It's the thunder that wakes you up from your dream about being locked in the freezer with the raccoon and a crying Tina. Groaning, you grab your phone from your nightstand and check the time to see that it's still early but not early enough for you to get some more sleep before your alarm is set to go off.

As you stretch, the thunder goes off again which makes you draw your attention to your bedroom window and the pouring rain outside and you instantly smile at the sight of the lightning.

It's something that no one expects from you. That it's weird because you don't seem like the type of person to like them since you're more like a sunshine kind of girl. Which is also true but you love the sounds of the thunder and rain and flashes of lightning even more.

Your phone breaks your gaze from the outside as it buzzes in your hand by a text from Santana.

Morning :) I'll bring u in a coffee, you're gonna need it. Want ur usual?

You let out another groan at the thought of your twelve hour shift. You haven't even got up yet but you're still tired from it.

Morning! And yes pls! ur a lifesaver thx :)

It had been a little under two months since Santana had broken down and told you everything in your car. For the first week your relationship with her had still been pretty awkward. Neither of you knew how to act with each other but you both got over that after Santana had invited you round to her place for a drink after a shift one day.

At first it had been a little awkward being around each other afterwards and neither of you knew how to act around each other. You had an idea to go out for a few drinks with each other to try and think that a few drinks could help with both of your confidences but Santana had beaten you to it and had invited you around for drinks at her apartment after a shift one day and you immediately said yes.

Santana had kept her promise of being a better friend to you and even though you had thought that she was a great friend before the whole sleeping together thing but now she was an even better friend. It felt more real now. Before you would just goof around in work together and she would always sit with you during your break but now you didn't just talk about dumb, non-important stuff like you used too. You had actual meaningful conversations. You had confided in her about your depression and how you struggled throughout school due to your then undiagnosed autism and she told you about how her dad left her and her mom for some girl who was twenty years younger than him just a few weeks before Santana found out she was pregnant and now apparently she has a long lost half brother who is the same age as Luca.

However, the main difference was the fact that you now hung out outside of work and if you couldn't be physically together then you would be texting each other. You would often hang out at her apartment or a café or some place else. Sometimes it was just the two of you and sometimes it was with Mike and Mercedes. But most of the time it had been with Luca, who is a lot more like his momma than you had originally thought because even though he looked just like her, he also acted like her too. From the way she would scowl at things she didn't like, to throwing something if she couldn't get it to work and especially to when she would cry whenever a small inconvenience would happen. Not only would you hang out with Luca but you were with Dan a lot too and as much as you hated the idea of Santana being with him, which made her unhappy, you couldn't help but admit that he was actually a decent guy. He was pretty funny and loved video games and you also found out that Santana does too whereas unlike Dan, she was actually good at them as well as being very passionate and you had watched Santana argue with Dan countless of times over it because he sucked at killing and covering her or whatever. You still don't really understand you only play Mario Kart, which was a game you always played, and lost, with Luca, who again, is just like his mom and is very passionate about losing.

But, as it turns out, it wasn't as awkward and painful as you thought it would be to be around Santana and her family after the whole sleeping together, confessing that you like each other in a more than friends way, keeping secrets and then having a huge break down about how Santana pretty much hates her life thing.

Sure, the feelings that both of you have for each other are still there and you still think that she's still super pretty and funny and basically the best person you've ever met but you quickly learned that it's best to just bury your feelings. At least until both of you are ready to show them again. You think Santana is doing the same. After all it is a lot easier this way because even though it does hurt that you can't be anything more than friends, you would rather have her in your life as just a friend than have her not being in it at all.

However, as much as you loved your friendship with Santana and wanted to be with her at all times, unfortunately, that didn't mean that you love having a twelve hour shift because with or without her, Arrow is still your definition of hell.

Sure, you were now better than ever at your job and you also were no longer the newbie any more but that still didn't mean that customers didn't take their entire life problems out on you or that you didn't drop an entire crate of coffee every once and a while.

The more time that passed as you worked six days a week as Arrow the more you knew that you wouldn't be able to do the job for much longer. At least not if you didn't want to lose your mind but for now you didn't really have much of a choice. On the bright side your ankle was a lot stronger and didn't hurt after standing on it for more than four hours and you also stopped going to physical therapy but are keeping up with the exercises to stop from having any setbacks. Having accepted and come to terms with the fact that your dancing career was well and truly over, you had decided to look into the local community college that Mike and Tina were currently enrolled in and where Santana would be starting next month. You had figured that you could do what they were doing and only work part time while attending classes. Maybe you could do photography or journalism? Those had always been something you were interested in and you were also in a club in high school for it. Maybe you would be able to get a job working for a dance magazine or something?

Actually, you would literally would at anything but another store at this point.

Shivering, you peel off your wet coat and hang it up on one of the pegs in the breakroom. It's something that your mom would always tell you off for, because leaving wet clothes on the floor means that they'll never dry and will eventually start to smell, but you never understood why you had to do it with coats since you would be going back outside anyways where it'll just get wet again so what was the point? Same goes for making your bed. Why bother making it when you were just going to go back in it.

Once your coat is hung up, you make your way to your locker, giving a quick hello to Mercedes, Mike and a few others who also look soaked and that they would rather be anywhere but here.

After you've greeted everyone in the small room, you realize that the person who you want to see most isn't here. At least not yet anyway. But it's still weird since you know that Santana definitely has the same start time as you and normally, when you have the same starting time she's always early, waiting for you with a smirk on her face and two coffees in her hand. One for her, one for you.

Actually, Santana is never early. She always likes to be fashionably late, it's just that you're also always late. Except when you do it it's more unprofessional then fashionable. But not today. Today you're just kind of late whereas Santana is nowhere to be seen and supposed to be writing on her clipboard.

As you put on your waistcoat and attempt to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of your jeans being wet and sticking to your legs you can't stop yourself from thinking about the many possibilities of why Santana isn't here yet.

Perhaps there was a queue at the café where she was getting your coffees or she's just stuck in traffic because of an accident which was caused by the storm. Or maybe she is the one in the accident.

You know that you're most definitely overreacting and you know that Santana is perfectly fine but still, you care about her too much and don't want anything bad to ever happen to her.

You also really want your coffee.

Since Santana still hasn't shown up when it's time for you to be assigned your section for the day, Mercedes decides to act as floor manager steps in for her, standing in front of everyone and reading from the clipboard.

You had originally thought that the clipboard just made Santana look all professional but nope, you were wrong because it worked with Mercedes too. They definitely had to be magic. You really needed to get one, maybe then customers would stop treating you like some alien that doesn't know what they're doing and that doesn't have any feelings.

"Okay, so on customer ser-"

"Sorry, I'm late." Santana interrupts, speed walking through the entrance with two coffees in her hand and her hood up.

"S'okay." Mercedes shrugs, before looking back down to the clipboard, "But, this is my job now so you better let me finish."

Instead of going straight to the break room to take her coat off like you thought, Santana walks directly over to you and hands you one of the coffees.

"Thanks." You smile, taking a sip.

"Hey, where's my coffee?" Asks Mercedes.

"You literally live next to the café, get your own." Santana quips back, and turns back to you, "Sorry I took so long, Luca is scared of thunderstorms and wouldn't let me leave the house."

"Aw, poor guy, is he okay now?"

"Hopefully, Dan managed to bribe him by playing video games so he should be kicking his ass right about now." She explains, taking a drink of her own coffee.

"Oh, so nothing new," You laugh, before coming to a realisation, "Wait, I hope Sir Rolo Stripes isn't scared of storms too."

That's something else that's changed in the last two months. Sir Rolo Stripes, or Rolo, you didn't name him, is your new cat that you adopted about a month ago. Actually he's not that new since he's pretty old but you had figured that you weren't going back to Los Angeles anytime soon, or ever for that matter, so you decided to adopt a cat from the local animal shelter, something that you've wanted to do since you were a kid but back then your mom never let you have one since she was allergic and when you finally moved out to LA your landlord didn't let you have pets in your apartment so you thought that now was your chance. Sure, your mom's still allergic but you're an adult now so it's not like she can tell you what to do and she hasn't even realized that you have Rolo either since he just hides in your room all day and you keep spiking her morning coffee with anti allergy medication and she's still alive so it's obviously working.

"Oh, I'm sure Sir Asshole is gonna be fine." Santana scoffs.

That's another thing. Santana and Sir Rolo Stripes aren't friends. Like at all. You think that there's a higher chance of Santana and Tina being actual friends then those two. The first, and only time you introduced them Rolo scratched Santana, who obviously overreacted at the whole situation and accused him of trying to murder her and thought she was going to get rabies or something. Which honestly is something she should be used to now since Roger the Raccoon is still in the store and is getting more and more territorial over the cereal boxes everyday.

"Anyways, I'm gonna go, I have to sort out the schedule for the next few weeks which will probably take me a few hours so I might not see you for a while but I promise I'll sit with you on your break." She smiles, walking away but then turns back to you and gives you a wave causing you to get butterflies.

Yup, all of your feelings are definitely pushed right down and buried.

Santana was right when she said that you wouldn't see her until your break. You had been on the register for the past six hours and even though you were thankful for not having to stock shelves, it still sucked. You pretty much served one customer every twenty minutes because the store was so empty and you had figured that people didn't want to leave the house because of the storm.

"Hey you." Santana says softly, taking a seat opposite you in the break room, "Why are you sitting over here? Did you move the table?"

Taking a bite of your sandwich, you nod. You wanted to be near a window so you could look out and watch the rain and lightning.

Still staring out the window, you don't notice that Santana is talking to you until she snaps her fingers in front of your face, "Seriously, Britt, are you alright? You seem pretty out of it."

"Oh. Sorry." You apologise, "It's just that i've always loved thunderstorms and it never stormed when I was in LA. I've missed it."

"Seriously? I wouldn't have pegged you for a loving thunderstorms type."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. But, I love dancing in the rain and when I was younger I would always stay outside all day and try and to get struck by lightning."

"What? Why?"

"Because I wanted superpowers. Duh."

"Oh, of course." She laughs, "And when did you stop trying to get superpowers?"

"Oh I haven't, I'm still trying just with not so painful ways."

"Well what about dancing in the rain? Do you still do that?" She asks hesitantly, knowing that dancing is one of those rocky subjects that you don't really talk about.

You shake your head, "I haven't danced in the rain in years and I haven't danced at all since before I got surgery."

"But you miss it, right?" You nod, "So do it."

"What?"

"Go dance in the rain." Santana insistes, "Come on, your ankle is pretty much healed and it's not like you'll be going all out on it. Just go dance in the rain."

"I don't know, Santana."

"Look, Britt. Does dancing in the rain make you happy?"

"Yes."

"Well go do it. You're the one that told me to let myself be happy, now I'm telling you. Do what makes you happy. Go and dance in rain, Pierce."

You're a little shocked at Santana's suggestion. Not about dancing in the rain but about letting yourself be happy. Neither of you have brought up anything that was said when you had the conversation in your car. It was just another thing that you buried in order for your friendship to work and so far there were no problems. But, even though you had told Santana to allow herself to be happy, it's not like she was doing it. Right? So if she's not doing anything for herself then why should you do something for yourself?

Except for the fact that the two situations are completely different. One of them is something simple that won't hurt anyone and the other will break up a family and will cause her entire life to change. Something that she's not ready to do yet. At least that's what you think.

"Fine." You nod, "I'll go dance in the rain. For you."

"Yes!" She squeals, and stands up, trying to pull you up.

"Wait. Now?"

"Yes, now. You still have ten minutes of your break and you'll be too tired by the time your shift ends. Come on" Santana begs.

"Fine! I'll do it but you can pay for the dry clothes i'll have to get from the clothing department after."

"Deal. Just take whatever you want, no way am I ever buying clothes from here, even if they're for you. I'll just just say that they were faulty or something."

After successfully pulling you out of your chair, Santana drags you through the store, not letting go of your hand until you reach the exit doors. Looking out at the rain, you take a deep breath. You don't feel how you used to feel before dancing. You're nervous. You know that you're not going to do any choreography or anything straining or stressful but still. It's going to be the first time you've danced in almost five months. It's scary.

You're also going to be doing it in front of Santana and the last thing you want to do is embarrass yourself in front of her. Especially since Santana now knows how you used to dance.

It turns out she had wanted to see what you looked like when you were happy and doing something you loved and were good at, so one night when she couldn't sleep she watched most of your dances on youtube. You're sure she must have gotten carried away because you woke up to twelve texts from her about tours and music videos and about how she really wants to see you dance and maybe one day you could dance together.

You're not sure what she meant by that but even if she meant messy dancing in a club while being drunk and sweaty and surrounded by other drunk, and sweaty people, you wouldn't care, in fact, you would love too.

But now that Santana is looking at you with a huge grin on her face, you're absolutely shitting yourself.

It doesn't stop you though.

Because over the past few months you've learned that what Santana wants, Santana gets and you're willing to give her everything.

"Do you need any music?" She asks, "I think we have a boom box or something somewhere. They're waterproof right?"

"No, I'm good." You reply, taking off your waistcoat and handing it to the brunette and walking out into the rain at the almost empty parking lot. "And no I don't think they are."

You stand there motionless for a few seconds, letting the rain soak you as you stare up at the grey clouds that are making the sky way too dark considering it was still only early afternoon.

"Dance!" Santana shouts, standing underneath the small shelter outside the exit. She's still grinning at you and you instantly grin back at her, "C'mon, Britt. I wanna see you dance."

So you do.

It's not the best you've ever danced. But it is the most carefree you've ever been.

The dance is a mess and if any of your bosses from Los Angeles ever saw it they would definitely fire you. You're spinning, shaking your hips, doing the moonwalk and even a little bit of the robot. It sucks but still, it's the happiest and less stressed you've felt in a long time.

And the best part is that every time you look back to Santana you see her laughing, her tongue poking out a little and showing off those dimples that you've become so obsessed with.

"Dance with me!" You yell to her over the sounds of the thunder.

"What?" No!"

"Please? You said you wanted to dance with me one day. So come and dance with me." You demand, still moving your body.

"No, Britt!" She protests and shakes her head, "I don't wanna get my hair wet!"

"Please. I really wanna dance with you, Santana."

"Fine!" She shouts and rolls her eyes at you as she joins you in the parking lot, squealing a little when the rain hits her for the first time. "Oh, my God. It's freezing."

"Well then dance and you'll warm up."

"I have no idea what I'm doing." She confesses and laughs when you do the robot again, "I'm not doing that."

"Come here." You murmur and you think that she doesn't hear you because of the sounds of the rain and wind but then when she steps closer to you, you grab her hand and instantly spin her causing her to giggle, "Just move your body and don't think about it."

You're pretty sure you're both going to catch pneumonia from this but you don't care. Not when you're doing your favourite thing with your favourite person. Where you feel generally happy and you can see and feel that Santana feels the same and you think that if you could dance in the rain with Santana everyday then you would have a very happy life.

However it's not always that easy. Not when Santana is in a relationship, not when you know that it would definitely cause more damage to your ankle and not when it would definitely cause you to be sick all the time because of the rain.

And most definitely not when after just a couple of minutes of happiness you're shortly cut off by a customer struggling to get their shopping cart to their cart and are shouting at you for help. Or shouting at Santana since she's the one still wearing her waistcoat.

"I should go help." She mumbles, pulling away from you, "But I would love to do this again sometime."

"Me too. How about the next time it rains?"

"I'll be there." She smiles and you reluctantly let go of her hand before walking back into the warmth and dryness of Arrow to see Mike smirking at you.

"Have fun?"

"Yup." You beam, walking past him to head towards the clothing section to get that free outfit Santana promised you.

It's not until you're in the staff bathroom with Santana, now both in dry clothes, that you realize that something's wrong.

Santana is sitting on the floor, underneath the hand drier attempting to dry her hair when the power goes off.

"What the fuck." Santana snarls, standing up from her spot-"Ow." But obviously not before she bangs her head off the drier.

"You okay?"

"Am I okay? Have you seen my hair? Of course I'm not okay." She rants.

"Actually, I-I haven't seen your hair. It's dark."

"God, I can't believe this. Of course the power would go out when I have wet hair. This is your fault. You're lucky I lo-like you." She rambles and even though it's dark and you can't see her, you know that she's blushing. Or scowling. Probably scowling.

"Why is the backup generator not coming on?" You wonder and despite your love of storms, you hate the dark. Especially when you're in public since anything could be coming for you. You really hope Roger is asleep right now.

"Honestly, it's probably dead. I don't think it's been checked since I first started here." She explains and you jump when you feel her hand on yours, "Come on, let's go find out what's happening."

"Does this mean we can go home?" Quinn asks from her spot in the large crowd of employees and few customers that had been in the store when the power went out.

You're standing at the back, next to Santana, waiting to find out what's happening from your boss, Will. Even though you've never actually seen him do anything boss-like.

"Act-"

"Or do we still have to work?" Tina interrupts him from her spot next to Quinn. You have no idea what's happening with them anymore. You gave up on that drama a while ago.

"Even if we still have to work we don't need this many staff so we should at least send some people home." Mercedes suggests.

"Actually-" Will start again, only to be cut off by Santana who has a hood from a hoodie that you had in your locker covering her hair.

"Well, if only some of us are getting sent home then I'm going. I have a child at home who is probably scared shitless and I should really be there for him like the good mother I am."

"Isn't Luca staying at your moms tonight?" You whisper so only she hears it, knowing that he always stays with her mom on Friday and you were there when Dan had text her telling her that he had already dropped him off about an hour ago.

"Well yeah, but I just need a good excuse so that I can get out of here."

"Well, I have a scared cat!" You blurt out. "Can I go too?"

"No one is going anywhere!" Will shouts, which silences everyone, "Since the backup generator is down it means that we have no power at all."

"No shit Sherlock."

"And since all of the doors are electric, it means that we're all locked in her until the power comes back on."

Well.

Fuck.

:)

also i know i mentioned brittany being autistic but i'm not going to focus on it, even though i have put in a few hints to her being autistic. i just wanted to mention it since i love the idea of canon brittany being autubecause i'm venting and pushing my shit onto fictional characters.