By the end of Santana's birthday, Elaine had been told numerous unholy trinity stories by Puck, Santana had gotten two more bouquets of flowers, a book from Elaine, a necklace from Quinn and a black acoustic guitar from Puck. Brittany had gotten her a music note charm for her bracelet. They were now lying on the couch as Puck and Quinn argued about the details of some story they were telling Elaine.
"Hey S, I have one more present for you" Brittany whispered.
"Britt no…you've given me so much today I don't need more"
"You're going to love this one"
"I've loved them all" Santana told her sincerely.
"Well…look at it, and if you don't want it I promise I'll take it back."
Santana laughed. "Of course I'll want it Britt."
"I'm serious though, if you don't like it just tell me, and we can take it back"
"Britt…give it to me" Brittany looked at her nervously. "What on earth is it?" Santana asked laughing. "Why do you look so terrified? Oh god did you buy me a car or something. Or a cat? Please tell me you didn't get a cat"
Brittany giggled and shook her head. Then she sat up and removed a small box from her bag beside the couch, handing it to Santana. Santana sat up and began to unwrap the gift. When she was done, she was holding a red velvet box with the initials SLP on it. She looked up at Brittany, feeling tears forming in her eyes already.
"Open it first before you start crying" Brittany joked. "You might hate it"
Santana shook her head and wiped the tear that was rolling down her cheeks. She continued to stare at the box, rubbing over the initials with her thumb.
"Santana you have to open it you idiot" Quinn told her. It was a mark of how emotional she was that Santana neither responded nor glared. Brittany placed her hands over Santana's trembling ones and opened the box. When she saw the ring inside, Santana stopped holding back and let out a sob.
"Baby why are crying?" Brittany asked, cupping her cheeks and wiping the tears with her thumbs.
Santana looked up at her and shook her head slowly. "Britt…It's real. We're getting married and you're giving me a ring."
Brittany nodded and smiled, her own tears forming. "Yeah I am. I should have a long time ago."
"Yeah" Puck said. There was a loud slapping noise followed by an apology from Puck.
"But why are you crying?" Brittany asked again.
"I've wanted to marry you since we were 15. I love you so much and I know we've been engaged for like… a year or whatever, but this feels different. I get to wear a ring and everyone is going to know I'm yours and we're going to be married."
Brittany nodded and wiped her tears. Santana shook her head and did the same, taking in a deep breath.
"Ok sorry, you just kind of caught me off guard. I'm not crying you're crying" everyone laughed. "Put it on Britt." Brittany gently pulled the ring from the box, placed the box on the table, where Quinn picked it up from, and then held Santana's hand.
"Santana Marie Lopez" she started, gazing into her deep coffee brown eyes. "I have loved you since the first time you snapped and beat up a bunch of kids making fun of me." Everyone laughed. "Since the day we met we've had a special connection that no one could understand, and that I have no desire to live without. I love that you have always protected me, be it from bullies in high school, or my own bad self-esteem. I love that you believe in me more than anyone else in the world, including myself. I love that you cross your arms when you're defensive, and how your nose wrinkles when you laugh. I love that you can be really mean sometimes"
"Sometimes?" Quinn asked laughing. Santana pretended to glare at her and looked back at Brittany.
"Why would you love that Britt?" Santana asked, unable to restrain herself.
"Because…"Brittany trailed off taking a deep breath. "Because it's who you are. So many people are fake and pretend to be nice to people because it's what's expected of us, but you don't ever do what's expected. You're so tiny but you beat up half the players on the football team, even Puck. You're so smart and could have gone to school and been a doctor or lawyer, but instead you followed your dreams and look where you are now! You're catholic, or were supposed to be catholic. Your family expected you to be just like them…but you were true to who you are and told them you're gay. You're so far from ordinary Santana and I love you for that. You being mean is just another thing about you that screams 'I do whatever the hell I want'." Brittany paused, kissing Santana's hand that she was holding while Santana wiped the now freshly falling tears.
"Britt…." She whispered.
"I love you so much Santana. You can't even understand how much I love you. I want to be around you all the time. If it was possible I would just handcuff you to me forever. I love your laugh, I love our conversations and I love the way you look at me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, because you're my favourite person in the entire world. So…Santana…will you marry me?"
Santana leaned forward and kissed Brittany passionately. She cupped her cheek with her free hand and used it to pull Brittany forward, deepening the kiss. They ignored the loud cough that Quinn gave trying to break them out of it, until finally their lungs screamed for air and were forced to break apart.
"Yes" Santana said. She kissed Brittany softly once more, then sat back. "Yes Brittany I would love to marry you!" Brittany smiled and slipped the ring over Santana's finger. They both looked down at it for a moment, Santana was rubbing her finger affectionately and Brittany was smiling in triumph. The thin gold band stood out nicely against Santana's caramel skin while the hexagon shape of the ring sat elegantly on her long slim finger. There were small diamonds decorating the edge of the hexagon and in the centre was a large smokey grey-ish diamond cut stone that practically screamed Santana. Everyone gathered round and looked at the ring, showing their appreciation for it and astonishment at Brittany's impeccable taste.
"You really like it?" Brittany whispered in Santana's ear.
Santana turned and looked at her seriously.
"Brittany I cannot even imagine wearing anything else. I had been feeling a little anxious over the ring because I've never really thought about what kind of ring I wanted to wear….but this…it's like you picked my dream ring…I mean…I don't even know… it's perfect baby."
Brittany beamed with pride. "Good cause it looks amazing on you my love"
Two weeks later Susan and Maribel sat opposite Brittany and Santana on their dining table. They had arrived from the airport ten minutes ago, and had not said a word to the girls as they walked in, moved into the dining area and sat at the table. Now they both were looking intently at Brittany and Santana with meaningful looks that scared the younger girls.
Santana broke eye contact with her mother and looked to her left, where Brittany was staring down at her coffee cup.
"This is stupid" she burst out, standing up. "We aren't teenagers anymore. You can't use this psychological manipulation anymore mami. What is it?"
Susan laughed. "Mija, please sit down and stop being stupid" Maribel said, indicating Santana's seat. Santana frowned, but sat down anyway.
"Can you please just tell us what the problem is" Brittany said, rubbing Santana's back in comfort as she pouted at her mother's harsh words. "Santana is right…this is what you did when we were in trouble in high school but you can't do that anymore."
"Look girls…Maribel and I have talked, and we've decided enough is enough." Susan explained in a determined tone.
"What's enough?" Santana asked.
"You can't have a yearlong engagement. I mean some people do but it doesn't make sense for you two. We've known you were going to get married about a year into your friendship," Maribel shifted uncomfortably, "and prolonging it is doing nothing but wasting time."
Santana raised her eyebrows and turned to Brittany, thoroughly amused. "I see" She said. "Well, don't you think we should be allowed to pick our own wedding date?"
Susan shifted, flustered, and turned to Maribel for help.
"Santana listen. No one is picking your wedding date for you. We're just saying that it is time for you to actually pick it. You two have been putting off this wedding for too long, talking about being busy and 'the right time' and so on."
"Ma…"
"But there isn't any such thing, especially for people in your lines of business. You will always be busy. In fact you'll be even busier for a long time, but you have to prioritize each other. Consider this your first lesson in marriage."
Santana sat back in her chair and looked between Susan and Maribel. Brittany opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it again shaking her head, deciding to let their mothers sit in silence the way they had earlier.
With each passing minute, Maribel seemed to be growing increasingly agitated, something that only spurred on Santana's silence. The two Latina's glared at each other, unblinking, while Susan looked between them, then to her own daughter in growing anxiety.
"Look girls we know you're adults and of course it's entirely up to you when and how you get married. We aren't trying to control this decision, or force you into anything." Brittany raised her eyebrows at her mother's words, but that was the only acknowledgment they got. Neither Maribel nor Santana made any indication that they had heard Susan speak.
"We're only trying to make sure that you don't postpone indefinitely you know? It can happen. In fact it happens often." Susan continued to ramble nervously, looking pleadingly at Brittany. Santana raised her hands from their position on her thighs under the table, and placed them on the table. It took a moment for anyone to notice the ring on her finger.
"You can set the date for any time-" Susan broke off, looking down at Santana's hand. There was complete silence. Maribel was still staring at Santana, but spun her head round to look at Susan when she let out a loud high pitched scream.
"Dios Mio Susan!"
"When did you get it? Oh gosh it's so gorgeous. It's so so gorgeous did Britt-B surprise you with it?" Susan fired question after question, getting to her feet and walking around the table to grab Santana's hand.
"What is?" Maribel asked, but needed no answer as her eyes landed on Santana's hand, which Susan was now holding up to her face. Santana looked smugly at her mother. "Really Santana? All this time you couldn't have just told us that you were already going ahead with the planning?" She asked indignantly, though she too was making her way to see the ring.
"It's perfect" Susan whispered, tears filling her eyes. Brittany beamed at Santana, who winked proudly at her. Then she pulled her hand back and crossed her arms, looking at the two mothers in front of her expectantly. "Yes yes alright. We are sorry for presuming to tell you how to live your lives" Susan said quickly, moving back into her seat.
"Of course we wouldn't have to if they told us anything what was happening in their lives" Maribel added, with a cross look at Santana.
Before Santana could respond, Susan interjected with a question.
"Have you got a date?"
"Yes" Brittany answered simply. Susan blinked at her, realising that she did not mean to continue.
"Are you not going to tell us?" She asked in surprise.
"Well…if we tell you, are you going to bombard us with wedding planning questions and advice?" Brittany asked her seriously.
Susan looked at Maribel in exasperation, then back Brittany.
"We will try not to"
"Mami" Santana said. "Britts and I need you to understand that we are planning this wedding the way we want to, if that isn't clear by now. We don't want any advice unless we ask for it, we don't want any help unless we ask for it. We'll give you information when and how we feel like it and if you don't like it then you can just-"
"Mija I understand." Maribel looked Susan and smiled. "We understand. We're just glad you're finally on it. Please stop your lecture and tell us"
Santana looked at Brittany wearily, but nodded anyway, letting her continue.
"Ok" Brittany started. "We've decided on July 8th for the wedding date, and we're picking blood red and navy blue as the colours, with baby blue mixed into flower and cutlery arrangements."
Susan beamed at them, but Maribel looked like she was trying to keep herself from saying anything. Santana sighed and rolled her eyes, turning to look at Brittany for permission to go off on her mother. Brittany shook her head and looked at Maribel.
"We don't want to hear what you have to sayMaribel" Brittany said curtly. Maribel looked utterly taken aback by Brittany's harsh words and gaped at her.
"What happened?" Susan asked.
"I was just going to suggest-"
"No we don't want your suggestions." Brittany looked at Santana and let out a laugh that sounded hysterical. "How clear do we have to be? Seriously? We don't want to hear any thoughts you have about anything unless we ask you for it. We refuse to let you turn this wedding planning into a nightmare by hounding us relentlessly. You can accept the details we give you as they are given, or you can be completely cut out of the procedure like the rest of the guests, and be surprised on the day. Either way is fine with us. But hear what I am saying to you right now and digest it. Santana and I will not be accepting criticisms, suggestions, ideas for improvement, or any other way you manage to spin the condescending way you both like to talk to us, about our wedding. " Santana looked proudly at Brittany for putting her mother into her place.
Maribel was looking at Brittany speechless and perplexed. She opened her mouth to speak, found she had no words and closed it again, looking to Santana. Santana nodded her head to emphasize Brittany's point, and then shrugged as if to say, 'sorry but that's the way it is'. Maribel looked at Susan, and then sat back in her chair and nodded.
"Fine" she said resolutely. Santana and Brittany looked at Susan, who raised her hands in surrender.
"Alright girls. You've been clear and we'll behave"
Brittany nodded and her entire body language softened, returning her to her usual bubbly demeanour.
"So we've got a wedding planner who has given us a list of things we need to do. Flowers, dresses, cake, food, venue and…" she trailed of thinking of the last thing.
"Guest list" Santana supplied. Brittany smiled at her.
"Yeah the guest list"
Susan and Maribel nodded following Brittany's words as she spoke.
"We've decided that we don't want it to be very big. We want to actually know everyone there, and be comfortable enough to have fun and be ourselves."
"So that means you can't invite any of your friends. We're inviting all of our family of course, Quinn and Puck, and some people we've met here. People from my label and Brittany's studio." Santana said, avoiding her mother's eye.
"Santana…" Maribel said quietly.
"No we're not inviting her." Santana said quickly, knowing her mother was asking about her abuela. Maribel nodded. "So we aren't expecting the list to be very big. You guys can write out the list of family and their addresses and email it to us if you'd like. That would help us a lot." Maribel and Susan agreed enthusiastically.
"Awesome" Brittany said grinning. "We'll let you know when the dress fittings are so you can come up, and we can look at venues…" Brittany paused and looked at Santana, who nodded once, then resumed speaking, "together. We don't know when we'll have time for that so we may be giving you really short notice for viewings."
Susan and Maribel shrugged. "Don't worry about it, we'll be here." Maribel said.
"Great. Well Santana and I have to go to work. How long are you guys here?"
"Mija we came all this way to see you can't you stay?" Maribel asked.
"No ma. You dropped by unannounced and like we keep telling you, we're not teenagers anymore. We have to go to work. How long are you here?" Santana asked, repeating Brittany's question.
Maribel sighed. "We have a flight at 8 PM."
"We won't see you then" Brittany said regretfully. "You may be able to see Quinn, I'm not sure when she's working you should call her." She stood up and walked towards the door, opening it. "Next time, call us and we'll tell you if we're free for you to drop by. We'll even pay for-"
"That won't be necessary" Maribel cut in quickly.
Brittany looked at Santana and cocked her head. Then she opened the door wider. "Ok well…" She smacked her lips. "See you Maribel. Bye ma."
Susan looked shocked at the sudden request for their departure, but stood up quickly and walked to Santana. She touched her cheek and smiled at her.
"Bye dear. I'm so excited for you. Call me whenever, I'm happy to help." Santana smiled genuinely and nodded. "Alright. Call Pierce too. He misses you." And with that she walked to the door where Brittany stood.
Santana turned to look at her own mother who was looking at her with an expression of both anger and excitement.
"What ma?" Santana asked irritated.
Maribel smiled and shook her head. "You're good to Brittany and her family" she said standing up. "You're also different. I know our family isn't like theirs, and I'm glad you have them to soften you up a bit, but it's good to see that you still have that Latina fire and are passing it on to Brittany." She blew Santana a kiss over her shoulder and walked out the door.
Brittany and Santana heaved great sighs. Brittany walked back and sat on Santana's lap, wrapping her arms around her neck. "Well that was fun" she said laughing. Santana grinned.
"I'm rubbing off on you" she wiggled her eyebrows. Brittany looked at her confused.
"Wanky" Brittany said. Santana laughed. "What do you mean?"
"That wasn't a very BSP thing to do just now"
"What?"
"Kicking our mothers out"
"I didn't kick them out…"
Santana laughed. "Britt you stood up mid conversation and opened the door."
Brittany blushed. "I was tired of the conversation" she said, trying to sound innocent. Santana howled with laughter, almost toppling Brittany off her lap.
"Ok, you just keep laughing I'm going to get ready" Brittany said, sulking as she stood up from Santana's lap. Santana pulled Brittany back down with a hand around her waist.
"You don't have worked till 11" she kissed Brittany's cheek. Brittany remained pouting. "Hey" she called quietly, wanting Brittany to look at her. When she did, Santana smiled, trying to hold back a laugh. "I was very proud of you."
"Really?" Brittany asked, forgetting to pout. Santana nodded with raised eyebrows, biting her lip to keep from laughing.
"What? Why do you still want to laugh?" Brittany asked her, trying to keep from laughing herself.
"Why did you do it again?" Santana's voice was barely audible as she strained to hold the laugh.
"They were annoying me and I just wanted the conversation to be over." Santana let out a burst of air, then could no longer keep it in, and laughed loudly, holding tightly to Brittany as she tried to walk away. Brittany too began to laugh and collapsed back onto Santana's thighs.
"I love you so much Brittany."
Santana walked into her apartment and slid down the door she had slammed. She threw off her heels and launched her purse in the direction of the couch. It missed, and she heard some of its contents spilling onto the floor.
"Fuck!" She exclaimed angrily, leaning her head against the door. She wasn't sure how long she sat there with her eyes closed, but she was jolted from her daze by Brittany pushing the door open.
"Jesus!" Brittany screamed, jumping away from the door. Santana groaned and dragged herself away from the door so Brittany could open it. "Santana was that you?" She asked as she pocked her head through the door looking for what she had hit.
"Yeah" Santana mumbled back. Brittany pushed open the door fully and walked in, throwing her shoes off like Santana had and joining her on the floor.
"What are you doing?" she asked after several minutes of silence.
Santana didn't answer for a while, but then lifted her head and rested it on her hand, which was propped up on her elbow. "I'm so tired. I couldn't make it to the couch."
Brittany nodded and pursed her lips sympathetically. "Sorry honey. Long day at work?"
"Not really. We only spent like 4 hours working out the last show before New Year's."
"Then?" Brittany asked, confused as to what else would drain Santana this much.
"Well, Quinn told all the gleeks to call me about not being invited to the wedding, and Rachel called today." Brittany groaned. "Yeah. Then the wedding planner came by to talk venues and that ended up taking like three hours."
"What? Why?" Brittany asked in shock.
Santana paused to think. She didn't want to tell Brittany that it was evidently impossible to get a hold of Disney world, where Santana wanted to have their wedding. She knew Brittany would be ecstatic when she found out, but Santana didn't want to tell her until it was set in stone. She and Eve had been on the phone with various people from Disney world for over three hours, constantly being put on hold. The wedding planner would then use this time to discuss other venues, and Santana would have to call and talk to various places. It had all been worth it though, because she had finally been able to get a meeting with the relevant people to talk about having the wedding there.
"Uh...I don't know. Agreeing on places I thought you'd like, then calling them and being put on hold and stuff."
Brittany frowned and sat up. Santana looked at her apprehensively, wondering how she could possibly be caught in her semi-lie.
"Baby I'm really sorry. Do you want me to take some time off work starting Jan and help out with the planning?" Brittany asked her, feeling guilty for Santana's tiredness.
Santana sighed in relief and sat up too. "No Britt. It's okay, today was just one of the long days but I can handle it. I have more free time than you, and you have to make sure you work enough to make up for the honeymoon." Santana wiggled her eyebrows as she mentioned the honeymoon.
Brittany grinned. "Are you sure? I can help out more even if I don't take time off. It's not fair you're so tired and I'm not."
"You're not tired?" Santana asked skeptically.
Brittany hesitated. "I mean…not re…I'm, you know…not really." Santana raised her eyebrows. "Ok yeah I am I'm exhausted. I've been dancing since 7 AM."
Santana laughed. "Britt of course you're tired. Don't worry about it okay? I'm not going to have to work until after New Year's after today so I'll have three free weeks to plan the wedding in peace."
Brittany was unconvinced, but as she looked at Santana's red eyes and tired smile, she decided not to push the topic.
"Okay baby. But if you need me to do more you'll let me know right? You won't let it pile up and stress you out until you explode?"
Santana frowned at Brittany. "What do you mean?"
"Never mind honey I just mean that for anyone, when things build up it's always going to blow up." Santana nodded, accepting this, and lying back down on the floor, but this was not really what Brittany had meant.
The first time Brittany saw Santana snap and attack someone had been one of the scariest moments of her life. It had been a stressful month for all cheerios, because they had their nationals coming up and Coach Sue was working them to the bone. It had been especially hard for the girls who were new to the squad, because of the combined nerves of their first nationals competition and coach's insistence that they practice longer than the rest of the squad because they were the ones most likely to mess up.
On top of the extra cheerios practices, they also had to deal with studying for exams. For Brittany this was not something of great importance, though she did study….a bit. But for Quinn and Santana, it was driving them both to the brink of madness. They were both waking up well before sunrise so that they could study before practice, spending an hour and a half in practice, going to school, spending another three hours in practice after school and studying until close to ten, at which point they would go to whatever party there was, if there was one, and stay until midnight.
Brittany watched them both with growing anxiety. Quinn was less pleasant than usual, always barking orders at everyone whenever she could, but this was significantly better than Santana, who was nothing like her usual self. Unlike Quinn, Santana had gone quiet. She rarely talked anymore, but she had fixed such a powerfully terrifying glare on her face that no one besides Quinn and Brittany tried talking to her anyway. She didn't make any rude comments in class, she didn't slushy anyone, and she didn't flirt with any of the football players. Brittany tried asking her how she was taking all the stress, but she had tried to convince her that she was ok, just too busy to worry about bullying anyone.
As the weeks passed by Brittany's feeling of impending doom only increased. The rest of the school seemed to be noticing how bad she was at school as the teachers had begun to point out how little she knew after practically a year. While she wasn't happy about it, it didn't bother her too much. She had been used to being called stupid at her old school, but it seemed to really annoy Santana. Brittany saw her scowl deepen and her fists ball up whenever a teacher would comment on Brittany's work loudly enough that the rest of the class heard. She tried to tell her that it didn't matter because she was actually pretty dumb, but this only seemed to upset Santana further.
Finally, the breaking point arrived, and Brittany would never forget it. She, Quinn, and Santana had been walking to cheerios practice when one of the boys on the football team had shouted about something Brittany had said in class. The people around him burst out laughing and many turned to look at Brittany. Quinn swore under her breath and reached out to drag Santana to practice, but found Santana wasn't there.
"What did you say Jared, I didn't quite hear you" they heard Santana's voice from down the hall, where the jocks were standing and laughing. Brittany and Quinn walked quickly towards her.
"Oh I was just telling these guys about what my brother told me Brittany said in geography class" Jared said, pushing off his locker and stepping towards Santana, evidently not reading her foul mood. "I couldn't even believe it when he told me…she's so dumb I wouldn't be surprised if they found out she was re-" Jared could not finish his sentence. Santana had thrust her knee powerfully into his crotch, throwing him backwards into his locker as he bent over to grab his injured area. She then descended upon him with a series of kicks and punches that Jared could not block because she would not give him room to raise his hands.
Brittany stood rooted to her spot as a crowd gathered around Santana and the jocks. She was simultaneously shocked by Santana's outburst and terrified of what she was seeing. Jared's nose was bleeding so profusely that it was becoming hard to see anything but blood all over his face and down his neck and shirt. Santana's hands too were covered in his blood.
Finally Jared's friends seemed to pull themselves out of their own shocked states and one of them pulled Santana off of Jared. This was a mistake though, because Santana let out a scream and began to kick and scream wildly. She threw her head back, connecting it with the boy's nose, causing him to drop her, howling in pain. She then launched herself onto the nearest boy and hang on to his neck, crawling to his back and tightening her arms so that she was choking him. He coughed and gagged and tried to pull Santana off him, but she wouldn't budge. Eventually, he started slamming her into the lockers, trying to get her to let go. He was successful, but the result may have been worse. Santana jumped down from his back suddenly, still holding on to his neck. This made him jerk backwards sharply and bang his head against the locker.
Quinn was screaming her head off trying to get Santana to stop, but she could barely be heard over the screams and cheers of the crowd. Santana was looking around wildly for the fourth boy who had been with Jared, but it seemed he had fled the scene.
"Yeah that's right coward! Fucking run away you pussy ass perra. Sé cómo te ves y voy a ir por ti. No puedes esconderte de mi Te voy a romper. Soy de Lima Heights Adjacent. No te metas con Santana López." She was screaming madly now, and turned back to Jared.
"SANTANA NO" It took Brittany a moment to realise that it had been her who screamed. Santana froze and turned to look at Brittany. The madness in her eyes seemed to drain away slightly, and she looked around as if noticing for the first time what was happening.
She took a step away from Jared and the two other boys, both of whom were bleeding, though not as badly as Jared himself.
"Listen up everyone. SHUT UP" Santana yelled. The crowd went quiet. "This doesn't even compare to what I'm going to do to the next person I hear making fun of Brittany. I swear to god if you think this is crazy…"
"LOPEZ, FABRAY, PIERCE. WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU AT PRACTICE?" Coach Sue bellowed from the other end of the corridor. It said a lot about how insane Santana was at the moment that the students around them didn't run at the sound of Sue as they usually did. Quinn glared at Santana as their coach stomped towards them, but then she sighed and whispered so only Santana could hear.
"Let me handle this"
"I asked you three a question. Am I to take this as a resignation?" Sue was talking to them but her eyes were traveling over the scene before her. Three boys were either lying flat, kneeling or curled up on the floor, two were bleeding from their noses and one was clutching his throat heaving deep breaths and coughing as blood dripped down the side of his head. The one in a heap on the floor looked badly bruised, and even as they watched his face seemed to be swelling. Finally her eyes landed on Santana.
"No coach" Quinn answered.
"What the hell happened here?" She thought she had a pretty good idea, but she couldn't believe it. It wasn't possible for this tiny girl to have inflicted this kind of damage. Yet, there Santana stood, closest to the injured, hands covered in blood, hair flying everywhere, and a crazy look in her eyes.
"They started a fight coach, and we-"
"We? You two were part of this too?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing and eyes narrowing as she looked at Quinn.
Quinn glanced at Brittany. "I was"
"Me too" Brittany said, moving for the first time away from the crowd.
Sue looked at Brittany and smirked. The girl's face was stained with tears and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She looked like she was trying hard to keep from trembling, and despite herself Sue felt proud of her for showing loyalty.
"No she wasn't" Santana said, her voice hoarse from all her yelling. "And neither was Quinn"
"Shut up Santana yes I was" Quinn said quickly.
"Both of you shut up, and don't speak again until I give you permission." Quinn and Santana's eyes widened at the tone Sue had used. It was not angry, as it had been when she arrived. It was still stern, but it sounded….motherly? No that couldn't be it.
"Were all of you in the fight as well?" She asked the rest of the crowd, her bite returning. There were several frantic head shakes. "Then I suggest you all clear this hallway before I decide to include you in my interrogation." Everyone scurried off. Sue then looked at the teachers who had arrived after her. "I'll handle this. Don't you all have boring classes to teach?" One by one the teacher reluctantly left. "Shuester, as noble as teaching a language no one cares about is, I guarantee that your services are not needed here." Mr Shue stood for a moment, inspecting the scene, then walked away, leaving the three cheerleaders and three football players.
"Now tell me the truth Lopez. What happened?"
Santana was shaking again as she began the story, as though she was working herself up again. Brittany could see the psychopathic look returning to her eyes, so she stepped forward and took over telling the story. As she spoke she held Santana's hand, and squeezed it on occasion, to remind her to stay calm, and that everything was ok. When she had finished, she looked up at Sue for the first time, expecting her to be glowering at them. Sue shocked them again however. She looked deep in thought, and slightly amused.
"Boys?" she called to the three on the floor. The one Santana had head-butted was standing up.
"Coach?" he said.
"You mean to tell me that the three of you had this carnage inflicted on you by this girl?" Sue pointed at Santana. As the boy stood at his full height, the absurdity of the situation really hit Brittany. Santana didn't even reached this boy's shoulder, yet she had emerged from the altercation on her feet and he had been on the floor. He and two of his friends. Brittany could have laughed if she hadn't been so scared.
The boy hesitated, obviously having the same realisation hit him. He looked at Santana, and then he looked at his friends. The one who had been choked looked up at him and shook his head slightly.
"Well?" Coach Sue prompted.
"No coach. My friends and I got into a fight."
All three girls gaped at him, but didn't say a word. He was avoiding all of their eyes.
Sue nodded her head as if expecting this. "I thought so. Don't lie to me again girls. Quinn, to practice now." Quinn hesitated, looking at Santana, then nodded and walked away.
"Rainbow baby, take Santana to the bathroom to get cleaned up, then I want you both at practice."
"Yes coach" Brittany said, not wanting to question why Santana wasn't in any trouble, and not wanting to hang around long enough for their luck to change. "Come on Santana"
In the changing room, Brittany was running Santana's hand under warm water and rubbing gently to get the blood off. There were some bruises forming on her knuckles, some swelling, but no cuts, which meant none of the blood was hers.
"You're not bleeding." She said quietly. Santana didn't say anything. "How does it feel?" Santana shrugged. "Why won't you talk to me?"
"What do you want me to say Britt? I lost it. I completely just fucking lost it. I could have gotten expelled. If my parents hear about this I'll be in so much trouble….and if they tell my abuela…shit….I'll be so dead."
Brittany was silent for a while, now cleaning Santana's other hand. Santana winced and Brittany looked up apologetically.
"You scared me. I thought you were going to get hurt."
Santana looked up at her, her eyes softening. "You don't have to worry about me, I can handle myself."
"I saw" Brittany said, smiling for the first time in 30 minutes. Santana chuckled. "Thank you for sticking up for me." Santana shrugged.
"No I'm serious. No one has ever done that for me and even though you were totally extreme…" Santana chuckled again, "it still means everything to me that you'd do that."
They looked into each other's eyes for a long time. Brittany moved her face inches from Santana's
"I'll always stand up for you B. I'll always protect you" Santana said quietly. "Now come on. If we don't get to practice coach might kill me before my abuela has a chance to."
Santana looked up at the clock, taking off her headphones and rubbing her temples to try and stave off her growing headache. 2:15 PM. She had now been working for seven straight hours. Had she eaten lunch? Yes, Eve had brought her a sandwich about an hour ago…but had she eaten it? She looked around her and groaned when she saw the untouched sandwich sitting on the far end of the soundboard. She was so tired she couldn't think. Maybe it was the fact that the artist she was currently listening to was awful, or maybe it was that she had a concert tomorrow that she wasn't looking forward to because the choreography was nothing short of boring. Truthfully though, it was probably because she had been expecting a call from Disney world for two weeks now, and every day that they didn't call made her anxiety about the wedding sky rocket. The wedding planner was hounding her relentlessly about changing the venue and keeping her plans a secret from Brittany was getting harder. She was running out of excuses for why there were no venues for them to go view, or why she was so stressed about it. She looked at the clock again, 2:17 PM. How was that even possible? Santana groaned loudly and stood up, deciding to just go home and sleep off this headache. She'd come back later and finish her work when she didn't feel like her brain was being compressed.
She was stopped suddenly by her phone ringing. She stood halfway to the door, unable to believe her bad luck. She knew it wasn't Brittany because she was in the middle of shooting a music video, but even if she wasn't, it wasn't her ringtone. There was no one else in the world she would talk to in her current state, but the ringing was intensifying her headache. She pulled the phone out of her jacket pocket and stared at it through squinted eyes, her headache now so bad that she could barely see. She didn't know this number. She sighed deeply and then slid her finger upwards.
"Hello" she said in a voice so monotone it shocked even her.
"Is this Santana Lopez?"
Santana paused and opened her eyes. She wasn't sure if she should answer that question. Eve and Emma had told her about fans finding her number somehow and calling insistently if she confirmed. She didn't feel like having to change her number.
"Who is this?" she decided to ask instead.
"My name is Rhodney, I work for Disney World's catering services"
Santana forgot every problem she had been internally complaining about, feeling like her insides were suddenly weightless and she was floating.
"Is this Santana Lopez?"
"Hi yes…yeah yes sorry…sorry." She face palmed at her stuttering and took a calming breath. "Yes sorry, I am Santana Lopez, I've been waiting for this call for weeks."
"Sorry about that, it takes a while for calls to get screened and sent to the appropriate department. You can imagine how many people are calling here."
"Yeah I bet"
"Ok so I understand you want to have your wedding here?"
"Yeah and honestly I'm willing to do whatever it takes, my girlfriend will lose her shit if it's possible. Oh sorry…I didn't mean to curse." She cringed, but to her surprise, the man on the other end laughed cheerfully.
"No don't worry about it, it's a breath of fresh air. You sound like and actual person and not a weird Disney fanatic, though I guess that's your…girlfriend you said?"
"Yeah she loves Disney to death"
"I feel like I need to just get something out in the open right now"
There it was, Santana thought. "Listen, if you're about to tell me that you don't think Disney is going to do a gay wedding I'm going to be so-"
"No no gosh no nothing like that"
Santana narrowed her eyes but didn't speak. She was already working herself up ready to burn Disney world down.
"I was just going to say that I'm a fan of yours. I've been thinking of coming down to San Jose or LA to see one of your shows."
"Oh" Santana couldn't think of anything to say. She had not been expecting that at all, and having never actually spoken to any fan of hers outside of a show, she didn't know how to handle it. "Thank you so much."
"It would really be an honour to have your wedding here. I could personally take care of everything you needed Mrs Lopez."
Santana was stunned silent. She had been waiting to hear those words for almost two months, and now that she had, she had no clue how to continue. There was silence on the line for a long while.
"Hello? Are you still there?"
"Yes I'm still here, sorry I'm just…I mean thank you that would be great."
"Awesome, so when are you planning on having the wedding?"
"July 8th"
"Ok great. So you and Britta…uh Mrs Pierce could come by any time to see the space. It usually helps to have an idea of what the grounds and room look like so that you can plan everything properly, and then we usually set everything up 3 days before the wedding so you can come by and oversee the set up as well if you'd like."
"Yeah okay…that all sounds really awesome…sorry I'm in a bit of shock right now, so I'm not functioning properly. I'll have Eve…uh my assistant get in contact with you, she'll give you the name and number of our wedding planner too so you can work everything out with them." Rhodney laughed.
"Alright that's no problem. I understand. I'm really happy you two are getting married. Congratulations."
This jolted Santana from her joyful haze.
"Yeah thanks. Listen, I expect this is going to be kept silent. It isn't public information you know? I'm super happy you're a fan of mine, but this is something very personal for me and Britt and I don't want it all over twitter or something." She wasn't rude, but she was stern. The last thing she wanted was for every detail of her wedding to be all over the internet for thousands of people to see and take advantage of. She could already picture random people crashing her wedding and asking her to sign random body parts. "That won't be a problem will it?"
"No of course not. We will be completely professional. No problem at all." He sounded scared, and Santana liked this. She loved her fans, and she was grateful for them, but she would not allow anything, most especially her own fame, to ruin Brittany's wedding day.
"Ok. Thank you. And thank you for finally calling me back. Just thanks."
"It's really not a problem at all. I'll let you go now, I will be waiting to talk to your assistant."
"Eve"
"Yes Eve. Have a good day"
"You too Rhodney." Even as she hung up the phone Santana was already on her way out, running down the hall and out the door.
"Santana" Eve shouted from her desk in Santana's office, as she saw her run by. Santana didn't even turn back.
"Disney called. Call them back, and call the wedding planner too." Eve smiled broadly after her.
"Aye aye captain" she said quietly.
'Now's the time' Santana thought, as she fiddled with the small box in her hands, standing outside the dancer's changing room. She had been waiting for confirmation from Disney to give Brittany her ring, because it was news that would make Brittany so over the moon, and since the 'will you marry me?' moment was already Brittany's she wanted something huge to tell her when she gave her the ring. Santana had gone over what she was going to say hundreds of times since leaving the studio. She had gone home, gotten the ring and driven to the site where Brittany was shooting the video, but that had been as far as she had gotten. For over an hour she switched between siting in the car, pacing up and down the lot, and as she was doing now, standing outside the door to the changing rooms. Why was she so nervous? They were already getting married, and Brittany would definitely love the ring, so why couldn't she just go in and give it to her? Sure there were more people in there than she would have liked, but Brittany would like that. She always like when Santana made public declarations of love. Maybe it was because of how long she had denied her feelings.
Santana stood there for a good twenty minutes, then decided to just go wait for Brittany at home and walked back down the hallway.
"Santana?" she heard a deep male voice call. She spun around quickly, hiding the box behind her back.
"Syth? Hey I haven't seen you in ages."
Syth smiled warmly at her and walked towards her. "Yeah, been too busy getting famous. I understand, only because of how much I love Brittany"
Santana forced out a laugh, looking around for an excuse to leave.
"Were you looking for her?" Syth asked, bringing Santana's attention back.
"Who?"
"Brittany" He said, frowning.
"Oh...yeah Brittany duh..." she forced another laugh. She was panicking now, even though she had absolutely no idea why, or how to stop.
"She's not in there" Syth was telling her, though his voice sounded so far away, as though Santana was listening to him from under water.
"Uhh yeah I'll just go. See her at home…." she tried to walk away.
"No don't be silly. I'll take you to her, we're on break anyway."
Santana felt herself being dragged along the corridor, her hand still holding the box behind her back. She was vaguely aware of exiting the building and then re-entering it, but she wouldn't have been able to make her way back even if her life depended on it. Her stomach was tightening with each step she took, and she had to fight the urge to just wrench her hand free and run away. This felt oddly similar to how she had felt when she was driving to Brittany's house when they were 16. She had been on her way to film the Fondue For Two episode where Brittany would ask her to prom, and the entire way there had felt exactly like this. She had pulled over to vomit twice, though nothing had actually come out, and eventually she had just given up and gone back home. The mere memory of that day was enough to steel Santana's nerves and keep her walking forward. She would not be so cowardly ever again. Sure, Brittany didn't know she was coming this time, but that wasn't the point.
Finally they walked through a large metal door and Santana froze. She had been preparing herself for a few dozen dancers, and even then had almost run. This was way, way worse. It seemed to her that all the dancers, singers, camera crew, directors and assistants were all in this room. There were definitely more than 50 people in the room with her, and to her horror, Brittany seemed to be right in the thick of it, in a group of around 20 people.
"Santana?" Syth had stopped when Santana had, and was now looking at her with deep concern. "Is something wrong?"
Santana didn't say anything, but continued to stare at Brittany. Something about watching Brittany be herself around all these people, laughing and being goofy and completely charming made Santana relax slightly. Yes, she was still terrified, but this beautiful and amazing girl had decided to love her, for some reason, and she was going to do everything she could to keep her happy for the rest of her life. She walked suddenly away from Syth, who was now staring at her in confusion and headed towards the director. She assumed this was the director because he was sitting in a chair with 'director' written on the back.
"Santana?" Syth called again, but he was ignored. "Brittany's over there" Santana just nodded. Finally reaching the director, Santana bent down and picked up his megaphone.
"Can I borrow this?" she raised it to her mouth before getting a response.
"Brittany S Pierce" Santana yelled into the megaphone. There was sudden silence, and Santana realised she couldn't see Brittany. She turned around, saw a table and headed towards it pulling Syth along with her.
"Santana?" she heard Brittany shout. She was clearly very confused.
"Lift me up here Syth" Santana whispered. He quickly obliged, just as confused as everyone else, but also very intrigued. Once she was sanding steadily on the table she looked around again, seeing that Brittany had walked a few paces towards where she was, looking for her.
"Brittany S Pierce" Santana said again, making Brittany swivel around to face her, an expression of pure astonishment on her face. She then broke into a huge smile and giggled. The room was so quiet that even from her distance Santana could hear it.
"What are you doing?" Brittany mouthed, raising her hands in a questioning way and walking quickly towards her.
Santana raised a hand to stop Brittany from coming too close, otherwise the megaphone would be pointless and her moment would be ruined. Brittany stopped hesitantly and repeated her question aloud.
"Santana what are you doing?" she shouted
"You had your turn, it's mine now."
Brittany looked at her, still confused, but didn't say anything. Santana took this as acceptance.
"Brittany, I love you. It's amazing how much I love you because it's like….every part of me always has to do what will make you happiest. It hasn't always been that way…it took us…well it took me a while to get here, but today I was faced with the same situation I was six years ago, except this time I could run and you'd never know, and my body physically refused to do it. I know I'm not perfect and I'm a lot to handle, but I love you so much and I promise…."Santana paused to make sure that everyone was listening. "I promise you Brittany, that I will always do what I can to make you happy."
Brittany was looking at her with misty eyes and a huge smile on her face. Several people were looking at Brittany, but most of them were looking at Santana. She felt the fear suddenly rush back into her when she realised this. Her hand began to shake violently and she could feel that her breathing had picked up. Brittany noticed and took a few steps forward, but was once again stopped by a hand from Santana.
"S it's ok. It's really ok. That was enough I don't need-"but Santana cut her off.
"When you asked me to marry you, it was the happiest moment of my life. Every single future I've ever seen since I was 13 was a future with you. For a short while it was with you as my best friend, but that didn't last long" she and Brittany both laughed, along with a few people in the crowd. "The point is, you're my everything Britt. My best friend, my soul mate and my favourite person in the world. Meeting you changed my life," Brittany looked down shaking her head slightly. "No I'm serious. I was miserable, I was sad and angry, and I was alone. Then you came along and changed all of that. You brought joy and light and fun back into my life Britt and the fact that I'm going to be able to see your beautiful face every day for the rest of my life is enough for me. You could tell me I'll never get anything else and I would be completely fine with it." She paused and smiled, knowing this was the part that Brittany was going to love. "But for months I've been asking myself how I could show you just how serious I am about wanting the best for you. How could I show you how special you are to me? You know? How I could make you as happy as you make me." Brittany was shaking her head to say Santana didn't need to do any of those things, but a few people in the crowd were nodding as though watching a captivating film. Santana jumped down from the table.
"Where would my Britt-Britt want to get married? I've been asking myself. I thought of all your favourite romance movies and the best I could think of would be on a boat in the middle of the ocean like Prince Eric and Ursula" Brittany laughed along with everyone else, but then stopped, her eyes widening in disbelief.
"Did you..."
Santana laughed "No way Brittany you goofball" Brittany blushed and laughed. "But what's the next best thing?" Santana asked her.
Brittany quirked an eyebrow and tilted her head in thought. There was silence for a few seconds, and then she straightened her head and looked at Santana, her eyes filling with tears again.
"No way" she said quietly. Santana smiled at her and nodded.
"Disney world" they said at the same time, and then Brittany screamed and jumped up and down on the spot, tears streaming down her face. Someone brought a chair for her to sit on, making it more obvious how violently she was shaking. She looked at Santana, opened her mouth and closed it multiple times, and then resumed sobbing.
Santana put down the megaphone and walked to Brittany, gathering her in a tight hug.
"Don't cry Britt…you weren't supposed to cry." Brittany took several deep breaths and then held it in, willing herself to stop crying. Finally she pulled back from Santana.
"Sorry…sorry…you caught me by surprise. I'm not crying you're crying"
Santana burst out laughing, as Brittany returned the words she had spoken when Brittany gave her her ring.
"Are you serious? We're getting married at Disney world?" Brittany asked, her voice shaking.
"Yeah Britt. We're getting married at Disney world." Santana pulled the small box from her back pocket and handed it to Brittany.
Brittany held it for several long seconds before slowly prising the box open and taking out the ring. It was a sliver band with the words 'to infinity' engraved on the inside. Along the sides were small purple jewels lined with tiny diamonds, and where they met at the center was a large crystal diamond that when turned in certain angles seemed to shine purple. Brittany stared at the ring as silent tears fell from her eyes.
"Do you like it?" Santana asked, growing nervous at Brittany's silence. Brittany sat looking at the ring for several more seconds and then suddenly vaulted off the chair and into Santana's arms. They both fell to the ground with a thud, but neither of them noticed. Brittany was attacking Santana with passionate kisses, and the crowd around them were cheering and applauding. Finally, Brittany sat up, straddling Santana's waist and handed her the ring.
"I love it so much Santana. I fucking love it!" She exclaimed.
Santana's eyes widened at Brittany cursing, but she sat up anyway and took her hand, slowly sliding the ring onto her finger, and then intertwining their fingers. Their ring fingers pressed together and they looked down at both of their rings next to each other.
"Perfect" Brittany whispered, leaning her head against Santana's.
"AAAANNNNDDDD CUT" the director yelled, making everyone turn to him. He was standing with a camera a few feet away from where Santana and Brittany were sitting on the floor, a huge smile on his face. "That was seriously the best thing I've ever filmed. Consider it my wedding present."
Brittany raised her eyebrows and looked at Santana, who was equally as confused.
"What?" Santana asked.
"I started filming you both when you got up on the table. I felt like you were going to do something meaningful that you'd both want to remember, and boy was I right. Brittany's reaction…I mean wow…just amazing. Would you like me to make it into something or do you just want the raw video?"
Santana was staring at him unsure whether to be mad or overjoyed. Of course she was happy that their moment had been caught on video, but he had been so bold as to assume they would want it. And what if he kept a copy and sold it to some crazy fans or released it on the internet? She looked at Brittany who seemed to be thinking along the same lines. But then she smiled at Santana and shrugged.
"Who cares" she whispered. "We're getting married in Disney world."