6 months later
"Unicorns!" I shout in the middle of our conversation.
"That's not how the word is supposed to be used, Brittany," Santana rolls her eyes at me. "We're not in a huge fight just because you want your Christmas present to be a cat."
"Why can't you give me a little kitty? Just imagine it meowing sweetly and looking at us with its adorable eyes and…"
"Exactly. I don't want some furry annoying creature walking around and disturbing my peace by the aggravating sounds it produces. So, that's a definite no! Think of another present," she states frowning.
"But I want a pussy," my face instantly drops.
"Yeah, you love pussies," Santana snickers at my choice of words and stops mending her clothes.
"I'm serious, Santana, I used to have a cat back home, his name was Lord Tubbington, and I just can't live without a cat. I'd call him Michelangelo."
"This is not happening," she mumbles and heads towards the kitchen.
Christmas is coming and I demanded that Santana gave me a cat as my present. It's been already half a year since we moved into this nice one bedroom flat, which, actually, strengthened our relationship and we became closer than we'd been before (if that is possible). Santana has finally become a criminal defense lawyer and got her first decent job, so money is not our primary concern anymore, which is great, because, you know… We can afford to have a cat. Or a baby. But we've reached the conclusion that it's definitely too soon for that, so I keep nagging her about adopting a kitty.
Santana comes back from the kitchen and attempts to roll me off the bed.
"Come on, we have to get ready for lunch with my mom," she says pushing me further.
"Mhmmm," I murmur and pull her towards my own body, which causes her to gasp.
"I'm so much stronger than you are, so stop trying to prevail over me," I let out a soft laugh and see a warm smile flicker across her face.
"No, you're not, I just don't show you all of my strength because I wouldn't want you to feel bad, would I?" she smirks, straddling my lap.
I put my hands over her shoulders and pull her into a sweet kiss. She leans forward and I feel our bodies firmly pressed together, which is the feeling I never want to go away.
"I love you, Brittany," she hums softly and my heart melts at the sweet sound of her voice.
"I love you too, Santana," I murmur and, suddenly, the memory of seeing her for the first time pops into my head. "Do you remember the time when we first met?"
"How could I forget that," she laughs sincerely. "I thought you were weird," she simply shrugs.
"You did?!" I act very astonished and pinch her arm playfully.
"Well, you did acknowledge me as your friend the moment you'd stepped into that flat. Having a two minute conversation with me was enough for you to refer to me as your friend," she giggles.
I just stare at her with a sad look on my face.
"Relax, I'm just messing with you," she plants a kiss on the tip of my nose. "The moment I saw you, standing at my door with something that you could hardly call a box, I knew we'd quickly become friends. I just felt it, right here," she puts my hand over her chest. "And after you'd just blurted out, in front of everyone, that you're gay, I got so frightened by the fact that my dreams of being with you in a more than just a friendly way could actually become the reality… I kept dreaming about it but I never expected for those dreams to come true, so I was struck dumb, trust me. I didn't know what to say… Or how to behave."
"Wow, I really had no idea that you felt this way," I caress her cheek.
"As a result, I decided to ignore it as much as possible but I failed because my feelings for you were stronger than my stupid fears. And I'm sorry if you ever felt that you couldn't talk to me about everything."
"It's okay. What matters now is that we're together, Santana. We both overcame our stupid fears and there's nothing that could make me happier," I tell her honestly and she responds with a lingering kiss.
"Baby, as much as I love this," she points to our bodies, "we have to start getting ready for lunch. You know my mother hates having to wait for someone, especially if those people are you and me," she says dramatically and we finally get down to it.
We arrive at the hotel where Santana's mother is staying and I get out of the car very reluctantly.
"Seriously, is that the slowest you can go?" Santana makes a sarcastic observation.
"I don't want to go in there and face her," I pout and, I have to say, I'm genuinely sad about this.
Santana told her mother about us being together three months ago and, boy, that was something that Santana and I could never erase from our memories. She got insanely furious and claimed herself to be disappointed for life, which, of course, broke Santana's heart because they'd always had each other's backs. To be honest, I dreaded the possibility of her choosing her mother over being in a relationship with me but, in Santana's words, if she didn't approve of her daughter's happiness, there was no reason for her to care about her mother's.
So, much to our surprise, her mother called last week to tell us that she was coming all the way from the US to meet us for lunch because, apparently, she needs to talk. The need to talk never foreshadows anything good.
"Listen," she starts off cupping my face gently. "Let's just pull ourselves together and get it over with. I have no idea what she wants and, honestly, I don't care what she's going to say unless it's something reasonable."
"Okay," I mutter under my breath and I'm locked in a tight embrace.
We get to the restaurant and spot her sitting at one of the tables.
"Hello," Santana greets her in a very dry tone.
"Santana, Brittany, thank you both for coming," she states, as if politely.
We sit down and not a single word comes out of my mouth.
"So, what's this all about? Weren't you able to judge me over the phone? That would've been so much more practical," Santana spits out.
"I get why you're upset with me. But I came here with the intention of reconciling."
"And why would you suddenly change your mind after you've made it very clear that you want nothing to do with me and Brittany?" Santana responds cautiously.
"It's Christmas time, Santana. It made me rethink the situation. Family is the thing that matters most," Santana's mother says fiddling with the napkin.
Santana and I exchange suspicious looks, waiting for her to elaborate.
"Therefore, I came here to apologise for the way I reacted. You are my one and only daughter and I want for you to be truly happy. And if Brittany is the person who can bring you this happiness… Then I've made my peace with it."
I can see that Santana was startled by her sudden change of heart. She takes a few moments to reflect on her words.
"Wow, um… This means a lot, mom. I think I can speak for both of us," Santana replies lacing our fingers and I nod in agreement.
"I've got something for you two," her mother says taking something out of her handbag. "These are two plane tickets to Ohio. If you accept my apology, please come spend Christmas with our family," she smiles giving us an envelope.
Santana keeps silent for a while, then lets out a heartfelt sigh before she fixes her gaze on me.
"What do you say, Britt? You wanna go spend Christmas with my family?" Santana's question is now addressed to me.
"That'd be great," I respond with a reassuring smile because I know how much this means to Santana, who finally has a chance to spend time with her family members without being forced to hide something or end up constantly fighting.
"Wait, I…" Santana's expression suddenly changes and her eyebrows are furrowed in confusion. "I have to make a quick call, I'll be right back," she rambles and excuses herself.
"I really am sorry, Brittany. I will make sure all of us have a heart-warming holiday," Santana's mother breaks the awkward silence.
"It's okay. Some things are really hard to wrap your head around. Acceptance takes time, I know that from my own experience," I smile in order to express my support.
I see Santana making her way back to our table.
"Sorry, that was an urgent work thing that I remembered I had to take care of," she says taking a seat next to me.
It turns out that having lunch with Santana's mother can actually be kind of great.
Having left the restaurant, we decided to have some fun and go to the shopping centre. I imagine that we must look like complete dorks because, you know, we sure act like ones.
"Ohhh, Santana, look, it's your type of clothing!" I say dragging her towards a shirt, which says No Pants Are The Best Pants.
"Ha, ha. Ridiculous. Look, here's yours," she now points to the shirt saying I'm not gay but my girlfriend is.
I burst out laughing because linguistic humour is the best.
"I'll actually buy it for you, you can wear it during our Christmas get-together," she states nonchalantly and has a mischievous look on her face.
I can see that she's not joking because she's about to pay for the shirt. The cashier is smirking like crazy, which makes me continuously giggle.
"Thank you very much. I love the selection of clothes that is offered in your store," Santana says to the cashier, barely keeping it together.
We go on with our shopping and we've pretty much visited every store in the centre.
"I'm tired, I want to sit down," I complain but Santana seems to disagree.
"This will be the last one, I promise," she says pulling me by my hand. I protest and simply plop down on the nearest bench I find.
"You go ahead and I'll wait here," I suggest and she mumbles something similar to "fine" while putting all our purchases beside me.
"Don't you dare go anywhere with my precious things," she says pretending to be legitimately serious but I can see a smile trying to escape her lips.
I just sit here waiting for Santana to come back when I hear her phone buzz. I decide to take a look at who's texting her since we don't mind checking each other's phones.
I smile because I see a text from Ashley.
Inbox: I took Michelangelo from the shelter and he's now safe with me! He's so small and fluffy, omg! Brittany is going to love him! You can get him a few days before Christmas, just as we've agreed.
The text makes me grin like a complete idiot because believe me when I say that I'm happy as a clam. Santana did get me a small kitty after all! I guess that's exactly what the urgent phone call was about. If she is getting me a cat but we have to go away for Christmas, we'll need to take him with us.
I turn my gaze to Santana who is now making goofy faces while trying on the most ridiculous hats I've ever seen. I give her thumbs up and she takes a gracious bow.
I let out a sincere laugh, keeping my eyes focused on her. Santana. The person, whom I believe to be the one true love of my life.
There were times when I felt desperately crushed by other people. Times when I saw nothing but unfairness taking over my world. In fact, I've been let down for so many times that, eventually, my belief in unconditional love was entirely destroyed. I swore to myself that I would never ever give my heart to someone else again.
That was until I met Santana. What I finally got to realise is that I've never even experienced true love before. All of my relationships were merely based on something artificial, something that I had to constantly create rather than let it progress on its own. My life was drowning in illusions.
I've asked myself a thousand times whether it's even possible to define love. And every time I tried to come up with a definition, I miserably failed. The only thing that I'm sure of is that love is the driving force in our lives. This overwhelming feeling of affection towards someone, or even something, enables us to give meaning to our existence.
I know that I never want Santana to stop giggling at my puffy eyes in the mornings before she greets me with a gentle kiss or cease to blame her other personality for stealing my blanket. I never want her to stop making those silly faces when she's mocking something. These small, silly things make my life complete.
I can assure you that the moment I stepped into the flat number 703, a new chapter in my life has begun. The one with Santana Lopez in it. And I hope it never ends.
Author's note: So, here it is, the last chapter of the story. Thanks to all who read this, I had fun writing it. The ending is a little bit rushed and you know the reasons behind it, though I hope you're not too disappointed with it. :)