AN: I know I haven't been updating and I apologize again. Life has me so busy that I hardly have time on my computer to check my Tumblr let alone write this story. Although, I can honestly say that I think of what I can add to this story while I'm at work. I hope you all familiarized yourself with Kyle from Chapter 28. Now on with the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Glee. I only like to read and now, write about it. :)
A few days pass and Santana is busy working on her rebuttal letter; she wanted to finish writing it today. Messaging Kyle over Facebook was probably the best thing she chose to do. Although Kyle and his father have reconnected (minimally), he still has some resentment towards him. He lives in the same apartment building (but not the same unit) as his mother and only sees his father on Father's day and on his Dad's birthday. His mom and dad have not spoken since their divorce.
Santana has explained Brittany's situation to him and Kyle agreed to meet with her after work one day to talk about how he could help. On that day Kyle confirmed everything Santana had read on his blog. He was a horrible man. A homophobic, entitled, selfish man. Kenneth has hurt many people and has used even more in order to get what he wanted. However, Kenneth was great at kissing ass to people he needed and that were above him on the status ladder and that's where he got his power from. Kyle had told Santana that not only did his dad emotionally and verbally abuse him and his mother, he once also physically abused her. Kyle was too young to protect her even though he wanted to but was only pushed away by the bigger man before his mother was struck twice with his fists. His mother was too embarrassed to say anything or tell anyone because Kenneth was such a powerful and 'trusted' man, she didn't think anyone would believe her. Instead she left and never turned back. Santana received Kyle's permission to use some of that information to bring Kenneth down if she promised not write anything about his mother. "She has been through enough," he said and Santana understood and immediately agreed to keep that information confidential. He wished her good luck and hoped Brittany could get her jobs back. He was rooting for them.
Santana wrote out two letters as Brittany continued to keep in contact with Sue, Quinn, Mike, and Vic for updates on jobs and the situation with Kenneth. Kenneth had refused to talk to Sue as soon as he found out she was still in contact with Brittany and would only slam the door in her face when she tried to convince him she wasn't in order to get more information out of him, but with no luck. She had given up on trying to reason with the man and decided to let Santana do her thing and ensure justice to Brittany however she wanted. Sue would be there to support her and give out a good word when she needed to. Sue was also well respected in the industry but mostly as a business owner and a fitness coach, not so much in the martial arts aspect of it all. Brittany usually ran that section of her studio for her. According to Quinn, Finn had quit LWSTC after Rachel gave him hell. Finn called Brittany to apologize over and over again. Brittany forgave him quickly stating that Kenneth was very sneaky and Finn would have had no idea what his intentions were. Brittany had asked him if he was still interested in training, but he refused saying that he was afraid of Kenneth and what he would do if he found out Brittany was still training him. He felt like it would just give Kenneth more ammo to launch towards the blonde about stealing his employees. Even though she understood, she was a little bit hurt at this statement. She felt like a virus that everyone was scared to approach or get near. The topic of Santana came up when Brittany told him Santana was helping her write a letter, Finn made it clear that he was afraid and to not use his name in the letter. She could use his story and misunderstanding at hand, but not to use his name. When Brittany asked him if he wanted to speak to Santana and maybe apologize to her too since she was also lacking in the jobs department because of Kenneth, Finn went silent (which she assumes was him shaking his head) and then told her in all honestly that he was scared and for her to tell her for him. She chuckled but didn't want to put the poor man through any more grief and agreed to talk to Santana for him.
Santana slams her hands on either side of her laptop and sits straight up. Brittany, who was sitting in bed texting Vic on her phone jumps up in shock and grabs her chest.
"What the fuck, San?" Brittany says and rubs her temple with her right hand trying to stop her heart pounding in her head.
"I'm done! Holy shit that took me a long time, but I'm done!" Santana raises her arms up to stretch and then falls back into her chair as she exhales.
Brittany puts her phone down and walks over to her sitting girlfriend and wraps her arms over her shoulders. She kisses Santana on the cheek, "Thank you sooooooooo much," she drags the word. "I would never have been able to get through any of this without you. You're my fucking hero." Another kiss to the cheek.
Santana looks up to make eye contact and smiles, "You were my hero first. Literally. I'm only writing a letter stating nothing but truths."
"Yeah, but this is much harder work," Brittany says while cuddling Santana from behind.
"I beg to differ, Britt. I think I'm much better at this than kicking someone's ass the way you did and save a life."
Brittany nuzzles her face into the crook of Santana's neck, "You're saving my life too, you know? In a different way."
Santana smiles at Brittany's sweetness and taps her on the shoulder so Brittany would look up at her. Santana slightly rolls her chair back and pats on her leg so Brittany would sit on her lap.
"I'm gonna squash you, babe." Brittany laughs as she walks to the front of the chair.
"I'm stronger than you think," Santana says as she flexes her arms.
"You're so silly," Brittany says but takes a seat on the tanned lap anyway. "If I'm crushing you, just let me know."
Santana nods, "Here, read this. This is the letter to everyone. This is your rebuttal for everyone to read. Let me know what you think."
Brittany reads through Santana's letter and is impressed by how Santana states all the facts and backs it up with evidence. Acting as a lawyer on T.V. really helped with piecing this together properly even with her minimal experience in the field. Santana has always been good with words and her words always seemed to flow smoothly. She counters every single one of the Kenneth's arguments and gives Brittany's side of the story. She even had times and a location if she needed to push those details to make it more convincing.
"Wow," Brittany nods; not taking her eyes off the computer screen. "That's so well written. I'm very, very impressed, Santana."
Santana just shrugs, "So it sounds okay?"
"It amazing, babe," Brittany kisses Santana on the cheek once again. Brittany glances down at the desk and sees a copy of Kenneth's letter printed out and tucked under the keyboard. The page is full of different coloured highlights, underlining, circles, and notes made in the margins. "Holy crap!" Brittany says as she grabs the piece of paper. "You put so much work into this," Brittany pouts then looks at Santana and she can see a little bit of a blush form behind the Latina's ear. "Thank you so much," she whispers.
Santana turns her head and puckers her lips. Brittany joins their mouths together for a lingering kiss. "You're welcome. I just hope this can convince most of these people to look at both sides of the story before judging and declining job applications," she huffs.
"I'm sure it will. I never would have been able to put into words everything you did, and I lived through it. Can I show you how grateful I am for all of your help?" Brittany whispers the last sentence into Santana's ear, sending shivers up her spine.
"Absolutely," Santana kisses Brittany's shoulder. "You can start by…" she pauses and Brittany leans into the smaller girl sitting behind her. "Reading this other letter. The one I'm sending to Mr. Trashcan." She clicks and the screen transfers into another document.
Brittany breaths in obviously not expecting the turn of events; she was expecting some sort of sexy time since smart girls are totally hot. She focuses her eyes back onto the screen and reads while Santana hugs onto her tightly and reading with her over her shoulder.
"San?"
"Hm?"
"When did you talk to Kyle?"
"A few days ago. He let me use some of the information we found on his blog and he told me in detail more things that had happened with his dad in the past as well as things specifically that can help us. I only had to promise him that I wouldn't use his name or tell Shitface where I got the information from." Brittany nods. Santana bites her lip, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was so in the zone and it completely slipped my mind. I was too focused on the letter. I'm sorry," she repeats.
"Oh, no no. Don't apologize, Hun. I'm not mad. I'm actually kind of glad you talked to him. This really makes the letter that much better. Like, it makes Kenneth…" Santana scrunches her face, "Sorry. It makes Fartface look that much more asshole-y. I like it." Brittany gives Santana a quick peck on the lips before turning her attention back to the monitor and finishing the letter. After she finishes she asks, "How come you're not sending everyone this letter instead?"
Santana sighs, "Even though I would love to expose Assclown for the piece of shit that he is, I wanted to keep his family stuff confidential for the sake of Kyle and his mother. But! I'm going to pretend that I sent this one out to everyone so when Fuckerknob opens the e-mail it would freak the shit out of him when he thinks that I sent this out to the world, when really, they all get the tamer version. Just to, you know, play him a bit without putting Kyle out there to the public."
Brittany nods in understanding. "This letter is more baddass… more Santana-esque. But I respect Kyle's wishes on keeping this information on the down-low until necessary. At least Ken – uh – Goober-globin knows we have all this at our disposal."
"Goober-globin?" Santana laughs.
"Shut up," Brittany slaps the side of Santana's thigh. "I can't keep thinking of so many nicknames. I think I've run out."
"Impossible," she waves her hand; gesturing the thought away, "Besides, feel free to reuse anyone one of the names we've used before. Some of them are great!" Santana smiles.
"You're great," Brittany smiles back.
"So..." Santana takes in a deep breath and exhales. "Are you ready to send it?"
Brittany stays quiet for a moment, really thinking it through. "Yes. Yes, I am." She breathes out a long nervous breath. "It's my word against his now."
"You have a lot of support, baby, but these people need to hear your side of the story in order to know that it exists," Santana explains.
"You're right, you're right. Ok, let's do this." Brittany stands up slightly allowing Santana's blood to flow back though her legs.
But Santana pretends she doesn't feel her legs go tingly. "What are you doing?" She asks.
"Babe, I know how much heavier I am than you. And even when you sit on my lap for this amount of time my leg gets a bit tired; don't tell me I didn't cut the circulation to your legs."
"What legs?" Santana looks down at the back pocket marks Brittany left on her thighs.
Brittany rubs the tan legs up and down and gives a little chuckle. She slaps Santana's leg over to the side so they can share the seat but instead Santana sits as far back as possible and spreads her legs asking Brittany to sit between her legs while she continues to look over the taller girl's shoulder.
Brittany looks down and pauses to enjoy the view of her girlfriend's legs spread open and considers taking advantage of this position. When Santana breaks her out of her trance.
"Stop having dirty thoughts, we have important work to do," She pants the seat between her legs. Brittany swallows and sits down facing the computer.
Brittany goes into her mailbox and opens the e-mail Sue had sent her of all the people Kenneth had sent his letters to and their e-mail addresses. She copies and pastes them into her own email, BCC'ing everyone (unlike Kenneth) and finally highlights the entire letter Santana wrote for her and copied and pasted it into the body of the e-mail. On the subject line she wrote: Kenneth L's Story: Brittany's Side.
The mouse curser hovers over the send button and Santana can feel Brittany's nervousness radiate through her skin. She looks down at the hand holding the mouse and she sees that her fingers are shaking. Santana rubs Brittany's arms up and down, and kisses her on the shoulder.
"You can do this, Baby."
Brittany swallows, "Do it for me." She lets go of the mouse.
But Santana grabs her hand back with her own and places it back on the mouse, "No, Britt. This is all you. This is your moment." She rubs her thumb on the back of Brittany's hand.
With one deep breath, Brittany closes her eyes and Santana is so focused on Brittany's expression that she only gets jolted out of it when she hears the click. She looks to the monitor. Your message has been sent.
Brittany releases a shaky breath, "Wow." She says as she releases the mouse.
"We're not quite done yet babe," Santana says as she clicks around and attaches Kenneth's letter to the body of the e-mail. "You have one more e-mail to send."
"Okay." Brittany grabs the mouse and quickly clicks on the send button without even thinking about it. "Done!"
"That was quick," Santana chuckles a little and hugs Brittany from behind.
"Well, sending the e-mail to him and confirming the fact that we are cutting all ties with him and giving him a reason to not mess with us anymore was a lot easier than sending an e-mail to everyone I know – people I don't even know – that may judge me or already have."
"It's good to get your story out. These people need to know both sides of the story."
"They do and I have you to thank." Brittany turns around and places a kiss to Santana's lips, then cheek, then lips again. "Thank you so, so much. Seriously, San, you have been my rock for the last few months... I don't know what I'd do without you."
"And I don't want to find out," Santana pulls Brittany in for another kiss.
Brittany mumbles into Santana's still attached lips, "Me either."
Over the next few weeks, Brittany has received phone calls and e-mails from people she knew in the industry as well as people she didn't know. Most of them have been positive with people telling her that she opened their eyes to a whole new side and apologized for judging her before hearing both sides of the story, or that they never believed Kenneth in the first place. Those who knew Brittany had told her that they knew she wasn't like that and they knew Kenneth well enough to disregard his letter. However, there were two negative e-mails (no negative phone calls – they were probably too scared. It's always easier for people to hide behind a computer than to speak to the person directly through the phone). One was from one of the men who had worked with Kenneth before stating that she was being disrespectful to such a well-known master and that a child like her should know her place. To which, Santana freaked out and started typing out a really nasty reply but Brittany had told her she didn't even know the dude and he wasn't worth the time. The other was from Kenneth himself. He had stated in his e-mail that writing about his personal life was unprofessional and that there was no truth in her e-mail and that no one would ever believe her. To which Brittany typed out a quick reply but then deleted it deciding that Kenneth wasn't worth a response either.
Brittany ended up with a few auditions to be a body double again including the job Vic was trying to get her. Brittany ended up using her newly re-polished reputation to snag Santana an audition for the same show. Santana's audition was held in L.A. but Brittany only had to send in a demo reel and didn't actually have to go to California until she actually got the job and had to learn the choreography and meet the lady she is doubling for.
"Britt?" Santana said nervously on the couch one day as Brittany went into the kitchen to get more salsa for their chips.
"Yeah?"
"About that audition..." She trails off.
"What's wrong? You don't want to go?" Brittany returns with a full bowl of salsa in her hands.
"I do!" Santana sits up and scoots over to make room for Brittany. Brittany scoops some salsa onto a corn chip and holds it up to Santana. Santana takes a bite then licks her lips before continuing. "I do, I just. I don't know." She bites her lip and looks away.
Brittany scrunches her eyes and puts the bowl down. She knows exactly what's going on.
"Santana," Brittany says and Santana looks up into the sparking blue eyes. Brittany takes her hands in her own and sits closer to the Latina. "I fucked up before when I didn't go to New York with you and now you're afraid I'm not going to go with you to L.A. and you're nervous to ask me because of what happened before. Am I correct?"
Santana bites her cheek and shrugs.
Brittany takes in a deep breath and continues speaking, "I am so sorry that I ever made you feel that way. I don't know what was going through my head at that time. I was stupid and sad and I made a bad choice."
"You're not stupid." Santana interrupts shooting a look into the other girl's eyes.
"At that moment I was," Brittany continues and she keeps talking to avoid Santana's protest. "I wasn't being a good girlfriend and I hate that you now feel like I don't support you one-hundred percent because I do."
Brittany lets go of Santana's hands and leans over the couch to grab her purse. She pulls out an envelope and hands it to Santana. Santana hesitantly opens it.
"Britt..." Santana covers her mouth with one hand.
"I bought us tickets to L.A., both of us. We are going to take a two week vacation away from all of this craziness and a couple of those days you will be auditioning because I know for a fact you are going to get a call-back. We will be staying in two hotels. The first week and a half we will be staying at the hotel I booked while booking our flight. That hotel is 4 stars. The last four days, I booked us the executive suite at the Ritz Carlton because – well because you deserve to be pampered, that's why I also booked you a spa day at the hotel because you fucking deserve it," Brittany says with a shrug. "I also thought maybe we could go to Disneyland too."
Santana's eyes could not get any bigger. Her eyes were beginning to rim with tears, no one has ever given her anything close to this. "Britt... The Ritz?"
"The Ritz," Brittany says with a calm smile and a nod. "I wanted to stay there for the whole two weeks but... I mean, we could... I just..."
Santana sits up quickly and jumps on top of Brittany attacking her lips with kisses and only stops to speak. "I know how expensive that hotel is. It's over a thousand dollars a night! Brittany!"
Brittany just giggles into Santana's lips. "Happy Anniversary!"
Santana stops her kisses and looks at Brittany curiously, "What? But our anniversary isn't for another couple months."
"While true," Brittany states, "it was exactly one year ago today the beautiful Latina I met briefly one time in an alley way and I walked her home, came to my class and I immediately wanted to know her better."
"Then shouldn't you count the day in the alley way since it was the first day we met?"
Brittany ran her thumb over Santana's cheek and tucked her hair behind her ear, "I could, but I don't want to. Babe, that was such a horrible experience for you and it shouldn't be celebrated."
"You have a point," Santana said as she curled up into Brittany; tucking her head under Brittany's chin.
"I love you, Santana."
"I love you too, Britt."
Once the girls get to Los Angeles and get settled into their hotel, Santana immediately feels nervous. Brittany does her best to boost Santana's confidence with hugs, kisses, and encouraging words. Brittany had sent her demo reel to the production company 5 days before they had left and was waiting to hear back from them. On the day of Santana's audition, Brittany waited outside the studio for 2 hours while Santana went inside to collect her script and read it through before it was her turn to walk into the small room with 2 people inside waiting to judge her. When she walked out Brittany's cheeks were flushed pink and she was scrolling through her phone.
"How did it go?" Brittany asked as she wiped her forehead.
"I think it went well. I should hear from them by the end of the day if they want to see me again." Santana takes off her thin jacket, "Holy shit it's hot out. Britt, you're turning red from the heat. Why didn't you go into a coffee shop or somewhere with air conditioning?" She places a hand on Brittany's cheek.
Brittany turns to kiss her hand, "because I didn't want to miss you walking out of these doors." Brittany grabs her hand and they begin to make their way back to the hotel.
Once they arrive at the hotel and they kick off their shoes to Santana's phone rings.
"Hello? This is Santana Lopez. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. That's great! See you tomorrow!" She hangs up the phone and turns to Brittany with a beaming smile.
"Got a call back?" Brittany asks confidently.
"Yes!" Santana bounces on the ball of her feet. "If I get this job we can work together again! How much fun would that be?"
"It would be amazing! But I haven't heard back from them yet, so I don't know if I have a job yet either."
"Oh, I am sure you are going to get it. You are the most badass stunt woman out here. They would be crazy not to hire you."
"I hope so," Brittany says, unconvinced.
The next day, Santana goes to her call back. Sure, the part she is auditioning for is a villain for only 2 episodes but that just makes her character way more badass. During her audition, she is asked if she knows any form of fighting or marital arts. Santana mentions that she has taken some kickboxing class and she knows 'someone' that can really guide her in the right direction if that is what her character needed. She didn't want to drop Brittany's name just yet. After the audition, Brittany is again waiting outside for her in the sweltering heat. Santana gives her a kiss and they go get some slushies to cool off.
That evening Santana receives another phone call. In the middle of her conversation, Brittany receives a phone call as well. She points to the front door to let Santana know she is going to take the call into the hallway to avoid interrupting and distracting Santana from her very important call. Santana nods and continues listening and writing down information about the shoot. When Brittany comes back she plops herself on the desk chair and swivels it around so she's looking at Santana. Santana is just confirming her address and she tells them that even though she lives in Ohio she is willing to come to California to shoot the show if she needs to. They will accommodate her with a trailer of her own if one is available but if not, she may have to share. Santana gives a small frown but shrugs it off and tells them it's okay since she's only there for a maximum of a month if she were to get the part. Hoping her roommate isn't some creepy annoying nosy bitch. When she hangs up the phone the girls look at each other.
"Who was that?" Santana asks as she plugs her phone into the wall to charge it.
"Darla."
"Who's Darla?" Santana questions with a scrunched brow and a frown on her face.
"Oh, just this girl I met though someone I know. She wants to meet up with me. I told her I was in L.A. and she said it was perfect because she is too. I'm meeting her tomorrow."
"You what?" Santana raises her voice and stands up. Marching herself towards her girlfriend calmly sitting on the desk chair with a smile on her face. "Why are you smiling? Who is the Darla bitch? I'mma cut her."
"Oh, I don't think that's a good idea babe," Brittany says as she tries to unfold Santana's arm from her chest. "Darla is the girl I'm doubling for. I got the job!" She says with a giant smile.
"Oh Britt-Britt! That's awesome!" Santana says with a giant smile of her own. But then her smile goes serious once again, "Why is she calling you and why does she want to meet you?"
Brittany chuckles and rubs her hands up and down Santana's waist. "The production company actually called me first telling me that they loved my demo reel and that I got the job, that's when I went outside. Right away they told me that Darla wanted to meet me because she always wants to get to her know doubles beforehand so she can get to know me and see if we click before we have to work together. They gave me Darla's number so I could call her, so when I heard that you were still talking on the phone, I called her from outside. I told her who else I had doubled for and that my girlfriend was on the phone as we speak with the recruiting team for the same show. She actually wants to meet the both of us because when I told her the part you were auditioning for, she figured she would have to meet you eventually as well so it would be nice to meet both of us at the same time. The three of us are going to meet her for a coffee at 4pm... If that's okay with you." Brittany bites her bottom lip and raises her eyebrows.
Santana nods her head and leans down so their foreheads are touching, "I guess I don't need to cut her then."
Brittany lightly shakes her head and puckers for a kiss. When Santana complies, Brittany responds, "Nope, you don't." She pulls Santana down so she is sitting straddled on her lap. Holding her tightly as they kiss. They kiss for a while. With tongue. With Brittany rubbing Santana's back. Under her shirt.
"Do you think you could share my trailer with me?" Santana mumbles between kisses.
"Mmm, I sure hope so."
The girls go out to celebrate that evening. They talk about moving to L.A. together if this is where most of their work is going to be. Through thoughtful consideration, they decide to stay in Ohio for now since it is the most comfortable place for Lord Tubbington at the moment and Brittany's sister, Christy, is able to watch the cat while the girls are out of town filming.
"Do you still want to teach?" Santana asks while they finish up their dinner at an upscale restaurant by the hotel.
Brittany ponders the thought for a bit then shrugs, "I don't know. I mean, I loved it, but I don't know if I can get back into it. Too much drama. Besides, I'm not even sure who would even want me anymore."
"Brittany," Santana says and the blonde looks up from her decedent chocolate dessert. "Trust me, a lot of people would feel privileged to have you work for them. I think everyone was just scared that Dipshit would do what he did to Eric. Hey! Why don't you open your own studio?"
"That's a lot of work, Santana. So much time and money go into opening a studio. Plus, I need to focus on getting back in shape for this job first."
"But that's not a no right?" Santana raises an eyebrow.
Brittany only shrugs and shakes her head, "I don't know, San. We'll see, okay?"
Santana nods, trying not to push her, "Okay." She keeps an eye on Brittany polishing off the final sips of her wine and contemplating on something before finishing her own. Brittany pays for their meal after snatching the bill from Santana's hands.
When they get back to the hotel that evening, they quietly strip out of their dresses before making sweet, sweet lady love until the early morning.
They spend the rest of their trip enjoying the leisure and relaxation of the Ritz Carlton. Santana goes to her spa appointment and gets pampered the way Brittany thinks she deserves to be. The days that seemed to fly by. The meeting with Darla was quick, but enjoyable. Both girls thought Darla was wonderful and were excited to work with her and she had said the same to both Santana and Brittany too. Each day went by quicker before they had to depart back home to Lima. This trip had given the girls much needed alone time to reconnect on an even deeper level. Falling more and more in love with each other every day. Santana joked one time about it being the perfect honeymoon; staying in their executive suite with nothing but fluffy pillows and robes, a great view (inside and outside the room), and champagne and chocolates delivered to their room every evening. One evening, as Santana was lying on Brittany's chest and Brittany was stroking her arm, she caught herself rambling on and on about the honeymoon when Brittany suddenly fell quiet. Brittany suddenly stopped her movements and got really silent. Santana quickly changed the subject but all Brittany did was kiss her on top of her head and continued stroking her arm without a word. Santana hoped to everything good that she did not just scare the crap out of Brittany.
Comments? Reviews? Please be kind. Thank you for your patience. XOXO