A/N: This chapter's the longest one yet but a lot of it's song lyrics, however I did try to make it about more than just songs. For those of you who asked, the song Brittany sang was "Ours" by Taylor Swift. I'll post the songs from this chapter at the end for whoever's curious.
Find yourself cause I can't find you
Be yourself, who are you?
Find yourself, cause I can't find you
Be yourself, who are you?
Santana looked mildly perturbed to have Rachel singing to her, but Sugar happily rocked back and forth to the song two seats over, continuing to enjoy the plethora of buried songs from the past she was now getting to hear. Puck had already sung Melissa Etheridge's "I'm the Only One" just a few minutes ago, and before him had been Kurt and Blaine singing Pink's "Perfect". Santana had sat through both, thanks to Brittany, and even tried to look thankful when they were done. The last performer of the day was, of course, Rachel.
Who knows what could happen
Do what you do just keep on laughing
One thing's true, there's always a brand new day
I'm gonna live today like it's my last day
The song ended and Rachel beamed at Santana, who forced a smile in response and started to stand up to leave now that the performances were over. Brittany bumped her shoulder purposefully and she winced, before forcing out, "Um… thanks, Rachel."
Rachel simply grinned wider at her and stepped forward, declaring, "Oh my gosh, we're so gonna hug, aren't we? I can feel it."
"What?" Santana countered quickly, looking alarmed. She had no more time to react as Rachel stepped forward and threw her arms around her, clinging to her with a smile on her face. The rest of the students held back chuckles as Santana, despite looking disgusted, awkwardly and hesitantly returned the hug, patting Rachel on the back gently until she finally let go.
"I'm so glad we're gonna be friends now."
"Mhmm," Santana replied, shooting Brittany a pleading look. Luckily, her girlfriend came to her rescue.
"Santana and I are coming out to her parents today," Brittany announced, distracting everyone from Rachel and Santana. "We're gonna do it together."
"Good luck, you guys," Tina replied for the group as everyone else nodded their agreement.
"I'd suggest having stuff written down beforehand," Blaine offered helpfully. "That way if things get heated and all over the place, you can always go back to what you've written and it'll help collect your thoughts so you can get your point across clearly and concisely. When my dad wasn't okay with me and it turned into a shouting match and he threatened to kick me out, that really helped me out."
Brittany and Santana blinked at him, looking mildly horrified. "Thanks, Blaine," Santana finally deadpanned. "Whatever motivation I had to do this that wasn't already killed by Berry's mildly homoerotic song choice said goodbye just now instead."
Blaine opened his mouth to respond but Kurt quickly cut in, clapping a hand over his mouth with a forced grin. "He's kidding! He's just kidding. I'm sure your parents will be fine, Santana."
The group finally said their goodbyes and they all went their separate ways, with Sugar heading out to the parking lot to wait for Al to pick her up. She could walk just fine but he'd insisted on driving there instead, having texted her during the day to tell her that they needed to talk. Sugar wasn't sure how she was supposed to take that.
Rory was there too, waiting on Brittany's parents, as Sugar had discovered was his usual routine. Brittany did have somewhat of a mean streak of her own, and it showed in that she always rode home with Santana, leaving Rory to find his own way home. Today it was definitely excusable, though.
"Hey!" She walked right up to him and he turned to look at her, confused. They'd never spoken a word to each other before. "Rory, right?"
"Yeah," he replied, accent thick and hard to understand even with just that one word. "I wasn't sure you knew that."
"Of course I knew that, silly," Sugar insisted. "And I'm sure you know my name, so it's perfect."
"…What's perfect?"
"Well, we're perfect for each other," Sugar replied, looping her arm with his and smiling proudly. "We're gonna be best best friends from now on, alright?"
Rory raised both eyebrows at her, and then looked down suggestively at their joined arms before grinning back at her. "Okay, Sugar."
Al arrived a few minutes later and beckoned towards Sugar, who hastily said goodbye to a newly-enamored Rory who blushingly waved back in response as she went.
"Who's that?" Al questioned as Sugar pulled the car door shut and tossed her bag into the backseat.
"Just some kid named Rory," Sugar told him. "He had a crush on my friend so I decided to distract him from her."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Al's tone was getting testy again and Sugar knew a lecture was coming up. "What if he originally married that girl in the future, Sugar? You have to think about these things before you interfere. In fact, I wanted to drive you home precisely so we could have some time to speak about this. Want to tell me more about these friends you're with constantly?"
"Relax," Sugar insisted, feeling her pulse quicken at the prospect of Al ever discovering what exactly she was spending her time doing. "Anything I'm changing, I'm changing for the better."
There was a long silence as they turned a corner. Finally, Al took a deep breath. "But how can you be sure, Sugar?" Something in his voice caught her attention and she looked to him nervously. "Sugar Lopez-Pierce, wasn't it?" he continued icily. Sugar swallowed hard, not liking his tone. "I had a meeting today with Will Schuester and Shelby Corcoran regarding the upcoming Sectionals competition. I've agreed to pay for the uniforms of both the Troubletones and New Directions to show my support. Naturally, I needed the names and estimated measurements of the members of both teams."
Sugar's heart dropped into her stomach. "I can explain."
"I bet you can. Because I'm sure there is a very not coincidental reason why there are two girls on the Troubletones with those same two last names. You're from… what was it; 2031? Which would put those girls at around… twenty-three years old when you were born? Sounds accurate enough to me."
Sugar bit her lip, speechless now as she stared down at her lap.
"I don't know if you planned this when you came here, and I don't know what you've changed, but I hope you realize you may have prevented your own birth by doing what you've done," he said, breaking the tense silence. "There's nothing we can do to fix it, and honestly I don't think keeping you away from them now would serve any purpose. You'll just have to face the consequences, whatever they may be."
They pulled into the driveway and Al parked the car while Sugar looked up at him nervously. "Wait," she called out hastily when she saw he was getting out of the car. "I mean… if I changed something, if I really did mess things up… I can't fix it?"
Al looked down at her with something akin to disappointed sympathy. "Sugar, you can't time-travel if you don't exist."
He slammed the door shut and walked to the front door of his house, and Sugar remained in his car, stunned.
"Brittany!" Sugar called out the next morning the second she found her mother alone by her locker. Even though she'd been caught by Al, their conversation had only made her more determined to make sure things went well with Brittany and Santana. Now more than ever she needed to keep them from breaking up.
Brittany raised an eyebrow at hearing her name, looking around wildly, but her expression changed to one of relaxed friendliness when she saw Sugar headed her way.
"Where's Santana?" Sugar questioned, looking around them. "Is she okay? Her parents were fine, right? She's okay? Hmm?"
Brittany grinned at her, holding back a laugh. She nodded proudly. "Yeah, everything went super well. They already knew."
Sugar looked taken aback. She'd never heard that part of the story before. "Really?"
"Yeah. I think most parents do; at least the accepting ones, anyway. Mine had an idea."
"But what happened? I mean, so they weren't surprised?"
"They were more surprised about how long she'd known," Brittany said with a shrug. "They thought she was still in denial because she only just got out of this fake relationship with this guy named Karofsky near the end of last year. They were just shocked she was already totally sure about it and that she'd been dating me for months." Brittany looked proud of herself all of a sudden. "They totally approve of us and think we're cute together. Plus it helps that they've known me for forever, so."
"That's good," Sugar told her anxiously. "Just make sure you guys never break up, okay?"
Brittany raised an eyebrow at her. "Kay? Of course we won't."
"Well, I'm just double-checking," Sugar retorted. "I put a lot of effort into helping you two come out as a couple so I don't want it to be for nothing."
Brittany rolled her eyes but smiled as she did so, and as Sugar tried to reassure herself that everything would work out, Brittany's gaze slid past her and her smile widened. "Hey Santana!" she called out, causing Sugar to turn around to see where Brittany was looking. Santana paused where she was in mid-conversation with Mercedes on the other end of the crowded hallway, glancing around to find the source of the shout. When her eyes found Brittany, she smiled shyly and raised her hand to curl her fingers in a cute little wave. "You're a hot First Lady!" Brittany continued once she had Santana's attention, and Sugar looked between them with surprise as Santana grinned through a blush and several random cheers and claps of agreement sounded from throughout the hallway. A second later Santana was tugging Mercedes away after offering Brittany another quick wave, clearly still blushing, and Brittany was turning to shut her locker, beaming.
"So that was random," Sugar pointed out, confused.
"Yep. But I can do it now and she lets me," Brittany replied, gathering her things and then practically skipping off to her next class while humming "Hail to the Chief". Sugar sighed to try and kill her anxiety as she stared at Brittany's back, then turned to find her next period as well.
"Really, guys. My parents are cool with it and I can bitch out anyone here who isn't. I really don't need this anymore." Mike, Tina, Artie, Rory, Finn, Mercedes, and Rachel all deflated in front of her while Will and Shelby looked on in disappointment from the doorway to the choir room. Santana straightened up in her seat. "Besides, I already said I don't want Finn singing to me."
"I have like one line," Finn mumbled while Santana continued over him.
"And Berry, didn't you already go? I mean, I've bleached the memory from my brain already but I seem to recall Brittany mentioning something about it this morning, so…"
"There's just this and then one more, Santana," Mercedes told her matter-of-factly. "Just try and at least act appreciative, please? What if things hadn't gone so well with your parents? We wanted to be prepared."
"And thank God you were," Santana agreed over-emphatically. "I don't know what I would've done if I'd been kicked out of my house and you guys hadn't had a song prepared to sing to me to make it better."
"Okay, I get it," Finn retorted. "It was a dumb idea and you probably hate every song so far other than Brittany's, but can you please let us do this? Can you please show some sensitivity towards someone other than Brittany? Because that was a really nice side of you that we all got to see that day, and that Santana is really special and actually human. This wall you're constantly putting up is ridiculous, and this isn't all about you coming out. This is about you showing your friends the side of you that you hide to look tough. Yeah, you're coming out as gay, but it's also kind of like by doing that you're showing some of the real you. And we want to see more of it."
"How touching," Santana deadpanned. "Sorry Finnept, Brittany's a special case. I'll let you know when I fall in love with you and then you can see me when I'm not a complete bitch."
Finn threw his hands in the air and stepped back behind the group in the front of the room, shaking his head. "I give up."
"I'm glad we've reached an understanding."
"Santana," Brittany began knowingly, reaching over to take her hand. "They're just trying to be nice. Do you want Quinn to sing her song first, kind of like how I went first so you'd listen to everyone else?"
Santana let out an annoyed sigh, glaring across the room to where Quinn was watching her with a curious eyebrow raised. "You're singing something?"
"I've been kicked out before," Quinn replied simply. "So I know how it feels. And you and Brittany were my best friends these past two years. I figured it was the least I could do."
Santana sat back in her chair at that, crossing her arms while her foot bounced anxiously in front of her. "Okay, I want Quinn to go now. But only because she has a killer taste in music."
Will and Shelby visibly let out sighs of relief on the other side of the room, and the group at the front shuffled back to their seats as Quinn hopped out of hers and made her way to the front. The three Cheerios from the Troubletones joined her, too, to everyone's surprise but Quinn's. "I needed backup dancers," Quinn explained, causing Santana to raise an eyebrow.
"Am I going to regret this?"
"Probably. But Brittany will love it," Quinn replied with a smirk. Beside Santana, Brittany perked up and immediately looked excited as the music started up.
"Britney!" she exclaimed in recognition, and Santana opened her mouth in confusion, probably to ask why Brittany had just shouted her own name, but a second later Quinn started singing and she let out a groan instead.
You don't have to say what's on your mind
'Cause I know where you've been
Give it up and leave it all behind
And then let me begin
Come on over here
Let me show how things should be
I will make it alright
Let me make it clear
You can put your trust in me
Yes I will be there
When you need someone
You just turn around
And I, will be there
When you're feeling low
Baby let me know
And I, will be there
"Why do I know these people?" Santana mumbled, hand pressed to her forehead as everyone else clapped for Quinn. Santana finally looked up and Quinn blew her a playfully mocking kiss before retaking her seat along with the three Cheerios. "Gross, Fabray. I think I'd rather listen to Sugar screech for three minutes than sit through another one of those."
"That's too bad," Sugar told her, genuinely upset. "I figured you'd appreciate me not singing so I didn't prepare anything."
"You're my new favorite," Santana retorted, taking a deep breath a moment later to prepare herself as the other people who had yet to sing (and Rachel) took the floor. Sugar straightened up happily as Santana waved her hand at them dismissively. "Alright, get it over with. I'm coming out to mi abuela tonight so I promise I'll try to sap some kind of positive message out of this."
"We love you, Santana," Mercedes called out in response, blatantly ignoring Santana's complaining as Rachel gestured for the band to begin playing.
"Finn sang this for Kurt when he needed it," she explained, "back when Karofsky was bullying him for being gay. So we thought it was only fair to show you the same support that was shown to him." She stepped to the back of the group and let Artie take the front spot to begin the song.
Oh, her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair, falls perfectly without her trying
She's so beautiful, and I tell her every day
Mike took the next three lines while Santana looked amused at a wink she received from Artie, and the entire group sang the chorus that followed.
Yeah, I know, I know, when I compliment her she won't believe me
And it's so, it's so, sad to think that she don't see what I see
But every time she asks me do I look ok, I say
When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing, just the way you are
And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while
Because girl you're amazing, just the way you are
The next two lines were Finn's, just before the last chorus, and Santana remained expressionless until his part was done with the exception of a tiny eye-roll, although she looked a little more annoyed and a little less angry than she had before.
The way you are, the way you are
Girl you're amazing, just the way you are
When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing, just the way you are
And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while
Cause girl you're amazing, just the way you are
They finished to light applause from everyone, even including a slightly moved Santana who looked like at the very least they'd humbled her a bit. "Thanks, I guess," she said when it was clear everyone was waiting for her to speak. Brittany leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, smiling.
"Tonight will be harder than last night," she reminded Santana gently, squeezing her hand. "Are you sure you don't want me to be there?"
Santana sighed, shaking her head. "My parents were fine and I thought they'd be bad. So maybe the same thing will happen with Abuela…" She trailed off, then seemed to remember everyone was watching her and quickly shook her head as though she was vaguely disturbed, standing up abruptly. "Anyway, I have to go. She likes for me to be on time for dinner. Bye."
"Good luck," Rachel called out to her as she left, but she was gone so quickly that none of them were sure she'd even heard.
Rachel's song was "Who Knows?" by Avril Lavigne, Quinn's was "I Will Be There" by Britney Spears, and the group's was obviously Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are".
