Santana tossed and turned in her bed, no matter how hard she tried to sleep, her body wouldn't let her. She tried everything; counting sheep, creating a story in her head and reading but nothing worked. She was wide awake and the kiss kept replaying in her head.

Santana's mind went blank as soon as she placed her full lips on Brittany's thin ones. The Latina felt as if fireworks had been set off somewhere in her body at first contact with the blondes soft lips. Her heart thumped so hard from sheer adrenaline that the Latina was sure that it would pop out any minute.

The blonde hesitated for a moment but moved her lips with Santana's and within seconds they had a rhythm going. Their lips worked in perfect motion together, as if they had done it for years.

This kiss was different to the sloppy ones that they had shared when they were drunk months ago. This time instead of tasting alcohol, the brunette could taste Brittany's raspberry lip balm. Santana grazed Brittany's bottom lip with her tongue, silently asking for more access but Brittany pulled away when Santana tried to deepen the kiss.

The two sat inches away from each other and breathed unevenly from the sudden contact. The girls sat in an awkward and uncomfortable silence as each of them processed what had just happened.

"Brittany, I'm-.." the Latinas voice cracked. Santana wished the ground would swallow her up. Fuck, what the hell had possessed her to kiss Brittany like that? The brunette knew that Brittany was in a relationship, for fuck sake.

"I'm so sorry Britt, I-I don't know what come over me" Santana confessed and attempted to meet the blondes avoided gaze. It hurt the Latina when Brittany didn't look up from her lap or say something back.

"I'm such a fucking idiot!" Santana closed her eyes and hit her forehead with the palm of her hand.

Brittany was alarmed by Santanas actions and reached towards the Latina immediately and grabbed her hands to stop Santana hitting herself and hushed "don't say that."

Santana felt her hands go limp in Brittany's grasp and opened her eyes. She saw the flushed blonde staring back at her with big glassy eyes. She got the urge to go back in for another kiss but quickly dismissed it as that was the reason they were already in this mess. "I should go" she whispered.

"Santana-.." Brittany sighed.

"Bye Britt" Santana mumbled as she got off the bed.

She left Brittany's bedroom without looking back at the pouting girl.


It had been two weeks since the kiss and Santana had done everything she could do to avoid the blonde. She skipped History completely so she didn't have to sit on the two person table with Brittany. In Spanish, she switched seats with Rachel so she sat on a table with Finn, Mike, and Tina instead of sitting on her usual table which consisted of Brittany, Quinn and Mercedes. The only other lesson she shared with the girl was Chemistry; she moved to the front so "she could see the board easier" which meant that she wouldn't have to sit opposite Brittany and be caught in those damn eyes.

Lunch times were difficult since everybody in Glee club sat together and the Latina didn't really want to sit alone in a toilet cubicle and eat her lunch mean girl style. She missed one Glee Club meeting and almost got slaughtered by Rachel and the tiny diva made sure she didn't skip anymore by waiting after class for Santana so they could walk together.

Santana very often felt Brittany's eyes on her and when she looked up, the blonde always had the same wide eyed, pouting expression on her delicate face.


Santana heard a horn beep outside her house; she peeped through the curtains and saw Quinn waiting in her car. The Latina quickly grabbed her suitcase from the hallway and left the house without saying goodbye to her parents. It was finally time for Regionals and the Glee kids were off to the Big Apple to hopefully win and guarantee their place at Nationals.

"You do realise that we're only going to be in New York for a weekend right?" Quinn called out to the Latina as she got closer to the car.

"I need all this stuff Fabray. Necessities my friend" Santana said and put her suitcase in the trunk of the silver Volkswagen passat.

"I'm sure you need your straighteners and curling wand" the blonde teased.

Santana slid in the passenger seat next to her and buckled her seatbelt "like I said, necessities and you won't be saying that when you're begging to use them later."

"Whatever Lopez" Quinn smirked and started to drive.

Santana rolled her eyes when the sound of Quinn's weird indie music filled the car. "God, you listen to some boring shit Q."

"My car, my music" the blonde shrugged.

"I guess this is better than your T Swizzle obsession" the Latina smirked at the memories she had of 15 and 16 year old Quinn repeatedly playing Taylor Swift at full volume when a date didn't go well or a relationship didn't work out.

"Oh my Gosh" Quinn chuckled and her cheeks grew a little pink. "I still like her, just not to that extent anymore."

"That's a shame, I guess I won't bother buying you those concert tickets for your birthday after all then" Santana said sarcastically.

"Wait, what?" Quinn turned her head to meet the brunette beside her "well I wouldn't be opposed to going if you-.." she trailed off when she saw that Santana had broken out into a mischievous smirk and realised that the Latina wasn't being serious. "Screw you Santana" she huffed.

"Oh and I'm the lesbian!" Santana cackled.

The two girls laughed and talked aimlessly for the rest of the drive until Santana noticed that something wasn't right.

"What are you doing Quinn? You've missed the turning for McKinley" the brunette looked out of the window in confusion.

"I told Brittany that I would give her a ride" the girl informed her.

Santana whipped her head round to Quinn as soon as the blondes name had fallen out of her friend's mouth.

"What?!" the Latina demanded.

"I told Brittany that I would give her a ride to McKinley" the taller girl repeated.

"Why does she need a ride anyway? Couldn't Artie give her a ride since he's her boyfriend" she said spitefully.

"Because she lives too far away from the school to walk there and she doesn't have a car since she only owns that motorbike of hers and she didn't want to leave it in the school parking lot overnight. Artie couldn't give her a ride because his mom's taking him and apparently there's not enough room in the car because of his wheelchair" Quinn told the grumpy Latina. "What's going on with you and her anyway? In two weeks you've gone from speaking and sitting next to her everyday to doing everything possible to avoid her."

Santana felt her heartbeat pick up, there was no way she could tell Quinn that she kissed Brittany. She knew Quinn would scream and shout at her for potentially messing up a relationship and Quinn was a genius slapper.

Luckily she didn't have to make up an excuse because Quinn got distracted when they entered Brittanys neighbourhood.

Quinn turned her nose up at the graffiti on the walls and the garbage in the streets "is this where she lives?"

Santana felt rage build up inside her when she heard the undertone of disgust in the taller girl's voice, "yeah. Do you have a problem with that?" she challenged the blonde with a hardened expression on her face.

Quinn was startled by her friends sudden cold tone "of course not, I just thought Brittany would live somewhere..different" they drove past a rundown store and saw an old man with his back to the girls and his hands disappeared by his mid section. "A place where people wouldn't be peeing in public" she added under her breath.

Santana dismissed the man urinating in public as if it was nothing. Santana had hung out with Brittany in the blonde's house so many times that the neighbourhood was almost like a second home to her now. She wasn't shocked by the garbage, graffiti, the homeless people, the drug addicts and the dodgy people who stood on the street corners anymore.

"Yeah well, not everybody can afford a 3 story, 6 bedroom house with a pool in one of the richest neighbourhoods in Ohio like you Quinn" the Latina spat.

Quinn's hands tightened on the steering wheel. She clenched her jaw and held her tongue and didn't answer the Latina back. Regionals were supposed to be a happy time and she didn't want to make the atmosphere sour.

Quinn tooted the horn twice when they arrived at Brittany's small house and stayed in a tense silence while the radio played and waited for Brittany to get in the car.

Santana's jaw dropped a little when she saw Brittany walking towards them, she was wearing black denim shorts with matching suspenders, a stripy blue baseball top and knee-high socks. She had let her hair fall naturally wavy which was the Latinas favourite look and on her back she carried a green backpack that was covered in patches of other material.

"Look, I don't know what's happened between you two but don't act like an asshole to her anymore. Regionals is the one place where we get to prove ourselves again and if you mess that up then I will slap you" Quinn hissed and looked the brunette dead in the eye to prove that she wasn't bluffing.

Before Santana had chance to talk back Brittany already entered the car, "hey girls!" she said excitedly.

"Hi Brittany" greeted Quinn and began to drive.

"Hey" Santana gave a tiny smile.

Brittany grinned widely when the Latina acknowledged her. It was the first time Santana had spoken to her since the incident that happened in her room and the blonde had missed hearing the sound of Santana's voice.

"See Santana, that is how you pack for a weekend away" she nodded to Brittany's well loved backpack that was on her lap in the backseat. Santana rolled her eyes and scowled at Quinn.

"I'm so excited for New York! It's going to be my first time on a plane" Brittany squealed.

Quinn raised an eyebrow "have you left Ohio before?"

"Nope" the blonde shook her head "been here all my life."

Santana heard a tiny amount of sadness in the blondes' gentle voice and sat up straight "then it that case, we need to win Regionals to make your first out of state trip even more awesome."

She heard Brittany giggle in the back and caught her twinkling blue eyes in the rearview mirror; she couldn't help but smile back.


"Artie, Brittany, Rachel, Finn, Sam, Quinn, Mercedes, Santana, Mike, Tina, Kurt, Blaine, Puck-.." Mr Schuester counted the students individually as he made his way through the bus.

"Mr Schue I can assure you that everybody is here. I've already counted everybody three times" Rachel interrupted.

Brittany, who sat in front of the Latina with Artie turned around and said "you were right San, she is becoming insane."

"I heard that!" Rachel shrieked from the other side of the bus and woke Finn up.

"Told you Britt" Santana shrugged.

"I'm surprised you actually made it on time today Santana after you barely made it to Sectionals."

"You should have seen her Santana, she had a full blown tantrum last time" laughed Mercedes who sat next to the Latina.

Rachel gasped when she heard words come out of the loud girls mouth "Mercedes! What did I tell you about talking? Voice rest remember?!"

"I was like three minutes late" protested the brunette.

"Oh please, you're only on time today because I gave you a ride" Quinn rolled her eyes from where she sat with Sam behind Rachel and Finn.

Santana flipped Quinn off playfully.

Mr Schue stood up at the front of the bus to get the students attention "okay guys we're all here!"

"Told you" huffed Rachel just loud enough for him to hear but he ignored her.

"Whose ready for Regionals?" he asked and rubbed his hands excitedly.

The students cheered eagerly, chattered enthusiastically and to Rachel's protest to save their voices, sang loudly as they made their way to Dayton International Airport.


The airport had certainly been an interesting experience for the small town teenagers to say the least.

Quinn had joked about Santana hiding razor blades in her hair at security checks which made her get frisked by one of the officers and she was sure that he frisked her for longer than necessary. Rachel had been stopped and searched at customs after she was overheard telling Brittany about the time she sent a hopeful Glee club member to a crackhouse. Puck had sneaked off and got a cup of hot coffee thrown over him after hitting on a "milf" and Brittany had got confused by the terminals and almost boarded an airplane that was flying to Japan.

"So Santana, how about we join a little club I know about?" the Latina heard Puck say.

Santana groaned internally before opening her eyes, it was just her luck to be sat between Puck and Tina. It wouldn't be so bad if Tina actually came up for air after making out with Mike so they could have a conversation but instead she was stuck with Puck.

"What club might this be then?" She asked even though she already had a pretty good idea of what the "club" was.

"The mile high club" Puck wiggled his eyebrows in a flirtatious way which just made him look constipated.

"Ha, nope" the Latina smirked, she was right about knowing what "club" Puck was talking about. Santana was actually quite fond of the boy when he wasn't trying to persuade her to hook up with him which she found highly amusing because he had no idea that she was a lesbian.

"Come on! Before Tina and Mike beat us to it" he nodded towards the young couple who was sucking face on the other side of the Latina.

"Never going to happen Puck" she fake yawned.

Puck sat back and pouted.

"Wipe that ridiculous look of your face, you look like a giant toddler who had their favourite toy ripped away from them" Santana rolled her eyes and elbowed him playfully.

"Whatever Lopez, I'm gonna see if I can steal some wine coolers off the air hostess trolley" the mohawked boy said as he got up.

"Whoa we have a badass motherfucker over here, stealing wine coolers!" the Latina mocked humorously.

Puck shrugged and winked at the brunette "fine, I'll just have them all to myself then."

"Wait! See if they have any margarita ones."


An airplane and another bus ride later the students of William McKinley Glee Club stood in the polished hallway of the hotel that they were staying in for the weekend.

"To make things easier, I have already made the arrangements for the rooms" Mr Schue explained which caused a lot of grumbles and moans from everybody.

"If he's put me with Berry then I'm not going to be held responsible for my actions" the Latina hissed but only loud enough for the two blondes standing next to her to hear.

"Don't worry, I'll crush some of Tubbs' pills up and slip it in her drink after" Brittany mumbled and Santana wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

"Kurt, Finn, Puck and Sam are in room 103 and Artie, Mike and Blaine are in room 105" the teacher gave out the keycards to the group of protesting boys.

"I can't sleep on a sofa bed again, it damages my abs."

"If any of you give me pink eye again I will smother you."

"Mr Schue, can Kurt and I please share the same room?"

"We promise it won't be a repeat of what happened at Sectionals."

"It should have been called sextionals with you too."

"My eyes still burn."

"I don't plan on coming back tonight anyway, I've already spotted some insanely hot cougars giving me the eye in the bar downstairs."

"Anyway" Mr Schue said loudly over the herd of noisy boys "and opposite we have Mercedes, Tina and Brittany in room 102 and then in room 104 there are Rachel, Quinn and Santana."

Tina, Brittany and Mercedes squealed with excitement over their room arrangement whereas Santana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms at hers.

"Like I said, don't hold me responsible for my actions against the Hobbit" the Latina warned the teacher and snatched her keycard from the curly haired man.

"Oh Santana, I know you wouldn't hurt me!" Rachel gushed "anymore anyway" she added.

The Latina gave the smaller girl an icy glare "don't push me."

Mr Schue coughed loudly to get everybody's attention "okay so how about I give you half hour to get settled into your rooms and then we'll meet in the restaurant downstairs and discuss what's next?"

The group of misfits agreed light-heartedly and separated off into the rooms that they had been assigned to.

As soon as Santana slid the keycard into the door she was surprised by how nice the room actually was. Previous years they had been cramped in small rooms with not enough beds and damp on the walls which Santana was sure was a health violation. However this room was painted a mint green colour, the wooden floor was polished; there were three single beds with pristine white bedding and even a TV.

"Wow, Mr Schue finally got his shit together this year" the Latina admired under her breath as she looked around the room. Santana could hear shuffling and groaning behind her, she turned around and saw Quinn helping Rachel carry a suitcase that was almost as big as the small girl into the room.

"Jesus Christ! And Quinn said I brought too much" Santana eyed the huge suitcase as the two lumbered Rachel's luggage across the room as well Quinn's tiny one.

Rachel unzipped her suitcase and started digging through the contents, "I need all of this."

"Did you bring the rest of your Oompa Loompa friends with you or?" The Latina smirked as she jumped on her bed.

The tiny diva narrowed her eyes at Santana "actually if you must know I have only packed 3 argyle skirts, one black, one red and one navy. A green knitted jumper with a reindeers on and a-.."

"Yeah, I really don't care" Santana interrupted.

Rachel sighed dramatically, grabbed a small bag from her suitcase and strutted off to the bathroom. Santana felt Quinn's eyes on her "can I help you?"

The blonde sat next to the brunette and raised an eyebrow, "Oompa Loompa really? That's just lame Santana."

The two bantered back and forth until they were interrupted by a loud bang coming from the bathroom.

"Rachel?" Quinn called out.

A moment of silence passed until Rachel answered.

"Are you okay?"

Santana snickered "hopefully she's digging a tunnel back to Lima." Quinn glared at her and gave her a light push.

"Yeah, I-I just slipped that's all" Rachel yelled.

"We so should have filmed it and put it on the internet, it would have been hilarious. Imagine "Midget Hobbit falls in shower", goldmine" Santana chuckled to herself. Quinn just shook her head and walked over to the massive window that had a clear view of Central Park, "wow" she breathed "it's so pretty here."

Santana got off the bed and joined her friend by the window, "I know."

"Come on, let's take a photo so I can put it on instagram" smiled Quinn and got her phone out of the pocket of her jeans.

Santana rolled her eyes playfully, "and you said I was lame."


The students of the Glee Club sat in the hotels restaurant. Mr Schuester had told the young adults that they could spend the day however they wanted as long as they were back by six so they could get ready to perform at Regionals. The thirteen teenagers chattered loudly and animatedly about their plans for their day in the Big City.

"I cannot wait to visit Broadway, it will truly feel like home" Rachel gushed excitedly.

"I just can't believe we're in one of the fashion capitals in the world!" Kurt dreamed.

"What are your plans for today Brittany?" wondered Tina.

Brittany shrugged "Artie wants me to go with him and check out a film school he's interested in."

"Girl! You're in New York. You can check out film schools anywhere!" Mercedes laughed through a mouthful of baked potato.

"What do you want to do though?" Santana asked the blonde directly.

Brittany thought for a moment and twisted spaghetti around her fork "I don't know, I've never been here before."

"Central Park has a big Alice In Wonderland statue that you'd like, I remember you told me how much you liked the book and the film before" Santana told the blonde with a coy smile.

Brittany looked up at the brunette shyly, something inside her fluttered over the fact that Santana had remembered such a silly little thing about her. Something that Brittany couldn't even remember telling the Latina. "Really? That's so awesome!"

Santana smiled bigger when she saw Brittany's eyes light up "you should go see it, you'd love it."

"I think I will" the blonde said quietly. "What are you doing today San?"

Santana swallowed a piece of sushi before answering "I was meant to go shopping with Quinn but I don't really feel like being third wheel with Ken and Barbie over there" the Latina squirmed in the direction of Sam and Quinn who were sharing food further down the table.

"You can come with me if you want Santana; we can visit those old record stores that we both like?" Mercedes said eagerly "and then after, we could go to Central Park because what's a trip to New York without visiting Central Park!"

As much as Santana liked thinking she was extremely badass, there was no way she wanted to be alone on the strange streets of New York on a weekend. "Oh hell yeah" the Latina grinned.

"Do you wanna come with us Brittany? You'll get to see the statue of whatever Santana mentioned then" Mercedes offered the blonde kindly.

Santana and Brittany locked eyes for a moment; the Latina slowly felt herself get lost in those clear blue eyes, there was just something about them that the Latina just couldn't put into words.

Brittany quickly tore her eyes away from Santana and looked at Mercedes "I can't, I already told you that I promised Artie that I'd visit a school with him."

Santana quickly noticed the tiniest trace of sadness in the blondes eyes and it bothered her "well that won't take you all day, maybe you can hang out with us once you're finished" she smiled encouragingly.

"Maybe" Brittany said softly.

"I'm just gonna find some New York babes to bang" Puck said matter of factly as he shovelled a forkful of lasagne into his mouth and caused a groan from everyone.


Santana stood in the middle of Central Park and grinned like an idiot. Sure, she had been out of Ohio before unlike Brittany and several other Glee kids but for some reason this time felt special. New York was totally different to Lima, it was so busy and vibrant and she loved that about it. The Latina didn't think it was possible to fall in love with a city until now.

Santana inhaled deeply and smelled hot dogs from the food cart nearby. The scent was almost nostalgic to the brunette and reminded her of the garden parties and BBQs that Quinn's family used to throw when Quinn and Santana were younger. She opened her eyes and appreciated the surroundings. Santana stood in front of the biggest and most beautiful fountain she had ever seen; the trees were so green and lush and not a single piece of trash was in sight. The sound of tinkling laughter, taxis hooting and random chattering in all different languages rang in her ears.

Mercedes and Santana had run into Puck at an old record shop and he decided that he wanted to hang out with them for the afternoon and in Central Park the trio had bumped into Mike and Tina. She smiled at her friends nearby, Tina and Mercedes were laughing at Mike trying to teach Puck a ridiculously hard dance move. Puck was a good dancer but he was nowhere near Mikes level though, nobody was; well except one particular blonde haired blue eyed girl.

The Latina broke out of her thoughts of the magical city when she heard somebody call her name.

"Hey San!"

Santana turned around as soon as she heard the familiar nickname and she didn't realise it but a genuine smile fell over her lips. Santana's smile faltered when she saw that Brittany wasn't alone and was pushing Artie in his wheelchair.

"Hi Britt-Britt" Santana greeted when the blonde got closer.

"Santana" Artie acknowledged her coldly and crossed his arms; he still hadn't forgiven her for "accidentally" spilling a drink on him during his first date with Brittany.

"Artie" Santana replied back equally as icy.

There was an awkward pause for a few moments until Artie spoke "I'm going to talk to the others, see you later babe."

"Oh okay" Brittany said and bent down and gave a him quick peck on his lips before he wheeled himself away in Mikes direction.

Santana felt a wave of irrational anger flow through her when Brittany's soft lips met with Arties sickening chapped ones. She knew she had no reason to feel like this and shouldn't be feeling like this. After all Artie was her boyfriend and they were obviously going to kiss but it didn't stop the Latina from feeling queasy.

The two girls were left standing in the middle of the park. Santana realized that this had been the first time that they had been alone together since they had kissed, surprisingly it wasn't as awkward as the Latina had feared it would be.

"How have you been enjoying New York?" Santana asked.

"I haven't really seen much of it" Brittany said lightly "I was in a film school for most of the day and I didn't understand what was going on but apart from that, it's awesome!"

"It's so different to Lima right?"

"It's like cheese and chocolate San" Brittany smiled simply and caused Santana to start giggling.

"What do you mean?" the Latina wondered through chuckles.

The blonde shrugged "cheese and chocolate are completely different and so are New York and Lima which makes them cheese and chocolate."

Santana tilted her head and said softly but with seriousness "that's actually really smart Britt."

Brittany ducked her head bashfully and her cheeks grew pink "not just a pretty face now am I?" she joked and stuck her tongue out between her lips.

The Latina felt her own mouth go dry at the sight of the girls tongue. She instantly shook her head to erase all the inappropriate thoughts she was having out of her mind and cleared her throat "come on, let's go see the others."

The two girls walked over to sit next to Mercedes and Tina on the edge of the fountain. "Hey Tina, hey Mercedes!" Brittany greeted as she sat down.

"Hey girl!" Mercedes beamed.

"Hi Brittany" Tina said politely.

The four girls talked about Regionals and their day in New York for a little under two hours and Mike had even come over and handed the girls coffee that he had bought them and declined protests to pay him back.

"Whoa, you've had a busy day" Brittany exclaimed as she eyed the bags with designer names written across them on the floor by Mercedes feet.

"Oh please" Mercedes scoffed and took a sip of her coffee "these are Santana's not mine, I'm just looking after them for her. I'd have to sell my car just to buy what she has today."

Santana felt her cheeks burn and not from the steam coming off the coffee, she hated when people made comments about her wealth. She knew that she had a lot of money mostly due to her parents' successful careers but even though she was sometimes a bitch, she was never one to flaunt her inheritance around.

Brittany looked at Santana with her peaceful ocean orbs; she noticed that the Latinas tanned cheeks had a pink tint to them and that she had attempted to hide her face behind her coffee cup but failed.

The blonde let out a smile at how cute the Latina looked right now. Ever since the kiss, Brittany had felt something different between the two of them. Suddenly everything the Latina did or said made Brittany smile even brighter and bigger than she already did around Santana. The blonde was aware that her head was telling her that it was messed up, she had a boyfriend and shouldn't be thinking like that but something else inside her was telling her something completely different.

"Can you take me to see the Alice In Wonderland statue San?" Brittany asked the brunette with pleading eyes.

Santana looked at the blonde and nodded, how could she say no to that pout?

"Anybody else want to come?" she offered and was surprised to find how pleased she was that nobody else wanted to go with them.

"Looks like it's just you and me San" Brittany said softly.

"Yup" Santana's voice was equally as soft.

During their walk through the park to get to the statue, Santana had an internal debate between herself whether or not to link pinkys with Brittany. They used to do it all the time until they shared a kiss but they haven't touched each other since and Santana missed the simple gesture between them.

It was as if Brittany was able to read the Latinas mind, she immediately linked her pale pinky with Santana's tanned one. Santana felt warmth take over her body straight away; the two girls shared shy smiles in silence until they reached their destination.

Brittany gasped comically when she first laid eyes on the bronze statue "oh my God, I can't believe it!"

Santana smiled wildly at the blondes' excitement "I'm glad you like it."

Brittany took her phone out of her backpack and took a picture of the statue. "My sisters are going to love it!" she exclaimed.

"They like Alice In Wonderland too?"

"Yeah! Erica has read the book so many times and Bailey adores the film even though she cries when the Cheshire cat appears" Brittany gushed. "Do you mind taking a photo of me and the statue please?" she added shyly.

"Sure! No problem" Santana said and took Brittany's phone that she had handed her, "smile!"

After the Latina had taken the photo of Brittany, she was about to check that it wasn't blurry or that her thumb hadn't covered the camera but instead she became distracted by the image of the blonde.

Her milky legs that seemed endless in those shorts and socks contrasted with the bronze of the statue. The camera seemed to make Brittany's teeth look even more white which Santana thought was impossible and those damn eyes looked like shimmering pools of blue.

"Will you have a photo with me San?" the blonde asked hopefully.

Santana felt her face instantly soften "of course."

The two leaned together on the bronze statue and Brittany held her phone out and snapped a photo of them.

"We look good" Brittany chuckled when she saw the picture they had taken.

"Yeah we do Britt-Britt" Santana winked.

"Hey look, we even have Alice in the background" Brittany said a little flustered from the Latinas wink that she had such a weakness for.

Santana became aware of how close they were from having to both fit in the picture. She became conscious of their arms and thighs grazing together. The Latina looked up at the blonde and caught her already looking back down at her.

Brittany looked into Santana's intense mocha eyes. The noises of the grumbling tourists around them fizzled away and her eyes fluttered down to those pouty lips and licked her own in memory of how good Santana tasted when she kissed her. Sometimes if Brittany concentrated hard enough she could still taste the cherry flavoured lipgloss.

Santana instantly took a step back when she realised just how close she was to kissing Brittany again. "We um.. we should go back to the others" her voice wavered.

"Uh yeah, 'course" Brittany cleared her throat and hoped that her voice would return to normal pitch "oh and San?"

"Yeah Britt?"

"Thank you for taking me here" Brittany beamed and linked their pinkies together as they began to walk back to their friends.


The atmosphere backstage for Regionals was intense. Tensions and emotions were running high as show choirs eyed up other show choirs and tried to work out who would be the main threat and who they had to destroy. Over the years New Directions had earned itself quite the reputation thanks to Rachel's ability to sing almost any genre of music perfectly, Mercedes powerful soul voice and Santana's voice that had a unique raspy quality to it.

"How are you feeling?" Santana asked Brittany as she finished straightening the blonde's hair.

It had somehow become a weird superstition for everybody in the New Directions to wear the same outfit and style their hair the same for competitions and this year was no different. The girls had a lilac dress on that flowed out from the waist down to the knees and had a deep purple sash tied around the middle. Their hair was pin straight with a silver sparkly headband placed on top. The boys had it easier and just had to wear smart black pants, black shirt and a tie that was the same colour as the girls' sash.

"I'm a bit nervous but I'm excited more than anything!" Brittany grinned at Santana in their reflection in the mirror.

"You're going to destroy that dance sequence Britt, trust me" the Latina promised.

"Thank you San. You're going to do so well in your solo though" Brittany said solemnly.

"Thanks Britt-Britt."

Out of the corner of her eye the brunette saw Quinn slumped against the wall instead of doing vocal warm ups like Rachel had scheduled her to do. "I need to go and speak to Quinn but if I'm not back by the time we go on stage then good luck" she gave Brittany a little squeeze on her shoulder.

Santana walked over to her friend and crouched down beside her so her dress didn't get creased, "what's up with you?"

"Sam broke up with me" Quinn said in a small voice.

The Latina wasn't sure she heard right "what?"

"He broke up with me" the blonde repeated.

"What the fuck!?" Santana straightened herself out and hissed "where is that guppy face idiot? I'm so gonna all Lima Heights on him!"

Quinn let out a light laugh "relax Santana, it's okay. Remember how I told you ages ago that I felt like something was missing?"

"Yeah."

"Well apparently he thought so as well and decided that we should be single for a while because we were better of as friends" Quinn explained.

"So how do you feel about it?"

"Honestly" the blonde paused for a moment "kind of pleased. I don't have the pressure to say "I love you" back anymore."

"Well just as long as I don't have to bring out the Taylor Swift CDs again" Santana teased and nudged her friend with her foot. "Are you two going to be okay singing the duet because-..""

Santana was cut off by the overhead speaker "can the New Directions from William McKinley High School in Lima Ohio please make their way to the stage."

Quinn got up and smoothed out her dress, "I guess we're about to find out."


New Directions only had three songs to perform and the first one was a toned down acoustic piece which only required Puck, Quinn and Sam to be on stage. Santana waited in the wings anxiously with the rest of the Glee Club while the three teenagers took their positions on stage. This year Santana was more nervous than usual because it was actually her that had chosen the setlist and who sang what instead of Mr Schuester. It felt like Santana had a family of butterflies living in her stomach right now.

The heavy red curtain rose up and the audience chatter disappeared as soon as Puck strummed the first few chords on his acoustic guitar.

A single spotlight hit Sam and he began to walk slowly to the centre of the stage and sang in Quinns direction of the stage.

"She sits up high, surrounded by the sun
One million branches and she loves every one
Mom and dad, did you search for me?
I've been up here so long I'm going crazy!"

A spotlight hit Quinn and she became visible to the audience, she walked to meet Sam in the middle.

"And as the sun went down, we ended up on the ground
I heard the train shake the windows
You screamed over the sound"

The two teenagers met in the middle of the stage and the spotlights merged together and become brighter and bigger as they sang together.

"And as we own this night,
I put your body to the test with mine.
This love was out of control...
Three, two, one, where did it go?"

For the first part of the chorus Santana would admit that things did look a bit awkward between the two especially the line "I put your body to the test with mine" but other than that they were doing perfectly.

The two separated on the last word and stole shy obvious glances while Puck built up to the next verse on his guitar.

"Now don't be crazy.
Yes, now of course you can stay here"

Quinn harmonised with Sam just as they had rehearsed.

"Been in a touring band for going on ten years"

Sam walked back over to Quinn and took her hands in his and swayed gently behind her.

"Big deal," she said, "I guess you're official."
I only said it 'cause I know what it's like to feel burned out
It gets you down,
We've all been there sometimes
But tonight I'll make you feel beautiful once again"

Quinn turned around to face Sam and swayed in sync with him as she sang next.

"And as the sun went down, we ended up on the ground.
I heard the train shake the windows,
you screamed over the sound.
And as we own this night"

Sam put his hands on the blondes waist and Quinn placed her hands around his neck and looked into each other's eyes while they harmonised the last bit of the song.

"I put your body to the test with mine.
This love was out of control...
Three, two, one, where did it go?"

Puck executed the song of brilliantly with one last stroke of the guitar strings. Santana finally felt like she could breathe again when she saw the audience and the judges clapping.

"That was really sweet" Brittany awed beside her. Santana jumped at the sound of the girl's voice but she didn't get chance to reply as she was ushered on to the stage by Rachel and took her place in between Tina and Blaine for the big group number.

All of the students stood still and silent with their backs to the audience when the slow piano intro started and only Rachel turned around when the spotlight hit her.

"I've seen the rise, and the fall
The bitterness in all the empty hearts
That stopped before they left their mark"

A soft drum beat crept in and Finn was the next person to turn around and face the audience when the spotlight hit him.

"In this town worst friends
Can be your best enemies
Share the same last wish, last names"

Mercedes was last of the trio to turn around.

"It's all lies to keep you in line"

The three singers walked to the centre of the stage at the same time and sang the chorus together.

"So hang on, be strong
Long live the kids in us all
Pride may fail us,
But god we will die trying
Hang on, be strong,
Long live the kids in us all
Fate may cheat us,
But God we will die trying"

The drums built up and the guitars increased while the music got more lively. The stage gradually become lighter and more colourful as the music became more intense and louder. The other teenagers turned around one by one so the audience could see them as well as the three vocalists.

"I've been the hope, and the doubt
The fear of breaking down
These insecurities until there's nothing left"

Finn harmonised "until there's nothing left" with Rachel while the teenagers began to dance impressively in the background. It was nothing too complicated yet; that would come after, nevertheless it was definitely impressive.

"I wanna scream, I wanna live
I don't care who's listening
I won't wait my turn to be the ignorant
Its all lies to keep you in line"

Everybody joined in with the final chorus and Rachel, Finn and Mercedes joined in with the dancing and didn't skip a beat.

"So hang on, be strong
Long live the kids in us all
Pride may fail us,
But God we will die trying
Hang on, be strong
Long live the kids in us all
Fate may cheat us,
But God we will die trying"

Mercedes took to the centre and belted out the very last bit of the song with her powerful voice as everybody else harmonised around her.

"You can't tell us no!
You can't tell us no!
No! No-oh!
You can't tell us no!
No! No-oh!
You can't tell us no!"

The teenagers didn't get chance to absorb the applause and cheers they had achieved off the audience, they had to re-position themselves on the stage for the last song that would showcase Brittany and Mikes dancing and Santana's rare voice.

Santana rushed to the middle of the stage with Brittany and Rachel who pretended to play with her hair and shook their hips to the beat of the music while she had her back to the audience and counted the drum beats for her cue to turn around.

"Well, sometimes I go out by myself
And I look across the water
And I think of all the things, what you're doing
And in my head I paint a picture"

She danced around with Brittany and the blonde threw her a wink and pretended to take a picture of her.

"'Cause since I've come on home, well my body's been a mess
And I've missed your ginger hair and the way you like to dress
Won't you come on over, stop making a fool out of me
Why don't you come on over Valerie?"

Santana moved to the back of the stage with the other teenagers and joined in the dancing while Brittany and Mike did their very own complicated dance routine at centre stage, it was amazing. The Latina had seen the routine many, many times before when they were rehearsing but it never failed to shock Santana just how talented they were.

"Valerie
Why don't you come on over?
Valerie, Valerie
Why don't you come on over?"

Santana had moved to the right side of the stage where she and all the other girls danced in perfect sync before merging with the boys who were on the left side of the stage.

"Well, sometimes I go out by myself
And I look across the water
And I think of all the things, what you're doing
And in my head I paint a picture"

The rest of the group had formed a line at the back so Brittany and Mike could perform their most impressive and complicated move of the entire sequence while Santana sang around them.

"'Cause since I've come on home, well my body's been a mess
And I've missed your ginger hair and the way you like to dress
Won't you come on over, stop making a fool out of me
Why don't you come on over Valerie?"

Everybody in the Glee Club sang the final chorus in perfect pitch with the Latina as each and every one of the teenagers savoured the last few seconds of performing.

"Valerie
Why don't you come on over?
Valerie, Valerie
Why don't you come on over?
Valerie, Valerie
Why don't you come on over?
Valerie, Valerie
Why don't you come on over?
Valerie
Why don't you come on over, Valerie"

The Glee Club bowed as they took in the astounding applause of the audience and beaming smiles of the judges, they were all red and sweaty but they didn't have a care in the world.


"Oh my God San, I am so proud of you! That was so super awesome" Brittany gushed and practically threw herself on the Latina when they left the stage.

The sudden impact of Brittany catapulting herself onto Santana startled her initially but she instinctively wrapped her arms around Brittany's waist and rested her head on her shoulder. Santana immediately smelt the familiar smell of citrus shampoo and smiled. She felt Brittany tighten the hug and remembered that other than the simple pinky linking earlier that day, this was the most physical contact that they have had since the kiss. The Latina knew she missed hugging Brittany but she didn't realise just how much she did until she hadn't hugged her for weeks.

"You too Britt. Your dancing was incredible!" Santana congratulated.

Brittany broke the hug and Santana immediately missed the contact "do you think we won?"

"With your dancing? Obviously Britt-Britt!" she exclaimed and brought the blonde in for another tight embrace.


It was no surprise that the New Directions won Regionals; their performance was flawless after all. To celebrate Mr Schue had bought the group a bottle of vodka for the teenagers to share. This made Santana even more suspicious of the permed man because come on, what kind of teacher buys underage students alcohol? The Latina wasn't going to say anything though; it was free alcohol after all.

The group retreated into Puck, Kurt, Sam and Finns room and had a mini celebration. Nobody really got drunk of a litre of vodka that was shared among thirteen people, well apart from Tina and Blaine who couldn't hold their alcohol at all and got tipsy but it was still fun for the Latina.

Now Santana led in her bed in the hotel room that she shared with Quinn and Rachel. She rolled over and checked the time on her phone. She winced at the sudden flash of light and groaned internally when she saw it was 1.43am. The Latina hadn't been able to sleep well at all for the past couple of weeks. Normally, she would turn the TV on and watch a random show until she fell asleep but she couldn't do that now because of the other two sleeping girls.

The brunette silently rolled out of her bed, unzipped her suitcase and pulled out an oversized grey sweatshirt; she quickly pulled it over her thin tank top. She dug around more in her suitcase and found a pack of cigarettes and lighter and headed to the roof.


Santana sat on the hotel roof and inhaled another cigarette and watched the beautiful city glow below her.

"You know those things kill you faster" Santana heard a gentle voice behind her say. The Latina shuddered when she felt tingles down her spine that had nothing to do with it being a little cold.

"We all die sometime" Santana shrugged and held the packet of cigarettes to Brittany "want one?"

Brittany sat down next to Santana and shook her head "no thanks, I never knew you smoked San."

The Latina exhaled one last time before putting it out, "I don't, not really anyway. Only when I'm nervous, stressed or drunk."

"So which one are you then?" Brittany asked curiously.

Santana didn't hear her question; she was too busy looking at the blonde. She was wearing a yellow pair of pyjama pants with white ducks on and an old Cincinnati Stix sweatshirt, it was obvious by the dark circles under Brittany's eyes that she had trouble sleeping too.

It was a clear, cool night and the moon shone bright above them while the two sat in a comfortable silence for a while as they looked down at the lit streets of New York.

"I came out to Quinn" Santana shared, her voice uneven.

Brittany's eyes lit up and she smiled that mega watt smile again, "that's fantastic Santana. I'm so proud of you!" The blonde hugged the Latina tightly even if it was a little awkward sat down side hug, it still warmed Santana.

There were those words again "proud of you". Brittany had told Santana that she was proud of her more in the past couple of hours than her parents had in the past couple of years.

"Thank you" Santana managed to choke out.

"How do you feel?" Brittany asked as she broke the hug.

Santana missed the hug and rested her head on Brittany's shoulder so she still had some kind of physical contact with the blonde and thought for a moment "I don't know Britt-Britt. I guess I'm relieved that she knows, it's one less person that I don't have to pretend to anymore. I mean, she's the first person I've officially come out too."

Brittany raised an eyebrow "officially?"

"Well you were the first person that knew I was into girls because we've already fucking slept together and I kissed you." Santana grew pink and the blonde smiled to herself, she loved it when Santana become flustered because it was such a rare thing to see.

It was Brittany that broke the peaceful silence that they had fallen into "what are you doing up here anyway San?" she mumbled into the coconut smelling hair.

"Couldn't sleep you?" The Latina murmured.

"Same. Usually I ride around on my bike if I can't sleep and have something on my mind but I can't do that here obviously so I figured the roof was the next best option."

Santana crinkled an eyebrow over the blonde not being able to sleep "what's on your mind Britt-Britt?"

Brittany answered instantly "the kiss."

The blonde felt Santana's whole body tense up and slowly played with her hair comfortingly. "I've been thinking about it a lot recently."

"Me too" Santana whispered honestly.

"Can we talk about it?"

"Sure" Santana sighed, she knew that this conversation had been coming for a long time. The Latina dug around in her pocket for the packet of cigarettes and was about to light one to calm herself when she noticed the look of the disappointment and disapproval on the blondes face and decided not to light it.

Brittany turned to the side and Santana mimicked her position so they both faced each other.

"You shouldn't have kissed me San" the blonde told the Latina in a firm but kind voice.

Santana hung her head and dropped her eyes from the blonde, "I know and I'm sorry."

"Santana, I have a boyfriend and I don't want to cheat on him" Brittany said sadly, she noticed Santana begin to open her mouth but quickly continued "but I did enjoy kissing you."

The Latina snapped her head back up and felt her tanned face turn embarrassingly pink and looked at the blonde with wide eyes "y-you did?"

"Mm hmm, you have really soft cherry flavoured lips" Brittany confessed as her eyes fluttered down to those plump lips.

"I enjoyed kissing you too Britt" Santana smiled coyly and bit her bottom lip instinctively when she remembered what it was like to kiss the blonde girl.

"Is it wrong that I liked kissing you because I have a boyfriend?" Brittany pouted and writhed her hands.

Santana thought for a moment, she knew the correct answer but that pout hurt her "no, not at all."

"Really?" Brittany gasped.

"Yeah because" Santana paused for a moment to think of a decent reason "because girls kissing girls is..just..friends talking with their tongues super close."

"Are you sure?" Brittany tilted her head to the side and scrunched up her features in confusion.

"Positive" Santana lied. "It's like one of the rules of feminism or something. Girls hook up and make out with other girls all the time when they're dating a boy."

Brittany gently linked pinkies with the brunette and ran her thumb over the tanned knuckles and looked deep into the warm dark eyes that belonged to the Latina, "I like you Santana but I don't want to cheat on Artie."

Santana's mind was completely clouded right now; only one thing made sense to her and that was Brittany. "It's not cheating; everybody knows it's not cheating if a girl fools around with another girl when she has a boyfriend."

The blonde chewed her bottom lip anxiously "I don't understand."

Santana took a deep breath "a girl can't cheat on a boy with another girl."

"Why?"

"Because" Santana roamed her almost black eyes over the girl's body and remembered how the girl danced at Regionals, how flexible she was. "Girls know what other girls like" she said her voice considerably lower than before.

"So" Brittany husked as her darkened eyes flickered over the Latinas high cheekbones and full lips that Brittany swore were calling her own. "If we were to hook up and make out, it would be okay?"

Santana's heart started beating fast when Brittany mentioned hooking up. Memories of the last time which was also the first they had sex invaded Santana's brain. Just the thought of how wet Brittany was that night still turned her on. She licked her bottom lip again and purred in the blonde's ear "yeah and it's not cheating because..."

The blonde edged nearer the brunette and bit her lip "it's just friends talking with their tongues super close" Brittany's voice cracked.

Santana was so close to Brittany that she noticed that Brittany's soft blue eyes shone silver in the moonlight and her perfect pink lips were already parted for the Latina. Santana didn't think she had seen Brittany look more beautiful than she did now under the dim light of the moon.

The blonde had stopped running her thumb over the brunettes knuckles and put her hands on the Latinas knees to steady herself. Brittany watched as Santana's chest rose and fell unevenly. Her breath hitched when she remembered what was underneath that oversized sweatshirt and how perfectly they fitted in her hands, almost as if they were made just for her.

Santana closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly and leaned in slowly. She puckered her lips and was only millimetres away from Brittany's lips when she heard somebody screaming their names.

"Santana? Brittany? Are you up here?!"

The two girls jumped from each other instantly and scrambled to stand up.

"Fuck sake" Santana grumbled as she saw Rachel coming towards them who looked furious with the two girls. Santana glanced at Brittany whose head was down and her face was pink.

"What are you two doing up here?! It is 3am! I thought you two had been abducted and were going to be passed around in the sex slavery ring!" Rachel shrieked and glared at the two.

"Come on, everybody's worried sick. Mr Schue nearly alerted the authorities" the tiny girl went on and gestured for the two girls to follow her off the roof.

Santana wrapped her pinky around Brittany's as they walked behind the lecturing diva which the two of them had completely blocked out.

They only focused on each other and shared coy, secret, knowing looks until they parted ways in the hotel hallway.