Anonymous asked: 90. "You've been replaced." / "Alright, we'll see how you feel when you need me to kill a spider in the shower."
Notes: Okay look I know it's been Literally Forever since I got this prompt lmao but I finally did it. I'm spending the next little bit finishing up on prompts and requests I got from before I started working on be my fire in the cold (and I'll be waiting by the mistletoe) before I work on anything new!
Brittany stares at the board of flight times and pouts as she waits for Santana to answer her phone. She's already been away for a week and she's more than ready to see her wife again, but with mechanical delays and bad weather on its way and technical issues it looks like it's still going to be another couple days until she gets home.
"Hello?" Santana finally answers, her voice raspy and slurred with sleep.
Brittany mentally counts the time between their timezones and smiles when she realizes that it's not late enough for Santana to be in bed for the night, but it is right around the time Santana usually has an impromptu nap when she works a late shift. Usually Brittany is there to wake her when her wife hasn't emerged from their bedroom after going to change out of her work clothes, knowing Santana never sleeps well after having a nap in the evening, but unfortunately she's kind of on the other side of the country right now. "Sorry, honey," Brittany says softly, "I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's fine, you didn't," Santana mumbles.
"Sure I didn't," Brittany teases gently.
"Okay, I might have dozed off," Santana concedes, and Brittany can hear the wide smile in her voice. "What time is it? Have you landed already?"
Brittany sighs deeply and continues to stare at the flight times. "No, I haven't even boarded yet."
"What?" Santana says, sounding a little more awake, "Your flight was supposed to leave hours ago."
Brittany sighs again, finally turning away from the flight board and adjusting her carryon so it sits better on her shoulder as she wanders the gate of her original flight. "We did board the plane hours ago but there was some sort of serious mechanical issues so we had to all get off, and then there were technical issues with the airport's computers? I dunno I didn't really follow what they were saying, but long story short there was a butt-ton of problems going on and it doesn't look like I'll be getting out of here for a couple days and this is the first time I actually had a chance to breathe let alone call you."
"Really?" Santana says quietly, and though Brittany knows she's trying to mask her disappointment, Brittany's known her for far too long for that to work.
"Unfortunately," Brittany sighs. "There's bad weather coming in tomorrow too so unless I manage to somehow catch a flight tonight I probably won't be home until Wednesday."
"Well that really fucking sucks," Santana finally says.
Brittany chokes on a laugh and shakes her head because, yeah, it really fucking does. "I'll hang out here for a couple hours and see. They said if there's any cancellations they'll try to get people from my flight out of here but they can't promise anything so."
"How's your auntie?" Santana says after a moment.
"She's good," Brittany says, "My mom said they discharged her about an hour ago actually."
"I wish I could have gone with you," Santana murmurs.
"I know," Brittany promises, "I know you'd be here in a heartbeat if your boss wasn't such an asshole."
Santana laughs, and there's a rustling and a loud meow that can only be the sound of Lord Tubbington being disturbed by Santana being too loud. Brittany listens as Santana shifts around, presumably helping Tubbs up onto their bed since it's too high for him to jump with his arthritis and general laziness. "C'mon you dumb cat," Santana mumbles, "At least help me out if you wanna cuddle."
Brittany giggles as she imagines her wife struggling to balance her phone against her ear and shoulder and lift Tubbs up into bed at the same time. "I can't believe you would betray me like this and cuddle when I can't take embarrassing pictures of the two of you," Brittany teases.
There's a shuffling and Santana's voice is distant when she says, "You've been replaced," in that haughty, teasing tone of hers. Brittany's phone vibrates against her ear and when she quickly checks it she finds a message from Santana, a selfie of her wife and their cat curled up together against Brittany's pillow, and an ache of fond homesickness flares up in her chest.
"Alright," Brittany concedes, "we'll see how you feel when you need me to kill a spider in the shower."
"Don't even joke about that," Santana gasps, "There was one in there on yesterday and Tubbs and I both just screamed at it. I have literally no clue where it is now." There's a beat of silence and they just listen to each other smile before Santana sighs a little. "I miss you," she whispers.
Brittany's chest clenches and she stares at her feet for a long moment, breathing deeply until the lump in her throat eases enough for her to manage an "I miss you too." It's been a long week and she hasn't really slept, instead just dozing off in uncomfortable hospital chairs while her family crowded around her auntie's bed and waited for her to wake up after her stroke, desperately missing her wife's comforting embrace. "Listen, I'm going to go check and see if there's any cancellations," she says. "I'll let you know if I can get a flight."
"Okay," Santana whispers, "I really hope you make it home soon. Love you."
"Love you too," Brittany murmurs, "And so do I."
After hanging up she heads straight to the desk and finds apologetic airport staff telling her that there's still nothing they can do. She nods and sighs, allowing herself to sulk and pout because it's been a tiring and emotional week and all she wants is to get home and hug her wife; she finds an empty chair to collapse into, close to the desk so she's nearby in case there's any changes.
She somehow actually manages to catch a red-eye flight when another passenger cancels it last minute, and after a frantic rush with the airport staff to get organized she ends up flopping down into a middle seat only minutes before the plane taxis out onto the runway, and by the time she gets settled the flight attendants are telling everyone to shut their phones off and she can't even let Santana know she's finally on her way home; she spends the entire flight fitfully dozing, anxious to get back to her wife.
She gets in around six in the morning and instead of calling Santana she just finds the first taxi outside the airport and directs the driver back to her apartment, paying him quickly before she collects her stuff and stumbles up to her home.
Lord Tubbington greets her at the door, haughty and annoyed at being abandoned by Brittany for over a week until she scoops him into her arms and cuddles him close; only then does he start purring and decides he'll forgive her. She releases him once he starts wiggling around, and he scampers off into the living room to curl up on his bed in there.
Brittany kicks off her sneakers and leaves all her stuff by the door, needing to find and cuddle her wife more than she needs to do anything else. She heads straight to their bedroom and finds Santana sprawled on her stomach with the sheets tangled around her bare legs, wearing one of Brittany's old sweatshirts and underwear and nothing else, her head buried in Brittany's pillow and a nest of blankets by her stomach where Tubbs probably spent most of the night.
Brittany leans against the doorframe and watches her wife sleep and takes a long moment to just marvel at the fact that she's finally back home, until the urge to feel Santana's body curled into her own gets to be too much. She's exhausted and desperately needs a shower after spending a week in a hospital and most of the day in the airport and the night on an airplane between a man who smelled like ground beef and an old woman who wouldn't stop coughing, but she needs the comfort of Santana's embrace more than she needs to feel clean, so she quickly strips until she's in her camisole and panties and tosses her clothes in the vague direction of the hamper before eagerly crawling into bed with her wife.
Santana stirs as she feels the bed dip beside her, her hand landing on Brittany's hip and instinctively tugging her closer. Brittany rearranges them so she's not squished against the edge of the bed and in danger of falling off, and Santana just sighs at her wife's manhandling of her until they're curled together in the middle of the bed. "Hi," Brittany whispers, kissing the tip of Santana's nose.
It scrunches adorably as Santana cracks an eye open. "You're home," she rasps, struggling to wake up, "You managed to get a flight? When'd you get in? What time is it?"
"Time for sleep," Brittany says quietly, finding Santana's lips with her own until Santana sighs and softens. "We can talk later, it's cuddle time now."
Santana hums and nuzzles into Brittany's chest, wrapping an arm that's heavy with sleep tightly around Brittany's lower back and tugging them together and Brittany feels like she can breathe for the first time since Santana drove her to the airport last week. "Glad you're home," Santana mumbles, "Love you."
"Me too," Brittany whispers, kissing Santana's head and burying her face into dark hair that smells of comfort and home. "Love you too," she manages, and then they're both lost to sleep.