Brittany sat on a bench close to the water and watched as it shot out of each hole in the ground. She could feel small droplets hitting her arms and legs, but she really didn't care about getting wet. All she cared about was what Santana had said. Puck got her. It was plain and simple. Puck just got her. Why did she have to say that? She could have said anything else. 'Puck knows me'…'Puck and I are the same'… ANYTHING. But instead she had said that Puck got her.
Brittany got her too. Right? Or was she saying that Puck got her in a way that Brittany didn't?
It was all just too much. She felt a little bad for running out on Santana like that, but she couldn't stand to hear anymore of how connected she and Puck were.
All of a sudden Brittany stood up and broke into a run. She ran faster than she usually would, needing to push her mind, her whole body, to forget what Santana had said. But she couldn't. Try as she might. Brittany would just have to accept that there were parts of Santana that she couldn't understand. Quinn understood the bitchy side better than Brittany, Dani understood the lesbian side, and Puck understood…actually Brittany didn't know what Puck understood. She stopped abruptly, bending onto her knees for support as she gulped in air. Maybe this is why she got so disturbed by Puck and Santana's relationship. She said he 'got' her, but what exactly did he get? He was there for her when they were both being idiots she had said. So did he understand the idiot part of Santana? Brittany shook her head violently. This was not the time for stupid thoughts, she chastised herself. What had been Santana's 'idiot' time?
Brittany stood up straight and looked around at her surroundings for the first time. She hadn't been here before. On any other day, she would have been excited to explore new places, but not today. She turned around to head back home and began to walk.
Okay, what could Puck understand that Brittany did not? She didn't know Puck that well, but she guessed that there must be something they had in common. They were both kind of mean…But then, they had all been kind of mean. They both slept with a lot of people…But so did Brittany…and she wasn't so sure that counted for Santana because those were all boys, and she had been trying to fuck away the gay. Her words, not Brittany's.
Brittany stopped walking again, and looked around. Where was she? She had been walking long enough that she should be in familiar territory, but she wasn't. She patted her pockets for her phone before cursing herself deeply. She had managed to lose her phone. Brittany sighed heavily. Great, now she was lost with no way to call for help.
Meanwhile, Santana sat at the bench in front of the water, trying not to cry. She was taking deep breaths to stave off the panic attack she could feel approaching, and it was all she could do to keep from picturing Brittany bleeding out on the street somewhere. In her hands she was squeezing two phones. One was black, with a plain dark red case. The other one, white with a rainbow coloured case that had two cats, Santana wished she was not holding at all.
"Hi, can I use your phone please?" Brittany asked the clerk at the store she had just walked into.
"Umm…we don't usually…I mean…we don't even have...Brittany?" Brittany, who had been absentmindedly looking around the store, spun around to face the boy.
"Chad!?" She said cheerily. "You work here too?"
"Yeah it's my grandfather's store. He makes my sister and I do a few hours a week. What are you doing on this side?"
"I uhh…went for a run." Brittany wasn't sure how comfortable she felt telling Chad that she was lost. "I didn't bring my phone with me and I need to call my girlfriend." She smiled to herself. That wasn't a lie.
"Oh yeah! Sure thing Britt" Chad pulled out his phone from his pocket and handed it to Brittany.
"Thanks" she said, as she punched in the number she knew by heart.
"Santana calm down. I'm sure she's okay. She probably just went for a walk or something." There was silence as Quinn watched Santana pace up and down the living room of their apartment like she had been doing for the past hour. "Santana come on! Sit down. Pacing doesn't help anything"
"IT HELPS ME!" Santana screamed. She was in a fit of panic that Quinn didn't know how to stop. She understood that after Brittany's accident, Santana had been a bit more protective of her, but what she was seeing in front of her was very far beyond that. She had never seen Santana so frantic. Her hair was shaggy because she kept running her hands through it, her face was as pale as someone of her complexion could be, her eyes were darting left and right like she couldn't focus on anything, and her whole body was stiff, even as she walked, which was a far cry from Santana's usually confident swaying. Just as Quinn was about to panic over Santana's behaviour, a phone rang.
Santana stopped dead cold, then dashed suddenly to the coffee table where her phone was laying.
"Hello" she said loudly into the phone. The hand holding the phone to her ear was shaking significantly. She was deathly afraid that this was another hospital calling.
Quinn held her breath, fearing the same thing.
"BRITTANY! Where the hell are you? What the hell are you doing?"
Quinn shot up from her chair, with her eyes bulging. She watched Santana's whole body soften as fear left her eyes, replaced by anger. Santana was frowning now.
"Fine, text it to me." Santana said coldly, hanging up the phone.
Santana stood in the living room, staring up at the ceiling. She was breathing heavily.
"What happened Santana?" Quinn asked.
"I'm going to get Britt. Wait here." She picked her keys from the kitchen counter and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door loudly.
20 minutes later, Brittany watched Santana's car pull up at the store, and wasn't sure how to feel. She was happy to see her, but she still felt uncomfortable because of how she had left, and was embarrassed about how she had to call her for help. When she saw Santana come out of the car though, she was filled with an entirely different emotion. Guilt. Santana looked horrible. Her eyes were puffy like she had been crying and her hair was pulled into a messy bun that left hair hanging both at the back and front like it had been done in a hurry. Deciding not to keep her waiting anymore, Brittany thanked Chad and walked out of the store towards Santana, who was leaning against the hood of the car.
The two of them stood facing each other, but neither of them meeting each other's eye. Santana had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring at her shoes, while Brittany took in the rest of Santana's appearance. She had changed out of the clothes she had worn to work and was now in baggy sweatpants and a crop top. Even as her hair and face looked a mess, Santana was still the most beautiful person Brittany had ever seen.
Deciding to go first, Brittany took a step forward, but was stopped by Santana bringing a hand up, lifting her eyes from her shoes and finally looking into Brittany's eyes.
"Quinn told me" She said. Brittany's shoulders slumped. She had wanted to talk to Santana about this at a time when they were both ready. She wasn't sure that she was ready to talk about it or if Santana was ready to hear it. It didn't matter now though.
"Can we talk about this at home?"
"No Britt. We could have talked about this at home if you had told me about this before, or if you had said something at the coffee shop instead of running off for 3 hours."
Santana's tone wasn't cold, but it was as close to it as Santana had ever gotten with Brittany. It was also painfully obvious to Brittany that she was straining to keep herself from yelling.
"I didn't mean to be gone so long"
"Why did you need to be gone at all?"
"I needed to clear my head."
"Right. Did it help?" Santana didn't roll her eyes, but she may as well have. Brittany could feel herself getting angry.
"Don't do that Santana"
"What Brittany? I genuinely want to know whether you running away from me, without even telling me what was wrong, and then disappearing for hours helped clear your head."
"I already told you I didn't mean to be gone for so long."
"Oh then that's okay then."
Brittany scoffed, then she took a deep breath, reminding herself that Santana had been scared, that's why she is acting this way.
"Santana I was okay. I lost my phone, otherwise I would have called you. I'm sorry."
She watched Santana nod her head slowly, and then walk to the driver's door, pull it open and reach in for something. Next thing she knew, something was flying towards her face. Jumping back quickly, Brittany reached out her hand and caught the object. She closed her eyes with a small sigh when she realised that it was her phone.
"I found it at the water feature when I went to look for you after Quinn explained why you left."
"Quinn doesn't know anything. She shouldn't have-"
"No she shouldn't. You should have Brittany. I mean how the hell could we be together for so long and you didn't tell me about Puck? I mean shit we're supposed to be getting married."
Brittany didn't know what to say. She didn't know why, but she had always been afraid to tell Santana about what had happened with Puck. Most of the time she liked to pretend that the period when she and Santana had broken up had actually never happened. Instead of speaking, she shrugged.
"No that's not good enough for me. You're always making me talk about my feelings. All the while you're sitting on all of this? I thought we don't keep secrets."
"I don't know what to tell you Santana."
"Tell me the truth. What happened?"
"It doesn't matter what happened. It's in the past. Let's just leave it alone and go home."
Brittany made a move towards the car but stopped when she heard Santana lock it.
"Really?"
"Why won't you just tell me? It's obviously not in the past because it made you run out of a coffee shop and-"
"HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO SAY THAT?" Brittany yelled, causing Santana to straighten up and drop her hands to her sides. She frowned at Brittany for several minutes before talking again. When she did it was in a painfully level voice that scared Brittany.
"Tell me what happened with Puck, Brittany. I deserve to know, as it obviously is about me. How am I supposed to make you feel better if I don't even really know what's wrong?"
"I didn't ask you to make me feel better. Let's just go home."
Santana looked at Brittany the way she had looked at her only one other time in the entire time they had known each other. The look of betrayal she had given her when Brittany had chosen to stay with Artie. It broke Brittany's heart to see Santana look so hurt, but before she could say anything, Santana had walked up to her, thrust the keys into her hand and walked away.
"Santana!" Brittany yelled.
"Go home" Santana said, without even turning around.
"Where are you going?" she called after her, but she got no reply. Brittany stood there for several minutes, unsure what to do. Should she go after her or should she listen and go home? It was getting dark and she didn't much like the idea of Santana walking all the way back home by herself at this time. Then she remembered the look she had been given and decided it would be best to give Santana some time. So she slowly got into the car, punched home on the GPS and drove home.
When she walked into her apartment, Brittany was met by a frantic looking Quinn.
"Britt?! What the hell happened? I wasn't sure if I should call the cops or something. Santana wasn't answering her phone. She just got up and left I didn't even know where she was going. To get you obviously, but the way she said it I mean…I don't know…I thought you were hurt or something." She said all this in one breath while examining Brittany for any sign of injury.
"I'm fine Quinn. I just got lost and didn't have my phone to look up directions."
"Oh okay" Then she slapped Brittany hard across her face.
"JESUS! What the hell was that for?" Brittany asked angrily, cupping her cheek, which was still stinging.
"You scared me half to death Britt, but Santana? I've never seen her that way before. She was such a fucking mess that I started thinking I should take her to the hospital. I thought she was going to pull out her fucking hair, or have a stroke…or both. Fucking hell."
Brittany slumped onto the couch feeling severely guilty. She had never really known what Santana was like when she was panicking about Brittany. Sure Santana had told her a bit, but hearing it from someone else, specifically Quinn who was never dramatic, made Brittany feel like shit. And now she had let her go off and walk the streets alone at night. She was really sucking at being a girlfriend today.
"Where is Santana?" Quinn asked, just realising that Santana had not followed Brittany in.
Just then Brittany remembered what Quinn had told Santana. "Quinn why the hell did you tell her about me and Puck?" she asked angrily, standing up again.
"She was so confused Britt. And after you just walked out like… how could I not tell her? What was I supposed to say?"
"Anything else!" Brittany nearly yelled. "Now she's asking questions"
"Why don't you just tell her? Keeping this a secret is only going to destroy your relationship"
"It's not a big deal. I don't know why I acted that way earlier. Maybe I'm just tightly wound from work. If you hadn't said anything I could have come up with something to tell her and we'd be past this by now" Britany said exasperatedly.
"You mean lie to her?" Quinn asked suspiciously.
"No I…I just meant..."
"Listen Brittany, you keeping secrets is a full proof way to explode the nice bubble you guys have been in since you got back together."
"What do you mean?"
"Santana had a lot of work to do to get to trusting you again, the same as you."
"What-"
"Oh my god you guys are insufferable. How many times do I have to tell you that I know you? You both call me about your problems and then get shocked when I know what your problems are? What's wrong with you guys?"
"Quinn what are you talking about?" Brittany was thoroughly confused. Why didn't Santana trust her?
"After Santana broke up with you, you didn't trust her. Not fully anyway…It's why you stayed with Sam. It's the same as when she told you she loved you. You chose Artie because you didn't trust Santana's ability to be with you."
Brittany sat silently for a moment, thinking this over. It made sense. She had always hated making both of those choices, and even though she had other reasons that she told Santana, she had never felt that they were fully true.
"Okay..." she said slowly, encouraging Quinn to continue.
"Well, picking Sam kind of cemented this fear that had been growing in Santana since you chose Artie. You never told her you weren't going to graduate, she heard about you and Sam dating from Tina, and then you married him-"
"It wasn't a real-"
"It doesn't matter Britt. Real or not, it really broke Santana. And again she didn't hear about it from you. Then you got into MIT and didn't tell her. She had to be called by Sam and practically force it out of you."
Brittany sat silent again. She hadn't realised how many secrets she had kept from Santana.
"Now try and think of even one thing about Santana that you didn't find out from her."
Brittany thought hard. Every single person Santana had dated, she had told Brittany about it herself. Even the one night stand with Quinn, Santana had called Brittany and told her everything, saying she knew how fast things spread in the glee club and she didn't want her to find out from someone else. She had always been honest with Brittany.
"Nothing…" She whispered. Quinn nodded knowingly.
"When you guys got back together, she had to work really hard to start trusting you. Obviously she didn't think you'd like…cheat or anything" Quinn added hastily at the pained look on Brittany's face. "But she was always feeling like maybe there was something you were hiding from her."
Brittany closed her eyes and leaned back on the couch, replaying Santana's words. 'I thought we didn't have secrets'. Brittany could have just undone years of progress in one night, just because of a stupid fight with Puck. She would take an uncomfortable conversation with Santana over her going back to not trusting Brittany again.
As if on cue, Santana walked into the apartment looking so bleak that Brittany highly anticipated another slap from Quinn. Without wasting any more time, Brittany began the story.
"I had just wanted him to tell me how you were or something. Just anything. You weren't returning my calls or replying to my texts and I missed you so much."
She paused, waiting for Santana to look up at her. Quinn was doing her best to blend into the couch, not wanting to disturb the moment by walking out.
"But he kept saying he wouldn't tell me, that I didn't need to know. So I told him that I'll always need to know, cause it's always going to be me and you, even if we aren't dating. We'll always need each other."
Santana smiled weakly at the knowledge that even after just breaking up with her, Brittany was still so sure that they would always be in each other's lives.
"And then he said…" Brittany broke off, and Santana took a step towards her.
"What did he say?"
"He said that I've never been all you need. That in high school you had needed him too, the way you need him now…well not now but…the then now."
Santana nodded quickly, showing she understood. Quinn scrunched her eyebrows in confusion before nodding her head as well, even though no one was looking at her.
"He said he was there for you now and I didn't need to worry cause 'the Puckersaurus is going to take good care of her'" Brittany said in an uncanny Puck imitation.
Santana shook her head, already understanding where this was going.
"So I told him that you'd be better off without his help, and that you definitely didn't need taking care of by the disgusting Puckersaurus. And he got really angry and…"
"And what Britt?" Brittany shook her head slightly before looking at Santana with pleading eyes.
"It doesn't matter anymore Santana, if I tell you you're just going to get upset. We really don't need-"
"I need Brittany. I need to know." Santana said in a hushed voice.
Brittany nodded sullenly. "He said that you obviously didn't find him that disgusting when you were with him for two years before me. That you must have liked it more than me cause we didn't get to two years before we broke up, and now as soon as we were broken up you had called him." Quinn and Santana both shook their heads. Puck and Santana weren't even dating for most of those two years. "He said that you could always find another dumb blond to love. That there were just some things that I would never get about you that he did, parts so important that no matter what happened between me and you, you would always need him. 'People fall in and out of love all the time,' he said, 'but the way me and Santana get each other doesn't happen all that often.'" Brittany finished the story close to tears.
"That idiot" Quinn muttered angrily.
"Britt, Puck has always liked breaking people up. He's a real idiot troublemaker-"
"But you said it too. You said it today, that you get each other. You said the same thing." Brittany was fighting hard not to cry.
"Brittany, the fact that Puck understands what it's like to be an idiot is about as important as it is for Quinn to understand what it's like to have someone in your family turn their backs on you."
Brittany was taken aback by the comparison. She couldn't see why that was so important.
"I don't get it" she said.
"Noah and I worked as a couple, if you could even call it that, because we never talked about our feelings. We hung out, messed around, got drunk and that was it. When you and I started getting more serious and I stopped sleeping with him, he asked me why. I never actually told him, but we kind of started talking about how we never thought we were relationship people…" Santana trailed off with a quick look towards Quinn.
"Then we started dating, and he kind of decided that I had to succeed at it because if I could then so could he. So whenever I felt like running or messing up what we had, I'd call Noah and he'd remind me how shit my life is without you. It was better than a pep talk from Quinn because more than anything Quinn wanted to be loved, so she'd definitely not understand what I was scared of."
"And better than talking with me because?"
"It wasn't better than talking with you Britt. My talks with him would go something like 'Britt loves you Santana, and you love her. You'll regret it if you mess it up with her, but if you do, the Puckersaurus is always here to cheer you up.' And I'd remember where I was before I let myself love you." Santana gagged at the thought. "But with you, you always reassured me that you loved me no matter what. I knew that even if I was scared, I couldn't mess it up because you would always be there for me. Eventually I realised I didn't have anything to be scared of in the first place. You fixed me Britt. Puck was just there to remind me that I deserved you."
"What?" Brittany and Quinn said together.
"Puck and I…We come from families that never really cared where we ended up. Britt your family is just completely awesome and Quinn, what they did sucked, but until that moment they cared about you. They were invested in your everyday life. You guys grew up knowing you mattered. Me and puck… we didn't have that. We had to do things to get their attention. So we got into a lot of trouble, and I spent a lot of money so that my dad would at least talk to me about cutting back. My grandmother actively broke me down. I was either too skinny, too loud, not Hispanic enough, not pretty enough, spoiled, you name it. Our parents didn't care if we came home, if we were being bullied, if our grades were good, if we had friends. They didn't care about anything."
Brittany and Quinn looked at each other, then back at Santana with sad eyes as she continued talking.
"You hear something enough times, you begin to believe it you know? So we kind of grew up knowing that we didn't really matter."
"You matter Santana" Brittany said forcefully. Santana smiled sweetly.
"I know that now B. Because of you. You made me believe that I matter, and I love you so much for it. But Noah, he kind of helped me love you despite not feeling like I should."
Brittany walked to her and gave Santana a tight hug. When she pulled back, Santana said,
"I don't need Puck anymore Britt. I didn't always need him and I won't always need him. He was just a necessary person for me to have in my life at a time when I had no idea what I was doing, and that means something to me. Hearing from someone who feels as useless as I did that it's okay for me to be loved made me believe it more than hearing it from someone who I thought at the time, didn't really get how worthless I was. But I was so wrong Britt, because you've always known everything about me. You get me more than anyone ever has…Puck, Quinn, or anyone else may get small parts of me, but you see me for more than just one part Britt. You see everything."
Brittany couldn't contain herself anymore. She bent down and kissed Santana deeply. She dragged her hands up her body and brought one hand to the back of her neck while the other tangled in her hair. She could feel tears wetting both her and Santana's cheeks and didn't know if it was because they were both crying, or she was and it was dripping onto Santana's cheeks, but she didn't care. She loved the feel of Santana's tongue against hers, her hands tugging at her waist, pulling her impossibly closer.
A loud cough broke them apart just as Santana's hands had found their way into Brittany's shirt.
"As glad as I am that you guys are all lovey dovey again, I have to stop you there before the clothes come off. First, I'm still here and have nowhere else to go. Second, there's someone at the door. Third, it's gross. Forth-"
She was cut off as Santana walked to the door and threw it open.
"Hey neighbours!"
It was Elaine.
For the next week, Brittany and Santana spent a lot of time together. They talked about the months they had spent apart and how the break-up had felt. For the first time since getting back together, they aired out all of the fears that had sprung up after the events of that year. Brittany told Santana about how alone she had felt after she left, and how after they broke up she felt like Santana found it easy to cut her out because she wasn't all that important to her anyway. She confessed for the first time, even to herself, that she had always been afraid that Santana had only dated her because she was the only option. For her part, Santana told Brittany that she had been scared that Brittany was settling for her after Artie broke up with her, and when she had refused to break-up with Sam, she thought that their relationship hadn't been as meaningful to Brittany as it had been to Santana. That Santana was just another person she dated, no more special than Artie or Sam.
They talked and they talked until Brittany was sure she had completely rid Santana of the fear that she was keeping secrets. When she had calmed down significantly, Quinn had suggested they call Puck and set the record straight. At the end of the call, Brittany was surprised that Santana had only cursed once in Spanish.
As her two best friends were often cooped up in their room, or off on long walks, Quinn found herself spending her time with their neighbour Elaine. She was a strange woman, and Quinn wasn't sure what to make of her. She was extremely flirtatious, even after Quinn had said that she wasn't gay. But at the same time, Quinn had found that they had fallen into an easy banter with each other, similar to her back and forth with Santana. She was hilariously funny, though often very crass, and Quinn noticed that she never spoke of her personal life. She would either deflect with a joke, or quite conveniently have to leave. Quinn being who she was, found it almost tortuous that she couldn't pry anything out of her. All she knew was that she had moved to San Jose three years ago, was in no contact with her family, and had been dating the same boy for almost ten years.
"So you've known Santana for…wait for how long?" Elaine asked
"I think 18 years now. We met in kindergarten." Quinn replied.
"How cute" She said with a curious smile that Quinn thought looked somewhat longing.
"My relationship with Santana is anything but cute. We've been in competition all our lives. We only started to get along in middle school when we realised we could be more popular together than apart. But even then, I wouldn't say that we were getting along. We were kind of just…coexisting."
"Yet, here you are now…best friends?"
"Ah well… yeah. When we joined our school's glee club in tenth grade, things kind of changed. It took a while, but eventually we realised we needed each other."
"How?"
"I'm not really sure how. One day we kind of just…stopped hating each other. I got pregnant and Santana was grappling with being gay…and I guess we just… decided to stick together. There weren't a lot of people who stuck by me when I got pregnant…And not to say that Santana was great support during the pregnancy…but she didn't turn on me, and afterwards, when they quit the cheerios, I think she realised what it was like not having that protection. After that she and Brittany just sort of hung around me all the time and dragged me everywhere with them, till I got back to normal. Then-"
"Hold on…Hold on…I have about a million questions. You were pregnant in high school?"
"Yeah. Don't ask me about it though."
"Sore subject?"
"Long story"
"Mmhhh…okay. Well just one thing?" Elaine asked.
"Maybe"
"Did you keep the baby?"
"No" Quinn answered shortly. She looked away with a straight face, forcing her mind not to stray to her daughter Beth.
After a moment, Elaine decided to break the tense silence.
"Alright…So next thing. What the hell is the cheerios?"
"Oh!" Quinn said in amusement. "The cheerleading squad. I always forget that people don't know that. Everyone knows what the cheerios are back home."
Elaine gave a huge snort, jerking forward in her seat. "Santana was a cheerleader? Tell me you're joking!"
"I'm very serious." Quinn said with a huge smile. "After Brittany she was the best one on the squad…But don't ever tell her I told you that."
Elaine made a motion like zipping her mouth.
"Would never believe it. She's the least cheerful person I've ever met. Brittany I fully understand. Every bone in her body is probably made of rainbows honestly. But unless you're telling me that she joined in order to get into Brittany's pants…"
Quinn shook her head as she laughed. "Nope again. She joined because I made her. It was the fastest way to be popular in our school. After a while though, I think she genuinely started to like it. But Santana never admits to enjoying herself so she'll never tell you that."
Elaine was quiet for a minute, looking as though she was deeply in thought. Then she nodded, as if this was an acceptable answer, and spoke again.
"Alright. And lastly…What do you mean 'you got back to normal'?"
Quinn frowned slightly, confused, and then realised what Elaine was talking about.
"Oh…well I sort of lost it in my senior year. It wasn't pretty. I don't really know what happened. Probably got tired of trying to be on top. I'd given myself quite the reputation. The perfect girl next door kind. You can imagine how hard it was for me to keep that up after having a baby."
Elaine nodded with a weak smile.
"Yeah...so in my senior year I…rebelled...I guess you could say. I dyed my hair, got a tattoo and started smoking. Ask Santana and Brittany, they love to tell people about it." Quinn said, shaking her head.
"I most definitely will" Elaine said, with a glint of anticipation in her eyes. "You people all have crazy stories. I feel like I should visit this Lima, Ohio. It's not normal at all. I guess it makes sense why you all are so strange. Explains too why Brittany and Santana have such a strange connection."
"Ohh?" Quinn raised her eyebrows.
"What do you mean…'oh'? You've known them all these years and you're telling me you haven't noticed?"
Quinn thought for a moment.
"I know they have a connection. Anyone who sees them together would know they have a connection…Or something. But I don't know if I'd call it strange."
"HA!" Yelled Elaine. "If I didn't know better I'd say they could read each other's minds. The other day, I was over with Britt while Santana was still at work. I was sitting next to her on that couch," She pointed to the couch that Quinn was sitting on.
"Mhh" Quinn made a noise to show she was listening.
"She had been lying with her eyes closed for so long I thought she was asleep. Then all of a sudden she sits up straight and looks towards the door. Next second, Santana walks in."
Quinn laughed. "She probably heard her coming."
"That's not all"
"Do go on then" Quinn motioned with her hand for her to continue.
"When Santana walked in, they didn't even speak to each other. Brittany got up, walked over to her and gave her a long hug. Like….I think it was close to ten minutes before they broke it up."
"So? With what they've told me about their schedules it doesn't surprise me that they hug that long after..."
Elaine held up her hand to stop Quinn talking.
"Then, they pulled back and looked at each other. They still didn't say anything, but Brittany was stroking up and down Santana's arms-
"Yeah I've seen them do that load of times. And then did one of them nod?"
"Yeah!" Elaine exclaimed in astonishment. "Brittany nodded and then walked off to their bedroom. She came back after another ten or so minutes, whispered in Santana's ear, and then Santana got up and left. Brittany just sat back down on the couch with me, and told me I had to leave in about 30 minutes."
"Yeah, they used to do that all the time, usually after cheerios practice. I eventually just assumed it was something they did when one of them was super tired. I still don't know how they know what the other person wants in that moment cause they don't talk, and it's not always the same thing. Sometimes it's food, sometimes it's a bath, sometimes its's sex." Quinn sighed as if not knowing was a huge inconvenience.
"And you're saying you don't find that strange?"
"I guess I've been around them so long that it became normal. Plus I've seen them do far stranger things."
"Like what?" Elaine asked hungrily.
"One time they had a whole conversation just with touches. I watched it with my own eyes so I knew they hadn't whispered or something. We were at a sleepover, and people didn't believe Brittany when she said that she often didn't have to actually say anything for Santana to understand her. So when Santana had gone to the bathroom, one of our friends told her to get Santana to suggest they go watch a movie that weekend."
Elaine looked as though she were watching her favourite tv show. She was hanging on to Quinn's every word.
"Keep in mind that they weren't dating at this point yet. So Santana comes back and sits down next to Brittany and I'm telling you it was the craziest thing I've ever seen. Brittany took Santana's hand and just sort of played with her fingers for a few seconds and then stopped, still holding Santana's hand. Then Santana started stroking up and down Brittany's arm with her other one. And then they turned to each other and looked at each other for a while. Brittany smiles, leans her head on Santana's shoulder and intertwines their hands. After a few seconds, Santana goes, "Hey Britt, there's a new Disney moving coming out this weekend. Do you wanna go see it?"
"NO way!" Elaine shrieks in disbelief. "She must have heard you guys talking about it"
'Nope. I thought that too at first. But I was looking at the corridor she was going to have to come out from and I hadn't seen her. At most she would have had to hide behind the wall. So I went and stood there while everyone was talking, to see if I could hear them, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. And they were talking much louder than we had been."
"No way" Elaine repeated, this time in a more awe struck voice. "I'm not sure if I want to be that connected to someone." She said thoughtfully after a while.
"Me neither" Quinn said.
They were silent for a moment.
"Must be nice though" Elaine added.
"Must be really nice" Said Quinn.
When the second week of Santana's vacation time started, she and Brittany had become closer than ever. They also finally had the time to take Quinn round the city they now called home, and they walked most places so that they could experience everything more fully. As Tuesday drew to a close they were all hot, sweaty and tired. Brittany had made them walk the entire length of the park, and now Santana had kept them in the bookstore for over an hour.
"Enough guys! We have the whole week to do these kinds of things. Why do we have to kill ourselves today?" Quinn whined loudly.
"Don't be a baby preg…Quinn" Santana snapped, with a cautious look at Brittany, who wasn't even paying attention.
Quinn imitated a whip crack
"Oh shut up! You don't know how she can get. If you did you'd listen to her too."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night Santana" Quinn said smirking. "But I bet you can't say no to her."
Santana thought about this for a while. She knew what Quinn was doing, but would she take the bait?
"You know what Q? I don't really care" Brittany was now paying attention to their conversation, thinking that they were fighting. "Maybe you're right, and I can't say no to her, but I don't really want to. Britt is awesome…she's so awesome and we both know that I don't deserve her. So if me listening to everything she says keeps her happy then 'no' won't even be in my vocabulary, no matter how loudly you crack your annoyingly stupid whip."
"AAWW Santana" Quinn mocked, laughing and trying to pinch her cheeks. "That was so sweet. Shall I call Britt over so you can repeat it?"
"If you want to fall asleep to the sound of sweet sweet lady loving then yeah…go ahead" Santana said, stepping aside to give Quinn a clear line of vision to where Brittany was standing.
Quinn scrunched up her face in disgust and then raised her hands in surrender. Santana laughed loudly and then tuned to Brittany, who was successfully pretending not to eavesdrop.
"Britt" Santana called. Brittany ignored her, keeping up the ruse.
"Britt baby" Santana called again, walking towards her. Brittany turned to her with raised eyebrows.
"Mmhh?"
"Are you ready to go? Quinn bee is nagging." Santana tossed her head In Quinn's direction as she caressed her hands up Brittany's arms gently. Quinn rolled her eyes.
Brittany smiled sweetly at her, feeling her heart swell with so much love that she felt it might burst. She nodded her head, afraid that her voice would break with all the emotions she was feeling. Santana smiled at her and then turned back to Quinn.
"Alright your highness, we can leave. Let me just go pay for these" she lifted the three books she was balancing in one hand, "you guys can start walking out, I'll catch up."
As she walked up to the counter, Brittany followed her with her eyes, jumping slightly when she heard Quinn speaking so close to her.
"You ok Britt?"
"Huh? Yeah of course. Why wouldn't I be okay?"
Quinn shrugged. "You're looking at her funny"
They started walking out of the store.
"I wanna do something for her this week. Whether or not she gets her songs approved, I want to do something special, with her mum and my parents and…" she trailed of, taking a deep breath, "and Puck"
Quinn stopped just as she was pulling the door open. "Puck?"
"Yeah"
"Why on ea-"
"He's important to her. And it's about her, not me" Brittany cut her off quickly, trying to convince herself more than Quinn.
Quinn stared at her for a moment before turning back to walk out of the door shaking her head slowly.
"What?" Brittany asked
"She's just right about what she said earlier."
Brittany stopped dead in her tracks and grabbed Quinn's hand, spinning her around harshly.
"She doesn't need you encouraging her to think she doesn't deserve me. I'm doing everything I can to get her to stop thinking that and it's really starting to piss me off that everyone we know seems to want to keep her thinking she's this horrible person while I'm…I don't even know…Like some snow white angel of the sun that's too good for her. I'm not going to stand for it anymore."
She paused to take a breath, but Quinn cut her off.
"Britt stop. Stop. I wasn't talking about that. I know she deserves you."
Brittany narrowed her eyes suspiciously but softened her demeanor and let go of Quinn's hand.
"I meant she was right about you being awesome."
Brittany beamed, suddenly back to her bubbly self.
"Oh okay. Good"
Quinn laughed at her friend's change in personality.
"Jeez you can be scary Britt. I see what S was talking about."
"Only when I have to be" she said shrugging. "I usually leave it up to Santana. It makes her happy."
Quinn laughed again.
"By the way, snow white angle of the sun" Brittany laughed. "I knew you were listening to us" Quinn said, smirking.
Brittany stumbled slightly. "Uh okay…yeah…But only because I thought you guys were fighting at first. Then how could I stop listening when she was saying all those things."
"Mmmhh" Quinn hummed, nodding but remaining unconvinced.
"You guys didn't have to wait, I said I'd catch up" Santana said as she found them standing just outside the door to the bookstore.
"We actually-"Quinn started, but was quickly cut off by Brittany.
"We didn't wanna leave without you S. Come on lets go home, I'm starving."
"We just ate B" Santana said laughing, linking her arm through Brittany's.
"Yeah well…that was before we spent hours walking around a bookstore." Brittany said in mock annoyance.
Santana looked towards the floor apologetically, "sorry baby, you should have said something, we could've left sooner"
Seeing genuine regret on her girlfriend's face, Brittany brought their joined hands up to her mouth and kissed the back of Santana's hand.
"It's ok baby I was only kidding. I really love watching you get so excited by books. You didn't hear me complaining did you?"
Santana shook her head with a smile.
"Um...I complained" Quinn interjected.
"Yeah several times Ice Quinn. Did I look like I cared?"
Brittany couldn't help but laugh. Santana was getting creative with the nicknames.
"Britt!" Quinn called, looking at her expectantly.
Brittany shook her head. "Sorry Quinn, that was a good one."
Santana smiled widely and squeezed Brittany's hand.
"Whatever" they heard Quinn mutter.
On Thursday, Quinn had declared visitor's choice and demanded that they stay in the apartment, so they had called Elaine over and were sitting around the coffee table which was covered in several boxes of Chinese food, packets of chips and bowls of dip. There was a movie playing that they had all stopped watching in favour of telling Elaine more stories about their high school days.
"What!?" Elaine shrieked, howling with laughter.
"I can't make it up. It was kind of touching at the time I guess...but mostly it's just-"
"Hilarious!" Santana cut in. Brittany nodded, trying to resist the infectious combined laughter of Elaine and Santana as she retold the story of Quinn performing 'It's a man's world'.
"IT WAS A GOOD PERFORMANCE" Quinn yelled, trying to gain some control of the conversation.
"Quinn, you sang great. But the choreo…" Santana broke off in another fit of laughter. Brittany was going red in the face trying to keep her laughter in.
Quinn looked as though she herself was struggling to keep from laughing. Finally, after one look at Brittany she burst out laughing too, followed closely by Brittany.
"Okay, I guess it was a bit…"
"RIDICULOUS" Santana provided, gripping her sides and gasping for breath.
Suddenly, Brittany heard a phone ring. She strained to hear the ringtone over the loud laughter around her.
"Santana I think your phone is ringing…Santana..." She pulled Santana to her and cupped her cheeks intending to get her to focus, but was distracted by the lusty look she found in her eyes.
"Hi" Santana said, licking her lips and glancing down at Brittany's lips. Then she leaned upwards and captured Brittany's bottom lip between her own lips. Brittany hummed in approval and pulled Santana up from the ground to sit in her lap, all without disconnecting their lips.
Santana laced her arms around Brittany's neck and then let her tongue trace over Brittany's top lip.
Brittany opened her mouth and took Santana's tongue into her mouth, greeting it with her own.
"Okayy, what the fuck just happened?" Elaine asked, shocked at the sudden change in mood.
"I don't think that was meant to happen…but these two easily distract each other. You get used to it after a while. Hey Britt! BRITTANY!" Quinn yelled.
Brittany slowly pulled away from Santana and looked at Quinn with an annoyed expression.
"Wasn't there a reason you were calling Santana?"
Brittany was confused for a second and then her eyes widened and she looked back at Santana.
"You're phone is…" she paused to listen, "Was…ringing."
Santana shot up and ran to the kitchen island where her phone was lying. She picked it up, then froze looking down at it.
"Everything okay?" Brittany asked, getting up and walking to stand beside her. Santana didn't say anything, she just kept staring at the phone.
"Santana?" Brittany asked, concerned.
"Baby can you…I can't...Can you? Please?"
"Can I what baby?"
"Call her back" Santana said, handing her the phone. She looked like she was going to throw up.
"Yeah" Brittany said quietly, taking the phone with one hand and using the other to rub soothing circles on Santana's lower back. She unlocked the phone with her fingerprint (Santana had added it before they moved to San Jose) and went to the call history. One missed call from Emma, Santana's manager. Now Brittany understood. This was the call they had been waiting for all week.
"Hello?" She heard from the other end. She jumped and quickly brought the phone to her ear. She hadn't realised she had pressed 'call back'.
"Hi Emma. It's Brittany." Brittany tried to sound as normal as possible.
"Hi Brittany. How are you?"
"Good thanks. I'm good"
Santana was looking at her, begging her to hurry up, so instead of asking Emma how she was, or waiting for her to ask where Santana was, she plunged right into it.
"I'm here with Santana too. Did you hear from the producers?"
"Oh… right into it? I suppose Santana is freaking out?"
Brittany nodded before remembering that Emma couldn't see her. "Yeah, a little bit."
"I get it. Well, I have only good news." Brittany grinned at Santana.
Quinn had stood up too now, and was walking back and forth in small strides, watching Brittany, and Elaine was looking from Santana, who had her fingers crossed over her face, to Brittany, to Quinn.
"Yeah?" Brittany asked.
"Very good news. Every song has been approved-"
Brittany didn't hear what was said after that. She had screamed loudly, and was now hugging Santana so tightly she could barely breathe.
"YOU DID IT BABY!" She yelled. And then she pulled away and looked at Quinn, still holding Santana in her arms.
"APPROVED"
"APPROVED?" Quinn yelled.
"EVERY SINGLE ONE APPROVED"
Quinn screamed and ran to them, hugging Santana from the back.
Santana looked to be in shock. She was blinking rapidly, and kept repeating 'approved' under her breath.
"Approved Santana. You did it. Emma said-"Brittany suddenly remembered the woman on the phone.
"Emma?"
"Yeah still here Brittany. Been waiting for all the yelling to stop."
"Sorry" Brittany chuckled.
"Don't be. This is good news. Great news. Santana has worked so hard and there's only up from here. She deserves this."
"Yes. Yes she does." Brittany agreed, looking into Santana's eyes.
"Approved" Santana whispered, finally breaking into a smile.