Santana cleared her throat as she reviewed the sheet music. She'd been in the booth for hours and she was ready to go home for the day. She loved singing, but there was something monotonous about repeating the same notes and lines until her voice cracked. "Hey, D'Shon. Can you replay Mercedes' recording of verse three for me? I think I need to take my part down a note." They had spent the last few months perfecting the album and it was getting so close to being completed.
"Sure." The response came through the speaker.
Slipping the headset on again, Santana listened to the verse intently, humming her own verse until she found the note she was planning to use. With a nod, she scribbled on the sheet music with her pencil. Motion from the other side of the glass got her attention and she couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face, lifting a hand in a small wave at her wife.
Brittany's arrival meant the day was just about over. Brittany had been working with another choreographer and a set designer, preparing for the tour and she usually finished with enough time to meet Santana at the studio. They didn't have any plans for the rest of the evening which meant laying around on the couch and maybe watching Sweet Valley High. The convoluted plot of The L Word had ended up being a bit too stressful for the both of them and they'd gone back to their favorite show. She felt the flutter of excitement she always felt when Brittany was near and she felt the motivation to get the new changes down.
Brittany set the cup she was holding down as she took a seat in front of the large sound panel. She could see Santana through the glass of the booth, nodding her head to the beat of the music.
Since they'd started recording, Brittany had seen a change in Santana, an almost springy excitement that had been missing when they were just dealing with classes. As much as Brittany was born to dance, Santana was born to sing. Even on days when the studio hours were long, or when she was nursing a strained and sore throat, her wife had this underlying joy about her.
Unwilling to let the moment slip away, Brittany took out her phone to snap a few pictures. Despite selling Fondue for Two to Univision, her followers had continued to follow her on social media and even her new channel where she was documenting their road to the tour.
As Santana finished the portion of the song, D'Shon nodded, hitting his mic button. "You were right about the change. That sounded great."
"You bet your ass it did." Santana smirked, sending a wink Brittany's way before she started to flip through the sheet music.
Brittany smiled before her attention was drawn to the board in front of her. Her fingers twitched as she looked over the controls. She held back for about five seconds before she discreetly turned one of the closest knobs.
"Please don't touch that," D'Shon gave her a suspicious side-eye.
Pulling her hand back, Brittany smiled at the music producer. Through the glass, she could see Santana was gathering her music sheets in the booth so she knew nothing she did would really matter and there were so many knobs and sliders calling to her. Brittany couldn't resist waiting until D'Shon turned away before reaching out to turn one of the knobs on the panel in front of her.
"Hey! Cut it out!"
"Oh, I know you're not yelling at my wife." Santana stepped out from the recording booth, fire in her eyes. Nothing rose her hackles more than someone mistreating her Britt. "You okay?" She asked Brittany, her gaze softening.
Brittany nodded, smiling as Santana leaned down for a kiss. "I brought you tea," she offered as the kiss ended. She couldn't help herself, turning just slightly to give D'Shon a narrow-eyed smirk.
"Thanks, Babe. Just what I needed." Santana took a sip from the tea, enjoying the sweet tang of lemon and honey before she turned to give a less than friendly look to D'Shon. "We good for today?"
D'Shon nodded. "Yeah, luckily we got it down before someone started messing with the board." He looked at Brittany before clearing his throat. "I'll see you in the morning."
Santana slipped her coat on and when Brittany held out her purse, she accepted it before slipping her hand into Brittany's. "Tomorrow morning is dance rehearsal so I believe we're scheduled for the afternoon."
"Oh, right." D'Shon nodded, checking his calendar.
"See you tomorrow," Santana called to D'Shon as she allowed herself to be pulled out.
They stepped out into the evening air, the sidewalk as busy as always. It was easy enough to flag down a cab and Brittany took the opportunity to take out her phone. She went through the photos she took of Santana singing and pursed her lips, trying to decide which one was best. Of course, she was a bit biased, so it wasn't an easy task.
Santana tried not to be controlling or tell Brittany what she could or couldn't post. That wasn't the type of relationship she wanted to have, but with the album and tour on the horizon and Britt's history of internet shenanigans, Mercedes had asked her to keep an eye on her posts to make sure nothing overly scandalous went out into the world. So when her phone beeped to alert her of a new posting, she was quick to check it. The photo of her singing covered with kiss stickers brought a soft smile to her face and she leaned over to place a real kiss on Brittany's cheek.
"What's that for?"
Santana shrugged. "I just love you."
A bright smile spread across Brittany's face. "I love you too."
The ride home was uneventful and it wasn't long before they were quickly changing into comfortable loungewear, ready to spend the rest of the day indoors. "Hey, Britt, did you get that email I sent with the tour schedule?" Santana worked the cork out of the bottle of wine, looking to her wife who was elbow deep in her backpack, rooting around.
Brittany's brow furrowed as she puffed out her cheeks, thinking for a moment.
"Don't worry about it. I printed it up for you." Santana retrieved two wine glasses from the wine station. "I was thinking we could go over it. Some of the locations we'll have time to maybe do a little sightseeing." Santana moved to the couch with the two glasses and the bottle. She poured two glasses before taking hers.
"I got you a gift." Brittany presented a small box to Santana, dropping down beside her on the couch.
Santana raised an eyebrow, taking a long sip from her glass before setting it on the coffee table and accepting the box. "What's the occasion?" She opened the box and found a teal and black corded bracelet with a silver bar and a small charm that looked like half of a sphere. On one side of the bar was her name engraved, and the date they met engraved on the other side of the bar.
Brittany smiled as she reached into the box and took Santana's right hand, sliding it onto her wrist and making sure the small charm was on the outside. "I saw these online when I was looking for jumpsuits for Lord Tubbington's daredevil performance and I thought they were perfect for us. See." Brittany lifted her left hand that already had a similar bracelet on her own wrist. When she held her pinky out, Santana hooked her pinky around Brittany's without hesitation. Instantly, the charm on each bracelet magnetically connected to each other, forming a completed orb.
Santana had to smile at that. "It's perfect, Britt. Thank you." She leaned forward for a kiss.
Brittany hummed softly. "You're welcome." She brought their joined hands up and placed a kiss on the back of Santana's.
Santana bit her bottom lip, moving closer. "Wanna play a game?" She shifted her hand so that their fingers were intertwined, but the bracelets were still connected. "We can see how long we can stay connected," she bat long lashes at her wife, a smirk making its way across her face, "while I show you just how thankful I am."
Narrowing her eyes at Santana, Brittany smirked and pressed forward, meeting soft lips in another kiss.
Santana laughed into the kiss as Brittany moved to straddle her lap. It was almost enough of a distraction to make her release Britt's hand. Already she was beginning to regret suggesting the game as she wanted to do nothing else than slide both hands up the front of her wife's body, to feel every curve she was very familiar with. She had one hand available and she used it to pull Brittany closer. The sound of Brittany's content sigh was like a balm to her soul as Santana began to kiss her way down her long neck, gently nipping the pale skin.
Brittany's hand gripped Santana's a little tighter as her other hand moved to the back of Santana's neck, tilting her head back. "I love your sweet lady kisses," she spoke softly.
Santana was more than glad Brittany had attached the bracelet to her right hand, leaving her dominant hand free to slide up, under the tank top Brittany wore, traveling over toned abs and cupping a breast. She was rewarded with a soft chuckle from Brittany before she tilted her head down to capture Santana's lips again in a kiss.
Brittany easily maneuvered Santana to turn, pushing her back to lay along the length of the couch. She pinned their joined hands above Santana's head and smirked as she slid her free hand along dark tan skin. "I don't have enough hands for this game," she commented, even as her hand slid between Santana's thighs, stopping just an inch or two below the bottom of her shorts, tracing circles over warm skin.
Santana growled softly, her thighs spreading a little wider in hopes of luring Brittany's hand higher. "Babe…" She heard the pleading tone in her own voice, but she didn't care. How the hell did her body go from 0 to 100 in less than ten seconds? "Please."
Curling her fingers slightly, Brittany trailed her nails over the soft skin of Santana's thigh, grinning when she began to squirm.
"No no no no no." Santana pleaded, the touch more ticklish than sensual. She removed her hand from Brittany's shirt, covering the offending hand with a growl.
"I like seeing you wiggle," Brittany chuckled. "You're so beautiful when you can't sit still. I mean, you're always beautiful, but I really love watching you."
"And I really love when you touch me," Santana responded. She aligned her hand with Brittany's, covering each finger with her own as she slid Brittany's hand up her thigh, up the leg of her shorts, and to her core, getting no resistance from her wife. "Especially here."
Brittany allowed Santana to freely control her hand, to guide her movements as she desired. She watched as Santana's eyes fluttered closed, her back arching as she bit her bottom lip. "Here?" She felt Santana's grip on their joined hands tighten. "So gorgeous," Brittany commented before capturing Santana's lips in a hungry kiss and swallowing Santana's moan as her fingers were pressed deeper.
Coffee . Santana nursed the insulated cup between her hands, breathing in the mouth watering aroma. Scanning her badge, she bumped the door open with her hip. She knew from experience it was a bad idea to be drinking a diuretic before dance rehearsal and she was pretty sure she would be scolded as soon as she was caught, but she was so damn tired. The room she stepped into was bright and loud, a remodeled warehouse that had various mock sets.
Motion caught Santana's gaze, a familiar blonde leading a group through a dance routine and she couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. Well, that woke her up better than any coffee could. Most of her high school years were spent stealing glances at Brittany. The only difference now, she thought as her thumb rotated the two rings on her left ring finger, was that she didn't care if she was caught.
Brittany was flawless as always, lost in concentration while going through the moves before stopping. She turned to face the group of dancers, motioning for them to go over the dance as she watched, holding her hands up about halfway through. "Cameron, you're a full beat behind," Brittany commented, hands on hips. "Everybody, take a five minute break and we'll start over from the chorus."
Santana was about to step up when one of the dancers stepped into Brittany's personal space, daring to casually touch her on the arm.
The dancer was short and compact, wearing just a sports bra and skin-tight workout shorts with her dark hair tied up in a ponytail. "Would you be able to go over that 720 at the second chorus? You move so flawlessly that it's hard to focus on the technicalities of it."
Santana's eyes instantly narrowed as she felt the anger in her begin to awaken, memorizing everything about the woman. She was sure someone would need it to identify the corpse after she was done with her.
"Yeah, I get that," Brittany rose the arm the dancer had dared to touch, signaling one of the male dancers. "Maybe watching Brett here can help. You don't have to worry about flawlessness with him."
"It's Jonah," he responded, slightly defeated.
"God why are there so many of you with different names?" Brittany massaged her temple. "Anyway, can you help Cindy here with the 720?"
The woman took half a step back, her expression deflated. "It's Marisa."
"So many of you!" Brittany huffed, turning around and only then noticing Santana who was now watching her with a smirk. "Santana! You're awake finally," she spoke with a teasing tone. "Please tell me that's not coffee."
Santana took the few steps forward, glad that her heels brought her tall enough to be even with Brittany as she captured her lips in a kiss. She might have pressed a little closer than she would normally in public, but that damn dancer had awakened Snixxx. "I know. I'm sorry, Babe. I was really tired after you wore me out last night." She brought her hand up to straighten the necklace around Brittany's neck, tracing her clavicle as she felt Brittany's arm wrap around her waist in instinct. "Do you think you can work with me and Mercedes today? You're such a better teacher than Marco. Besides, I like watching you dance."
"Yeah, of course, but only if you promise to actually dance today." Brittany smiled brightly. "Anything for you. Go warm up and I'll talk to Marco."
"You are the best wife ever," Santana spoke with intent, her eyes meeting the dancer's who wisely looked away. She turned towards another section of the warehouse, sipping her coffee with a smile. She found Mercedes sitting on one of the set pieces, typing into her phone. "I see you've started warming up."
Holding up a finger before finishing what she was typing, Mercedes set her phone down and gave her a wry smile. "I saw that."
"Saw what?" Santana put her bag down and sat beside Mercedes.
"I can't have you murdering my dancers, Santana."
"Oh please. I didn't murder anyone," Santana scoffed into her coffee, looking over to where Brittany was chatting with Marco, the other choreographer. "She needs to keep her fucking hands to herself."
Mercedes rolled her eyes. "As if Brittany would ever even consider cheating on you."
"Of course she wouldn't." There was truth in that as Santana watched Brittany refilling her water bottle before turning towards them. If there was one thing she had absolute faith in, it was Brittany's love. "That doesn't mean I'm gonna let some random basic bitch put her hands on my wife. She's either a moron and didn't know Brittany's married or she doesn't care which makes her a conniving bitch." She let her eyes travel over Brittany's tall form, smiling in appreciation.
"Wait, I thought Marco was working with us today," Mercedes complained softly as Brittany was obviously heading their way and Marco took over the group she'd been working with. "You know she's such a hardass."
With a shrug, Santana slid off the set piece she was sitting on, tossing what remained of her coffee in a nearby trash. "The things we do for love."
"Yeah, you can do whatever you want for love. Just don't force me to pay for it."
"Ladies!" Brittany put her hands on her hips as she got close. "Are we not planning on warming up today? Let's go!" She clapped her hands together. "Let's start stretching and don't think I'm going to let you slack off Santana. I know exactly how far you can stretch."