Many Thanks to those reading, reviewing, and following this story!
Comments are welcomed and appreciated!
I take full responsibility for all word smithing errors. Note: I've taken time to clean up the punctuation, grammar, vocabulary/spelling, and sentence structure in all the chapters, which are reposted. Won't guarantee I caught every mistake, not an English teacher.
I am skipping ahead a few weeks in the chapter. It's an odd chapter admittedly, especially Brittany. I work in a large corporation where you live & die by your email. Or sit twiddling your thumbs when your laptop dies. So, I thought she should too. It kinda sets up the next chapter.
Chapter Title is from "So Far Away" by Carole King (Tapestry)
The exact line is "Doesn't help to know you're just time away."
Rating will change throughout the story.
Trigger Warnings will be added as needed.
Chapter 10 – Just Time Away
Brittany POV
After Pride, the city of Lima held its annual Freedom Days a week-long festival of daily events leading up to the Fourth of July. Brittany attended the BBQ Roundup one night with Quinn and Rachel, then both the Glenn Miller Orchestra and Army Band concerts on separate nights with Tina and Mercedes. She took Lord Tubbington to the Dock Dogs event where she caught up with Marley and Kitty. Walking Lord Tubbington on a lead seemed to unnerve the dogs, for his part LT threw an occasional shade of hisses, growls, and spats as he continued in his confident waddling swagger. The little kids loved petting LT and he, in turn, loved the attention, purring like a kitten with each stroke and scratch. She went with Mike and Sam to the Classic Car show one evening just for something to do where she saw Lauren and Puck who had Beth that evening. On the Fourth, she attended with the 'inner circle' the final concert of the week featuring a country band and watched the fireworks. No matter where she went, she scanned the crowd in hopes of seeing Santana. No matter how she tried to remain in the moment with her new friends and enjoy their company, her mind wandered back to Santana.
Three weeks had passed since she'd ridden to the lake with Santana, Brittany hadn't seen or heard from her the entire time. She'd had lunch several times with Mike, Roderick, Jake, Mason, and Sam; she sat quietly while the guys talked release dates for upcoming superhero movies, comics, and video games. During one lunch, Mercedes introduced her to a nervous meek ginger-haired woman by the name of Emma Pillsbury, Paul's executive assistant. Emma, let Mercedes in on the 'big' news that NFL defensive player Shane Tinsley, a corporate sponsor would visit the plant in the next few weeks. In meetings with Dave, it was all she could do to not gag on her coffee drink as she remembered the comment Marley had made about 'the traditional route' or the fact he woke up next to Santana every morning and crawled into bed with her every night. Before one meeting started, Mercedes slid across the table, an inter-office envelope to Dave saying it was sheet music for his 'missus.' Even the normally relaxed quality team meetings with Lauren and Dani turned tense when it seemed to Brittany that Dani started throwing shade at her. Lauren even noticed the disrespect tossed her direction. Finally, her laptop pulled a blue screen requiring Artie 'Wheels' Abrams the IT manager to visit her cube, he flirted with her the entire time, causing her to mention she still needed to complete the required online sexual harassment and bullying courses by the end of day, with a distinctive gulp he immediately offered her a spare laptop from inventory.
Now it was Friday the 13th, she'd decided not to go out for what was traditional after-work payday drinks with the guys and had turned down dinner at Breadstix with Kitty and Marley. Instead, she decided to stay, at work to install the necessary applications needed for her to do her job now that 'Wheels' had returned her laptop. Once Office had installed, she opened Outlook scanning thru her unread messages, she saw the usual senders, Chang, Cohen-Chang, Del Monico, Foster, Giardi, Halloran, Jones, Karofsky, Lipsoff, Rashad, Tanaka, Wilde, HR Education, and IT Survey. Taking them from easy to hard, Brittany started:
From: HR Training – Subject: Thank You for Completing Required Training – Delete
From: HR – Subject: Survey –
Link to Survey questions click on link
5 questions respond on a 0-9 scale:
Action: Answered – Comments: None
From: Chang, Michael R.
To: CohenChang, Tina
CC: Pierce, Brittany S (et al.)
Mike sending Tina updates
Action: File under Chang, Mike
From: CohenChang, Tina
To: Pierce, Brittany S (et al.)
Updates to MS Project in pdf format
Action: Flag for review once acrobat is installed
From: Halloran, Mary – Subject: Response to FSIS
To: Pierce, Brittany S
Action: Open document in Word – Make necessary edits in lavender. Attach Word document and supporting evidence send back to Mary
File original email under Halloran, Mary.
[Thought Interesting two recipients of the MacArthur Genius Grant now worked for Karofsky Enterprises. I bet they don't know that either.]
From: Tanaka, Kenneth
To: Bamboo, Howard; Chang; Michael R; Coleman, Joshua; Evans, Sam; Halberstadt, Dennis; Karofsky; David; Lynn, Ryder; Menkins, Cooter; Muskovitz, Myron; Pierce, Brittany S; Rashad, Anthony; Rumba, Dalton; Zizes, Lauren;
Subject: Updates to FBL
Body:
Fantasy Baseball League Standings as of 7/11
Standing / Owner / Team
1. Lauren Zizes / Endangered White Rhinos
2. Dennis Halberstadt / Big Bang
3. Dalton Rumba / Scarlet Fever
4. Sam Evans / White Chocolate
5. Anthony Rashad / Black Barons
6. Josh Coleman / Sabercats
7. Ryder Lynn / Mega Studs
8. Howard Bamboo / Panda Express
9. Bryant Pierce / Pitts Burghers
10. Mike Chang / Asian Domination
11. Myron Muskovitz / Temper Tantrums
12. Ken Tanaka / Hawaiian Warriors
13. Cooter Menkins / Buckeyes II
14. Dave Karofsky / The Fury
Reminder: All-Star Game is July 17, 2018, on FOX. No trades, adds or drop of players are allowed starting July 16th thru July 18th. If you have a player on either all-star team, you will get points.
FYI I'll watch the game at Home Field Sports Bar & Grill. Come on down if you can.
Respectfully
Ken T
Raw Materials Inventory Supervisor - Days
Karofsky Enterprises, Inc
Lima, Ohio
Reply: Tanaka, Kenneth
Body:
Hi Ken,
This email should have gone to Bryant S. Pierce. Kindly remove my name from the To: list.
Best Regards,
Brittany S. Pierce
BioSystems Engineer
Karofsky Enterprises, Inc
Lima, Ohio
delete original email
Action: Note Talk to Anthony re: email address
[Thought Lauren is in first place – Girl Power!]
From: Lipsoff, Philip
To: CohenChang, Tina
CC: Pierce, Brittany S (et al.)
Phil sending Tina updates
Action: File under Lipsoff, Phil
From: Wilde, Kitty
To: Pierce, Brittany S
Subject: Organic – GMO Levels for USDA Reporting
Reply with comments
Action: File under USDA Reporting
From: Rashad, Anthony
To: BioSysEngTeam Distro List
4 emails in all
Actions:
1.) Reply and file under Rashad, Anthony
2.) References attachment – no attachment found. Delete.
3.) Anthony resent email with attachment – Review attachment – leave in the inbox for now.
4.) Accept calendar invite for monthly one-on-one
From: Del Monico, Teresa
To: Pierce, Brittany S, (et al.)
5 emails all
Reply to one, file under Del Monico, Teri
Actions: Accept Calendar invites for four meetings
[Thoughts: Really Teri? You schedule re-occurring meetings for 4 pm on Friday! Get a life!]
From: Jones, Mercedes
To: Pierce, Brittany S, (et al.)
5 emails all
Actions: -Reply to 4, file all under Jones, Mercedes
Accept calendar invite for lunch next Wednesday at the Sushi Restaurant.
From: Lavender, Richard
To: Pierce, Brittany S (et al.)
8 emails all
Actions:
Reply to 4 emails – file all under Lavender, Dick
Accept Calendar meeting invite on 5th
Accept calendar update to mtg on 6th
Accept calendar second update to mtg on 7th.
Accept Calendar update to cancel mtg on 8th
From: Mackinster, Trent
To: Team Distro List
12 emails all
Actions:
Read and Review each Spreadsheet attachment. Reply with updates on 3;
Flag the 4th for Tuesday's meeting;
Accept 2 Calendar meeting invites
Reply in detail to remaining 6 emails– file 9 under Mackinster, Trent.
[Thoughts: Trent needs to rethink the definitions of trainee and "I'm a Slave 4 U".]
From: Karofsky, David J
To: Sewage Distro
6 emails one each sent to Tina, Mercedes, Trent, and Mike (Brittany had noticed Dave had two writing styles the first was more like an essay and the other like he'd taken a business writing course. She wondered if drinking booze in the evening didn't somehow sharpen his writing style.)
Actions:
Carefully read and re-read each, then file all under Karofsky, Dave
Accept Calendar invite for Monday 6:00 A.M. breakfast meeting at Bob Evans off I-75.
[Thoughts: Seriously Dave? A meeting at 6:00 on Monday morning, to talk about wastewater? What a way to ruin breakfast. Not to mention LT won't be happy, waking up early, after carousing around the neighborhood with his gang all night.]
Action Note: Saturday –Farmer's Market – Buy catnip plant to appease LT.
Last Karofsky email
From: Karofsky, SML
BCC: Pierce, Brittany S. – (a BCC: only indicates a corporate distribution list),
Subject: Corporate Visit: Shane Tinsley
Brittany scanned through the email,
Team,
Shane Tinsley visiting July 16th
First Paragraph Background information Former Lima resident. Graduated McKinley. OSU graduate. 1st round draft. 3x pro-bowl. Played in Super Bowl.
Second Paragraph mix of blah blah blah and company rah rah rah.
Note: Corporate employees must wear business dress, no business casual, and production employee's standard factory uniform whites.
Clean desk rules apply.
Direct questions to Community Development Office Ext: 751-1058
Thank You,
Santana (in a cute oversized loopy cursive signature)
Santana M. Lopez
Corporate Sponsorship Liaison
Karofsky Enterprises, Inc
Lima, Ohio
Do Not Reply – Unattended Mail Box
Brittany's laptop screen flickered than the blue screen appeared. It was after 8:00 p.m. the Helpdesk (I.E., Sugar Motta) had gone home, leaving only the executives who could page out laptop assistance after 6:00. It was time for her to go home for a beer or two or three.
On her drive back home while stopped for a light at the Walden strip mall, Brittany noticed a portable sign that announced the grand opening of Uncle Ike's Comic and Souvenir Store new location. She remembered the guys mentioning that it was moving. As she passed Manor Care she thought about Jim who fell before the 4th breaking a hip, now he was recuperating at Manor Care, his daughter had his dog. Brittany had sent him a get-well card. LT had sent a 'stay away furrever drooling sub-species' note to the dog.
After changing into shorts, tank, and flip-flops, she rummaged through her closet searching for something close to corporate business dress. In the end, she decided her power suit that she'd worn to her interview was the best choice, her other skirts and dresses she'd worn as casual business dress to the office. And, it did show off her curves in all the right places.
By the time, she had made a sandwich and grabbed a beer the sun was starting to set on the back patio. Sitting on the loveseat, her legs spread the length she reflected on Santana. The conversation with the 'inner circle' hadn't been much help, they only seemed to want to solve a perceived problem versus helping her understand it. Santana for her part hadn't been too insightful either, 'complicated,' 'discretion' her 'arrangement' with Dave, her 'arrangement' with other women. About the only thing, that everyone agreed upon was Santana was a lesbian who was in a bearded relationship with Dave, a gay man. That brought up the question then of what an 'arrangement' with Santana as a lover involved. Was it limited to casual sex when it was convenient for both? Was it more public friends with special benefits? Brittany had never been involved with a woman who had children would they actively be part of the 'arrangement'? Would Dave know? Or more importantly how much does Santana share with Dave about her 'arrangements'?
Kitty seemed to be the only one privy to how the 'arrangement' worked, even if it had been a short time 'arrangement.' Brittany couldn't just come out and ask her, Kitty even on her best days made captious remarks about anything and everything. When she did let go of the crabbiness, Kitty often spoke directly and forthrightly. Yet Brittany didn't consider herself close enough to Kitty as she did with either Mercedes or Quinn to ask such intrusive questions, especially one involving an ex-lover.
Maybe Brittany was fretting over something that wasn't to be. So, what did she know of the present Santana? Brittany knew Santana is married, mother, wealthy, luxury cars, multiple homes, water skiing, followed warm weather, secretive, Wonder Woman, and wine. Externally confident yet per Quinn internally not confident, apparently Catholic, hot, sexy, warm brown eyes she could get lost in, worked in community service and sponsorships part-time, could handle a paintbrush and move furniture, had a smile Brittany would die to see again, and she hadn't pushed her away when they touched. Then why the radio silence? Had she gone to New York as Rachel had mentioned a few weeks ago? No, Mercedes had given Dave the inter-office envelope to give to Santana that contained sheet music. Was she just not interested? Had Brittany's lack of a response at the lake been taken as an 'I'm not interested' answer?
HOLY CRAP! That was it! The synapses in her brain started firing, magic and fantasy made all things possible.
Santana's POV
Santana had felt a numbness overcome her after the breakup with Dani. It had been sudden and unexpected. In a reversal, it was now Dani not responding. She'd sent Puck over to talk with her about when the house would be available to clean for renting only to find it empty. Puck had suggested renting it to Spencer so he could get back to renovating his own property. Santana had politely declined instead she'd called Quinn who's 'For Sale' sign now sat in the front lawn.
She'd went with Dave, Paul, and April to the BBQ. She'd taken Zee to the children's events, the petting zoo, art in the park, and they'd watched the balloons go up early one morning at the house. Together she and Dave had taken him to the country music concert where they'd had VIP seating and stayed to watch the fireworks. At the Dock Dogs show, they sat on the top row of the bleachers to watch Papa Paul's black lab Rebel compete. While waiting Zee had been distracted by a woman walking a cat. Santana recognized the obese waddling feline and the woman holding the lead, it was Brittany. She whispered a silent 'thank you' when Paul distracted his grandson with the next dog to jump. Santana really didn't want to see or talk to the attractive blonde with her son and father-in-law in tow. Instead, she took up April's offer, who poured wine from her thermos into Santana's empty cup. Neither women had ever confided to each other about their lives, yet it always seemed that April's intuitive side understood her moods better than she did.
After two days of thunderstorms, including a tornado warning, Santana laid next to the pool enjoying the hot mid-July day. Next to her Elle in her playpen, happy with her toy, a UV blanket across the top protecting her from the sun, while Zee played on the backyard skyfort in the play area as Dottie supervised. Her thoughts wandering from her and Dave. Elaine's sudden decision to move to Minneapolis. Dani. And one Brittany S. Pierce.
Elaine should be the least of her worries she honestly didn't want to continue that relationship when she left last summer. At least Elaine had never been clingy, respecting Santana's position and marital status. Dani, on the other hand, wanted a more public relationship. That wasn't something Santana was ever willing to give her. Had that been a mistake? Dani acted like an impetuous little child at times. She pouted when Santana said no to vacation together. Played the victim card when she'd taken the inner circle on trips, leaving her at home. Say witty remarks in front of Dave at company events, that were clearly sarcasm or innuendo. When Dani was herself, she was fun to be around. They could spend hours talking about music. Jazz. R&B. Classic Rock. Laugh at silly rom-coms they watched on Netflix. Discuss books they'd read 'Twilight', 'Lord of the Rings' Trilogy, 'Harry Potter', 'Game of Thrones' and 'Vampire Academy'. Dani filled an essential need beyond that of sex. Whereas the inner circle was all about living in the now as grown-ups and Dave was marriage, work, and children. Dani allowed her to be an adult kid. To revel in her inner child. In return she'd done as best she could to pay back that feeling.
Zee screaming brought her out of her girlfriend worries, sitting up she saw Dottie give her the OK signal, Zee had just slipped off the crossbar temporarily jolting him. Looking over at Elle, who had the 'I'm going to scream cause I heard Zee scream'. Her face scrunched up into her pre-cry face, Santana went over to the playpen leaning over putting her pacifier back in her daughter's mouth gently laying her hand on her tummy, rocking her back and forth cooing at her until she calmed down. Disaster averted Santana laid back down on her chaise.
Her marriage. They had both went into it knowing it would be polyamorist, they'd act as each other's beards. Hence as phony as a three-dollar bill. They'd both spoken to Liz about a divorce years ago. Going so far as to complete the petition. In the end, subtle hints to start a family from their parents and grandparents finally got to them. At first, they both said no to children. Laughing at the idea as though it were an impossibility. Teasing each other why they couldn't be parents. That had morphed into more serious discussions why they'd be great parents. Followed by the rationalization that knowing each other was better than some anonymous future donors. Nothing was phony about how she and Dave loved Zee and Elle. They were flawed as a married couple, but they did their best to make a typical family for their children.
Yet children do survive divorce. Finances were a hurdle that had to be overcome in a divorce even a legal separation as Grace once suggested. While Dave focused on KEI manufacturing financials and buying toys. (What's was the saying the only difference between men and boys was the price of their toys. Yeah, that fits Dave to a tee.) She'd taken over their personal financial lives. Over the years, investments had been made, through the financial management arm of KEI and even her own family, Diabla that had them jointly holding assets. She had made investments placing both their names as joint owners. She'd put the mansion in a Land Trust, to shield Zee and Elle from inheritance taxes. Set up separate trust funds for both of her children. Had silent partnerships with Puck, Mike, and Jake, and yes even Kurt for his fashion designs and Ryder for his software applications ideas. Encouraged Quinn to break out to form her own real estate firm, she'd be a silent partner. She had LLC's that held property and assets in Lima, New York, and Naples that she intentionally kept from Dave. They weren't super rich, but their joint net worth was much higher than Dave would ever guess and much more complex.
Her thoughts turned to Brittany. Amusing, charming, attractive, intelligent, and yes, she wanted to run her fingers thru her hair, touch her, kiss her, and hold in those after moments of passion. That was the thing though there was more to Brittany, then the surface or what she physically desired. She couldn't get Brittany out of mind she could still feel her touch from the other night. Her essence that odd combination of magical and analytical. The innocence of a clear conscience no hidden agendas, bitter rivalries, or dark secrets. She almost felt like the universe was telling her Brittany was unlike any woman she'd been with before. Brittany wasn't meant to be just a warm body. Instinctively, Santana knew she couldn't use Brittany. Brittany was different. Yet she wondered if Brittany could or would understand the life she'd unwittingly built when she and Dave made their agreement.
One-on-One
At home, Dave had noticed a difference. Santana had bowed out of weekly volunteer activities. Skipped golf league. She declined to attend Dave's co-ed softball games. She'd stopped her daily exercise workouts. Asked for rain checks when April called to do lunch. Somethings though hadn't changed, running errands for the dry cleaning and groceries, going to the Farmer's Market on Saturday, taking Zee to T-ball games, karate, and swimming lessons. Reading and relaxing by the pool. Spending more time downstairs in her recording studio. It hadn't taken Dave long to realize the latter was more to be alone to drink at night after the kids were in bed than actually work.
Dave tapped on the door "Santana are you there?"
"Yeah. What do you need?" Santana's voice wobbled as she answered. Quickly wiping her face so he wouldn't notice she'd been crying.
Tentatively he asked, "Can I come in?"
"Sure, it's your house."
Turning the knob, Dave slowly opened the door, sticking his head in "Hey, are you okay?" seeing her scrunched up on one end of the couch, a half-filled bottle of chardonnay on the table, next to that her glasses. A partially full glass of wine in her hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered as he shut the door behind him, going over to the couch to sit next to her, placing his hand on her knee.
"You could fool me." Gently squeezing her knee as he moved it slightly side to side. "What's wrong Bear? Are you feeling ok?"
Shaking her head "No, I just fuck everything up." she sighed, wiping her face again with her free hand.
"What? Since when?" Dave moved his arm around her shoulders pulling her into him "You haven't fucked up anything."
"No. I fuck up other people's lives." Sniffing "Yours. Dani's. Elaine's. I'm sure I'll fuck up the kids' lives too if I haven't already."
Dave reached over taking the wine glass, placing it on the table then laid his hand on her thigh, to encourage her onto his lap. She was letting the break up with Dani get to her. When she was settled on his lap, he held her close to him, her head lay on his shoulder. He didn't need to look to know tears were streaming down her face. "You know what I see?" he felt her shake her head followed by a whispered "no." "What I see is a good and kind friend. Generous. Passionate." Dave gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, "A beautiful hot uptown lesbian who married a goofy gay country bumpkin." He felt her breath from the snort as she smirked. "Someone who's kept their vows of honesty and respect. … And someone who's yet to file our pending divorce papers." Patting her on the thigh as if for emphasis.
"I guess that has been on the back burner for what three years now, almost four." She mumbled.
"Four years next February." Dave amused that both him and Santana had let slide their initial plan to divorce after a year or two of marriage. "You're the woman who with very little help from me, brought two mini me's of herself into this world. … You're the mom who gives bear hugs and kisses, but isn't afraid of a time out. … Who impresses me when you calmly deal with baby puke, spiked temperatures and trips to the ER in the middle of the night."
"I knew, the night Zee was conceived, I can't explain it, but my body just felt different afterward." A confession she'd never made to anyone.
"You never told me that." Dave wondering if that were normal.
"I've never told anybody because they'd think I was crazy. But I knew." Santana confidently replied.
"Did you know with Elle?" Dave remembered her morning sickness with Zee but never knew if she had it with Elle since she flew off to Florida within days of coming back from visiting her parent's in New York.
"No. All I remember is waking up with a headache. Rushing around to get to the airport. It wasn't until a few weeks later after mom made a comment about a woman in her office that I started counting the days."
"Yeah, you came home ready to rip my balls off." He laughed as he remembered her blaming him for not wearing a condom. He shot back to her, her own words 'I don't care' after their night out.
"I did, but underneath all that anger I was happy too."
"So was I, but I didn't know that until I held her. Which brings me to my next point … "
"Wait! You planned this?" she said as she tried to move from his lap, Dave held her tighter.
"Sorry, work habit" loosening his grip as he felt her relax, he continued "You're the woman who took on the sole responsibility to oversee the construction of our home from concept to turnkey. While pregnant with Zee. … Even after we brought him home, you even refused Dad's offer to bring in another project manager to help. … Then make it a home for us."
"That was more Holly and the general contractor, than me." She said demurely.
"Maybe but I remember walking into the bedroom at the condo that first morning after we brought Zee home. You in bed in your pajama's, with the architectural drawings spread out in front of you, your laptop open to the project plan and Zee sucking on a tit, while you attended the contractor's morning conference call."
Santana snickered quietly "I remember that day. God, I was exhausted! Mom and Abuela kept coming in to see if I needed anything. Then April came over. By noon they'd invited Mrs. Bletheim over to play cards." Poking Dave in the stomach "And you! You took Dad and Paul golfing."
Dave laughed, taking her hand in his to stop the pokes "You know I thought I was going to have to tie you down to keep you from going to the construction site. Literally, I had nightmares about you tripping over an electrical cord or falling through one of the openings to the basement."
"You never told me that!"
"Well, now you know. And I didn't, cos it wouldn't have stopped you." Squeezing her a little tighter "That's when I realized what an intelligent business savvy woman I had married. One who should be rocking a board room. But instead donates her time to volunteer work and being a mom."
"Yeah but Dani told me I wasn't much of a mother."
"Bullshit! She doesn't know what she's talking about!" Dave scoffed as he rubbed his hand across Santana's forearm "Bear, I know you'll always, always put the interest of our kids first. You'll do that until you take your last breath." He stopped, gently he placed a kiss on her forehead "I love having you in my life Santana. You've made it so much better. Better than I'd ever imagined it could be."
Santana sniffed "Since when are you so observant?"
"Well, I'm no expert that's for sure." Looking at her "You have snot rolling down your lip" he squeezed his hand into his back pocket pulling out one of Elle's bibs flipping it to look at both sides. "Here, use this, it's clean." handing the bib to Santana.
"You came prepared?"
"Hey, I was a Cub Scout back in the day."
She laughed as she used the bib to wipe her nose, "I still fucked up with Dani and Elaine."
"You seriously believe that?" he asked seeing her nodding her head "Nah you didn't. They … they're ready to move on. Elaine needs more challenges. And she got a helluva good deal with the move from what she said, not something we could match."
"Yeah, she mentioned last summer she'd was getting complacent at KEI." Santana scoffed "And then I told her to get the fuck out of Lima."
"Exactly! And you did the right thing. Seriously it was." Satisfied when she didn't respond he knew dealing with Dani would be more difficult, unlike Elaine. Santana was more attached to the younger woman. Dani like Sam had been her 'project' clearing his throat he continued, "Dani? Well, Dani, she's a different story. Your relationship with her should never have gone as far as it did." Dave paused as he thought what to say next, be honest or not say anything more. Taking in a breath, he continued "Truthfully I'm glad it's over. We had this weird triangle thing going. It was awkward. I never knew if she'd throw us under the bus or not."
Santana understood where Dave was coming from with 'awkward.' Dani played a game with her too. Asking her to intervene with Dave about something at work which Santana rarely did. Unlike Dave, she never thought Dani would throw them under the bus. Elaine never had that leverage she was in marketing, nothing Dave had control over. "I probably should have just given her the bus money to New York, instead of what I did."
"No, she does have a lot to thank you for, Bear. But she's smart enough to stand on her own. When we met on her metrics idea, she came prepared. I was impressed, passed it on to Mike to check over. KEI needs employees like her … that have fresh ideas."
"Fresh ideas? What happened to innovative? Or is that old school now?" She said laughing at his word choice. Thinking back to helping Dani with that presentation to Dave. No, she didn't intervene with plant issues, but she never said no to assisting Dani to do better at her job. Dani, in turn, gave her an understanding of how products were manufactured. She knew about psi for the injectors. The temperature for the novelty molds as they came down the line. What the speed of the line needed to be. How even a slight change in the weight of a filled carton could stop the line and so much more. Elaine and her other friends, Cedes, Tina, Kitty, Lauren, Sam, Mike, Trent who had all signed non-disclosure agreements were never hesitant to talk shop in front of her. They had taught her about their jobs at the plant much as Dave bounced ideas off her. She'd fixed numerous spreadsheets when he had 'fucked them up' so she knew some of the financials involved. She'd proofread documents for him that had to go to Paul giving her insight to future expansion, products, and potential customers. Even Mike joked he could tell the difference between a Santana edited email and one Dave just wrote.
"Yeah, that's a Spencerism I picked up." smirking at how Spencer had imprinted on him in the short time they'd spent together "Bear you're gonna be alright. I've been dumped, Kurt. Blaine. Sebastian. This is new for you, you're usually on the other side of breaking up. It'll hurt for a while, but inevitably someone better comes along."
"You really believe that?"
"I do. And in the meantime, I know where you keep your girl toys and would be happy to buy the batteries. And if you get tired of those toys, I suppose I could lower myself to …"
Santana slapped Dave's chest, with her hand to stop him, "Nope we're not going there, or you're not!"
Dave sat back further into the couch, laughing at Santana's reaction to his suggestion. Feeling his own face turn red "You know I still have vivid memories of Zee sliding out."
"No! No! No stop! I need to go shower now." Standing up she looked down at him on the couch, he'd said a lot to her tonight. He'd acknowledged that she was a good friend. A good mother. That she had business sense. He appreciated what she brought into his life. Had gotten her to laugh, embarrassed her and they shared little secrets. He told her that both Elaine and Dani needed to move on. And maybe now it was time she did too. In his own klutzy country boy way. He had been honest with her. She bent down, grazing her lips to his she kissed him murmuring "Thank you." Grabbing her glasses off the table she left, leaving the wine glass and bottle behind.
Dave stayed behind listening as Santana's feet fell on the stairs. Still chuckling over their predefined boundary lines where sex was concerned. That didn't matter, not tonight. Tonight, was all about getting her back on track. Getting her out there again. He'd walked in scared shitless he'd say the wrong thing. Put his foot in his mouth like he did, instead of soothing her, he'd piss her off more. April had told him to trust himself, he'd find the right words. Hopefully, he'd found the right words.
RE: FBB teams:
Most of the team names are tied to the Glee characters with a few exceptions:
Dennis Halberstadt = Big Bang = Actor, John Ross Bowie, played Barry Kripke on The Big Bang Theory
Anthony Rashad = Black Barons = Honor to the Negro Baseball League. The Black Barons were from Birmingham. Notable players include Willie Mays and Satchel Paige.
Josh Coleman = Sabercats = Name of a pro rugby team (MLR) based in Houston.
Bryant Pierce = Pitts Burghers = OC, this team played in the early years of American baseball, they eventually morphed into the Pittsburgh Pirates of today's MLB.
BTW I'm not a fan of baseball. I did participate in FBB for a few years until it became too time-consuming.