Chapter 4: Brittana's 4th Year

It's been their busiest year yet. Santana released her debut EP and is on the heels of her first small tour. Brittany tagged along as support of course, working remotely out of which ever hotel room they happened to land in.

The EP, titled Snixx, was for the most part pretty successful and Santana's proud of how far she's come.

Brittany's also made progress. After embracing herself as the mathematical genius she is, she's been published in a few academic journals and was even a featured profile piece in The New Yorker, written by none other than, Ms. Quinn Fabray.

It was amazingly well done, and even though it's been three months since the article ran, Santana hasn't stopped talking about it. She still carries a copy of it in her purse, even after Brittany scolded her about how embarrassing it was on more than one occasion.

But Santana can't help it that she's just so fucking proud of her wife. Hell, she'll even show it to the check out clerk at the grocery store just because she can.

They're both moving up in the world and they're doing it together.

Which is why this year, they decide to make their anniversary a little extra special. To celebrate the past year of accomplishments. Plus, they have the money to do so now, so why the hell not.

Their anniversary started off like it usually does, in their favorite little cottage. After a morning swim in the ocean -and a morning quickie shortly after- they made a day trip into town to do some shopping. Who would've known that urban Honolulu is home to the largest open air shopping center in the world?

And how was it that they've only waited til now to go there?

When they got to Ala Moana, Santana was like a kid in a candy store. Or more like, a kid in a candy mall. Easily spend most of the day there, they walked every inch of the place and even bought matching diamond earrings in the shape of pineapples to mark the occasion.

It was a little pricey, but they both agreed to it seeing as they've never actually bought each other anniversary gifts before. In previous years, most of their money was spent on their vacation experience as a whole.

And just when Santana thought this year's been their best anniversary yet, Brittany took it one step further and surprised her with one last thing. With the help of Aunty Lin's connections, she booked them a sunset dinner cruise on a private charter boat.

It must've cost Brittany a small fortune, even with Aunty Lin's connections, but Santana won't question it. She knows her wife wanted to treat her to something special and damn did she deliver.

Because there they are, out at sea aboard the most beautiful catamaran, watching the sun set into the ocean. And Santana's so incredibly happy, it's insane. Four amazing years with the love of her life and she knows it's only going up from here.

Man, if her younger self could see her now.

"Honey," Brittany gets her attention, "What are thinking about?"

Santana smiles, leaning down to rest her head on her wife's shoulder, "How lucky I am that I get to spend the rest of infinity loving you."

Brittany giggles, "You know we're already married, right? You don't have to sweet talk me like that anymore."

"Oh, well in that case-"

"No wait, I take it back!" Her wife gasps and Santana laughs, scooting closer to get more comfortable. She listens to the ocean and feels the boat as it moves with the water.

"You're my favorite person in the whole world, Britt. And I know I say that all the time, but that's just because I really mean it. You are."

She feels Brittany kiss her forehead lightly, her lips resting there, "You're my favorite person too, Santana."

They sit in comfortable silence as the last bit of sun disappears and the air turns a tad bit cooler. Snuggling even closer together, the boat engine begins to hum as it makes its way back to the harbor.

"Hey, do you remember when you proposed to me by saying you wanna mash up with me forever, and literally no one in that whole choir room thought to say, wanky?"

Santana laughs, nodding her head, "Tragic."

"You set it up perfectly, too. How did they miss that?"

"I think we're just going to have to finally accept the fact that no one else is as smart as us, babe."

"Yeah," Brittany smiles down at her, "We're just too awesome."

They spend half of the next day watching trashy reality shows from the comfort of their bed. With nothing else really planned for their remaining few days of vacation, they just want to take advantage of the fact that they have no real responsibilities right now.

It's a knock to their door that finally gets them to leave their bedroom, and Santana opens the door to find Uncle Alika standing there with a plastic bag full of what looks and smells to be food.

"Just wanted to drop this off." He hands her the bag, "Saw the Manapua Man on the way home and just had to pick something up. I figured you guys probably never tried it before so I grabbed extra."

"Thank you..." Santana says before looking at him confused, "Wait, you saw the what?"

He laughs, "The Manapua Man. It's a Hawaii thing. Kinda like our local version of an ice cream truck."

Santana looks at the bag again with even more confusion because she's like a thousand percent sure there's no ice cream inside it.

"Think of it like a combination of take-out Chinese restaurant but also a mom and pop store… and it's all sold out of one of those white vans."

"That's probably the most confusing and sketchiest thing I've ever heard in my life," Santana laughs, handing the bag to Brittany who immediately starts inspecting the various food items.

"I got you guys a classic Manapua Man meal." Uncle Alika smiles proudly, "Fried noodles, pork hash, and a Strawberry soda. You're gonna love it."

"Thanks so much, uncle! We haven't eaten anything all day." Brittany returns to the door, stepping out to give him a hug. "It looks delicious."

"Any time, ladies. Oh, and Aunty Lin told me to invite you two to our family party at her brother Eric's house to watch tonight's fight."

"Tonight's fight?" Brittany asks.

"The Holloway fight." He says like it's obvious, "Pride of Hawaii, representing the westside."

"Oh, I'm not sure…" Santana tries to protest but he quickly shakes his head.

"She said she's not taking no for an answer. Something about a surprise later and you two have to be there for it."

Santana glances at Brittany, who shrugs, "I mean, we do already know most of them, San. It could be fun?"

She thinks about it for a second. They did have fun last year spending the day at the motocross track so she knows they'll get along fine. But to watch a UFC fight? That's not really their thing. Then again, it'd be rude to turn down an invitation knowing that Aunty Lin has something planned.

Plus, she does knows them enough to trust them at this point, so really...

"What the hell, why not?"

By the time night rolls around, they're dressed and ready to watch a bunch of grown adults beat each other up on television.

During the short drive over, they make a pit stop at a nearby store to pick up a case of Heineken since they don't want to rudely show up empty-handed.

After following the directions into Waianae valley, they finally pull up to a large property and it's then that they fully realize what it is they're stepping into. If this is what a UFC party looks like in Waianae then they really don't mess around.

From what she can see, it's a whole set-up with a large silver canopy tent, complete with tables and chairs and a very large projector screen attached to one end.

"My favorite haoles!" Aunty Lin yells from her seat as soon as she sees them. "And look, they brought beer!"

They spend the next thirty minutes greeting everyone before they're finally able to take a seat and Santana's got to admit, it almost feels like they're part of the family.

When they eat, she can't help but groan at how amazing the food tastes. She even made sure to take notes on which restaurant's each item came from so that they can put it on her list of places that they've yet to try. Which is an ever growing list because they keep getting introduced to new things.

At some point during the night, Brittany was pulled away by the group of children running around and Santana watches adoringly from afar, easily imagining what it would be like once they have a few little ones of their own.

"Hey," A young voice gets Santana's attention and she turns to see the same teenage girl that questioned her last year at the motocross track.

"Hey."

"So, I listened to your EP." The girl says in a cool, nonchalant kind of way, and Santana has to hold back a knowing laugh.

"And?"

She shrugs, "It was pretty good." She says like it's no big deal before promptly returning to her phone screen and Santana smirks.

"Thanks, kid."

The Holloway fight is minutes from starting, and somehow her beautifully soft 'stop the violence' wife has been magically replaced with a psycho fan, cheering on with the rest of the family.

What's even more crazy, is the sounds of the same type of cheering coming from seemingly every other household in the whole damn neighborhood. The hype is almost unexplainable. Chaos doesn't even come close.

Santana's sure that even the craziest of Super Bowl parties don't compare to this.

Every few minutes, police patrol cars pass by, and it gives her the most uneasy feeling. Like she doesn't exactly know what to expect and if she maybe needs to be preparing herself for something to happen.

And just when she thinks it can't get any more intense, one of the patrol cars pull up and an officer gets out of his vehicle.

Heart beating through her chest, she steps a little closer to Brittany. But no one else seems fazed by it. She looks around confused because not only is no one else reacting, no one even pays him any attention until his literally standing right next to the screen.

"Kimo!" Uncle Eric yells, standing to greet him kindly.

"Did it start, yet?" The officer, apparently Kimo, says as he continues to greet a few of the surrounding men.

"Cousin Kimo." Aunty Lin speaks up next to Santana and she jumps in surprise. "He usually shows up to these things just in case."

"In case of what?"

The older woman laughs, pointing towards the screen, "A bad outcome."

Santana looks around at everyone as they stand to their feet, eager. She notices the teenage girl from earlier, her eyes no longer glued to her phone and instead watching the start of the fight intently. Even Brittany has begun punch at the air, and if Santana's anxiety wasn't at an all time high, she'd probably think of it as cute.

"Just wait till he wins." Aunty Lin smiles, patting Santana's back before walking away.

She's not sure what she meant by that, but it manages to calm her nerves a little.

It isn't until the third round that Santana really starts getting into it. A few beers combined with the raw energy that surrounds her is more than enough to awaken her inner Snixx.

And Brittany? Brittany's gone completely insane, going so far as to wrapping a Hawaiian flag around her shoulders and yelling, "Westside, best side!" with the rest of the uncles at the front.

Santana's not even sure where the flag came from. All she knows it she lost track of her for one minute and by the time she found her again, it was completely covering her wife.

When Holloway wins by knockout in the fourth round, the ground actually shakes as the entire neighborhood erupts at once. Not even thirty seconds later, people from every household begin flooding the street and once she realizes what's going on, Santana moves quickly to be with her wife, lacing their fingers together.

They move further out to the street and look up at the night sky, watching as it lights up with fireworks.

And it's not just their area. The neighborhoods across the way and as far as they can see light up the sky as aerial after aerial goes off in a symphony of bangs.

Santana feels a soft tug on her hand and when she looks down she finds little boy, asking her for help with his small fountain firework. She looks up to find his mom, who smiles at her and nods her approval. Brittany smiles at her too, holding a thumbs up and Santana blushes a little.

It's a strange feeling, mostly because she didn't spend as much time as Brittany did with the kids so for her to have been his first choice kind of takes her by surprise.

"Aunty 'tana," The little boy jumps impatiently, and she hears her wife laugh. Santana rolls her eyes, smiling as she picks him up and walks to the middle of the street. She crouches down with him on her hip and helps him as he situates the tiny cone on the asphalt.

"Ready, kid?" She looks at him and his grip around her squeezes a little bit tighter. Santana glances back to the house and sees Brittany watching them with the widest smile, phone pointed at her and probably recording the moment.

"Light it, light it!" He squeals and Santana looks back at him.

"We have to run away really fast, okay?" She tells him and he nods excitedly. She smiles, holding her pinky up, "Promise?"

"Promise!" He yells, almost hitting her in the face with how fast he moves to link his pinky with hers.

She chuckles at his enthusiasm. Then, with the lighter that one of the cousins hands to her, she lights the fuse and runs back in a fit of giggles to where Brittany is standing.

They all watch together as the mini fountain works it's magic, the smiling boy still attached to Santana's hip.

"You're adorable." Brittany whispers beside her and Santana's cheeks burn hot, "And I'd kiss you right now, but there seems to be a waitlist for Santana time."

Confused, she arches an eyebrow and Brittany motions to the rest of the smaller children, all holding tiny fountains and waiting their turn. She turns back to her wife with wide eyes and Brittany just laughs at her, shrugging.

So apparently fireworks are illegal in Hawaii and Santana just helped a handful of very small children break the law.

And Brittany has the videos to prove it.

But it also doesn't seem to be that big of a deal from the looks of it. Hell, even the police officer from earlier was standing there watching the show.

"Okay, everyone I have something to say before we all head home." Aunty Lin stands, getting everyone's attention. "I'm sure you've all met Santana and Brittany by now."

At the mention of their names, Santana and Brittany stop what they're doing and look up like a couple of deer caught in headlights. This must be about the surprise Uncle Alika was talking about.

"Girls," Aunty Lin smiles, "For four years now, you've come here to celebrate your anniversary and honestly, it's been such a pleasure seeing how much you've both grown year after year. And especially after tonight, I think I speak for everyone here when I say it's about time we call this what it is."

Santana, still unsure of where this is going, reaches for Brittany's hand and squeezes it softly.

"Hanai." The older woman smiles and motions to the whole group, "This family is your family. From now on, the cottage is unavailable for any bookings during the week of your anniversary. Just come and it's yours."

"Aunty…" Brittany stands suddenly, pulling Santana up with her and towards the front. "Aunty, you don't have to do that."

"Really, that's too generous." Santana adds, knowing that them renting out their cottage is what pays their bills.

"Well, you don't have any other choice but to accept." Aunty Lin laughs, "We don't rent to family."

Santana looks at her wife and she can already see the mix of emotions embedded in deep blue.

Uncle Alika stands, "And if you need it longer or any other time during the year, just let us know. You're always welcome. This is your home now, too."

"You guys," Santana mutters softly, really regretting that last beer because she's about five seconds away from turning into a crying mess, "Thank you both so much."

He holds up his beer and the family, no, their family, does to. "Happy Anniversary, you too."

A chorus of cheers set off around them and Brittany looks down at Santana, the softest of smiles gracing her lips.

They weren't expecting this. And if someone were to tell them after their very first trip that they'd find a family like this in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they probably would have laughed. How could they have known that they'd slowly build a relationship like this with complete strangers?

Brittany moves quickly, making Santana giggle as she pulling her close and places the sweetest, most softest kiss to her lips.

"I love you."

AN: Thank you to everyone for your very kind words on tumblr. Even if we don't know each other, every single one of you are amazing humans. Truly. And I'm so grateful to have found a family in a community this awesome.

I'm going to be taking some personal time to handle things with my family. I'm hopeful that it won't be too long, but it really all depends on what happens in the next week or so.

If you're reading Song of Mine, please forgive me. I know I said I'd update next week, but I just can't bring myself to write, right now. Not with everything that's going on. Hope you can understand.