"You are positively glowing." Quinn whispered into Santana's ear as they hugged. "I'm definitely not going to ask why."
Santana smirked as she stepped back, letting Brittany hug Quinn. She accepted hugs from both Kurt and Blaine. The next hug took her by surprise as she was wrapped in arms that picked her up. "Trouty mouth? I didn't expect you to come all the way out here."
"And miss the party? No way! Besides, I'm like a movie star in this club. I've gotten like 6 numbers so far. They're all dudes, but who doesn't like the attention?" Sam responded. "One of them even had a magazine with my underwear ad in it." They had commandeered an entire corner of the gay club where the music was surprisingly not as loud, a large table covered in a variety of glasses. "Can I get you guys something to drink?"
"Gin martini, dirty, three olives for me and a lemon drop, extra sweet for Britt."
"You got it!" Sam disappeared into the crowd.
Santana watched him rush over to the bar, getting the bartender's attention almost immediately. With a mouth as big as his, she didn't doubt how many phone numbers he'd get.
"Look at you."
Santana froze as the familiar voice came from behind her. She turned to find a just as familiar face, long blue hair cascading over her shoulders in perfectly flowing curls. "Dani!" She laughed uncomfortably, leaning forward for a quick hug. In the year she'd lived with Britt in New York, she'd managed to avoid her ex completely, not really wanting to explain everything that had happened.
"I don't mean to crash the party, but Kurt insisted." Dani laughed.
Santana made a mental note of that. Of course Lady Hummel would. He'd been trying to force the subject for months so Santana would come to their band performances. Santana had always made sure they were busy doing something else.
"Also," Dani leaned in with a conspiring tone. "I'm actually really curious to meet the only person on Earth who apparently could manage to tame the Santana Lopez and get you to stop fighting with Rachel."
Santana released a genuine laugh. "No see, that's where you're wrong. Britt never tamed me. She likes me wild. And you kicked me out of my own band while she bought me a plane ticket to Europe." She turned to find Brittany speaking to Kurt. She easily reached over and gently tapped on Brittany's arm. Santana felt her breath catch in her throat as Brittany turned and gave her a loving smile. Returning the smile with her own, Santana offered her hand and Brittany took it without thought, allowing herself to be pulled over to Santana's side. The incredulous look on Kurt's face at the sudden cutting off of his conversation was just a bonus for Santana. "Britt, this is Dani. Dani, this is my lovely wife, Brittany."
Brittany's eyes lit up, instantly releasing Santana's hand and pulling Dani into a hug. "Oh my God. You are so much prettier than I imagined you'd be."
There was a soft "oof" that came from Dani as she blinked, a bit taken back. "Um, thank you."
"Santana told me all about you. Well, technically Kurt told me about you first, but then I badgered Santana until she told me more about you." Brittany accepted the two drinks from Sam when he appeared. She handed Santana the martini with a scrunch of her nose. "Santana told me about your family and that totally sucks. I have no idea why we're not friends already."
"Britt," Santana laughed nervously.
"If your Abuela can change her mind, I'm sure we could totally help Dani." Brittany responded seriously.
Santana laughed. "Babe, you called her a crazy uptight bitch and then Sue threatened to stone us at our wedding."
Dani took a long sip from her own drink. "Okay I have a million questions about that alone, but I'm fine with my own situation." She shook her head. "And are you this nice to all of Santana's exes?"
Santana actually coughed mid-sip, feeling the gin burning her lungs.
Brittany rubbed Santana's back. "Totally. I mean, Santana dated half the people here." She gestured to the table of their friends. "Well she didn't date Quinn but they did sleep together. So you'd totally fit right in."
"I need another drink." Santana commented. Sam was still close enough to hear and he quickly headed towards the bar.
"We both dated Sam," Brittany pointed out. "Come to think of it, Sam has pretty much dated all the girls here… even Rachel."
"Just the girls?" Dani asked in amusement, seemingly enjoying Santana's frustration.
"Well yeah. I mean both Kurt and Blaine had crushes on him but he only likes girls." Brittany shrugged before moving beside Dani to face the group. "Quinn and Puck there have been off and on since sophomore year of high school and he got her pregnant. But he was also cheating on her with Santana. One weird week he decided to date Rachel but thankfully he got smarter and started dating Mercedes which Santana hated," She pointed each of their friends out.
Santana debated stopping Britt but frankly, Dani's incredulous look was amusing. She also hadn't quite thought about how close everyone in the glee club had eventually gotten. When Sam appeared with her drink, she smiled. "You are so much more useful when you're not trying to sleep with Britt."
Sam laughed. "I do my best."
Brittany, however, had not stopped her recap. "But Quinn was cheating on Finn with Puck and then Finn broke up with her and started dating Rachel and then Rachel cheated on him with Puck after she found out Santana took Finn's virginity."
Santana sighed softly at the mention of Finn. Dani at least knew who Finn was. They'd just started dating when he passed away.
Brittany took a sip of her lemon drop before continuing. "Anyway, when Sam moved to Lima, he started dating Quinn who lost all that pregnancy weight over the Summer and was super cute. That's until Quinn cheated on him with Finn and so Santana convinced Sam to date her in retaliation. Poor Sam. He definitely couldn't handle her."
Santana snorted into her drink, giving Brittany an exasperated look. "You're the only one who could, Britt."
"Very true." Brittany thought for a second. "It partly was my fault, I suppose. Santana also only kept dating Sam because I was dating Artie and wouldn't break up with him."
Having been apparently listening, Artie rolled closer. "Are you not going to mention that you were cheating on me with Santana?"
"It wasn't cheating, Artie." Brittany rolled her eyes. "The plumbing is different."
"And who told you that again?" He asked pointedly more for Dani.
"Santana did."
Santana had the decency to bury her nose in her glass, not daring to look at Dani.
"Anyway, I broke up with Artie after he was mean to me. Kurt and Blaine started dating. Santana didn't want anyone to know she was gay so she started dating Kowalski, who's not here because he used to bully Kurt and dated Blaine until Blaine cheated on him with Kurt, but that's like a year down the timeline. Rachel and Finn started dating again. Mercedes and Sam started dating and then broke up again when he moved to become a stripper."
"I didn't move to become a stripper…"
"We're not shaming you, Sam, or should I say White Chocolate? Anyway, Santana and I finally started dating officially that Summer and publicly after Finn outed Santana. Puck was sleeping with Rachel's mom who adopted his and Quinn's baby. Sam moved back to Lima and Mercedes cheated on her new boyfriend with Sam, which I'm not really sure how that works considering Mercedes doesn't put out, but then Rachel, Kurt and Santana went to college and Santana broke up with me so she could sleep with college girls."
"That was not why," Santana huffed. "That was such a horrible idea. I ended up visiting Rachel and Kurt that Christmas and we all got roofied by a sexy santa who stole all their shit and all the presents I bought for myself."
"Well you got really mad when I started dating Sam and you ended up sleeping with Quinn. I still don't even know how you did that. I haven't even slept with Quinn. We should have tried harder in high school. I feel like it's a really big opportunity missed for the unholy trinity."
"Not happening, Britt." Quinn called out from her seat.
Santana leaned forward with a conspiring whisper, "a lot of alcohol."
"Anyway, I broke up with Sam when I got early acceptance to MIT not long after Santana moved to New York. I guess that was when you and her got together but then you kicked her out of the band because she was fighting with Rachel, which is really weird because Santana and Rachel have been fighting since the first day they met and we never kicked either of them from the New Directions."
Santana gave Brittany an approving look. "You know, I never even thought about that."
"Yeah Mr. Schue would never have let that happen. The only time he kicked someone out was when Santana blew up that piano but he let her back in like the next week."
Dani raised an eyebrow. "You blew up a piano?"
"Only because our cheerleading coach, Sue, wanted her to try to sabotage the glee club and Blaine Warbler was singing at the time which is enough to enrage anyone."
"I'm right here, Brittany," Blaine called from his chair. Not surprisingly, the entire group had been listening to the recap.
"Anyway. Santana saved me from having to go back to MIT and the rest is history I guess. Now, we're just like a really big family who just so happened to sleep with each other."
Dani gave her a doubtful look. "That's… kind of crazy... also a little too incestuous for a family."
"How do you even remember all that?" Sam asked, scratching at the stubble of his beard.
"Lord Tubbington kept very detailed records on my associations, particularly within the glee club, for his documentary Fondue for Too Many: The descent from Cheerio to Cheerie Ho."
Santana gave Brittany an exasperated look. "Tell me there aren't any more sex tapes that are going to get out, please. "
"No, there won't be... I'm pretty sure. "
"Oh my God, that was you. " Dani exclaimed.
Santana's eyes widened as she looked at Dani.
"I mean… come on it was the first thing that popped up when I searched your name online when we started dating." She looked at Brittany with more respect. "Two Girls, one Cat had some excellent editing."
Santana emptied her glass and was surprised to find another drink being handed to her, Sam giving her a sympathetic look. "I'm gonna go talk to Mercedes," Santana commented, kissing Brittany on the cheek quickly before leaving them to talk. She sat on one of the large, empty padded chairs around the table between Mercedes and Rachel. "Can you guys just kill me now?"
It was Rachel who reached out in surprise, grabbing Santana's hand.
"Whoa, Berry. That was a joke."
"When did you get this?" Rachel was looking closer at the ring on her hand.
"Oh," Santana smiled. "About four hours ago." She leaned closer so Rachel could get a better look. "Apparently Britt's been bothered for the last year that she wasn't able to get me an engagement ring and decided to correct that."
"That," Rachel tilted her head as she thought it over before smiling brightly. "That's ridiculously adorable and sweet. This looks crazy expensive. How did Brittany afford that?"
Santana rolled her eyes as she took a sip of her martini before setting it aside, recognizing the beginning signs of a buzz. "Well, Britt was going to work with NASA for college credit, but they were clearly trying to take advantage of her so we negotiated a salary for her and you'd be surprised how much NASA pays human calculators. It'll be a bit of a pay cut for her to go on tour, but it'll be worth it to see how happy she is dancing."
Mercedes shrugged. "I'm just happy to have my best girls with me on tour."
"Well that sounds exciting," Rachel sat back, a tight lipped smile on her face. "I'd love to see the show whenever your tour starts."
"Of course!" Mercedes nodded. "You know you guys are my family. You'll always have a ticket ready if you want one."
"Ticket to what?" Brittany asked as she squeezed onto the same chair Santana was sitting on.
"The tour," Santana responded, adjusting her position so she was turned against the side and her legs were crossed over Brittany's thighs.
"Oh," Brittany licked some of the sugar from the rim of her drink before setting it down beside Santana's glass. "That's gonna be fun."
Santana could already feel the alcohol beginning to warm her from the inside and she noticed the few grains of sugar that sparkled enticingly on Brittany's lips. With a grin, she tapped Brittany on the arm and as soon as their eyes met, she captured soft lips in a kiss. She hummed softly into the sweet caress, her tongue capturing the tiny granules of sugar before placing one more quick peck. "You done spilling everyone's secrets?"
"None of that was actually a secret." Brittany's eyes lingered on Santana's lips as she licked her own. She leaned forward just slightly, her nose bumping against Santana's. "Have I told you how hot you look tonight?"
Her breath getting caught in her throat as she felt a hand on her knee, Santana swallowed. How the hell could Brittany still make her weak in the knees after spending hours in their blanket fort not that long ago? "You might have mentioned it earlier, but," she tipped her head for a soft kiss that was broken too soon by her wife. "I'm not against hearing it again. Especially from someone who's looking as fine as you are right now."
"You…" Brittany kissed the left corner of Santana's mouth, "Are…" When Santana moved to meet her mouth, Brittany kissed the right corner of her mouth. "Gorgeous." She quickly met Santana's lips in a deeper kiss, her hand sliding up the length of Santana's thigh.
"Hey!"
Santana winced as she felt something small and hard hit her head. With a growl she broke off the kiss. "What the fuck?"
Brittany laughed as she reached up to remove a pretzel from Santana's hair.
"Oh Hells no. No me gusta."
"Nobody wants to watch you two make out all night," Quinn yelled.
"I mean, I can stand to see more," Puck responded, getting an elbow from Quinn.
"You know… same," Dani commented as she took her own seat next to Kurt, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Okay, no." Santana pulled away, stopping the hand that had reached the bottom hem of her dress.
"You know," Artie took a sip from his glass of bourbon. "I was going to ask how it felt to be married for a year and if there was still passion, but I don't think I even need to ask."
The group laughed.
"Best year of my life," Santana responded easily, snuggling closer to Brittany.
"You know. I like this more relaxed version of you," Rachel commented, getting an elbow to the side from Blaine. "What? I think it's great!"
"You know what?" Santana narrowed her eyes at Rachel until she felt Brittany's fingers intertwined with her own. "Nevermind. It's not worth it."
"Okay!" Kurt flagged down one of the waitresses that was carrying a tray of colorful tubes in test tube racks. "How about a toast?" He pointed a finger at everyone in the group as the waitress began handing out the shots. "Come on, everyone grab one." When everyone finally did, he held his drink up. "So, I wanted to say thank you to my husband of one year for putting up with me, to the best family we could ever wish, and to Britt and Santana. We would never have gotten married if not for you two and we promise to leave you alone to celebrate your anniversary in private next year."
Santana smiled at that, raising her drink. "I can drink to that." There was a laugh around the group as everyone tapped the glasses together before quickly downing the shots. Santana didn't even feel a burn in her throat as she quickly swallowed and she knew that was probably not the best thing. When the empty tube was taken from her fingers, it took a second for it to process before she looked to see Brittany giving her a knowing look.
"You're getting drunk already," Brittany joked, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "We've been here like half an hour."
"I know," Santana buried her face in Brittany's neck. She did a mental count of how many drinks she'd had but she wasn't sure if it was three or four. "I'm sorry, Britt Britt."
"Don't be sorry. This party is for you too." Brittany gently rubbed her back. "You drink all you want,"
Santana sniffled, feeling her eyes threatening to fill with tears. How could her wife be the best person on the entire planet? One year has passed and every day was perfect, even on the days they argued, as rare as they were. "I love you so much."
"Oh, Honey." Brittany hugged her close. "I love you, too."
"Oh no. Not again." Mercedes began to fan Santana and Brittany with a coaster. "You need to hydrate, Girl."
Brittany offered a glass of water that was handed to her. "Drink some of this and we can dance?"
Santana accepted the glass with a sniffle. She really loved dancing with Brittany so that sounded like a great idea. The water was cool and soothing and she drank a good portion before shaking her head. Brittany's caring gaze almost made her want to cry. "Isn't my wife the best?"
Mercedes gave her a thumbs up. "She is definitely the best for you. "
"We should all dance." Kurt stood up, nodding his head toward the dance floor.
Santana nodded, slipping off Brittany's lap and offering a hand down to her wife.
Brittany accepted but easily stood on her own, intentionally bumping into Santana. "Oh, excuse me. May I have this dance?"
"Always." Santana allowed herself to be pulled towards the swarm of people already moving. It was so easy to get lost in the music with the heat of Brittany's body pressed against her from behind as they moved together. She was familiar with the song so it was easier to move with the beat and Brittany moved easily with her, their bodies having long since grown in sync with each other's movements. The crowd of dancers moved around them, but still they were in their own world.
They'd been to clubs over the last year and had danced together many times, but there was something about that moment that held significance for Santana. Maybe it was their anniversary, or being surrounded by their high school friends, but she couldn't help thinking back to how many times she'd wished she could dance freely with Brittany when they were in high school. She'd dreamed of feeling Britt's arm around her waist as they moved as one with the music swelling around them and no one staring at them because they were together.
As if reading her mind, Brittany wrapped an arm around Santana, pulling her back with a chuckle. She gently nipped at the rim of Santana's ear and was rewarded with a hip bump.
Santana laughed as she intertwined her fingers with the hand pressed against her stomach only to find herself twirled around twice before she ended facing Britt. She reached up and wrapped an arm around Brittany's neck, pressing their foreheads together. "Happy Anniversary, Baby. "
"Happy Anniversary," Brittany responded, leaning in for a quick kiss before twisting out of Santana's embrace to dance around her with a laugh.