Chapter 25
Brittany drums her fingers nervously on the wooden table. She had texted Marquis back saying she would see him for coffee. They both agreed to arrive in separate vehicles, so if anybody saw them-specifically Santana-it wouldn't be suspicious; just a coincidence.
They agreed to meet at 6:30, but it was now 6:45, and Brittany was getting worried. As she was about to get up and leave, the door to the Lima Bean opened, and in walked Marquis Lopez.
He glanced around the café searching for Brittany. Brittany raised her hand in an awkward wave as if to call him over. Mr. Lopez's eyes flickered over to Brittany and he let a stiff smile appear on his face as he walked towards her.
Brittany quickly flew out of her seat as he reached the table, leaning over to stick her hand out.
Mr. Lopez stared at the hand and bit his lip, "No need for the formalities Brittany." Brittany nodded, feeling awkward, and sat down.
She looked down at the empty table, then back to Marquis, "I didn't order anything, because I wanted to wait for you to get here first."
Mr. Lopez hummed, "Well would you like to order?"
"Oh, um, I was actually gonna pay for both of us, so why don't you order for both of us?" Brittany twiddled her thumbs nervously.
Mr. Lopez stared at her for a moment, then finally he nodded. "Alright, what would you like?"
Brittany bit her lip, "Uh, whatever you're having."
Marquis went to go order their drinks, but before he moved a few feet, Brittany shot up, struggling to get open her wallet. He stared at her for a moment, then Brittany finally popped open her wallet and handed him a five dollar bill. "Brittany, you don't have to."
The blonde looks at him worriedly, "What is five not enough, I can give you a ten. Did you want to get some food or something?"
Mr. Lopez let himself, let out a chuckle and shakes his head, "I mean you don't have to pay." Brittany's face seems to relax, and she lets out a relieved sigh.
She shakes her head, wagging the bill in front of his face. "No. But I want to." Mr. Lopez reluctantly takes the bill and goes to the cash.
Brittany sits back down in her chair and starts to drum her fingers again. It's a few more minutes before Mr. Lopez comes back, two steaming cups in his hand. "I got us both some black coffee."
The blonde nods her head distractedly. "How did you get my number?"
Marquis looks at her oddly as he sets the cups down on the table, "Like I said, from your patient file."
"But I don't remember going to the hospital."
The older man chuckles, "It was about a year ago. I don't think you really remember, because you came in with a concussion and a pretty beat up arm."
Brittany pauses and tries to think back, she remembers a motocross competition, and pain. She also remembers having to put a hold on sex for a little. "Oh yeah, I was really hopped up on drugs, wasn't I?"
Mr. Lopez scratches the back of his neck, "Yeah," He smiles, "you thought that the nurse named Brittany was you from the future. But she was a ginger." Brittany smiles, glad that Mr. Lopez doesn't seem uncomfortable. "But this isn't the reason that we're here today."
Brittany nods her head, "I should apologize sir." Mr. Lopez looks confused. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Santana and I. Actually I'm really more sorry about what I did to your daughter before."
Marquis looks at Brittany surprised by her bluntness, "I should really apologize too." Now it's Brittany's turn to look confused. "Brittany I'm an adult. And the way I have been acting towards you, has been." He pauses as if to think of the word. "Very childish of me."
"Sir you had every right-" Mr. Lopez holds his hand up.
"I know that I did, but I should have acted differently. Looking back, I yelled at you to get out of my house. Which was very rude of me, I refused to listen to you or Santana about the nature of your relationship. I haven't been a very good parent to her."
Brittany looks at him for a second, choosing her words carefully. "Well I haven't exactly been the best girlfriend."
Mr. Lopez takes a sip of his coffee, "And why is that Miss. Brittany?"
Brittany grins at the way he addresses her, and his tone. "I, well, I'm not very good at opening myself up. And when things get hard, I tend to, um, push people away. It happened with Santana yesterday, and I know I apologized and she seems fine, but I feel terrible."
Marquis nods his head and searches her face. He sees the sincerity, the worry, and most of all the love on her face. He knows it will take a lot of time for her to gain his trust. But looking at her face now, he knows that she isn't as bad as she seems. Marquis clears his throat and Brittany looks up at him. "Brittany, I wouldn't worry, you are very good for my daughter. I may not know all about the past or what's really happening in the present, but you make her happy; which is something I don't often see, unless she's with those gleeks of her's."
Brittany feels tears glisten in her eyes, "I'm still not good enough."
Marquis watches her; he doesn't see the Brittany that broke his daughter's heart a few months back. Instead he sees a vulnerable teenage girl, with underlying insecurities. "I never thought that I was a good enough father to Santana."
Brittany looks at him in surprise. "You what?"
Marquis pauses and recalls all the times he felt insecure. "I used to have late shifts at the hospital, and I would never get to see my daughter. I missed her recitals, I missed her graduations, and most of all, I missed her growing up." He takes a pause to recollect himself. "I could see her changing sure, but I never got to watch it happen. I felt like she was growing up without her father. Like my job was more important than her. I never thought that I was good enough."
Brittany watches as he shifts, "I think you're a great father. I don't know if that'll mean much since it's coming from a girl that you hate, and doesn't have a father. But you're very protective, and caring. You're great."
Marquis looks up at the blonde, "I don't hate you Brittany. I was angry and disappointed in your actions, but look at you now. You are putting in an effort to fix your mistakes. If you really were that bad, you wouldn't be here. I misjudged you Brittany and for that I'm sorry."
Brittany lets a small smile grace her lips, "I'm sorry too. But I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to Santana, well as long as she'll have me."
Marquis smiles, "Well the air feels all clear now."
Brittany lets out a nervous laugh, "Yeah I guess." She pauses, "I have one more thing to tell you." Mr. Lopez nods, "Santana was planning for me to come over for dinner tonight, and I was wondering if that was okay?"
Marquis pauses and thinks; Brittany shifts under his gaze. "Of course. What better way to show us how you and Santana are together."
Brittany sighs, relieved. "Thank you sir."
"It's Marquis." He grins. "And Brittany, you haven't really touched your coffee."
Brittany looks down at her full mug, "Oh yeah." She picks it up and takes a sip. A second later her face scrunches up and she sticks her tongue out. "I really hate this stuff."
Mr. Lopez laughs.
Santana puts her stuff in her locker, looking around for her girlfriend. She didn't see Faye's car in the parking lot, so she got worried. As she puts her math book in her locker, she feels a pair of arms wrap around her waist. "Hey beautiful."
Santana grins and turns around to see, none other than, Brittany. "Hey." She leans in and places her lips on the blonde's. Brittany quickly reciprocates, and they go on for a few minutes before Brittany pulls away. Santana reaches down to take Brittany's hand, but realizes Brittany's hand is clenched around something, "What's this?" Santana sings. She reaches down and grabs what's in Brittany's hand. She grins when she sees it's a rose, and a teddy bear that says 'I'm Sorry'. Santana's smiles, "You already apologized Britt."
"I know, but I still feel bad. Lately I've been ignoring you, and I feel like a terrible girlfriend. So I wanted to make it up to you." Brittany leans in and nuzzles Santana's neck. Santana giggles, trying to keep a grip on the gifts, as Brittany nips her neck. "You have my full attention, always."
"Always?" Santana teases.
"Mmmm and forever." Brittany adds dramatically.
Santana laughs, "You've been around Rachel too much."
"What can I say? She's a cool cat." Santana pouts which elicits a laugh from Brittany, "What?"
"Rachel's a cat?"
"Yeah, but babe you're the only pussy that I need." Santana laughs and shoves her. Brittany gasps and tickles her sides.
As Brittany stops, Santana watches her eyes crinkle, "You seem in a good mood today."
"Let's just say I had some coffee with a very lovely man." Santana raises an eyebrow, "Your dad." Both her eyebrows shoot up, "Don't worry, we buried the hatchet, and he is happy to have me over for dinner tonight."
"I don't know how you do it Brittany S. Pierce."
"Might be because I'm very persuasive." Brittany waggles her eyebrows.
Santana hits the blonde's arm, "Get to class!"
"Yes ma'am." Brittany places a kiss on her cheek and heads down the hall.
When lunch comes, the glee club is happy to see Brittany and Santana cuddling. Well, they prefer the cuddling, because sometimes it leads to them making out, which isn't really preferred. Quinn watches as Brittany divides her lunch, giving some to Santana. "Wow Lopez," Santana looks up, "I'm impressed, you tamed the beast."
Brittany's head shoots up, "Excuse me Fabgay, but I am not a beast, nor am I tamed."
"Brittany, can I have the chocolate milk this time?"
Brittany nods and puts the chocolate milk into 'Santana's' pile. Quinn makes a whipping sound. "Shut it!"
"Quinn that's not nice to make fun of Brittany. I am suggesting that you apologize for your behavior." Quinn looks over at Rachel with a pleading face.
"Sorry." She mumbles.
Brittany throws her head back and laughs, "Oh this is an interesting turn of events." She then proceeds to make whipping noises. Santana opens her bag of Pop Chips, but looks over at Brittany.
"Britt, Quinn's your friend, don't be mean." Brittany shuts up, which elicits a whipping sound from Quinn.
"You know what Fabray?"
"What?" Quinn teases.
Brittany opens her mouth, but notices the look Santana's giving her, "I love the shit out of you." Santana smiles, and Quinn looks at her confused.
"Thanks?" Brittany nods and goes back to her lunch. Rachel smiles and shakes her head. The rest of the table looks between the four. One of the members makes a whipping sound.
"There is nothing bad about being whipped!" Brittany exclaims.
"I'm nervous." Santana says as they stand in the living room. Brittany watches her in amusement as she paces the floor.
"It'll be fine."
"What if you say something inappropriate?" Brittany looks mildly offended.
"Well your little sister isn't here, so we're fine." Santana stopped pacing and looked at her.
"I know, but still, it could be offensive to my parents."
"Have ye faith on me Santana." Santana stared at her for a second before laughing.
"Okay now I regret making you watch Lord of The Rings." Brittany grins.
Brittany takes a step towards her, "You really had all those lines memorized too. I'm starting to sense a trend."
Santana scoffs and ignores her, "You look nice tonight." Brittany decided on a sleek black dress, her hair curled and her bangs clipped to the side. No leather jacket.
"I always look nice." Brittany reprimanded.
"Well I mean you look clean."
It's now Brittany's turn to scoff, "Well someone definitely isn't getting any tonight."
Santana chuckles, "We're taking it slow remember? So it's not like I want any."
Brittany brings her head back and puts on a mock offended face, "With that attitude I don't see any in your future."
Santana plays along, casually shrugging. "Whatever."
"I know you want to be all up on this." Santana lets out a laugh, but is interrupted by her mother.
"Santana, Brittany dinner!" The girls share a look as they start to head in the kitchen.
"Remember," Santana whispers leaning towards Brittany, "refrain from the words vagina, pussy, fuck, shit, or any other words you can think of that are inappropriate."
"Are we gonna have any fun?" Brittany teases. Santana sends her a look which promptly shuts Brittany up.
As the girls walk in the kitchen Brittany and Santana head towards the table, the parents at either head of the table. Brittany goes to sit next to Gloria, but Marquis clears his throat. "Brittany, why don't you sit here?" He points to a seat right next to his chair.
Brittany casts a glance to Santana and takes a seat next to him, while Santana takes the seat between Brittany and her mother. Brittany looks down at the food, spaghetti and meatballs, classic. "This looks delicious, Mrs. Lopez."
"Gloria." Mrs. Lopez sings. Brittany blushes and nods her head.
"Well let's dig in then." Mr. Lopez says with a smile. They all begin to eat quietly, until Mr. Lopez clears his throat, "So how has your day been Brittany?"
Santana looks over at her dad shocked, "It's uh, been pretty good Marquis. Thanks for asking."
"What did I say about formalities Miss. Brittany?"
"To not use them?" Brittany answers unsurely.
Mr. Lopez grinned and nodded, "Good," there was a pause and scraping of metal along the glass dishes was the only noise occupying the room, "So, well, Brittany how is school going for you?"
Santana looked between her dad and Brittany completely shocked, what happened when they got coffee? She looked towards her mother to see her wearing a similar expression.
Brittany opened her mouth to answer, but Santana beat her to it, "Well Britt, is in glee club." Santana reached for her hand and Brittany grinned and intertwined them. Santana caught both of her parents watching the action. Brittany placed their hands in the space between their plates.
"That's cool; Santana is in the glee club."
Santana laughed slightly, "Obviously she knows that papi." Mr. Lopez blushed. "She's our best dancer, without her I don't think we would've gotten our win at Sectionals."
Brittany shook her head, "I wouldn't say I'm the best, Mike Chang definitely covers that department."
"Don't be so modest Britt." Santana nudged her.
Marquis looked between the two before directing his attention back to Brittany, "Is there anything else you do?"
Brittany opens her mouth again, yet is interrupted again, "She used to do motocross, she could totally fix up any car, she knows them like the back of her hand. And her grades are really good." Brittany looked at Santana in disbelief knowing none of what she was saying was true.
"You know how to fix up cars?" Marquis asked excitedly.
"Oh boy." Gloria mumbled.
"I did it a while ago, so I'm a little rusty." Brittany said with a tight-lipped smile.
"And you're doing well in academics?"
"I try my best." Brittany said, giving another indifferent answer.
Marquis smiled and looked around the table, "I would say it's time for dishes, yes?"
Gloria nodded and began to clean up the table, Brittany stood up, but Gloria gestured for her to sit, "You're the guest Brittany." Brittany nodded and reluctantly handed Gloria her plate. Gloria also took Santana's plate and went across the room to the sink where Mr. Lopez was.
As soon as Brittany knew that they were a good distance away, she turned to Santana, "Just what the hell are you trying to do?" She still muttered, however in fear of her parents hearing her.
"I was telling them about you." Santana replied with a shrug.
"None of that is true!" Brittany argued.
"Well you are the best dancer." Santana grinned.
"What are you not getting about the fact that you just lied to your parents about me? I thought we were gonna show them the real me?"
Santana bit her lip, "Well sometimes the real Brittany can-"
"What?" Brittany stared hard at Santana.
"I just want them to like you." Santana sighed.
"Like me? Or what you want me to be?" With that Brittany stood up to help with the dishes. However, Gloria would occasionally swat her hand away. Santana watched the interaction and sighed.
Santana's parents went upstairs to go get a movie for them to watch, as she and Brittany waited in the living room. "Brittany." Santana sighed.
"What?" Brittany questioned defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I'm sorry," Santana ran a hand through her hair, "I should have let you do the talking. I shouldn't have assumed they wouldn't like you. I love you, they will too."
Brittany contemplated what she said, "Is there really something so bad about me?"
Santana looked shocked and shook her head, "No of course not, it's just, my parents can be very strict, so I guess I didn't think they would be into your humor."
"Your dad seemed fine with me this morning." Santana nodded and wrapped her arms around Brittany's waist.
"I'm sorry." She sang, leaning her head into Brittany's neck.
Brittany uncrossed her arms and rubbed Santana's back. "I know, don't worry, I've done worse, so it's forgiven."
"I'll even let you say vagina around them." Santana smiled, Brittany pressed a kiss to the side of her head.
"Really?" She questioned, "What about your sister?"
"She's still at the girl scouts' camping trip."
"I seriously can't believe that they are able to do that on a school night."
"Girl scouts could literally not go to school anymore, and no one would do anything. As long as they still sold their cookies." Santana brought her face out of the crook in Brittany's neck and looked at her.
"Hmm, yeah totally. Thin Mints all the way." Santana chuckled.
"I'm gonna have to say Peanut Butter Patties is where it's at."
"You do love sticky things." Brittany teased. Santana smacked her arm.
They heard footsteps and turned their heads, "Hey girls," Marquis smiled at them, "what do you say about Finding Nemo?"
"Hells yeah!" Brittany sat on the couch pulling Santana on her lap. Gloria walked in and looked at the two girls and shook her head, a smile firmly placed on her lips.
"I'm gonna make some popcorn, and no coffee for you." Marquis teased. Santana looked over at her dad surprised by his tone.
"Yeah no coffee." Brittany drawled with a grin. Santana looked at Brittany oddly, but then Brittany placed her hands on the other girl's stomach and began to rub little circles on them. Santana sighed and leaned her head on Brittany's chest. "My boobs are better than a Tempur-pedic pillow." Santana and Gloria let out a laugh.
As the movie finished, Brittany tried to move, but a snoring Santana only snuggled in further. "Hey Tana, wake up." Santana groaned and hugged her tighter.
"Brittany, why don't you take her upstairs?" Mrs. Lopez offered.
Brittany nodded her head as she began to lift the other girl up. She began to walk out the room, but heard someone clear their throat. She turned around and looked at Marquis, "And Brittany you're welcome to spend the night." Brittany let out a shy smile, and turned around again. "And door open!"
Brittany let out a little laugh as she headed up to Santana's room; she had never felt so at home.
A/N: BAM! See right before Glee too! Longer too, yeah! I forgot to thank you all for giving me over 300 reviews, holy moly. You guys are fantastic. I have so many Brittana feels for tonight and some Hemo/Vanessa feels, all the time. Whatever happens tonight Brittany will forever be my favorite.
Next chapter should be up maybe some time this week, also about my new story, not the THG one, but the other one, I think I'll post it when this is done. (Which won't be too long).
Thank you for all the lovely reviews, favorites and alerts. You all be hitting up my e-mail!