I apologize for the long wait. I got a full-time job that took over my life but today I am sick, so I'll relax and finish this chapter (which I've had half-done for months now). Enjoy! The updates will hopefully be more frequent from now on.

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Santana and Brittany were in rush hour traffic. Brittany had a meeting in New Jersey at noon, and it had lasted well past the scheduled four in the afternoon. Going back into New York City, was going to take ages, especially during rush hour.

"There's a pack of Skittles in my glove compartment," Brittany told Santana, as she changed stations on the radio.

Santana opened the glove compartment of Brittany's car and pulled out a bag of unopened Skittles. "You keep Skittles in your car?"

"For emergencies," Brittany replied. She kept her eyes on the road.

"What emergencies?"

Brittany smirked. She reached over and took the bag from Santana. She began to use her right hand to open the package, keeping her left hand on the wheel. "For emergencies where I forget to eat lunch and am stuck in a boring meeting for hours."

Santana winced as Brittany lightly swerved. She snatched the bag out of the blonde's hand. "We are not going to die over a bag of Skittles! I'll open these for you."

"Thanks, dear," Brittany mocked, smiling anyway. "We aren't going to die, I'm barely going twenty miles per hour! Also…can you feed me?"

"What?" Santana asked.

"C'mon," Brittany said. She opened her mouth for effect. "It would take me too long to sort out the red ones. And you probably want me to focus on the road…"

"You only eat the red ones?" Santana asked, looking into the small bag of candy.

Brittany shrugged. "I prefer one color at a time."

Santana still looked doubtful

"Hurry," Brittany whined, "I'm hungry."

Santana rolled her eyes. She reached into the bag and fished around for a few red Skittles. Once she had three in her hand, she looked over at Brittany, who had her mouth open again. Santana leaned over and placed two red Skittles politely into the blonde's mouth. She ate the third one herself.

Brittany hummed happily and chewed. "More!" She demanded.

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"You bit me!"

"You liked it!"

Santana grumbled and looked out her window so that Brittany couldn't see her blush. "No more Skittles for you."

Brittany groaned. "Pleaseeeee?"

The brunette shook the Skittles bag. "There aren't even any more red ones left."

Brittany huffed. Traffic made her sleepy.

Santana was hesitant to bring up their friend date because, so far, Brittany hadn't brought it up and Santana didn't want to be the one to start the conversation.

"What did you think of the meeting?" Brittany asked, glancing at Santana.

The brunette bit her lip. "It was…interesting," she said. Really, her first meeting as Brittany's personal assistant had been anything but thrilling. She had only sat next to Brittany while the blonde had talked with two representatives from…something. "Honestly, I was a little lost the whole time."

Brittany nodded. "Yea…it was just legal stuff today, that's probably why you didn't really understand. I was just re-negotiating some dumb sales contract."

Santana smiled. "You sounded really smart in there, though, from what I did understand."

"Really?" Brittany asked. "Thanks."

Santana tapped her fingers on her knee. "It's starting to rain," she observed. Fat, sloppy drops were suddenly beginning to splatter against the windshield. Santana sort of found it peaceful. The rain made everything more blurry. Without distinguishable lines, everything felt a lot softer.

"Fall rain is my favorite," Brittany said. "It's cold, but not too cold. And all the leaves aren't off the trees yet, so it's nice."

Santana nodded. She agreed. "So…" She began, wanting to goad Brittany into bringing up their friend date. But, she chickened out.

The blonde looked over at Santana. All throughout the meeting, Santana had taken diligent notes and paid attention. She had even fixed Brittany's shirt collar in the car beforehand. "So…..?"

"Our friend date," Santana finally said. "That's today, if you still want to…"

Brittany wanted to smack herself on the forehead. Amidst all of her work, she had forgotten about the friend date entirely. "Oh my god."

"It's cool if you forgot," Santana said. She kept her eyes on the wet road in front of them. The tail lights of all of the other slow-moving cars turned everything bright red. Even Brittany's face was bathed in red light. "We can totally do it another time, no big-"

"No!" Brittany blurted out. "I did forget, but no, I don't want to reschedule."

Santana breathed a small sigh of relief. "You sure?"

"Very," Brittany said, "I'm sorry I forgot. Work has been tough with all the new stuff…"

"Yea, I know. I hate to say it but no one could pay me to be you right now."

"Thanks," Brittany huffed. She smiled.

Santana rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Do I?" Brittany teased.

"I just mean," Santana started, "that I wouldn't want to have to deal with so much. It seems like it could burn someone out really quickly."

Brittany nodded. "Good thing I have an awesome friend date today then."

Santana smiled and turned her body to face Brittany more. "So, did you ever come up with something that you wanted to do?"

Brittany nodded. "Yes, actually."

Santana quickly glanced at the traffic in front of them. It was going to get dark soon. "And what have you decided?"

"It's a surprise," Brittany said. She gave Santana a tight-lipped smile.

The brunette groaned.

"You don't like surprises?" Brittany asked.

"Sometimes."

"I promise you'll like my surprises."

Santana admired the way Brittany's face betrayed her coyness. The blonde was smiling not with her lips, but with her eyes. "I trust you," Santana told her.

"You do?" Brittany asked.

Santana hummed a confirmation. Neither of them spoke again until the car was parked.

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"This is where you want to go on our friend date?"

"What?" Brittany asked. She shifted on the metal bench. "I like it here."

"It's cold," Santana said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Parks are creepy at dusk."

Brittany looked around. She supposed, for a first-timer, it could seem a bit creepy. "It's really pretty on a summer afternoon," she told Santana. "The water sparkles and there are at least fifty more ducks than there are now. Plus, a bunch of people bring bread, so they all get fed."

"Is that why we stopped at the bakery?" Santana asked. "I thought you were just being nice and buying me muffins."

Brittany leaned to her left so that her shoulder knocked lightly into Santana's. "I was being nice, but yes that's also the reason for the bakery stop."

Santana watched Brittany pull the small loaf of bread she bought out of her purse. "So you must come here a lot."

Brittany moved her fingers carefully over the hard grooves in the freshly baked bread while she stared out at the darkening sky. "Yea."

"Is this your sad place?" Santana asked.

"My sad place?"

"You know," Santana explained, "Everyone has that one place they go to when they're sad…is this yours?"

"No," Brittany said. She supposed her sad place was the roof of her apartment. Not the pond. "What's your sad place?"

Santana looked away from Brittany. "I don't have one."

Brittany frowned. "But you just said-"

"No comment," Santana whispered before looking away from the small pond.

"No comment," Brittany repeated carefully. She knew when to back off.

"So," Santana said, once a small silence had swished into the air around them. "The ducks look hungry today."

Brittany frowned and nodded. "No one feeds them in the fall. It's almost winter now. They're used to getting more food."

Santana shivered. She watched the way the almost non-existent evening light spread itself along Brittany's cheeks and sparked such a dim light in the blues of her eyes. "They must be so thankful for you."

Brittany huffed out a small laugh and sniffled. It was getting quite cold now. "They're just thankful for the bread. They could probably care less about me."

"Look at that one," Santana pointed.

Brittany followed Santana's line of sight to a smaller looking duck, whose feathers were almost black in the dying light.

"He keeps staring at you."

Brittany smiled. "He does not!"

"I think he likes you," Santana teased. She moved and inch closer to the blonde just so she could tap their shoulders together.

"It's the bread," Brittany repeated.

"He hasn't eaten any bread yet," Santana told her. "He's been standing there for awhile."

Brittany shook her head and bumped her own shoulder into Santana's. She left it against the brunette's for warmth.

"Let's name him," Santana suggested.

"Okay!" Brittany said. She eyed the small shadow-like duck. "What do you want to name him?"

Santana just shrugged and leaned back further into the bench. She let her shoulder fully-brush with Brittany's until they were pressed even tighter together. "I dunno. Peter, maybe."

"Peter?" Brittany asked. She turned to face Santana and was surprised at how dark it had gotten. Santana's eyes looked pitch black.

"What? No good?"

"I was thinking of something more…fancy."

"Like what? Sir Duckface the Third?"

Brittany grinned widely and looked from Santana's dark eyes down to the breadcrumbs on her coat. "More like Reginald Quack."

Santana tried to bite her lip in order to keep herself from laughing but it didn't work. "Oh yea, that's much better than Peter."

"How about this," Brittany offered, "Sir Reginald Peter Quack the Third."

"Fanciest duck name I ever heard," Santana said, laughing.

"Want to throw the last piece?" Brittany asked. She held out the last chunk of bread between her fingertips.

"It would be an honor," Santana said honestly. She could tell that, for Brittany, this was somewhat of a special place. She didn't want to ruin it. Santana carefully took the bread between her own fingers and chucked it toward the small black duck. "Maybe he'll eat it. Isn't he hungry?"

Brittany ground her teeth together and tried hard not to melt at the way Santana cared about the duck's well-being so quickly. It was hard.

"You cold?" Santana asked once she realized that she herself was shivering.

"Very," Brittany said. "See?" She stuck her fingers out and pressed them against Santana's cheeks. She had expected Santana's cheeks to be far warmer than her own cold fingers but she was mistaken. Santana's face was chilled to say the least.

"Hey!" Santana said, moving to pull away from Brittany's fingers.

"Aw," Brittany cooed. She put both her hands around Santana's face. "Your cheeks are freezing!"

Santana grumbled but let Brittany's hands stay. "How are your hands so warm?"

"They aren't," Brittany told her. She let herself feel Santana smile underneath the palms of her hands before letting go. "Come on, let's get you somewhere warm."

"Where to now?" Santana asked, now wondering more than ever where Brittany wanted to go to next.

"Not sure yet," Brittany said. She pulled Santana up by her elbow and linked their arms together. She didn't want Santana to know that she was scared of the dark.

Santana felt the sudden pressure of Brittany's arm intertwined with her own. "You can pick anywhere. We can do anything. It's your friend date."

"I know," Brittany said. She walked a few more steps side-by-side with the brunette before getting an idea. She suddenly had an incredible urge to see Santana in the light again. She missed the way you could see her cheeks scrunch when she smiled. "Let's go to my place."

Santana almost tripped. "…your place?"

Brittany couldn't describe it but she needed for Santana to see her place. She wanted to know what Santana looked like sitting on the couch where she drank her morning coffee. She wanted to know what Santana thought of the art on her walls and the smell of her favorite candle. "Is that okay?"

"Uh, yea. I mean…sure!" Santana wanted to kick herself for being so awkward.

"We can order pizza or something and just hang out."

"That's what you want your friend date to be?" Santana asked. "Quinn always dragged me to art shows and galleries and plays…"

"I'm not Quinn," Brittany was quick to remind. She and Santana were now at her car once again.

"I see that," Santana said, a smile spread widely across her face.

"So get in loser, we're going shopping." Brittany held the passenger side door opened while Santana got in.

Santana was quick to get the Mean Girls reference. "Ouch. So I'm a loser now?" She waited as Brittany closed her door and walked to the driver's side of her car.

Brittany had been trying to lighten the mood and take her mind off of how suddenly jealous she had gotten of Quinn. Quinn had spent years with Santana and probably knew all the important things about her. Brittany was only just beginning to discover the important stuff. It made her feel sad and greedy all at once.

"Do I get to meet your cat?" Santana asked.

Brittany laughed. "If he likes you, he'll show himself." She started up her car and pulled away from the curb.

"And if he doesn't like me?"

"He may or may not scratch your ankles. So, be careful."

"I like him already," Santana said. "He sounds badass."

Brittany licked her slightly chapped lips. No one had ever before said anything like that about Lord Tubbington. She hoped Santana's opinion of him didn't change based off of his looks. "He is. But, I'm warning you now, he's…a little bigger than you might expect."

Santana tilted her head at Brittany. "Bigger?"

"He's sensitive about it," Brittany told the brunette.

"Then I won't mention it to him," Santana said. She reached out and patted Brittany's right knee.

"Thanks," Brittany said. She chanced a look at her right knee, where she still felt the small warmth that Santana's touch had left. She wondered whether this was a bad idea, taking Santana to her place. There was a warm, shifting, slowly-growing feeling in her chest that made her keep driving. It also made her reach out and grasp for Santana's fingers. She did it under the notion that she was just checking whether the brunette's fingers were cold. They weren't.

"What?" Santana asked. She hoped Brittany didn't feel her flinch when their hands came into contact. She moved her fingers around underneath Brittany's.

"You're warmer now," Brittany said softly.

Santana felt Brittany's fingers press into her own, so she pressed back. "You feel cold."

Brittany shrugged. "I kinda am, still. The steering wheel…" Her words died out after she felt Santana's two hands encompass her own.

"Better?" Santana said. She found that her voice was almost a whisper.

Brittany gripped what she could of Santana's two hands. "Much."

Santana shifted her hands back and forth over Brittany's fingers. She was trying to create friction to better warm the blonde. All she could think about was how soft Brittany's skin was and how delicate and long her fingers were. So different from her own. "You've got nice hands."

Brittany snorted out a laugh and pulled her eyes away from the road for a split second to look at the side of Santana's face.

"You do!" Santana insisted. She cupped the fingers of Brittany's right hand and stared down at them. She rubbed Brittany's palm with her thumbs. "My abuela used to read my palm…"

"She did?" Brittany asked. She could only focus on the way Santana's fingers were tickling the sensitive skin on her inner wrist.

"Want me to read yours?" Santana asked. She was completely setting herself up for some elaborate story-telling. Her abulea had never read her palm. She just didn't want to let Brittany go.

"Yes, please." Brittany said. The car was quiet as Brittany drove them back to her apartment. Santana would trace lines on her palm and tell Brittany random things about heart-lines and life-lines and lines that Brittany had never heard of. She just let Santana's warm voice reverberate around her. She let her right hand fall completely still in Santana's grip. Brittany focused on feeling Santana's breath against her open palm as the brunette leaned down further to look at her skin more closely.

"It says here that you're going to be lucky in life," Santana told Brittany when they had finally parked outside of Brittany's apartment.

"Really?" Brittany asked. She saw Santana's eyes dart back down to her hand.

"Either that or you're going to have twenty children, I can't really tell."

Brittany laughed loudly. "Let's hope the first one."

"Ready to go up?" Santana asked, peering out the car window at the tall loft-building. She had yet to let go of Brittany's hand.

"I am. Are you?" Brittany asked. She wiggled her fingers quickly before finally pulling her hand away from Santana's loose grip. She missed the heat instantly. She missed the softness even more. "Last one in has to give Lord Tubbington his eye-drops!"

"Brittany!" Santana shrieked as the blonde bolted from the car.

Brittany heard Santana leave the car shortly after but didn't stop until she made it inside her building. She hadn't laughed so much in a very long time.

"I don't know how to give cats eye drops." Santana grumbled once Brittany had dubbed Santana the loser.

"Neither do I," Brittany said. "He doesn't have eye-drops."

"You were lying!?"

"You're a slow runner."

Santana huffed. "Meanie."

"Aw, I'll make it up to you," Brittany cooed. She ushered Santana into the large elevator and pressed the button for floor ten. She watched Santana lean against the side of the elevator and look around. Once they were at her floor, Brittany led Santana out and down the hall right to the last door, which was her apartment. "This is me," Brittany said softly. She looked behind her at Santana while she searched for her keys. She suddenly felt a spike of adrenaline. It felt incredibly personal to be letting this woman, whom she had only met a few short weeks ago, into the place she called home. Most of her dates never even made it this far. "Don't make fun of me for my color choices," Brittany warned. "I rarely ever try to match colors."

"I like it already," Santana said.

Brittany smiled and led the brunette through the door. "This is me."