Thank you readers for your comments and constructive criticism.

From the comments, I can tell you all want them to be together (obviously we all do), but this story is about them getting there, so I would have to end it if they were to get their happy ending right now! We'll get there though.

In the mean time, enjoy!

"I know. I love you too, see you soon," I say before ending the call. My bedroom door creaks just enough to grab my attention, and I turn in time to see it slowly closing. "Britt?"

Her head pops in. "Hi."

"What are you doing?"

She shrugs, innocently. "Nothing."

"So then why are you hiding behind the door?" I ask with a chuckle as I start to sort through the laundry that lays on my bed.

She lets out a small, embarrassed laugh. "I wasn't hiding. It's just that I heard you… talking on the phone, I mean, so I was gonna come back later."

"Oh, I was just talking to my mom."

"Oh," she nods, stepping into the room.

"I haven't told her about our planned visit. Can you imagine the look on her face if we surprise visit her?" I say with a laugh.

"We?"

I frown at her question. "Are we not going anymore?"

"We are, but I didn't know you wanted me to go see your mom with you."

"Oh." I look down at the laundry, embarrassed for jumping the gun. "I guess I just assumed you'd go with me since my mom hasn't seen you in ages… But you don't have to go. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. Sorry."

"No, no." Brittany says, moving closer. "I want to go with you," she clarifies with a warm smile. "I'd love to see your mom."

"Okay. Great," I say, my relief made obvious by my matching smile.

Brittany notices the clothes laying on my bed and picks one of the shirts up. "Oh, I think these are mine."

"Oh, yeah. I saw them in your laundry basket so I'm gonna throw them in with my load. Is that okay?"

She smiles wide, almost sheepishly. "Yeah, that's fine. Thanks."

"So was there something you were going to tell me before you decided to hide behind my door?" I ask as she follows me out to our small laundry room.

"I wasn't hiding!" She laughs. "But yeah, I wanted to tell you that Sugar and I got the AC to work!"

"What?" I stuff the clothes in the washer and dump a cup of soap in. "Are you serious? The two of you?"

"Yes, the two of us! I'll prove it to you, c'mon."

She leads me to the living room where Sugar is standing in front of the AC, arms spread wide.

"Hey Titanic, you mind letting the rest of us enjoy some of that air?" I ask.

Sugar straightens up and puts a stern face on. "Brittany and I fixed it, so I think it's only fair that I get to enjoy it first. You couldn't even get maintenance to come look at it."

I roll my eyes. "Alright, calm down. Stand there till' you turn into the iceberg."

Sugar turns back to the source of cool air, and Brittany looks at me expectantly.

"What?" I mouth in silence.

Brittany points at Sugar with an upward jerk of her eyebrows.

I know what she wants. She wants me to apologize. It's been a week, but I haven't gotten around to apologizing for my comments about Nico, hence her angry teenage girl attitude towards me.

I sigh and slump on the couch. "I'm sorry for what I said about Nico."

At the sound of his name, Sugar turns to look at me.

"And I'm sorry for bringing up your parents. From now on, I'll try to keep the comments to a minimum."

Brittany clears her throat.

"Fine. I'll try to keep them to myself, and that's the best you're going to get," I warn. "I know you've been talking to him or whatever, so we should all hang out sometime. See if he can get my approval."

"Really?" Brittany and Sugar both ask in unison.

"Yes, geez. Why are you guys so surprised? Do you not want to?"

"I want to," Brittany quickly answers.

"Yeah, me too," Sugar adds. "I guess we just didn't expect much more than an apology."

"Well, let's not make it a big deal, hm?"

Sugar nods happily. "I'll gonna go call him and let him know." She kisses my head as she rushes past me.

"Was that so hard?" Brittany asks, sitting next to me.

"That's just your way of saying 'I told you so,' and I don't like it."

Brittany laughs. "It is not." She tucks a leg beneath her and scoots closer until she's able to drape an arm around my shoulders. "Wasn't her happy face worth getting over your pride for?"

I shrug. "I guess."

"You know it was. You care about her, you just don't know how to show it."

"I don't know how to show a lot of things."

Brittany observers me for a moment, then asks, "Like what?"

I shake my head with a sigh. "Nevermind… Hey, um, before I forget. I changed my shift at the studio, so I'll be able to give you a lift to work in the mornings."

"Santana…" She tilts her head in that adorable way that only she knows how to do. "You didn't have to do that. It's not that far, and I don't mind taking the bus; it's good for the environment," she chirps.

"So is carpooling, so from now on I'll drop you off. I won't get off work in time to pick you up but at least you don't have to wake up extra early anymore."

Her lip press together, making it evident that she doesn't agree one-hundred percent. "Alright," she says, giving in. She leans in and kisses my cheek. "Thank you."

/

The next morning I drop Brittany off as planned. "Hey maybe Sugar can start picking you up. She's gets off work before you most of the time," I say when I pull up in front of the veterinary clinic.

"You don't have to worry about me, San. I've been making it home on my own just fine, haven't I?"

"You have but…" I shrug. "I think you should talk to Sugar about it. You're still pretty new to the city."

"Even if I did get lost, I'm capable of finding my way home." She pats my leg with a smile. "I'll be fine. I promise," She hops off the car and just as she's about to shut the door, she leans back in and over the center console with pouty lips.

I laugh as I meet her halfway with a chaste kiss. "Go save some pussies!"

/

That night, as I'm walking out from our building's car lot, I get a text message from Sugar.

Sugar Motta I made you dinner! :) 3 (;

Why? I type as I walk towards our apartment building.

Sugar Motta Because I love you and you're my friend why else?

I begin typing a reply when I hear a car pull up across the street. The passenger door opens causing the interior light to illuminate Brittany as she begins to climb out the car. The driver seems to say something that gets her to look back at him, and they begin chatting for a minute, maybe two. Brittany nods to something he says, and he wraps his arms around her in a hug that I would have ended about 10 seconds ago. When she finally gets out the car, I think of speeding up the stairs before she sees me but I don't; I stand my ground.

Brittany waves goodbye to the moving car and it's only when she begins crossing the street that she notices me. Her eyes widen in surprise. "Hey!"

"Hi," I say, slipping out from her embrace. "Did you get off work late? I could have picked you up."

"No, um, I went out for drinks with some people from work," she explains, her cheeks colored a light pink.

"Oh." I nod. "Did you eat? Apparently, Sugar made dinner."

She shakes her head. "Nope, not yet. Dinner sounds great."

We walk up the stairs in silence, but the questions are itching like bad mosquito bites. Who was in the car with her? Does he work with her? Did she really go out with others and not just him? Can I even ask any of that? I mean, I can ask as friend, right? Or maybe I can get Sugar to ask her.

Jesus, what am I doing?

We get to the fourth floor and through the front door without a word until we walk into the living room. "What the hell?" I say at the sight of Nico passed out on the couch with all three kittens curled up on him. "Sugar!"

"Hey, lovely ladies!" Sugar greets, stepping out the kitchen. "Dinner is ready so if you could just quietly make your way into the-"

"Sugar, what the hell is he doing here?" I point at Nico.

"He just came to hang out," she says, nervously. "He got stuck doing night shifts at work, so I said he could rest here for a while, but… he kinda won't wake up now."

"Have you checked his pulse?" Brittany asks.

"Brittany, he's not dead! He's just tired."

"He's high off his ass! Look at all this." I point at the empty food containers on the coffee table. "I'm going to make a wild guess here and say he had major munchies and ate most of this." Sugar glances at Brittany as if asking for help, but I quickly jump back in. "You literally just met him. You can't bring random guys off the street in here. What were you thinking?"

"He's not a random! I've been talking to him for a week…"

"Exactly my point!"

"Let's just all calm down, okay?" Brittany intervenes. "We'll just wake him up." She walks over to the couch and gently shakes Nico's shoulder. One of the kittens wakes up instead and yawns. "Aw, did you guys see that?" She coos.

I throw my hands up in frustration. "Nico! Wake up!" I order as I shake him.

"How about Brittany takes my bed tonight, and I'll sleep on the floor?" Sugar offers. "I mean, it'll be very uncomfortable and I kinda have back problems but anything for my friend."

"Aren't you a delight?" I say, sarcastically, before heading straight for my bedroom.

"What about dinner!" Sugar wonders out loud.

/

About an hour later, I'm sitting comfortably on my bed editing some photos when there's a soft knock on my door; one that could only belong to Brittany. I take a deep breath before saying, "It's open."

As usual, her head pops in first. "Hi," she says, cautiously.

"Hey."

"Are you going to have some dinner? Sugar made a really good casserole."

I shake my head. "Nah… Thanks, though."

"Can I come in to change clothes?" Brittany asks.

"Of course." As I fight myself to keep my wondering eyes on my computer screen and not on her, an idea pops into my head and it's out my mouth before I can think twice about it."You can sleep here… If you'd like."

She doesn't immediately answer so I glance up.

"With you?" She finally says when we make eye contact.

"Yeah." I shrug. "Or- I mean, I can sleep on the floor if you-"

"We can share," she cuts in, "your bed, I mean… If that's okay."

"Yeah, of course. I don't mind."

"Okay," she nods with a small grin. "I'll go tell Sugar."

"No, no." I say, stopping her from leaving. "Don't. Let her figure it out herself. She deserves that much."

Brittany chuckles with a shake of her head. "You're being too hard on her," she says as she slips into the t-shirt I gave her. "It's not her fault he passed out."

"We know nothing about this guy. He can be a serial killer for all we know, and she's bringing him into our home."

"What are the chances of that actually being true?" She wonders as she pulls on some shorts. "He seems pretty harmless to me."

"He's all doped up, of course he seem harmless."

Brittany walks over to the bed and sits at the edge opposite to me. "I know it's only been a week, but Sugar seems to really like him. You should give him a chance."

"If he can stay off the pot long enough to have an actual conversation, then maybe I will."

"That sounds fair." She slides under the covers and leans in to look at my computer screen. "Those are nice."

"You think so?"

"Mhm."

Together, we stare at the slideshow for a few minutes. It's a comfortable silence but the questions are still running over and over in my head. I know it's not my place to ask… or maybe it is.

"So you've made friends at work?" I start.

"Yeah. They're all really nice. Well, except one of the other techs who doesn't seem to like me very much."

"That's insane. Everyone likes you."

Brittany chuckles. "Thanks, San, but I think it has something to do with me being picked over her to assist in a surgery we did last week. I mentioned I had seen one being done before, so they wanted me to get some hands on experience."

"How's that your fault?"

She shrugs.

"Did she go out with your group tonight?"

"She did, but there wasn't any drama, so I had fun."

I nod and keep quiet for a moment before casually saying. "It's a good thing you found a ride, tonight. Does he work with you?"

"Yeah," she says, and I can feel her eyes on me. "He's one of the vets."

"Oh. Cool," I reply in an awkward tone. "He seems like an affectionate guy."

Brittany straightens up and makes it clear that she's looking straight at me. "Why do you say that?"

I shrug. "It just seems like it from what I saw when he dropped you off," I say, keeping my eyes on my laptop.

"Santana," Brittany calls.

I forcefully tear my eyes away from the screen and look at her.

"What are you trying to say?" she asks, calmly.

"What? Nothing. I'm not trying to say anything." I wait for her to say something but she doesn't. She just holds my gaze. "What?" I ask again, and it comes out sounding more frustrated than I intended.

Brittany sighs and looks away. "He asked me out. I said no. Then he asked me for a hug, so I just said yes."

"You said yes to going out with him?"

"To the hug!" She says, and this time it's her who sounds annoyed.

"Oh…" is all I manage to reply.

"Are you disappointed?"

"What?" I scowl. Of course I'm not disappointed.

"Should I have said yes?"

My mouth twitches as I try to form an answer. What would a friend say? What would a friend with "benefits" say? What would a friend with "benefits" who is feeling a little jealous say?

As if it were a gift straight from the heavens, my phone goes off next to me and gives me a reason to break eye contact with her. I look at the screen and hesitate on whether to answer it or not.

The phone rings again and I swipe my finger across the screen. "Hello?"

"You, me, a bottle of Moscato, and the possibility of a trip to my bed. Okay, a guaranteed trip to my bed."

"Hey, um, how are you?"

"Uh… I'm fine. Thanks?" Mallory says. "But i'd be much better if you get your bubble butt to my apartment. It's been way too long."

"Really? I'll check my schedule and see if I can fit them in this month."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Thanks for the heads up. I'll let you know tomorrow."

"Ohhh. You're with some other chick, aren't you? Well, at least wash up before you come in to work tomorrow, alright?"

"Will do. See you tomorrow."

"Bye Playboy!" She says with a laugh.

I end the call and silently place my laptop on the night stand. "We should get some sleep," I suggest, shuffling down on the mattress until my head rests on my pillow.

Brittany takes a deep breath and does the same. "Goodnight," she whispers before pulling the sheets over her and turning the lights out.

/

"Whoa. So let me get this straight," Mallory says, sounding amused. "You're friends- best friends… and you guys make out but don't have sex and aren't exclusive, yet you're not having sex or dating other people?... Who does that!"

I sigh. "I do, apparently."

She chuckles. "Well, at least I feel better about being blown off last night."

"Why?"

"Because you were with her. You weren't rejecting me for just anyone. I mean, come on. It's kind of obvious there's something else going on here. You have literally given up sex for a few kisses from your friend. And! you faked it on the phone so that she wouldn't know that I was inviting you over for sex."

I groan, annoyed. "I haven't given up anything. I can have sex with other people if I want to, and so can she."

Her eyebrows shoot up. "Is that right? You should tell her to go out with that guy then."

"I- It's not-" I stutter, then sigh. "Do you think I should end it? Go back to being just friends? I mean, the whole reason why we're suppose to have no strings attached is because it'd be easier to go back to being friends if things got complicated, which is what seems to be happening."

"See, your problem is that you chose the worst person to have that kind of relationship with. Your friend with benefits should always be someone who you don't really care about. And Brittany is obviously not that person." She spins a few times on her desk chair then comes to a sudden halt. "Wait… I'm your friend. I have benefits. Does that mean you don't care about me?" She asks, appalled.

I laugh. "Technically your benefits ended a while ago, so I guess your worth level went up."

"Well, thanks a lot for that. I feel so special," she jokes. "Seriously though, you probably don't want to hear this, but it sounds to me like you're falling for her."

Wouldn't be the first time, I think to myself.

The studio's entrance chime rings and the world's most beautiful set of blond locks come through the door.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is," Mallory jests with a grin.

"Hi," Brittany greets her with a hint of confusion. Her eyes land on me and she smiles.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask.

"I brought lunch." She sets a large paper bag on the counter, giving off a scent of thai noodles

"Oh, no way! I love thai." Mallory springs up from her chair and looks inside the bag. "Would you happen to have anything in there for me?"

"Sorry, it's lunch for two," Brittany says, flatly.

I frown at her, then turn to look at Mallory and say, "If you cover for me here while I have lunch, I'll bring you something back."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Go have lunch. Enjoy."

I grab the paper bag and walk around the counter. "The Chicago River is nearby, want to go there?"

Brittany nods. "Yeah, sounds great."

As we walk down the street, Brittany walks closely besides me, her hand gracing mine every few steps. It reminds me of the time when she used to walk me home from school and a small part of me hopes she would try to hold my hand like she once did.

"How did you get here?" I ask.

"I took the subway. And guess what? I didn't get lost," she teases.

"I know, I know, you can take care of yourself."

"But it's sweet that you worry about me."

"I just want to make sure you're safe. I wish I would have had someone here to worry about me when I first got here."

"I wasn't with you, but I worried about you. Everyday."

I lift my eyes up from the floor and look at her. "Why?"

"Because you were here alone. And I knew if something scary happened to you, you probably wouldn't tell me because you didn't want to worry me and distract me from school."

"Well aren't you clever?" I laugh.

"I know you better than you think I do," she confesses.

I avoid looking at her until we arrive at the river where we take a seat on one of the benches near the water.

"This weather is great," she comments as she pulls out some food containers.

"Enjoy it while it lasts. Soon all hell will freeze over. Literally."

"I'm kinda looking forward to that. California was great, but it didn't offer many cuddle days. I miss wearing sweaters and staying in to watch movies while it rains or snows."

"Are you saying you wore a sweater while you cuddled and watched movies with someone in Cali?" I tease, before forking some food into my mouth.

Brittany chuckles and shakes her head. "You know I had a few dates but nothing more," she says as she watches a few boats sail by.

I don't know if it's the way the light is hitting her, but I suddenly can't believe how unbelievably beautiful she is. Her hair so long and silky. Her skin so smooth and glistening. Her lips so thin and peachy, and her eyes bluer than today's clear sky. I know there's no such thing as perfect, but she comes so close to it.

"Can I ask you something?" She suddenly says.

"Yeah," I respond, realizing my palms have started to sweat.

"I don't know if this is ok to ask, but… well, I told you about my co-worker asking me out so… I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I was just wondering about Mallory."

I swallow. "What about her?"

Brittany pushes her food around, then looks up at me, her features displaying a hint of apprehension. "Is she- Is there something going on between the two of you?"

"Between me and her? N- no… We're friends. Just friends."

"Oh…" She chuckles. "Sorry. I just thought… I don't know."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it."

"Can I ask you one more thing?" She asks while keeping her eyes on her lap.

I really don't want you to. "Sure."

"This is going to sound stupid but…" She giggles, embarrassed. "Am I the only girl you're…" She looks up at me, waiting for me to answer her incomplete question.

"Yeah. You're the only one."

The corner of her mouth pulls into the tiniest smile and it makes my heart skip a beat. "Okay." She nods. "Cool."