Well here is another chapter. It's Christmas Day evening. Enjoy.
Chapter 25 - Should I Stay Or Should I Go
"Ok we're here." Brittany squeezed Santana's leg before she got out of the cab. Brittany went around to the back of the cab and waited for the driver to open the trunk. The trunk popped open all of a sudden. "Santana." The brunette had yet to emerge from the cab. "I can't lift these bags myself. I need your help." She looked around the trunk to see what Santana was up to.
The Latina was still sitting in the back seat of the cab. Brittany moved from the rear of the vehicle back to the side door. She looked in at Santana. "Hey are you coming? I need some help." Santana's head hung low looking at her hands as she fiddled with them nervously in her lap. "Hey look at me." Santana looked up and over in the blondes direction with apprehension written all over her face. "Are you nervous?" Brittany asked taking in Santana's face.
"I can't." She said shaking her head. "I can't do this. Meeting your family. I just can't. I'm sorry." She moved to get out of the cab. She walked around to the trunk and pulled out Brittany's luggage. "I'll just bring this to the front door. Then I'll just get back in the cab and go back to the airport and catch a flight home." Brittany stood there as Santana spoke shocked at what she was hearing. Santana turned to walk up the sidewalk that lead to the Pierce's front door. She took a step but stopped when she felt Brittany's hand around her wrist. She turned to look at the blonde. Santana raised an eyebrow in the air. "What Brittany?"
"No."
"What do you mean no?" She furrowed her brow at the blonde. "No what? Please explain to me."
Brittany thought about how she was going to handle this. There was no way she was going to let Santana run. She was going to make her stay but she didn't know how. So she thought.
"Well?" Santana said growing more irritated by the second. "Whatever." She added and set Brittany's luggage down. Santana took a few steps towards the cab ready to get the hell out of there.
"Not so fast." Brittany put her hand on Santana's shoulder tugging slightly forcing her to spin around and face Brittany.
"Brittany please. I'll just see you at home in a week. Ok?" She leaned in to give Brittany a kiss. Brittany leaned back away from Santana avoiding the kiss. The blonde shook her head at Santana in disappointment and frustration.
"No not ok. I won't put up with this shit. I won't put up with you backing out on this. I won't do it. You told me you would come with me. And you did and we are here." Brittany gestures towards her parents house with her hand. "And I know this is difficult for you. I understand that. But I will be right here with you the whole time. So pull yourself together and lets do this."
"But-" Santana tried to object.
"No." Brittany sighed putting her finger up to Santana's lips to silence her. She didn't think this was going to be so difficult. "I can't make you do anything- it's your decision. You can either come inside with me and meet my family or you can get back in that cab and go home."
Santana hung her head low thinking about the whole situation. She really didn't want to be here right now. There was this uncomfortable nervous anxiety about herself that she couldn't shake. The choice was simple really. Go home or stay with Brittany. Could she do this. Spend a week with Brittany's family. A family she didn't even know. Family has never been good to her in the past. But maybe Brittany's family is different.
"Santana I'm waiting." Brittany said impatiently. The blonde was usually very patient but at this moment with Santana acting this way right now she didn't have an ounce of patience for the Latina.
Santana took a step forward and shut the cab door. She moved to the trunk and grabbed her luggage out. She set it down next to Brittany's and shut the trunk door and walked around to the cab driver and paid him. Thanking him for his time and patience with her. Santana walked around back to Brittany as the cab pulled away from the curb. She gave the blonde a shy smile before speaking. "Ok lets do this." Her smile growing a little bigger.
Brittany nodded her head. "You ready?"
"No. But I don't think I ever will be. So we might as well head in." Santana bent over and picked up her bag and Brittany's bag and looked to the blonde once more. They walked side by side up to the front door.
They stopped at the door. Santana waited for Brittany to make the first move. Brittany took a deep breath and then rang the doorbell. Santana whipped her head to the right to gave Brittany a questioning look. "Britt why did you ring the doorbell?" She whispered.
The front door swung open. There stood Brittany's mother with her brow furrowed looking at her daughter standing in front of her. "Why did you ring the doorbell Brittany?" She asked. She looked her daughter up and down taking in her appearance before moving her eyesight over and scanning Santana up and down. After she did a bright smile appeared on her face.
She turned her attention back to Brittany who was just standing there. "Brittany?"
"Yeah mom."
"The doorbell?"
"Oh- well- I don't know. I am just a little bit flustered I guess. Sorry."
"So are you going to introduce me?" Her mother asked.
"Oh yeah." Brittany looked over at Santana and smiled at her. "Mom this is my girlfriend Santana. Santana this is my mom Kathy." She said looking between the two of them.
Brittany's mother extended her arm for a handshake. "It's very nice to meet you Santana. My daughter didn't tell me she had such a beautiful girlfriend." She said smiling and winking at Santana.
"Mom!" Brittany squawked.
Santana blushed and looked down at her feet. "It's nice to meet you too." She said and looked over in Brittany's direction. She motioned to the bags in her hands with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Can we come in mom? It's kinda cold out here." Brittany asked.
"Yes of course." Kathy took a step backwards so the girls could make there way into the house.
"Brittany you can go upstairs and show Santana your room. You two can stay in there. But no funny business while you're under this roof." She gave the two a stern look.
Brittany rolled her eyes at her mother and Santana looked everywhere around the room trying desperately to avoid eye contact with Brittany's mom. Brittany raised her arm with the cast in the air. "I'm injured remember. Sadly that won't we happening for a while."
"Oh. Ok." Kathy said now the one blushing slightly at the thought. "Well go set your bags in there and come back down to join everyone. We are in the family room."
Brittany began for the stairs as Santana followed her with their bags. At the top of the staircase was a long hallway with four doors. Two on each side of the hallway. They walked all the way to the end of the hallway. Brittany disappeared into the last door on the right.
"So this is it. My old room." Brittany looked around the room. "I see not much has changed. You can set the bags over there." Brittany pointed to the opposite side of the room next to the closet door. "We can get situated later. I'm sure my mom is waiting for us to come down."
"Yeah ok. I'll just set these down and we can head downstairs." Santana brought the luggage across the room and set them down. "You have a nice room." She said looking around the room.
"Had. It's not mine anymore. It's a guest room now. Ready?"
"Oh. Okay."
The two went downstairs and entered the family room. Everyone's eyes where on them. Sitting on the couch was Brittany dad Tom and sister Liz and Kathy was sitting in a recliner in the corner of the room. Brittany walked over to the couch. "Hi dad." She said as he stood up and gave her a big hug.
"Hey Brittany. It's so great to see you again. Although it would be nicer if you didn't have that cast on your wrist or those broken ribs."
"Yeah I wish I wasn't injured either but it wasn't really anything I could control."
Once he let her go she reached over and ruffled her sister's hair. "Hey brat. How's it going?"
Liz swatted at Brittany's hand in an attempt to get it away from her hair. "Quit it. Your messing up my hair."
"Oh it's not like we haven't all seen you with terrible bed head. Who you trying to impress?" Liz nodded her head in Santana's direction. Brittany glanced over at Santana out of the corner of her eye. "I'm pretty sure she doesn't care what your hair looks like." Liz knitted her eyebrows together trying to figure out what Brittany meant by that.
"So dad, Liz I would like to introduce you to my girlfriend Santana." Brittany extended her arm in Santana's direction. "Santana his is my dad and my ultra annoying little sister Liz." She said winking at her sister. Liz swung her leg to kick Brittany but she took a step back avoiding the hit.
"So what are we all doing in here?" She asked as she sat down on the couch in between her dad and sister. Leaving Santana standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. The only other seating option was a couch on the opposite wall from the couch where Brittany and her dad and sister were sitting. The brunette slouched over to the couch and took a seat.
Well this isn't going so well. Santana thought. Brittany is acting distant or something. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it has something to do with earlier outside. That's probably it. She's probably mad at me. I can't believe I did that. I just got scared that's all. I hope things turn around or this is going to be a long week.
"So Brittany how much longer do you have to wear that cast?" Her mother asked.
"The doctor said probably two more weeks. I can't wait. This has been the longest month of my entire life. It's been hard." Brittany said frowning at the difficult month. "My ribs we take a little longer to heal. But they feel so much better already. I can't wait until I can dance again." She said with a tight lipped smile.
"I'm sure. You must really miss it." Her mom added. Brittany nodded in agreement.
"So girls how was your flight?" Brittany's dad asked.
"Fine. The usual. No major issues at security or anything. Everything went smoothly. They didn't lose our luggage thank goodness. Remember that time we went to Disneyland and the airline lost your luggage dad?"
Her dad laughed at the memory. "Yes dear. I had to wear the same sweatpants and t-shirt for three days until they finally found it. Most comfortable three days of my life. I love those sweatpants." He said still laughing. Everybody in the family laughed along with him. Santana even had a smile on her face at the story. "Hey Santana. Ever been to Disneyland?" He asked Latina.
"No Mr. Pierce I haven't." Santana said shaking her head back and forth once.
"What? Never been to Disneyland. The happiest place on earth. What a shame. Everyone should go there at least once in their life." Santana shrugged but didn't follow up with a response.
"Well I'm going to check on dinner." Brittany's mom announced. "Santana would you like to help me?" She asked as she stood from her chair.
"Oh I don't know. I'm not that-"
"Oh come on. I know let you screw anything up." She waved Santana to follow her to the kitchen. The brunette smiled at the three Pierces' sitting on the couch and got up from her seat.
"I just let you guys catch up." She gestured between the three of them with her index finger. She nervously followed Kathy into the kitchen.
"So Santana tell me about yourself."
"Well I- um- there's not much to tell really. I'm a DJ at a bar that a friend of mine owns. I moved to New York after I graduated from high school. I had a few odd jobs when I first moved before I got the DJ job at the bar. But that's about it really. I'm not a very interesting person. Kinda boring actually." She said nervously.
"Hmm. Can you hand my that knife over there please?"
"Sure." Santana reached for the knife on the counter and handed it to Kathy.
"What can you tell me about Brittany?" She asked the brunette.
"Uhhh- what do you mean exactly?" Santana asked uncertain of what the women wanted her to say.
"Tell me how she has been. How has she been handling things this last month? I know that not being able to dance is hard for her. How have things been between the two of you? She seems kind of off. Did something happen? I mean afterall she rang the doorbell and waited for me to answer the door." Kathy explained.
"Oh yeah well that last part- that might have something to do with me. When we got here in the cab I sort of freaked out. I told her I couldn't do this. That I couldn't meet her family. I told her I would just go back to the airport and catch a flight home. Its just she is probably mad at me." She shrugged thinking over the ordeal again.
"That explains a few things."
"Like what?" Santana asked wondering what Brittany's mom knew that she didn't.
"First her ringing the doorbell. Second her acting so distant towards you. Sitting on the couch with her dad and sister instead of sitting with you. I thought that was odd considering how much she raves about you on the phone. I thought you two wouldn't be able to staying away from each other. Just give her some time I'm sure she'll come around. You're here aren't you?" Santana nodded in agreement. "Now I hope my daughter hasn't been too much trouble for you in the past month."
"Oh no never. She could never. I would do anything for her. She could never be any trouble. Some of the time I got frustrated but I mean so did she sometimes. It was hard for both of us. But the funny thing is the accident and her injuries brought us together like we weren't before." Santana sighed before continuing. "First of all when she came here for Thanksgiving is when I realized that I was in love with her." She turned away from Mrs. Pierce blushing but continuing. "And when I found out she was in the hospital and didn't know if she was going to be ok I thought that was it. That I didn't get the opportunity to tell her that I loved her and that I couldn't live without her. I thought it was over before it even started. So when I found out she was going to be ok I told myself I would do anything for her while she recovered. That's why I had her come stay at my place. I was intent on taking care of her and getting her anything she needed. So no it wasn't any trouble at all."
Mrs. Pierce wrapped Santana up in an unexpected hug. "From what little I know about you my daughter is a very lucky girl to have you in her life." She whispered into Santana's ear. She kissed the brunette on the temple before she spoke this time louder than a whisper. "From what you just told me despite the fact that we just met I can tell how much you love my daughter." She looked Santana in the eyes when said this. I watery smile across her face as she finished and pulled away from Santana.
Santana bowed her head not able to make eye contact any longer for fear that she would start crying. "I do very much."
"You do what very much?" Brittany asked entering the kitchen. Santana snapped her head in the direction that Brittany's voice came from.
Making eye contact with the blonde shyly she said "I love you very much."
"Is that so?" Brittany raised an eyebrow at Santana. "And what you were discussing that with my mother?"
Santana shrugged. "Yeah I guess. Is that ok?" Brittany giggled a little before she took a step towards the Latina.
Once she closed the gap between them and standing a foot away from the brunette she brought her index finger up to her chin. "Hmm? Let me think about it for a sec."
Brittany's mom stood at the counter pretending to do something but was secretly very interested in and listening to the interaction that was going on behind her.
Brittany brought her finger away from her chin and reached down and took Santana's hand in hers. "It's ok I guess. As long as she isn't trying to get information out of you. I know how she is. She probably brought you in here to interrogate you. Am I right?" Santana nodded but didn't want to say anything. She didn't want to get in trouble for ratting out Mrs. Pierce. "Hmm. Well in any case I'm glad that you two were talking. It's great. My mom and my girlfriend have a conversation. Puts my mind at ease." She said knowing that her mother was listening. "Oh and one more thing. I love you too. I just had to come and find you and tell you that." Brittany smiled before leaning into Santana placing a soft kiss on her lips.
"I'll just leave you two alone." Kathy said exiting the kitchen. Both Santana and Brittany giggled at Brittany's mom.
Brittany wrapped Santana up in a hug but was still able to look at Santana's face. Santana in turn placed her arms around Brittany's waist thankful for any contact from the blonde at that point. "Listen Santana I may have overreacted before. I'm sorry." Brittany apologized.
"No Brittany I should be apologizing. I was about to bail on you. I was going to just hop on a plane and get the heck out of here. I'm sorry. I was scared and I didn't know how to handle it. Right now I'm not sure what I was so scared of. I'm so sorry that I was gonna bail."
Brittany shook her head and rolled her eyes. "What?" Santana asked her.
"Look at us. Both of us apologizing to the other after we said 'I love yous' and after I kissed you. All while we are wrapped up in each others arms in my parents kitchen on Christmas evening." Santana knit her brow together not sure what Brittany was getting at. "Would you call that a fight? Whatever doesn't matter. I couldn't stay mad at you for even an hour." Santana pulled Brittany tighter against herself. "I'm really glad that you're here with me. Best. Christmas. Ever."
Santana rested her head on Brittany's shoulder. "Best. Christmas. Ever." She whispered. The two standing there wrapped up in each others arms.