AN: Did someone ask for more Lord Tubbington? ;) Also I'm working on the Protective! Britt… It's just a little harder to muster up without messing with my plot, but a may have a small offering headed out :)
Thanks for the continued support. Please tell me how it's going/if you have anything you'd like to see.
Still agonizing over how long to make this. When I decide will let you all know :).
Also rating is going up to M very soon, I'm currently writing a scene making it impossible not to.
The Pierces and Santana sat around the Dinner table. Susan Pierce, had just served meatloaf with potatoes and veggies…or at least that's what she claimed it had been, before she'd incinerated it.
Santana grimaced, and politely tried to take a bite. It was all she could do not to gag. Brittany was sloshing ketchup all over her charred food. Swallowing with great difficulty Santana noticed the blonde by her side was in fact making a valiant attempt at giving her meatloaf tiger stripes.
Christina, Brittany's younger sister piped up and said what they were all thinking, "Mommy, this sucks."
"Language Chrissy" Harry chided, before turning sympathetically to his wife, "Although, Hon, I've gotta say, the girls got a point."
Susan Pierce nodded, before giving her husband a thoughtful look, "Well recipes are hard" she admitted. Santana couldn't help but smile; it wasn't hard to see where Brittany had got some of her more quirky personality traits from.
Ever the optimist Susan quickly spoke up to banish the awkwardness that was descending over the Pierce's dining room. "Take out?" she questioned, looking around at her family with a dazzling smile.
"Yey!" Brittany and Chrissy squealed in unison, Santana nodded thankfully, and Harry just laughed.
"Britty, get the menus! Quiiick, before she changes her mind!" Chrissy cried.
As Brittany ran off to do as her little sister had asked, Santana helped the older Pierces clear away the dishes, and scrape the remaining food into the trash.
"Oh, Santana sweetie, before I forget" Susan started, but seemed to get distracted with a particularly stubborn glazed carrot, that had fused itself to a dinner plate.
"Yeah Mrs P.?" Santana questioned, trying not to laugh as the older woman pried the rock solid carrot free with a fork, sending the utensil flying across the kitchen but giving out a triumphant "Ha!" as the vegetable came unstuck.
"Oh right yes… Saturday morning is photo day, so I need you to be over here" the older blonde explained.
"Mrs P., really…" Santana trailed off. She had been a part of the Pierce's annual family portrait since she was eight years old, and yet every time she still felt like she was an intruder, her dark skin making her stand out like a sore thumb, in the large framed photo that was replaced on the mantel each year.
"Santana Lopez, you are a part of this family, and I expect you to be here bright and early Saturday morning, though I'm guessing you'll probably spend the night on Friday anyway" Susan smiled.
"I'll be there Mrs P." Santana finally gave in.
"Good" Susan replied, putting down the last of the washing up and giving Santana's shoulders a firm squeeze, "You are a part of this family Santana, especially now that you and Brittany are dating, don't ever forget that, we love you." She pulled the younger girl in for a hug.
Santana mumbled her thanks again into the older woman's shoulder, and returned the hug in kind, glad to have an excuse to hide her beet red face, and enjoying the physical proximity of the woman who had come to be her second mother.
Xxxxx
Take out had gone down extremely well, and the whole family had been thankful that Mrs Pierce hadn't taken her culinary disaster too hard. There was a good reason Mr Pierce was head chief in their house, and tonight had been a stark reminder of just what that reason was.
Brittany and Santana were sat on the blonde's bed, along with Brittany's rather overweight cat, Lord Tubbington, anxiously awaiting the arrival of their guests at seven pm…Well Brittany and Lord Tubbington (apparently) were anxious, Santana was just bored.
The Latina leaned back into her girlfriend's soft pillows, feeling slightly bloated and trying not to think about how hard she was going to have to work out to get rid of the calories she'd just consumed. She smiled contentedly as Brittany snuggled into her side.
"Did you think about our glee assignment yet?" Brittany asked, poking lightly at her girlfriend's ribs as she seemed to be getting sleepy.
"Don't worry B., I have it all figured out" came the confident reply.
"Yey!" Brittany squealed, Santana fought the urge to cover her ears. She was way too full of Chinese food, way too comfy and just wanted to get her snuggle on. "So what is it?" Brittany questioned.
"What's what-what?" Santana mumbled back, burying her face in soft blonde hair.
"Sanny, wake up!" Brittany let a hint of a whine seep into her voice, and pulled her best pout. With annoyance she noted that Santana didn't move…maybe she has to see my face for it work the blonde noted, storing the useful info away for next time.
"S.!" she tried again.
"Sleepy. Baby. Snuggle…" Santana mumbled again, a sure fire sign that she was drifting off.
"Santana! Rachel and Q. are coming over to work on our assignments, remember? It's going to be super fun, because Rachel is like small, kinda like a doll…Hey, do you think she'll let me dress her up? I can make her look so much better, even if I'll have to raid Chrissy's closet." The blonde was momentarily side-tracked, but as the Latina sighed heavily, she was reminded of her previous goal.
"Santana…"
"Mmm…"
"Sanny…" her voice was full of displeasure.
"Wants. Snuggle on. Now" the brunette was growing more incoherent, and glancing at the clock on her nightstand, which read 6:45, Brittany knew she was running out of time.
"S., if you don't wake up right now, I'm gonna have to sick Lord Tubbington on you… " the blonde paused for a second, and considered her own words.
"Well not sick, cuz that's kinda gross, but that's what they say in the movies, but anyway, you really should wake up cuz he's been taking his tai-quan-do classes very seriously lately…"
"Babyyyyy…" Santana groaned, relishing what she knew would be the last few seconds of sweet, sweet, relaxation, before no doubt Man-hands and Q., or even Britt were gonna find a way to ruin her fun.
"Fine you asked for it…" Brittany muttered moved to sit indian style close to her girlfriend's feet.
The Latina sat bolt upright, her eyes flying wide open and instantly to the grossly obese feline who was staring at her with a startling intensity.
Brittany closed her eyes tight, "TUBBY, SICK!" she yelled, pointing her finger in the general direction of her girlfriend.
There was a loud slam, followed by a click, then a few seconds of silence before Brittany finally dared to open her eyes. When she did, she was startled to find her cat, had not in fact moved from his place curled on the bed, and was simply watching her with amused eyes.
Her girlfriend however was nowhere to be seen. She was just about to get upset and chastise her pet for making poor Santana disappear altogether, when she noticed her bathroom door that was previously open was now shut, and the lock rotated.
Breathing a sigh of relief she scratched the feline's ears, "Guess your martial arts need more work huh?" she questioned him, "Don't think that I don't know you skip class to scope out the bank, cuz totally I know, and trust me, bank-robbery is not as easy as it seems – those locks are not the kind you open with a bobby pin."
Her musing were interrupted by her door bell, followed a few seconds later by Mrs Pierce calling up the stairs, "Girls, your friends are here."
Brittany squealed in delight and went barrelling down the stairs to greet them both with a hug.
When Brittany re-entered her bedroom followed by Rachel and Quinn, an anxious looking Santana had emerged from the bathroom and was perched on the edge of the desk, eyeing a content looking Lord Tubbington, who had taken her earlier position on Brittany's pillows.
"Hello Santana" Rachel greeted her, and Quinn simply smiled a small smile.
"Preggers, Troll" she shot back, immediately earning herself a disappointed glare from Brittany. "Good to see you" she added… score – Brittany 1, Rep 0… Good to see you, really what the fuck Lopez? She silently chided herself.
Quinn smirked knowingly but said nothing.
"Oh!" Brittany exclaimed clapping her hands excitedly as the guests made their way to sit on her bed. She grabbed her cat, cradling him to her, and brought him round for the visitors to see.
"Q., I know you've seen him before, but it's been a while, and Rachel, this is Lord Tubbington" she stated proudly, holding up the cat in the cliff pose like Simba from the Lion King.
Quinn gave her friend a smile, and said 'hi' to the cat, as Brittany told him who the two new 'human beans' were.
"Brittany, while I can see that you obviously love your cat very much, showing that affection through overfeeding is not the way forward, I mean as a vegan I'm very aware of animal…"
Rachel trailed off, as Quinn elbowed her hard in the ribs and Santana glared at her with a stare that could she guessed literally, cut glass.
"He's, umm…cute?" Rachel offered, relaxing as the Latina nodded slightly in approval and averted her eyes.
"Thanks!" Brittany beamed excitedly at her friends, "I have got to show you something, if you think he's cute now you have to see this!…Now where is it?"
A sense of anticipation descended over the room, Santana and Quinn shared a knowing look, and Rachel had to swallow another lecture on the cruelty of overfeeding animals, hard.
"Sanny, hold Tubby" Brittany instructed absent-mindedly, caught up in her excitement, as she thrust the feline at a very nervous looking Santana, and ran off down the hall to Chrissy's room.
As soon as the blonde dancer had left the room, Quinn and even Rachel burst out in a hysterical giggle fit at 'Sanny' perched uneasily on the desk, her eyes wide, nose wrinkled in disgust, holding Brittany's cat at arms-length away from her chest as if he was an unexploded time bomb.
The Latina just groaned. Brittany was going to be the death of her…and so was that fucking cat.
Xxxxx
Half an hour later and Quinn and Rachel were huddled over Brittany's laptop, going through Rachel's iPod looking for potential songs.
Lord Tubbington sat at the foot of Brittany's bed, looking less than pleased that the blonde had in fact retrieved his 'Easter bunny ears' from Chrissy's room, which were now fastened securely to his head.
Santana and Brittany had given up on working on the assignment, Santana insisted they had it covered, and were sprawled across the floor, the Latina careful painting Brittany's toe nails ten different colours.
"Britty, San" Harry's voice carried up the stairs, "I made brownies for you girls!"
"Yes!" Santana hissed, then quickly returned to screwing the cap back on Brittany's nail polish a little too tightly, embarrassed by her own enthusiasm, but whatever, Mr P.'s brownies were freakin' awesome.
Brittany jumped up, careful not to smudge her toes, to grab the baked treats.
"Do you perhaps think they might be vegan-friendly?" Rachel enquired. Brittany furrowed her nose in response.
"Come down and help me fetch them, and we can ask my Dad about the Vulcan thing okay?" she suggested a little unsure.
"It's ve-gan" Rachel corrected, but the blonde was already on her way out of the room, and the shorter girl had to jog to catch up.
With just Quinn and Santana left alone in Brittany's room, the Latina moved herself to perch on the bed, eyeing the now sleeping Lord Tubbington, who looked like some weird rabbit/cat cross, warily.
"So you and the hobbit?" Santana questioned, deciding direct had always worked well for her up to this point.
"You and Brittany?" Quinn shot back, wanting to take her relationship with the small brunette out of the spotlight.
"You seem to be spending a lot of time together, she's sticking up for you now, and you're chewing me out for saying she's not your 'friend'" the brunette decided to leave out the scene she had overheard in the halls outside Figgins' office, for now.
"You beat up some jocks that are triple your size for ragging on B., if I didn't know better I'd say Santana Lopez was in love" Quinn smirked, knowing that was sure to get her rise, although her tone was not malicious.
"Fuck you Fabray" Santana shot back. The one person who has, no had, the power to take her down, had to be the one to hit the nail on the head.
"Hey" Quinn said, suddenly feeling a little bad…a little, "Like I said earlier I'm happy for you guys. Brittany's good for you Santana, don't screw it up."
The Latina was once again completely disarmed by her blonde friends sincerity, and seeming kindness. "I won't" she insisted, "No one knows…." She trailed off.
"Secrets safe with me" Quinn confirmed, meeting the Latina's eye and letting her see that her words were genuine.
"Thanks Q." Santana allowed. Although everything in her mind screamed at her, that this, was a rapidly forming, major chink in her armour, one that had the potential to end her, another part was grateful to Quinn, and enjoying the unspoken friendship that seemed to be rekindling between them.
"So you and the midget?" Santana tried again, her voice softer.
Quinn was suddenly very busy studying Brittany's carpet, "She's been good to me S., after Beth" the Latina tried not to notice the pain that contorted her friend's pretty features, before she quickly locked it back away, "After, she was there for me."
"You guys just seem close, I mean, it makes no sense Q., she's Rachel fucking Berry, you're Quinn Fabray" the Latina exclaimed indignant.
Quinn sucked in a deep breath, her façade was faltering and she knew it.
Santana noticed the change in her expression; the look that flitted across her face screamed weakness, confusion, fear, and Santana had the craziest thought she'd had in a long time… Maybe her and Berry are more than friends…Fuck no, this is fucking Q., we're talking about. She quickly pushed the thought away as errant.
"S., can I ask you something?" Quinn finally spoke up filling the silence.
Santana nodded her consent, but before the blonde could open her mouth Brittany came bounding back in with a plate of warm brownies, closely followed by Rachel.
"My Dad said the brownies aren't Vulcan, but I found something else for Rachel to eat" Brittany stated proudly as she offered her girlfriend and Quinn a baked goody.
Rachel, not one to be impolite, took a large bite out of her stick of celery and nodded agreeably, hoping to show her appreciation of Brittany's attempt at hospitality, however impertinent.
Santana supressed a snigger by stuffing a large bite of brownie into her mouth, calories be damned. For a second, brown eyes met hazel, and both girls silently acknowledged their unfinished conversation, however for now, it would have to wait.
Xxxxx
Finally, Quinn and Rachel had said their goodbyes, none of the girls having selected a song for their assignment, much to Rachel's annoyance, and Santana and Brittany had just settled under Brittany's comforter and turned out the light.
Brittany let out a contented little sigh, she'd had a great night with her friends, she'd just tucked her cat safely into his cat bed (although she was sure he'd sneak out later), and now she was lying in her own bed with her girlfriend, who she loved more than anything in the world. Right now, her life felt pretty awesome.
Wrapping her arms around the smaller girl, who was already half asleep, she pulled her close so that their bodies melded together. It felt good to be the big spoon sometimes, Brittany decided.
At school, and parties, and most of the time really, Santana took so much care to be the strong one, and the blonde knew she was always looking out for her, and making sure she was safe.
Brittany gently kissed her girlfriend's temple. At night, when Santana was sleepy and at her most vulnerable, their roles became reversed. Many a night Brittany would hold Santana tight until she fell asleep, and even stay awake a little longer, wondering what was happening behind the brunette's fluttering eyelids.
Sure occasionally, Brittany would have a bad dream about the gremlins in her basement, or Lord Tubbington getting arrested, and the Latina would be right there to hold her and stroke her hair until she fell back asleep. Other times Brittany would find she just couldn't sleep no matter how hard she tried, and even if Santana was super tired, she'd stay up telling her stories and singing to her until she was peacefully dreaming. However the majority of the time, at night, Brittany got to be Santana's protector. Just for once, she got to be the strong one.
Snuggling impossibly closer to her girlfriend, Brittany revelled in the soft warmth emanating from her body, and inhaled the scent of her sweet shampoo. She loved being taken care of by Santana, but she also loved taking care of her too... Lying there in bed, on the brink of sleep, the dancer promised herself she would try really hard to do it more, and to give back to Santana just a little of what she knew she gave her, every single day.
"Love you" Brittany mumbled through a yawn, as her eyes came to a complete close, and her dreams claimed her.
"Love you too B."
Pretty please review. Next update will be on the way shortly.