Sorry for the delay! This chapter had to be rewritten 3 times until I realized that I had to have an outline since my ideas are all over the place.

Anyway, I think y'all are gonna like this chapter.

Enjoy, and please review! : )

CHAPTER TEN

"For the record, Santana, it's Lady Terri del Monico," she huffed.

"Well you sure didn't sound like a lady when you were screwing Puckerman's brains out," Santana said with a smirk. Brittany looked squeamish at the thought. "I should know, you asked me to stand guard by the door. And afterwards, you gave us both a generous payment of—"

"Alright! Alright, you can shut up now!" she all but yelled, looking thoroughly embarrassed. "And you? What are you doing here?" She narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I think I know! You finally escaped to chase after you delusions of grandeur, huh?"

Santana was instinctively annoyed. "Don't talk to her like that," she said through gritted teeth.

"I wonder what she had to do to convince you, Santana. For a clever girl, you sure have a knack for getting yourself in trouble," she tutted and crossed her arms. Santana wanted to hit her. "Didn't you know—" she lowered her voice. "I could have you both hanged if I wanted to? I trust that you're well aware of the law."

They nodded. "But you're not going to do that, are you?" Santana hoped that she's not going to turn them in to the City Watch—she couldn't tell because Terri is crazy. But then again, if it came to that, she would do everything to try and fight her way out.

"Uh-huh, you're in luck. Since I like you Santana, I'm not going to do that. And you—" she jabbed a finger at Brittany, who only glared stolidly in return, "—though I like you even less, really—you're one of my least favourite people in the Realm, second only to that milkmaid, Emma Pillsbury—I'm not going to do anything. At least Will's eyes would no longer stray from me to you. There's one less competition to worry about. You're not my problem anymore, so what can I say? Good riddance." Terri rolled her eyes. "Some dancer, my ass," she mumbled.

"Are you implying something?" Santana asked, taking a threatening step forward. She was torn between being morbidly curious about whatever was between Brittany and Will—if there's any—and this state of blissful ignorance. Terri visibly cowered after her eyes flicked to the assortment of weapons on Santana's belt.

"Let it go, San," Brittany said, holding out her hand to stop Santana.

"I did not wish to imply anything... Just that, I think, Will has some kind of a... I don't know, a certain fondness... or obsession for some of his slaves—especially performers—er, young ones, yeah—and yeah, it seems inappropriate," Terri stumbled out, cheeks pink. "But I love him so, so I guess I'm willing to overlook that... troubling aspect of his personality. Brittany was his favourite by far, along with this girl called Harmony and Finn. No idea what he sees in him; boy was real clumsy and like he was literally born with two left feet. And you know what, it seems like he spends more time with him than with me!" she wailed, mournful and indignant at the same time.

Santana glanced at Brittany and saw her nodding. But her eyes looked like they lost their light for a moment, and then they only looked sad. She did not know if she felt relieved. Will sounds like a shady character. Santana isn't sure if she wanted to learn more about him.

"So," Terri clapped her hands together. "Everything fine? Both your drinks are on me. I get to celebrate today since Brittany is finally out of Will's—soon-to-be-mine's—hair."

Terri's still crazy alright, Santana thought.

Terri put down her cards. "I don't want to play with you two anymore. You bore me," she huffed, taking a generous swig of ale. Santana knew it was because she had already lost a thousand and two-hundred mints to her.

"I don't care, we'll keep playing. Right, Britts?" Brittany giggled when Santana glanced at her. She had undone the top three buttons on her shirt, claiming it was too hot, and Santana couldn't stop her eyes from fixing themselves on the valley between her breasts.

"Yes, of course," she answered, giggling some more when she noticed where Santana's eyes lingered.

"And frankly, I feel like such a third wheel," Terri added, standing up and making her way to another table. Santana swallowed awkwardly.

She and Brittany played some more, until Santana noticed that Brittany was looking more and more troubled.

"What is bothering you, Britt?"

Brittany sighed. "It's just, don't you think Barbra is getting lonely out there? I promised Rachel I'm going to take care of her, and that includes her emotional well-being as well."

Santana had to resist the urge to roll her eyes and blurt out 'Oh please, who cares about Berry?' if she didn't find Brittany's concern so adorable. She felt a pang of guilt just thinking about saying that. Well, they did leave Barbra tethered somewhere in the woods.

"So, do you want to head out now?"

Brittany nodded. They stood up to leave when—

"You cheated!" a man bellowed, and their heads whipped around to find a burly man standing over Terri looking utterly enraged.

"Have you no respect? I am the Lady Terri del Monico of—"

She was abruptly cut off when the man pulled out a dagger and plunged it deep into the wooden table. "Give me back my money!"

Terri's guard, an enormous wall of a man, sprung to his feet but was immediately grabbed by three of the man's cronies.

Brittany grabbed Santana's arm to stop her from leaping into action. "But Britt—"

"I've won these fair and square," Terri said defiantly, obstinately defending her earnings. She even tucked the burlap bag deep into the folds of her dress. For God's sake, it's only a couple thousand mints, Santana thought. This is going to get ugly.

This action enraged the man further, and he grabbed Terri with his huge, meaty hands, effectively strangling her.

Santana broke free from Brittany's grasp, and she heard Brittany call out her name right before she landed a punch to the man's jaw. The impact travelled from her fist up her arm and into her shoulder, and Santana felt faint from the pain, but he dropped Terri.

Within seconds, as Santana was still recovering, chaos erupted.

"YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO A LADY!" somebody yelled, and began attacking the man. His cronies fought back, and one of them saw her about to slink away from the fight (because Brittany hates violence; she only did that because she doesn't want Terri's blood on her conscience). He ran towards her with a ferocious yell.

Santana saw his fist about to hit her squarely in the face, and she ducked instinctively, only to bang her chin against the edge of the table. Dizzy from the pain, she threw out her fists wildly, and caught him in the stomach, and he was momentarily winded. Without giving him a chance to recover, she kneed him in the gut and he fell unconscious.

She was about to leave run back towards Brittany when somebody hit her on the shin with something and she lost balance.

"How dare you, you bitch!" It was the man from earlier, his face covered in blood, his nose broken. Santana's mind was able to register all this before he gave her a swift kick to the head with his heavy hobnail boots.

Santana thought she heard Brittany scream before everything went black.

The first thing she felt was that she was lying on something soft. It felt extremely comfortable, and she burrowed against the pillows. This only ever happened when she managed to hook up with some of the lodgers at the New Directions—which wasn't all that often.

Wait, there's something wrong. If she recalled correctly, they had left Lima ages ago.

She opened her eyes and found that she was in a dimly-lit room. She tried to move and felt extremely sore everywhere. Groaning, she managed to turn her head to find Brittany sitting by her bedside—bedside?—and keeping vigil, her face fraught with worry.

"Hey," she said weakly.

"Oh San," she whimpered. She made a move as if to hug her, but suddenly remembered Santana's injuries, and settled for touching Santana soothingly instead. "I was so worried. So, so worried."

"I'm alright, Britt," she replied, putting her hand over Brittany's.

"He wouldn't stop kicking you San. It felt like hours before Terri's guard managed to pull him away." Her lower lip trembled at the recollection. Brittany looked even more endearing, and Santana couldn't help but feel her heart soar at the thought of Brittany fearing for her life. "And then, I thought you had died." Her blue eyes teared up at the thought, and Santana reached over to wipe her tears with her thumb without hesitation.

"I'm fine. I'm used to that. I've been into lots of fights. I'm really tough, if you haven't noticed."

"I did. I know you're tough, but you're not immortal."

"Well, yeah, but just imagine... toughie Santana Lopez, killed in a bar brawl? After everything I'd been through. All of Lima will laugh at me. I have a reputation to uphold you know."

"Oh, now you're being arrogant," Brittany said, an eyebrow raised, but smiling nonetheless.

"Honey, I'm just stating facts," Santana said cockily.

Brittany pulled a face.

"I'll probably be walking around with a black eye for a few days. Probably two black eyes."

"I could imagine. You're going to be so cute. Like a little panda," Brittany said dreamily, smiling innocently.

"Hey, I'm not little! And what in the nine hells is a panda?"

"You haven't seen one?" Brittany looked amused. "I hear they come from the north of Fidelian. Will's got one back in Thornville. It's a cute little bear-like creature with two black spots over its eyes."

"I wouldn't associate being cute with a bear!" Santana said, horrified. She had a few close calls with some bears who strayed too far South.

"But they are. They only ever eat bamboo leaves. And once a week, Will forces us—me, Finn, Harmony and Rory, that is—to drink panda hair tea. He says it improves vocal performance and keeps us healthy."

"What, you sing too?" Santana didn't think Brittany could even be more perfect in her eyes.

"Sometimes." She said, but did not offer anything more. "You want to eat something?"

"No, no. I'm good Britt, thanks for asking."

Brittany stood up and grabbed a washcloth from the basin on the nightstand. "Terri wishes to thank you for what you did. She says that if you need anything she'll gladly provide it except for...uh," Santana looked over at Brittany to find that the tips of her ears had turned red. "Uh, you know—that—because she says she's not that into that."

Santana burst out laughing, (as if she'd want to hook up with Terri!) and pain lanced at her side. It was now back in full force, and it made her recoil. Puffs of laughter devolved into groans.

"Santana, are you alright?"

She could only nod. The pain dissipated a bit when Brittany pressed the washcloth over the fresh bruises on her face. It seemed like her body was responding to her touch.

"Some of your cuts are still bleeding." She peered closely at her and Santana gasped at their proximity. Her heart began racing wildly. She could count the number of her eyelashes if she so wished—as well as the freckles on her nose, and, something that she took notice for the first time: the freckle near Brittany's upper lip too. She ached to kiss it.

She didn't know where it came from, but she felt a surge of bravado.

Heart beating twice as fast as it normally should, she asked in a hoarse voice, "I have a wish...but it's for you."

"Santana, unlike Terri, I don't condone violence, so I don't think I'd be obligated to—"

"Canikissyoubritt?" It tumbled out of her mouth in a rush, and now that she had made it known, she wanted to bolt. Her stomach felt queasy and she felt like throwing up, and she did not know whether it was from everything she had drunk earlier or because of nerves. But Brittany was hovering atop her, and her mouth fell open as a blush blossomed on her cheeks. "S-sorry. Don't mind—"

"Santana, I'd love to kiss you," she said quietly. "I had wanted to kiss you ever since you saved me from Azimio and Karofsky."

What?

Santana stared at her, uncomprehending. Brittany was saying something, but it's not making sense. Ever since they met she—

Brittany's warm hands cupped her jaw and brought her face closer to Santana's.

The moment their lips touched, Santana stopped thinking, and just started feeling. She was aware of every sensation: the softness of Brittany's lips; her smell: something like grass and fields and ale and something so Brittany oozing out of every pore; Brittany's hesitation and eventual relaxation into the kiss; and the gentleness at which she pressed her lips against Santana's.

Santana didn't want this moment to end.

TBC.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to review : )

I think we shall finally see Kingsvale next chapter!