Anonymous asked: 28. "I won't let anything bad happen to you."
Santana loves thunderstorms, she has ever since she was little and would race into the living room and press her nose up against the window to watch the lightning, managing to capture a few, magical moments before her mom would race in after her and pull her back to a safe distance. She can still remember those moments right before her mom got there though, with her breathe fogging up the glass and pure energy dancing across the horizon in blinding flashes.
The Pierce girls, however, hate thunderstorms. Brittany's been terrified them for as long as Santana's known her, and those fleeting memories of watching the lightning from the living room window were quickly replaced with ones of standing in the middle of the living room and watching the thunderstorm from afar, Brittany's arms wrapped around her and her face buried in whatever part of Santana she could reach. Santana found she didn't mind being pulled away from the window so much, not when it was Brittany, because there was something equally magical about Brittany hiding in her embrace, something that made her feel big and strong and worthy because Brittany trusted Santana to protect her from something as violent and unpredictable as Mother Nature.
It wasn't that much of a surprise, to anyone who knew Brittany, that the youngest Pierce was also terrified of thunderstorms. More often than not, the munchkin would crawl into her older sister's bed and they would hide from the storm together; as Brittany grew older and started to grow out of her fear of thunderstorms, the munchkin started to seek out Santana for protection too, just as her sister had done before her.
Brittany's parents go away for a week in August, just the two of them to celebrate their twentieth anniversary, and they leave Brittany and Santana in charge. Because it's August, Lima is sticky hot and motionless throughout the day, heat that is only cooled off by the thunderstorms at night. This storm has been building all evening, and it's past ten by the time the rain finally starts pouring. Brittany shifts against Santana in her sleep as large drops ping off her bedroom window, mumbling something about the bathroom before stumbling out of bed. Santana smiles at her retreating back, adoring warmth filling her at Brittany's cute, sleepy movements. The lightning and thunder starts soon after that, and Santana gives herself a ten-count before she hears the telltale patter of light feet.
Santana smiles up at the ceiling and glances at the door. The munchkin stands there in her pajamas, clutching her stuffed tiger (the one her and Brittany picked out together, back when they were nine years old and the munchkin was only a couple days old). "Tana?" she asks nervously.
Santana doesn't say anything, she just smiles and holds up the covers. The munchkin wastes no time in running across the room and diving into Santana's arms at the crackle of thunder; it sounds like it's directly above them, and Santana just cuddles the munchkin closer. "Tana I'm really scared," she whimpers into Santana's chest, her stuffed tiger caught between them.
Santana hugs the munchkin tighter and hums quietly, hoping to drown out the sound of the rain, but another clap of thunder makes the munchkin jump again. "Shh," Santana soothes, "I won't let anything bad happen to you."
"Promise?" the munchkin sniffles.
Something clenches in her chest and Santana knows, more than ever before, that she'd protect this little girl with her life. "I promise," she whispers.
The munchkin promptly falls asleep, and Santana's awe at how quickly children can succumb to dreams is interrupted by fabric rustling in the doorway. Santana glances over, careful not to disturb the munchkin cuddled against her chest, and instantly feels heat rise to her cheeks at the sight of Brittany leaning against the doorframe, her eyes crinkled and her brows drawn together and a soft smile playing on her lips, her entire posture practically screaming how much she loves the girl comforting her little sister on the bed.
"You're adorable," Brittany whispers. Santana has to strain a little bit to hear Brittany over the sound of the rain, but once she processes what Brittany just said the heat in her cheeks flames up into a full-scale blush.
"Oh, hush you," Santana mumbles.
Lightning flashes and thunder almost immediately follows, spurring Brittany across the room. She crawls in under the covers and wraps her arms around her little sister and her best friend and, despite the fact that she's not even seventeen yet and that her and Brittany still haven't really talked about what they are yet, Santana feels a tug in her chest at the thought of nights like this, far in the future, and she wonders if Brittany is thinking the same thing; Brittany's eyes sparkle with something like adoration and hope and longing in the next flash of lightning, and Santana just knows.