in New York but now where she was didn't seem so important. All that mattered was who she was with. She sat on the bed and bounced lightly up and down a few times. "At least the bed is nice." She winked at Santana.

"Very, but it seems kind of small doesn't it?" Santana smirked. She kneeled down on the bed and pushed Brittany lightly until the blonde was lying on the bed with Santana hovering on top of her, faces just inches apart.

Brittany glanced down at her girlfriend's lips. "I think it's just right."

Santana leaned down and kissed Brittany slowly. She glided her tongue along Brittany's lip begging for access, which she was quickly granted. As much as Santana loved this moment, she couldn't stop the ache in her heart caused by the reality that they only had a couple short days before Brittany had to go back to New York, and she would be left alone in Los Angeles. Despite Brittany's attempts to keep their lips locked, Santana pulled away to see her girlfriend looking at her curiously. "I want to show you the studio."

Brittany looked down at their bodies, pushed right up against each other and whimpered. "Now?"

Santana smirked. "Ok, maybe not right-" Before Santana could even finish her sentence Brittany had pulled her back down into a kiss.


Santana opened the door to the studio and flicked the light on. She smiled at her familiar surroundings. "This is it."

"It's smaller than I thought it would be." Brittany pointed out.

"Hey, it's bigger than your office." Santana teased.

Brittany hummed in thought. "That may be true but this isn't really your office."

Santana smirked. "So this is the studio but there are a few recording booths connected to this studio." She pointed to three different windows, all covered with blinds.

Brittany walked over to one and tried to peak through the blinds. "Can we go inside?"

Santana walked to one of the doors and turned around. "Of course." She opened the door and gestured for Brittany to enter. The blonde walked into the small recording booth and was met with four blank walls. In the room was a mic, a table and a couple stools. Brittany walked closer to the table to see it covered in pictures of her, Santana and their friends. She turned to see her girlfriend smiling at her. "I'm the only one that uses this booth so Mercedes said I could leave pictures and stuff in here."

"That explains why there's none in your apartment."

Santana pulled a stool so it was right in front of the mic. "Here, sit." Brittany sat at the stool and faced the mic. Santana stood behind her. "This is exactly where I sit, or stand, to record. Notice anything?"

Brittany looked at the wall. Beside the window there was a picture; a picture of her and Santana. She smiled. "Us."

Santana smiled too and wrapped her arms about Brittany, resting her chin lightly on her girlfriend's shoulder. "I spend a lot of time in this room and even though I work with people it can get lonely because I'm not with the one person I truly want to be with. When I first got here I wanted to stop. I wanted to go home and be with you because I couldn't handle being away." Brittany turned around in her seat to face Santana. "So I put that picture where I would see it the most to remind me why I'm here and to give me inspiration."

Brittany watched as Santana looked around the room. It was small and bleak but that didn't stop the brunette's eyes from glowing. "You really like it here." She said in a quiet, small voice.

Santana nodded. "Yeah." She smiled and started fiddling with the microphone. "This is my dream after all, right?" She shook her head to clear her thoughts and turned back to her girlfriend. "But it's nothing like New York. Nothing like home."

Brittany shrugged and walked over to Santana. "Home is where your heart is."


Santana glanced at the clock. "Come on Britt what's taking so long? I wants ta get my tan on."

Brittany walked into the room and held out a bottle of sunscreen. "Can you get my back?"

Santana took the bottle, squeezed a bit into her hand and quickly rubbed it into her girlfriend's back. "There."

"That's it? If I burn I'm blaming you and then you'll have to rub aloe on me." Brittany watched Santana pick up their beach towels. "What's the hurry it's not like it's your first time going to the beach."

"Actually, I haven't been to the beach since I got here."

"Seriously? You live within walking distance of the beach and you haven't gone at all?"

Santana shrugged. "I don't have a lot of free time."

"Well then let's go! What are we doing standing around?" Brittany smirked at her girlfriend and was met with a playful glare.

The walk to the beach was short and sweet and it wasn't long before the two were lying on their towels beside each other.

Brittany sat up and looked around the beach. She spotted a boy that had been playing with sand toys but stopped. She leaned over so she was looking down, right above Santana. "Hey Sanny?" She said in the sweetest voice she could muster.

Santana smiled. "What do you want Britty?"

"Would you build a sand castle with me if I asked that little boy if we could borrow his toys?"

Santana pulled her sunglasses down a bit. "Are you kidding or...?"

"No." She frowned.

"Britt if you walk up to that kid and ask for his toys, I'm not bailing you out when his mom calls the cops."

"Such little faith." Brittany lightly poked Santana's nose and stood up. She sat up and watched as Brittany walked over to the boy. "That's a really neat sand castle you built."

The boy looked up at Brittany and smiled. "Thanks! It was lots of work but I build a lot of castles so I know how to do it."

She bent down and pointed towards Santana. "You see that girl over there?" The boy nodded. "I'm playing at the beach with her but we don't have any toys. Could you ask your mom if we could borrow yours? I promise we'll take really good care of them."

The boy looked at his toys. "Do you know how to build a sand castle?"

"Hm... I think so, but my friend probably doesn't. Could you help us?"

The boy quickly stood up. "Yes!" He ran over to his mom who was busy writing something. Brittany waved when the woman looked at her, then to Santana. She watched as the woman whispered something to her son. The boy ran back down the beach to Brittany. "We can play but I have to stay here."

"Perfect!" She waved for Santana to join them.

"No way..." Santana stood up and walked over. She sat down between Brittany and the little boy. "So a sand castle huh?"

The boy nodded quickly and stuck his hand out. "I'm Spencer."

Santana shook his hand. "Hi Spencer. I'm Santana and this is Brittany."

The boy picked up a bucket and started to fill it. "I'm going to teach you how to make a castle."

Brittany picked up the piece to make the walls and started filling it. Santana looked at her and the blonde nodded towards Spencer. Santana shook her head but when Brittany frowned at her, she sighed and picked up a shovel. She started filling the bucket with the boy, who didn't stop smiling the whole time.

It didn't take long before the castle was almost complete. Santana had offered to find shells to decorate it as Brittany and Spencer finished the last section.

"Spencer, it's time to go buddy." They looked over to see the boy's mother packed up and ready to leave.

"Do we have to? It's almost done." He called back to her.

"Sorry Spence, we have some running around to do still." She walked over and started gathering his beach toys. Brittany handed her one of the buckets and the woman smiled. "Thanks. His friend was supposed to come with us today but he couldn't make it and I had some work I had to get done. You two saved the day."

"It was our pleasure, really." She smiled at the woman then looked to Spencer. "Thank you for showing Santana how to make a sand castle. Now she'll know for the next time we come to the beach."

The boy smiled. "It'll be as good as ours."

"Oh I don't know about that. This castle is pretty awesome."

As Spencer and his mother were walking away Santana came back. "He's gone?"

Brittany smiled at her girlfriend. "Yeah, he had to go."

Santana frowned. She kneeled down and dropped the shells she had collected. "Well, we can't let these go to waste." She picked some up and started decorating the castle.

Brittany picked up a shell but stopped to watch her girlfriend. "You had fun today didn't you?"

Santana placed another shell on the castle. "Yes." She glanced over at Brittany's beaming smile. "It was the perfect day babe."

Brittany looked around them. "This is a pretty great city." Santana nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should move here someday."

The brunette stopped what she was doing and looked at Brittany. "But you love New York."

Brittany shrugged. "New York's great but I love you Santana and if being in LA is the best thing for your career then we should do it. I can teach dance anywhere."

Santana nodded slowly. "This isn't a decision we can make overnight Britt."

"Why not?"

"We have friends we would be leaving in New York."

"I love our friends but it's not like we would never see them. We have to do what's best for us." Brittany countered.

Santana looked down at the sand castle. "I do love it here."

Brittany leaned over and kissed Santana's temple. "You're right, we don't have to decide now. I just want you to know that if you want to live here, then I want to live here."

Santana looked at Brittany and smiled. This woman was amazing. "Thank you B."


The two spent the rest of the time on the beach relaxing and enjoying each other's company. The sun was starting to set and they were sitting on the beach still, Santana wrapped in Brittany's arms. Brittany tightened her grip around Santana and the Latina sighed contentedly at the embrace.

"Hey Britt?"

"Mhm?" The blonde rested her temple on the top of Santana's head.

"You know that bucket list thing you made in high school?" Santana asked and waited until she felt her girlfriend nod. "Number two was propose, not get engaged." Brittany nodded again. "Why's that?"

"I've always wanted to be the one to propose. I guess I want to feel the excitement and anticipation of waiting for the response. Plus I have an irrational fear of someone I don't love asking me to marry them. I have this idea of the perfect proposal in my head. It would be sweet and personal, like it wouldn't be in public or anything. Just me and the person I'm meant to be with forever."

Santana contemplated her next question. Part of her didn't want to know but a larger part was curious. "Sam proposed?" Again she felt Brittany nod. "How did he do it?"

"It was almost exactly how I described."

"Almost?"

"It was sweet, personal and it was just him and I." She smiled. "But he isn't the one I'm meant to be with forever."


AN: We're getting really close to the end guys... thank you all. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.