Hey everyone, I'm sorry for the slow update. I've been really sick this past week, got caught in the rain and had a fever.
nayalove - You're Brittany's voice of reason
moreorlez - whether she makes the right choice or not is still unknown, she does make a choice though
phoenix4725 - Puck will get what he deserves, just not yet. He's still a royal asshole in this chapter
ovisnephele - Thanks so much! I adore reviewers like you
Meech0831 - He's even worse in this chapter, bear with me.
M206 - The more smut the merrier right? soon.
Thanks for coming back to read and review.
ENJOY!
Chapter 11
Sorry
Brittany walks the halls alone. She doesn't need to be here but she doesn't know where else to be.
She should be studying for Spanish or at least be talking to that pen pal Mr. Martinez signed her up for. She prefers Santana better, the way she says just about anything makes her melt…Spanish is such a hot language, she wishes she were better at it.
It's no use thinking about Santana now, she's with Quinn and sort of mad with her for disappearing last night.
Santana can't know why.
Brittany made up this terrible, see-through excuse about her mother needing her at home so she left. The truth is that she heard his voice from top of the hall and had to make a break for it, not that she's scared of him but she'd really like to avoid getting on his bad side. He's never done anything to her that she should worry, but she's seen the way he is with other people who don't please his highness and she doesn't want to know what it feels like.
People in Hollywood think they're exceptional. They are so not. Sure they're pretty in front of the cameras but behind it all they're just stuck up spoiled asses like all the other poor asses, powerful asses, drug dealing asses Brittany knows.
But she can't really say that to Santana, she doesn't want to worry her.
Brittany comes full circle to her locker again for the, what now…third time?
Maybe she should go home and get those paintings done, mail them to him, and hope they get there before he gets home.
But Santana would want her to study, she knows she should too. She's not in the mood though.
Under her arm is tucked her Spanish class sheets and workbook along with her textbook on Sociology.
That subject would be her favorite if only she could agree to the stuff in it. To her it's utter bullshit.
Theories are just theories that go along with statistics and observations.
If you really want to know what a middle-class suburban kid gets up to after school, ask Barney at the 24/7 store. If you really want to know how half of America is flunking school, ask the kid that can't stay in class and can't stomach her drunken dad.
Of course that's not it always goes, but most of the time you'll never really know if you haven't been there and she doubts those Dr. ever got swung into a wall or head dunked in paint till they nearly suffocated.
They just don't understand.
Brittany sits on the floor in front of her locker looking at nothing or the shoes of a few people that walk by.
She looks at her old, plain, chucks. She could really fix them up good with some color. She hates looking boring and she hates being bored.
It was ok when she had an excuse to mope, go to school, hurry back home and not have to talk to anyone.
Things are different now though. She feels different like she should be doing something with her life. You know that feeling of disappointment and exasperation you get when you walk for ages down a street you think leads to another but then you're caught in a dead end? Yeah that was pretty much her life before Santana.
If she wasn't going to finish high-school, then she was going to earn a little money – enough to stay alive and pass the time. Who knows when one day you'll find out you've got no one and have to put food in your own mouth.
That's why she started to paint in the first place. But if she wasn't painting then she'd just be doing something else, not moving forward.
She knows she shouldn't dwell too much on the past because now she is going to finish high-school if it's the last thing she does. She also thinks she needs to do something more, something Santana worthy.
She really doesn't want to be a disappointment.
"Hey, you look lost."
A male voice she hasn't heard for two days whispers right in her ear. Since when did he barge into her private space?
"Nope, I'm sitting exactly where I want to be." Brittany doesn't even look at him. She wants to wiggle away, put some space in between their bodies just in case he does anything funny or gets all emotional over their fight or something and uses her as a cry pillow.
"How are you doing?"
Brittany knows he's probably swallowing his god damn pride right now, or his butt hurt feelings – not that she cares. He made an embarrassing fuss right in front of Santana and he practically lied to twist the situation into 'poor me'.
"I thought you weren't talking to me. Am I not being weird today?"
She glances at him quickly but averts her eyes to the locker across her just as fast.
"I'm sorry I said that," He rests his head not so gently against the metal. "I guess I'm in denial with this…you…I just want us to be friends again."
Brittany doesn't say anything, doesn't make a move. "I can't be friends with you if you're going to do that again."
He's quick to swear he'll stay in the boundaries.
He sounds pretty sincere so Brittany finally cracks a smile. The small action is reflected back ten times wider.
"Just for the sake of asking, what do you even like about me? No one likes me."
"I probably shouldn't start with I don't know," He laughs, "You're lots of things that most girls aren't. I guess special is a good word."
"Ms. Lopez would fail you for that answer, give me a better one."
He looks at her with intense concentration as if he's looking into her. She's not really comfortable with it but she doesn't want to scoot away or anything that might hurt him, she wonders if that's how she looks at Santana, - like Santana is the best thing in this miserable world.
"Well," He finally says, "You don't really want to know."
His look told her enough so she nods.
They're back to being silent again. It's not usually the way they roll.
Usually she'll say something random or he'll say something too specific and then they'll talk for hours trying to get an understanding of each other. It's pretty fun and totally nonsense. If they stopped to think and explain things properly they probably wouldn't have that trouble, but where's the fun in that?
You get to so much more about people when you let them talk and don't interrupt them to say what you think or try to guess at what they're saying.
"Don't you have an exam today?" Brittany asks so there's something other than silence going on.
See, that's the difference. Brittany likes the silence when she's with Santana, but with Max it's awkward, like they should be filling it with words or laughter or silly faces instead of nothing.
You can tell you're meant to be with someone even in the little moments like this.
"Tomorrow."
"Ok,"
They've really run out of things to say now.
"I've got to go actually," Brittany gets up and pats the dust off her ass. Max gets up too and hands her the stack of books she left on the floor.
"Thanks." She says. "See you around."
She knows he's watching her walk down the hall, probably like in those movies where the girl is walking away and the rejected guy is just standing there feeling sorry for himself and hoping he can muster up one more ounce of courage to chase after her or at least say something.
He doesn't come after her though, he doesn't shout or anything either. Brittany is finally able to breathe properly again.
None of it is too hard; she can remember most of it she knows she can. What's hard is trying to concentrate when your mind is someplace else with somebody else.
Santana hasn't texted her all morning which is odd but expected. She should say sorry but she doesn't want to do it over the phone.
Instead of typing down how she feels bad for leaving Santana and all that, she sends her a message asking her to meet her for lunch in town. She throws in that she'll even pay if it'll get Santana talking to her again.
Not moments after she sends her message her phone buzzes.
Brittany reads the message once, then one more time because she knows there's more to it than just a few short words.
"Come home please?"
Brittany snaps out of her thoughts, throws her things in her bag and runs out of the library.
Brittany runs right into Santana's front door. She thought it'd be unlocked.
After rubbing her sore head a bit she raps a few times and waits.
She doesn't know if it's Santana's red eyes or her slight wobble that makes her rush forward to catch her.
She holds her on her doorstep, the cold biting her back through her thin sweater. Santana's not talking but its ok, at least she knows she has someone to listen when she's ready.
"Hey, let's go in," Brittany shuffles forward careful to not make them stumble.
She shuts the door with her foot and pulls Santana onto the couch with her. She's still wearing all her layers, the ice melts into damp spots all over her sweater.
"I'm going to take this off," Brittany tells Santana, rolling them over so she hovers over her. She lays her sweater over the back of a dining room chair and comes back to snuggle Santana.
It's one of her new favorite things to do and it always makes her feel better, so maybe it'll do the same for Santana.
Santana seems to have recovered a bit from her emotions, now she simply sniffles from time to time.
"I'm really sorry about last night." Brittany tries, she knows Santana likes to listen to her even if she says some crazy things or stuff that happens around school. One time she told Santana about Sue Sylvester having the hots for Coach Cooter and how she was practicing the perfect pick-up line complete with her approaching gait. It was corny and so not like Sue Sylvester.
"Don't be mad at me ok?" Brittany lifts her head so she's looking into Santana's eyes, if she's going to tell the truth she might as well do it the right way. "There's this guy I do paintings for from time to time, he's a Hollywood hot-shot and all."
Santana nods but lifts her hand to smooth over Brittany's cheek. It calms Brittany down a lot.
"I heard his voice in the hall last night and he was talking to Kurt, I don't know how they know each other but I don't know maybe Kurt does his clothes, he dresses well most of the time." Brittany can see Santana's brain working. Her brow narrows and she doesn't look happy at all.
"And you know with school and dealing with my feelings for you I didn't finish his paintings, so I ran." She bites her lip when she's done. She has no idea how Santana will respond.
"What's his name?" Santana sits up. She looks angry; if she were white her face would have been crimson by now.
"Mr. Puckerman, I never actually seen him in anything so I don't know if he's famous for real or if it's because he's dating someone who is."
"Stay away from him Brittany,"
"That's what I was doing…"
"No, I mean it," Santana reiterates, "quit doing business with him."
"I just paint…"
"Brittany," Santana's voice goes stern, her eyes harden even more. "I don't want you having anything to do with him."
"Ok," Brittany says, puzzled by Santana's outburst. She's done stuff for him for a year now, stopping isn't going to do anything.
It's when she looks, really looks at Santana again that she gets it. He did something to her, he's the reason she cried, he…
"San, did he hit you?" Brittany notices for the first time the bruise across Santana's cheek. Something fuels her insides, rage, disgust, hate. "How, how could he? I'm going to kill him."
And she really means it.
She doesn't care how it happened or what his excuse is, she won't be able to sleep until she's given him what he deserves.
People say all the time that kids don't know what they're doing. They cause scenes, violate the law, start fights blah, blah, blah, sometimes it's cus' they're high, sometimes it's cause they get the hell out of it, but most of the time someone's done something to them or a loved one – and nothing goes unanswered.
She should know. It's happened before, but no one ever found out - not even her mom.
Shot by shot it runs through her head. They hit Kevin. His deal with them over drugs probably went sour and they weren't too happy about it so they ganged up on him. Kevin was a tough guy but he couldn't take them both, and they had weapons.
She wasn't even supposed to be there that day but she just had to tell Kevin something. It seemed important then but she can't remember if she ever told him – probably not. She was just there, about to cross the street when they started beating him over the head. In hindsight she should have called the police but it might have been too late, she knew Kevin would be finished by then.
It took her four long strides across the street to pick up a discarded plank of wood with nails sticking out one end. Then she whacked one of the guys, the bigger guy, right across the back of his head before his friend could warn him. That gave Kevin a chance to get up and fight the other guy who was thrown off guard.
That day she must have beaten the thug so hard he could have died. Her knuckles shone red with blood and her heart pounded with so much anger. She wouldn't have cared if he died.
"Brittany, don't do anything please." Santana's voice low and gentle brings her back. She's not that angry and she wouldn't do it again ever if she had a choice. The days after it happened she felt so bad, she didn't want to be one of those people – she wasn't.
Kevin told her it was alright, but that she shouldn't have got involved. She told him his ass wouldn't be alive to say that if she didn't but deep down she wished she hadn't done it.
"I won't. But I need to know what he did to you, and why."
"I'll tell you if you leave him alone and promise to stay away from him."
Brittany nods and sits back down, feeling all the anger slip away with the touch of Santana's lips against her cheek.
She's listening, she really is but it's hard to focus on the details when all you can think about is how someone can be a total …no word can describe him.
"That's not why you were crying though," Brittany whispers when Santana is done recounting the mornings events. All she'd told Brittany was that Quinn was asking her advice about something and Puck didn't like it so he started yelling and shoving Quinn, Santana got involved and ended up being punched in the face.
"I don't know why I was crying, I guess I was emotional" Santana bluffs, but Brittany sees right through it. She doesn't want to push Santana to tell her because whatever it is must be big – it made her cry and Brittany knows Santana doesn't cry easily.
"You said you'd tell me," She plays idly with Santana's hand, dragging her thumb over Santana's knuckles, up and down.
"He said if," Santana swallows hard, she doesn't want to say the hurtful, insensitive words, she wishes he hadn't said them and maybe if she doesn't make a big deal out of it he'll forget.
"What Santana?"
"He'll tell everyone about us if I don't do what he wants."
Brittany shakes her head and blinks, "how does he know?"
"I didn't know he knew you and I said your name, he…said I was sleeping with a whore and I told him you had a name and that you're my girlfriend. It's like the lights turned on for him and now he's got something to blackmail me with."
There seems to be more so Brittany remains quiet, changing her short strokes for longer ones down Santana's forearms.
"He used to be a good guy. I was trying to reason with him about the consequences of his actions, I wanted him to think about how stupid his plan was…I didn't think he'd become violent."
Santana's voice begins to quiver again as it rises.
"He hit Quinn first, I was so mad. She told him she'd never give-up Beth even if he won custody she'd find a way to make Beth hers again. Beth belongs with Quinn, I told Puck that much and that I'd do anything to help Quinn get custody again. You want to know what he said?"
Brittany doesn't really want to know because it can't be something good but she wants Santana to keep telling her the rest of the story so she nods.
"He said if ever one of us did anything to ruin his life, he'd stop at nothing to ruin ours. Then he gave me five hours to agree to do what he says or he'll tell the Principal about us."
"What does he want you to do?" Brittany asks.
"Lots of things. He wants me to shut-up, he wants me to stop having anything to do with Quinn, He wants me to pose as his god damn wife."
"Are you scared?" Brittany asks weakly. Anyone with a threat hanging over them would be scared but Santana looks more mad and determined to not let Puck win.
"You know, a week ago I would probably be scared as hell. It's not a very good situation but I'm not letting Quinn down."
Brittany nods. The way Santana is so ready to stand up for what she knows is right that even the consequences don't faze her gives her hope Santana will stand up for their relationship too.
"What are you going to do?"
"What I need to do."
"And what's that?"
Santana bites her lip. That is the reason why she was crying, no matter what happens her life isn't going to be the same.
"Trust me on this ok Brittany?"
Brittany nods again and sits back down. She takes Santana's head, leading it to rest on top of her heart.
"What if we ran away?"
It was a joke, Santana could tell by the lightness in Brittany's voice but it still made her tense a little. What if they did run away? It'd be the easy solution but one that would come back to bite them later.
"That wasn't what I was planning Brittany,"
"I know. I was just thinking of options."
"How is that even an option?" Santana smiles and laughs. "Where would we even go?"
Brittany doesn't really know but she likes everything about this moment right now. They're just talking about nonsense but it seems important that they do. Maybe it's the way Santana's curled up like a kitten in her lap or that she's even taking part in this silly conversation or that she's thinking about running away with Brittany too in some other alternative universe.
"Anywhere," Brittany responds. "Anywhere that I can be with you."
"You're not being very specific baby," Santana sits up so she can look at Brittany's face while they banter back and forth. She's emotionally exhausted but Brittany's smile is the best thing to lift the clouds.
"Eww San," Brittany hits her, "I'm not that much younger than you."
There's a moment before either of them moves, just enough seconds for Santana to think of what a crazy ride it's been with Brittany so far. How this girl has turned her life upside down, shaken it to a mess and loves the outcome.
That Beyonce song, "crazy in love", pops into her head. It was made for her. Brittany has got her crazy, there's no other explanation for what happened here. She fell in love with the most unlikely person.
"Hey Brittany?" Santana runs the back of her hand down Brittany's cheek, continuing till she finds Brittany's hand.
Brittany pops an eyebrow.
"Whatever happens, we're going to be ok."
"We're going to be ok." Brittany repeats relieved Santana didn't make some terrible announcement like she was expecting.
She's even happier when Santana leans in and kisses her sweetly.
The sun is already deep behind trees, now it's even colder than before. She'd been studying all day while keeping Santana company.
Santana on the other hand, kept herself busy doing things around the house.
Mrs. Pierce had called Brittany and was fine with her staying over at Santana's for the night since she had a late shift.
It came as a surprise when Brittany had asked to stay over. For a moment she thought if it was wise but people would know anyway if they were outed so she agreed, gladly.
Brittany was all kinds of excited and kept getting distracted from her books to look at Santana. They'd only done the deed once, but to her it would be inevitable for it to happen again given the circumstances. There would be no way she could share a bed with Santana and not think about her in an inappropriate way.
Even now she noticed the beautiful gait Santana with which Santana did mundane chores. Her ears were tuned to the low sound of Santana's humming. Even now she couldn't stop day-dreaming.
Every once in a while Santana would disappear into her room and close the door, she'd come out looking the same way she went in, calm and breathing controlled. A few times she caught sight of Santana stuffing her phone back into her pocket, so that's what it must be – Santana was talking to Quinn or Kurt or Puck.
"San?"
Santana reappears from behind the corner. "Hey Britt, I was just thinking of dinner." She sits next to Brittany who immediately launches into her.
"Since I'm staying over, I need my clothes."
"Right," Santana strokes her fingers through Brittany's hair. "How about we go get your stuff and find someplace to eat?"
"I'm down with that,"
"Great, you finished here? You want to go now?"
Brittany half-heartedly flips her books shut with one hand, unwilling to move away from Santana's warm body. "Now I'm finished."
They put their coats on and Santana locks the house.
Brittany looks at the snow while waiting till she hears Santana's last jiggle of the lock making sure it's secure, and then Brittany sneaks up behind Santana to kiss her on the cheek.
"What's that for?" Santana's smile is warm enough to distract Brittany from the cold. She really wishes she'd worn a thicker coat today.
"For being you? I don't know. Maybe I just want to kiss my girlfriend."
"That was pretty tame," Santana giggles as a cloud of cold breath escapes her mouth.
"Are you saying I should do this?"
Brittany takes Santana's hands and wraps them around her body. Santana gets the hint and squeezes tighter.
Her own hands reach behind Santana's neck as she dips her head to capture Santana's lips. Whatever cold she was feeling is replaced with shocking heat as Santana expertly sucks her bottom lip. Soon her mouth is jarred open with the tip of Santana's tongue and she's inviting her in willingly.
Santana doesn't know how long they've been kissing and she's surprised she doesn't even care they're doing it on the stoop of her front porch where any person driving by could see.
She was just teasing Brittany about kissing her on the cheek but when Brittany placed herself in Santana's arms like that, Santana knew she wouldn't stop Brittany from kissing her.
Brittany was doing so much more than just kiss her. She was building Santana's courage; she was saying once again but this time without words that she didn't care where they were as long as they were together.
Brittany gets rougher, for someone claiming to have no experience Brittany's doing a darn good job at maker her weak in the knees with the way she grabs her and commands with her tongue.
Santana lets it happen. If the truth comes out then let it come out. In the back of her mind she knows she's made the right decision, it's the thing that's going to keep them safe. For Santana that's the most important thing, she'll sacrifice everything for it, so the little sacrifice she made hardly bothers her.
"Hey," Santana says as they break apart for air.
The cold isn't helping them to breathe at all, they laugh at their poor efforts to restore air in their lungs.
"Let's go get your things and then some food, I'm starving."
Santana doesn't think anything beats hearing Brittany's laugh. It makes her car all cozy and warm.
They're stuck in traffic, it's almost unheard of in Lima but it happens once on a blue moon. If this were any other day Santana would be fuming, she doesn't live in 'no where' to be stuck on the road. Having Brittany with her makes it all ok.
"You already asked me that," Brittany whines. She's been concentrating a lot on her school and Santana can already see how well she's going to do.
"Sorry, got distracted." Santana mumbles, flipping the pages in Brittany's notebook for another question to ask her.
"Ok, tell me the difference between the traditional and modern study of regional dialects?"
"Aww, that's easy." Brittany perks up, "traditional studies use geographical boundaries, or isoglosses on a dialect map to isolate parts of a country that speak different dialects. Or they'll trace settlement patterns or talk to old people because they're not affected much by new age stuff and can tell you all about the original dialect of the people there. Modern studies are concerned about people's social backgrounds more than where they live. They use much more creative ways of researching - not that old people are boring, but like videoing people and doing surveys sound way more fun. For our term project I'm gonna do a survey on the KFC culture, it's kind of cool that I've never been to Kentucky but I've eaten Kentucky fried chicken in like eight different states."
"Ms. Pierce, you're getting much too smart for your own good." Santana says. If anyone can make mundane facts interesting Brittany sure can.
The traffic still crawls but it barely bothers Santana.
They decide to switch to Spanish.
"Are you ready?" Santana challenges.
"Yep," Brittany replies with a beaming smile. She worked hard that afternoon to get all her vocabulary down and practiced sentence patterns to make paragraphs, if anything she wants to make Santana proud that she's trying hard to know 'her' language.
Santana scans over Brittany's messy handwriting that almost look like sketch marks. "Britt? Why is the Spanish National Anthem written in your book? Don't tell me…"
Brittany nods her head. "Mr. Martinez said to write it for practice…maybe he was joking."
"I sure hope so," Santana scoffs, "Spain isn't the only place people speak Spanish."
"You're not Spanish are you?" Brittany remembers she's wanted to ask Santana that for a long time. She knows Santana speaks it because she sometimes does on the phone; actually Brittany's noticed she does it when she's mad.
"I'm American like you Britt, but my grandma is Dominican."
Santana laughs at the scrunched up face Brittany's making. She probably doesn't know where that is.
"Can you say something in Spanish? I think it'll give me more motivation to learn."
"Very funny," Santana catches on to what Brittany's doing but thinks of something anyways.
Lentos veranos de niñez
Con monte y mar, con horas tersas,
Horas tendidas sobre playas
Entre los juegos de la arena,…
The words roll off Santana's practiced tongue in calm waves. Brittany doesn't understand how something she can't make sense of sounds so good. Her eyes take on a dreamy look as they stare at Santana quietly quoting the words.
Cuando el aire más ancho y libre
Nunca embebe nada que muera,
"Are you saying the constitutional rights in Spanish? I think I'd remember them better if they sounded that way." Brittany interrupts although she looks like she'd rather not.
Santana throws her head back, "Why would you think that?"
"You said freedom," Brittany looks so unsure of herself, "I probably remembered wrong or something."
"Don't stop trying Britt, you were close enough," Santana gives her an encouraging pat on the shoulder, "It's a poem, and I said free not freedom- libre."
"Oh, well it's pretty." her ears are still pink but Santana makes her feel its ok to get things wrong sometimes, like she's not judging her. "Keep going?"
Y se ahondan los regocijos
En luz de vacación sin tregua,
El porvenir no tiene término,
La vida es lujo y va muy lenta.
"…the end," Santana chuckles. "I learned that a long time ago, I'm surprised I still remember."
"You could teach me to say pretty rhymes sometime. Something nice like, Te amo"
Santana thinks she would actually enjoy hearing Brittany recite poetry in Spanish if it sounds as nice as it just did.
"I won't be long, you don't have to come." Brittany says when they finally get to her house. It's pretty dark now and the steam on the glass is not helping.
Santana's still determined to stand on her doorstep and wait for her so Brittany gives in.
What they find on Brittany's doorstep is shocking.
"Hello ladies," Puck says in a sly voice as he stands to his full height and stretches his back. "I've been waiting for Brittany, didn't know you two came as a package now."
"Get out of here Puck," Santana walks up to him and says it right to his face. She doesn't care how cocky he looks or how arrogantly he smiles, she's had enough of him sticking his nose in her business.
"Last I checked this was Brittany's house."
"How did you know?" Brittany makes no move to open the door. She'd have to go around Puck to do that and right now she doesn't want to be anywhere near him.
"I know the neighborhood, just had to ask around for the new blond girl."
"Move now Puck, Brittany doesn't want you here." Santana loses her patience as she shouts at him.
"She hasn't even seen what I want to show her yet. Are you her guardian or what? You don't even be here."
His words are almost enough to make her hit him.
"Look, Mr. Puckerman I'm sorry I haven't finished your paintings. I promise they'll be done by the end of the week. I have your address and everything so I'll send them first thing."
Brittany stutters a bit, afraid of what he'll say. He's not in a great mood right now and she just wants to avoid conflict.
"Whatever, that's not why I'm here. I have something to show you and if this annoying woman can give us some space that'd be nice." He points at Santana. She slaps his finger away in anger, who is he to come and demand people on someone else's doorstep.
"What are you going to show me?" Brittany's curious but cautious of Pucks intentions, it can't be good.
"Santana, I said you'd pay for blowing me off. It's actually good that you're here now, consider this the first blow." He smirks and grabs Brittany by the arm violently.
"Get off of her," Santana shakes at his arm but he just shoves her off and moves Brittany to the other side of the porch.
"I want to talk to Brittany not you." He spits.
Santana's not having it. She walks up to him and pulls Brittany who's still confused about what's going on and not sure if she should be running away or standing up to Puck with Santana. She doesn't like being the object of their tug of war though, she's sure of that.
With a hard slap Santana finds herself face down on the floor. She didn't see it coming; she really should stop being surprised at what Puck is capable of doing.
"You hit her!" Brittany screams angrily and yanks herself away from him to kneel beside Santana on the floor.
"Leave her; she's right where she belongs." Puck sneers as he towers over them. "You think she loves you Brittany? I have proof that says otherwise. Did she tell you what a player she was in high-school? Do you know how many boyfriends and girlfriends she had? Do you know she's a cheater? What has she told you about her past life, nothing I bet? That's because she has secrets and she doesn't want you to find out. How can you trust her? How can you be in a relationship with her? She's just using you for sex, she should go to jail for fucking minors."
"Liar!" Santana defends although she feels so damn small on the floor with all of Pucks words binding her down. Maybe she does deserve to be here on the ground for all those things she did in the past. But that's not who she is now.
"See this?" Puck turns on the screen of his ipad and flicks through pictures from a hollywood news site. He reads the captions with so much joy.
"Noah Puckerman and girlfriend outside of a party in LA. Do you recognize the girl?"
Brittany does, it's Santana. She remembers the drunken phone call.
"It's not what it looks like Brittany."
Santana stands up besides Brittany who is flipping through the pictures rather quickly like she's looking for one in particular.
Brittany's face is unreadable.
"I'm going to destroy you Santana. You never were a good girlfriend but you were always a good fuck. See what being selfish does to you? It bites you in the ass. Should have done as I said and we wouldn't be here." His eyes train on Brittany who's looking at the pictures slower now, studying Santana in each of them.
Santana chooses to ignore his slanderous words.
"Brittany, he's lying. That picture…"
"Thanks Santana, I've seen it. You don't need to explain." Brittany says shortly.
"See," Puck grins. "Don't let her pull the wool over your eyes."
Brittany shuts her eyes as she collects her thoughts for a second. It worries Santana.
She needs to explain, if only Brittany will hear her out.
"You know what? I believe you…" Brittany begins.
"No…please Britt, he's lying." Santana pleads. Pucks smile only grows bigger.
"Deny it then Santana," Brittany says coldly, "tell me you weren't that person."
Santana gulps.
It'd be easy to say she wasn't but it'd be a lie. She wants to tell Brittany she's not that person anymore but the words are stuck in her throat.
"She can't cause she's the same bitch that used me in high-school." Puck says.
"But Santana didn't cheat on me." Brittany says boldly. "She was only in three of those pictures and they were all taken outside that club."
"Should I zoom it for you? She was kissing me."
Santana stands stunned, like she doesn't believe this conversation is happening in real life right now.
"You were kissing her," Brittany points out. "See, it's your hand holding her face."
Puck doesn't have an answer.
"I don't know if what you said about Santana is true but I know you're lying about the pictures and you're trying to make me hate her." Brittany continues, "It's not going to work. And you know what? I'm not doing anything for you anymore. Please leave now."
"It's not that simple. I'll leave but tomorrow there will be disaster for the two of you." Puck stomps off angrily.
"You're an asshole," Santana shouts after him, stopping him in his tracks.
He walks right back up to her and grabs her neck, "Don't talk to me like that bitch."
He stares at her as she stares back, Santana sees something else in his eyes something tells her this isn't him like he's under something. She almost forgets she can't breathe.
"Let her go," Brittany shouts and begins pushing him away. When that doesn't work she digs her nails into his hand to try and loosen his grip.
"Oww," He screams as blood runs out of the place Brittany's nails have been.
She's managed to free Santana who's doubled over trying to breathe. Before she knows what's happening, he's smacked her across the face with the back of his other hand.
"Go to hell together…" He seethes but before he can continue a stern, angry voice comes from behind his back.
She saw the whole thing, from when Puck walked down the path way to the slap that sent Brittany spinning and hitting the floor next to Santana.
"Get away from my daughter right now, before I call the police."
Puck freezes, not expecting anyone to see what he did. "What?"
"You hit my daughter and if you don't leave right now I'm going to make sure you end up in jail."
Santana's never been gladder for Mrs. Pierce.
Pucks in a daze as he's lead out of the Pierces property by Santana.
"I advise you to rethink telling everyone about Brittany and me." She says as she sends him off.
Santana can hear Mrs. Pierce and Brittany talking, she's telling her mom what happened.
"I'm so sorry," Santana says as she stands before Brittany's mother. She feels responsible and guilty for what happened.
Mrs. Pierce doesn't even look at her.
"Brittany," she says, "I want you with Ms. Lopez at all times. If I'm not home, make sure she knows where you are and what you're doing."
Brittany nods and gets up to unlock the door. "I will mom; actually, I've been with her a lot I thought…maybe you'd be mad that I'm not spending time with you. I could stay with you at the hospital sometimes?"
Mrs. Pierce shakes her head as we all walk into the house, "no it's good you're with her. I don't like to see you lonely, and at least you're not hanging out with people I don't know outside of school."
Brittany knows what type of people her mom is talking about.
"I can't keep track of you sometimes. It's not very good but I don't have choice." Her mother's voice becomes small, almost apologetic.
"I know mom, and thank you." Brittany kisses her on the cheek and runs up the stairs to get her stuff.
Mrs. Pierce sits down, weary. She asks Santana if she's ok, if Puck hurt her and how Brittany is doing in school.
Santana tells her not to worry about either of them, that Brittany is doing great and she expects her to graduate with a good GPA.
"Who was that man?" Mrs. Pierce asks, "And why was he here?"
Santana doesn't want to talk about Puck, but she knows she has to give some answer.
"He's, someone who's trying to hurt me by hurting Brittany…not physically though. I don't think that was his plan." Santana is quick to clarify. "He knows I care about her and so he tried to tell her things that were untrue about me to hurt me."
"Umm," Mrs. Pierce nods, her eyes are closed and she's practically asleep. "I'm sorry; I've brought nothing but trouble to you Ms. Lopez – I really don't know what to do with her. I can't care for her like I want to and it makes me cry sometimes. I'm so sorry."
She looks almost on the brink of tears.
"Don't worry Mrs. Pierce," Santana says, hoping to relieve the conversation of its tenseness. "I enjoy teaching Brittany and she's a very special girl, I wouldn't have it any other way."
"I'm saving money for her to go to a good college with a good dance program. I want her to have the best because she's great at that – dancing. That's all I ever wanted for her, the best."
"I know Mrs. Pierce." Santana says sincerely.
Brittany comes down the stairs seconds later; her hands are full almost like she's getting ready to move in with Santana.
"Ready to go Britt?" Santana's happy Brittany's finally back.
"Yeah," Brittany says and bends down to kiss her mother on the cheek one more time. "Love you mom."
"Don't forget, stay with Ms. Lopez Brittany!" Her mom shouts after her as she drags Santana by the hand.
"Your mom is a silent supporter without actually knowing she's being supportive," Santana says once she's put all Brittany's stuff in the trunk.
They both get into the car with thoughtful expressions.
"Britt, say something. You can be mad at me just tell me I'm stupid, anything."
"Oh," Brittany shakes herself out of her thoughts. "I think I understand everything now. And I'm not mad at you, I never really was."
"You weren't? You looked mad after he said all those things." Santana drops to a whisper.
"I don't know, should I be mad?" Brittany shrugs. "I don't judge people Santana, and if what he said is true well, it's in the past – you're not like that now."
"How can you be so sure Britt?"
"Because, from the day that I met you I couldn't imagine you doing any of the things he said. There's no reason for me not to trust you now."
"Thank you Britt," Santana squeezes her hand, "I promise those are things of the past. It was low for him to bring them up…I can't believe he's such a dick."
"So, you were pretty bad huh?" Brittany grins. Santana finally sighs with relief.
"Yes, I was terrible in high-school. I was in the closet and doing everything in my power to stay in."
Santana parks in front of a nice little Mexican restaurant she calls her 'cubby hole.'
"How did you like the taco's?" Santana opens the front door for Brittany after pressing the central lock. They took their sweet time and now it's nine o'clock.
"Loved them, and Andy's is such a cozy little place. How'd you find it? It couldn't have been easy." Brittany's observations are right; the restaurant is obscured with only a flickering sign above the door frame that says 'Andys'. The restaurant is actually in the basement of the little corner town-house.
Brittany's about to settle on the couch but Santana starts walking to her bedroom so Brittany follows.
Her arms and Santana's are full of her clothes. She's beginning to wonder where they'll all go. She should have brought a bag, that's what she forgot.
"Yeah," Santana says, picking the conversation back up. "I was so excited to let you try all the food I forgot to tell you about him."
Santana had introduced Brittany to Andy. He was glad to see her again and took to Brittany right away. More than once he'd eyed the two suspiciously but didn't say anything. He kept bringing them new things on the menu to try because Santana told him Brittany had only eaten tacos before. In short, he was the perfect host.
Santana uses her foot to open her cupboard and begins to make room for Brittany's things. "Just lay it on the bed, I'll put them away."
She stacks all her things in a tall tower on one side so the other side is free.
"Are you sure you're not moving in with me?" Santana says, head half buried in her suits swinging on their hangers.
Brittany blushes. "You haven't asked me yet."
They're innocent words but Santana feels a tingle in her stomach hearing them come from Brittany.
Last time she asked someone to move in with her she got dumped, and even then it took her three years to ask. She's known Brittany for a little less than two months and the thought of asking Brittany the question is making her excited in a weird way.
Who is this girl, and what is she doing to her?
"So?" Brittany continues.
Santana stops shifting her hands. She's scared for what Brittany's expecting of her.
"Britt," she says more to herself than the girl waiting. Being put on the spot is not Santana's favorite thing.
"You didn't tell me about Andy."
"Oh," Santana inwardly scolds herself for taking the last train of thought too far. "We were classmates in senior year of high school."
Santana walks over to the bed and retrieves the rest of Brittany's clothes. "I didn't care about him much back then, but when I moved back to Lima last year he was one of the first people to recognize me. He asked me out to his restaurant and we had a nice conversation about everything that happened while I was gone. To be honest I don't remember much of him pre coming back."
"Well, I'm glad you met him. That food was good." Brittany rubs her belly and closes her eyes in a content state.
"Hey Britt, don't fall asleep yet. Why don't you take a shower?"
"Okay," Brittany gets up reluctantly and drags her feet to the bathroom.
She's been showering for five minutes, not that Santana is watching the time. She's just waiting for the inevitable sound of her name.
"Sannnnnn!"
Santana digs her head out of her book; she'd actually read two whole paragraphs using all her concentration. "yeah?"
She already knows why Brittany needs her; she just doesn't want to be forward.
"My towel, it's…"
"Uh, yeah I've got it." Santana picks up the Donald duck towel where it's folded on the desk beside her. The door is unlocked but Santana's not sure if she should go in or if Brittany wants her to stick her hand through the door.
"Are you coming to get it or…" Santana trails, not at all saying what she really means.
"I would have got it already if I could silly, can you get it for me?"
"No, I have it…how do you want me to…"
Brittany swings the door open fully, "Thanks San."
Santana wasn't expecting that to happen. She's not quite sure if she should look or turn her head away or pretend she isn't noticing the water drip from Brittany's hair down the valley of her chest.
"San? My towel."
"Oh," Santana shoves the cloth at Brittany and turns on her heels to hide her embarrassment.
She keeps her head down the whole time till she's in the bathroom, door locked, and everything she needs cradled in her arm.
Santana turns the door knob of the bathroom fully prepared to apologize. She realizes she's made a bigger fool of herself by acting like she did something wrong.
She puts her things away and takes careful steps to the edge of her bed.
Brittany's already asleep on her side. Not that it matters because Santana's a roller. On second thought that is a big problem.
After a moment's hesitation, Santana creeps to the other side of the bed and slides in just enough from to not be hanging off of the mattress.
She turns over so she's facing Brittany. She looks relaxed after another day of toil.
Santana smiles. Brittany and the moonlight is one of the most beautiful things she's seen.
Her own eyes begin to drop and she drifts off with the best view possible.
"What the hell?" Santana shouts groggily as if being woken by a gargoyle. She has the day off if she remembers correctly and should not be waking up at this ungodly hour. These days are rarer than finding gold on the sidewalk.
She shuts her phone off and falls back into bed, landing directly on Brittany.
"Oh, shit." She'd almost forgotten Brittany was sleeping in the same bed as her.
Santana doesn't have much of an option but to rearrange Brittany so she's not sleeping on her. Santana moves Brittany's arms and legs to leave some space for her to lie back down, and then she dives back into her pillow.
She hasn't fallen back to sleep yet when she feels hands come around and rest on her stomach. A leg follows, and then she can feel Brittany's breath on the back of her neck.
She figures she'll just get used to Brittany's clinging and go back to sleep.
That plan flies out the window when she feels Brittany's fingers begin to stroke her stomach under her shirt.
When did her fingers get under there?
She tenses even more when a sloppy kiss is placed on her shoulder and stays there until Santana's sure she has a hickey. She's too aroused to stop Brittany at this point, even if she is still tired.
"oh, Britt," Santana doesn't mean to moan but Brittany's fingers finding new purchase on her breasts feels so good.
Even though Brittany hasn't said a word yet, she must be awake. She can't really be doing all the right things to Santana now if she's sleeping.
Santana twists herself to face Brittany.
Brittany still has her eyes closed but it looks like she was enjoying her touching. There's a small smile on her face like she knows she got Santana worked up.
"Two can play this game baby," Santana croaks and stretches her neck forward, taking Brittany's bottom lip between her own.
She kisses her again, this time moving her whole body to rest on top of Brittany's.
She knows Brittany is awake now because she's kissing back, gentle and sweet and lazy like morning kisses should be.
"You took so long in the shower," Brittany whimpers, "I thought we could christen your bed. I must have fallen asleep."
"Really now?" Santana says amused as she dips lower to suck on Brittany's neck, "we can't christen something that we've already slept in."
"But that wasn't 'christening' that was getting caught up and letting things happen."
Santana gets the hidden meaning and a shiver runs down her spine. This is really happening, again.
"So this time it's real?" Santana questions.
"This time it's me showing you how much I love you,"
Santana doesn't answer that, Brittany is already lifting her head off the bed to stop her from saying anymore unnecessary words.
The next time Santana wakes up she's naked and relaxed. She's not even mad the sun is coming through her window in full force.
She can use the warmth, she thinks to herself as she gets out of her cold bed.
Santana's a little disappointed that Brittany's not still in bed with her but she knows Brittany has two tests today and left a long time ago.
In the after haze of making love so many times Santana was exhausted, and completely baffled as to how Brittany could still get up and go to school. She'd told Brittany she'd give her a ride but Brittany pushed her back onto the bed and made her promise to get more sleep.
She really did need that sleep.
Santana checks the time on her phone, its nine-thirty meaning that Brittany's already taking her first exam. She feels crappy for not waking up a tiny bit earlier so she could send Brittany a text.
Reluctantly, Santana gets up and begins making coffee. She thinks about what she needs to do today and comes up with nothing.
After finishing her coffee Santana looks around for something to do. She already decided to go see Brittany during her break between exams but she's still got an hour to kill.
Her house is already tidy because she cleaned it thoroughly yesterday, it gets done real fast when she's in the mood.
Maybe she could invite some of her friends over for morning chit-chat. She decides that will probably the best time killer so she makes a few calls.
Kurt and Quinn ring the door bell not twenty minutes later. She greets them with a kiss on both cheeks and tells them to make themselves at home.
It's not like they've never been in her house, they used to come over all the time for cheerios practice and other things.
"I've never been in this house after leaving Lima, you really changed it around." Quinn says, looking around from her place on the couch.
"Yeah," Santana shouts from the kitchen after fixing more coffee and pouring it into two cups, "got rid of all the junk."
"Thanks," Kurt and Quinn say as she hands them their coffee. Quinn brought bagels and Kurt brought strawberry Danish snacks.
"So, what's everyone doing in this old town?" Santana asks. She hadn't been keeping tabs on the people visiting.
"Well, most of us are just enjoying a little vacation time at the resort, and visiting people we used to know. I'm flying back to LA today though." Kurt says.
Santana's smile is kind of sad. She'll miss Kurt, he's really been there for her lately.
"You and Blaine, have you talked after that night?"
Kurt shakes his head but he doesn't look much put off. "We've run into each other a couple of times. I think there's still something between us. I'm not getting my hopes up though."
"I hope it turns out well for you Kurt, really, you deserve to be happy."
"Thank you Santana."
"How are you holding up?" Quinn asks her.
"I'm ok, no actually I'm great. I don't think Puck is going to be outing me any time soon."
That catches Quinn and Kurt's attention. Last they heard Puck was serious about ruining Santana's life.
"What made him change his mind?" Kurt asks.
Santana tells them about last night and how Puck took his game too far.
"He's psycho," Quinn confirms, "ruining my life isn't enough, anyone helping me is on his list too."
"I think last night was a reality check for him," Santana says. "He looked pretty scared of going to jail."
"Well, you know Puck," Kurt sits back and takes a bite of bagel, "he doesn't learn for very long."
"I know, that's why I have a back-up plan."
Kurt sits up straight again.
"What is it?" Quinn says.
"I'm quitting my job."
"No way," her two friends shout nearly at the same time.
"That's not the solution Santana. If Puck ever tells, you're still going to be in the wrong!"
"He doesn't have any proof, Quinn. Who's going to believe him?"
"She has a point," Kurt says. "And if she's not a teacher there anymore, the timeline can be sort of hazy. Technically she can get away with saying she was dating Brittany after resigning."
"What if the police find the resignation date to be after you and Brittany were dating?"
"Well, that won't be saying anything because technically we aren't dating."
"What?" Kurt wags his finger at Santana, "so you're lying? You and Brittany aren't together?"
"We are."
"I'm confused Santana, what's going on?" Quinn asks.
"I said technically we're not dating. Brittany is my girlfriend but we haven't been on a date yet."
Santana gives a cheesy smile to her friends with their mouths wide open.
"I don't know what's worse Santana; hiding your relationship or not even putting effort into it." Kurt scolds.
"I do put effort! I don't hear Brittany complaining."
"That's cause she's not here," Quinn says. "I thought you'd know how to make a woman happy by now. Santana, all women want to be treated like royalty."
"Some guys do too, just thought I'd add." Kurt quickly says.
"I treat her plenty fine," Santana defends herself, "We've already done everything most couples would do. Plus I'm pretty sure all those times I took her out for dinner and that time I brought a special dinner to her home on her birthday counts."
"Santana," Kurt gets serious, "Did you or did you not say Brittany, will you go on a date with me?"
"I haven't"
"Then it doesn't count," Quinn concludes, "If I were you I'd start doing something about that now."
Brittany is chipper when she finds Santana outside of her exam room. She keeps herself in check though, they're at school and it's not acceptable so she just says hi.
Santana's prepared for this. She hasn't done it in years but she knows the words like the back of her hand, which may or may not be the place she's written down the exact words she's going to say.
She suggests they take a walk under the bleachers before getting food. Brittany finds it a little weird but says why not.
"Ok, stop Britt." Santana holds Brittany still. She was in the middle of taking another long stride but she stops abruptly wondering if Santana is ok.
"I'm freaking out for no reason," Santana rambles, "I just thought that we could go somewhere after you finish your exams… to celebrate you know?"
"Cool," Brittany smiles and shrugs her shoulders like she's asking if there's anything else.
"But…that's not what I wanted to ask you."
"Okay." Brittany draws out the word. She's getting some really strange vibes from Santana.
"Ok, I'm just going to say it. Will you go on a date with me Brittany?" Santana looks up at Brittany with hopeful eyes.
"Seriously? Like for real Santana?"
"Yeah, for real."
Santana is rewarded with a bone crushing hug.
"Of course, I'd love to. Thanks for finally asking."
"Wait, you were waiting for me to ask?"
Brittany nods her head and bites her lip in a shy smile.
"Oh, god. I really have lost my touch."
Santana's kind of giddy waiting for Brittany to finish her last exam. She shouldn't be because they've done this so many times - Just going out for some ice-cream that's all. She should be worried if like Brittany expected dinner in a restaurant that requires reservations – not this.
Brittany insisted on ice-cream. Never mind the cold; she said she'd always wanted to go to that little store on her street. The one she'd pointed out on their very first car ride together.
Santana can already feel that the little parlor will hold special meaning in their relationship.
"Ready to go?" She pushes Brittany's arm away playfully when Brittany tries to hook it on hers.
Brittany pouts but knows it's all in good fun. "I can't wait for our date." She says excitedly.
At the "rainbow slide" where Santana knows to get every flavor but the rainbow, Brittany's looking over the menu and having a hard time making up her mind.
Mr. Piper is serving today, which is good because he knows Santana's order before passing out the menu. If it were any of the other Piper grand children it would have taken them about three light years to get her order right – Rum raisin, strawberry cheese cake with chocolate syrup, chocolate sprinkles, three cherries and a tall ring of whipped cream – not hard to remember.
"I want to get the rainbow." Brittany says for the fifth time.
"No, you don't want the rainbow. The last and only time I had it my tongue was numb for weeks from exposure of too many flavors at the same time."
"Fine, I'll have the uh…dark rainforest decaf with pink swirl strawberry and all the same other things as Santana. Thank you."
"You just chose the ones with the funniest names didn't you?" Santana rolls her eyes.
"What that's the most obvious thing to do since I wanted to get all the flavors – wait, isn't that the same as getting the rainbow? I would have got dead fish tongue if I ate all of them together right?"
Santana just laughs and shakes her head. Sometimes she can't tell the difference between confused Britt and joking Britt.
They're the only ones in the store so their orders arrive after not too long.
Brittany digs in right away starting with plucking the stem off a cherry lodged in between her teeth. She gets some whipped cream across her top lip and thinks she looks funny with a beard so Santana takes a picture for her. Then she decides she wants to know what a numb tongue feels like even after Santana explained to her that she'd feel nothing because duh – numb.
So Brittany tries all the flavors at once, literally, four types of ice-cream on an extra big spoon she requested from Mr. Piper.
After she swallows Santana waits for her reaction.
"It tastes like…strawberries and cream cheese and wine in a blender. I guess it didn't work if I could still taste all of that." Brittany scrunches her nose adorably.
"You're being super quiet San, did Tubbington catch your tongue?"
Santana bows her head and chuckles to herself. All this time she's been observing Brittany, she rarely sees this playful almost childlike side to her. She can't believe this is the girl who beat up a street bully and stood up to Puck.
"No," Santana says. In a moment of bravery she reaches out to hold Brittany's hand across the table in this very well lit ice-cream store. "But I do have something to say."
She only takes a short pause. "I want you to know that I'm sorry you had to hear all that from Puck. I know I said it before but I want you to know I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the things I did and who I was."
"Well I'm sorry too," Brittany rubs her cold thumb over Santana's hand. "I saw how scared you were when you thought I was siding with Puck. I'm sorry I made you think that I doubted you."
"I guess were even then," Santana smiles more easily. "So, how do you like our first date?"
"It's perfect, you're perfect, and I just want to kiss you."
Brittany leans over the table and places a soft kiss on Santana's lips. She playfully licks some residing ice-cream off the corner of Santana's mouth, her face screws.
"Can people get drunk from eating rum raisin? It seriously tastes like wine."
Santana throws her head back. This is one of the happiest days of her life.
"No, you can't" she replies.
"Yeah, probably not, I bet kissing you does way more to my head than a little ice-cream."
At that Santana blushes.
Things are looking up but be prepared for more storms. Next chapter, whoever likes Rachel will be pleased