A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews! I appreciate you all and thanks for sticking around. :)
CHAPTER 5
Brittany stares at her coffee while both her hands are gripping the cup like somebody's going to take it from her any minute now. She taps the cup repeatedly with her pointer finger as she waits for Quinn, Olivia, and Rachel to arrive at her favorite café. It's Friday finally and she can't help but be anxious of what's about to transpire.
"Something interesting happening in that cup of coffee?" a familiar voice interrupts her deep thoughts. She looks up and sees Quinn smiling brightly at her.
Brittany smiles back and stands up from her seat to give Quinn a hug, "Quinn, hi." Quinn removes her sunglasses and sits beside Brittany. "I already ordered your coffee just like you asked so it should be here in a minute or two."
Quinn nods, "Thanks, B. So, are they on their way here?
"Yeah, Olivia sent me a DM just before you got here saying they should be here in about 10 minutes. They're coming from Staten Island."
"They live there?"
Brittany lifts her left shoulder in a shrug and shifts on her seat to face Quinn, "I guess." She lifts her mug to her lips and sips coffee "How was the conference?"
Quinn rolls her eyes and slumps back on her chair, "Exhausting!" Brittany giggles at her friend's reaction. "I mean, seriously, I can't wait to go back to New Haven on Sunday." A waitress then approaches their table and places Quinn's coffee in front of her. "Thank you" she smiles gratefully at the young woman.
"You're leaving me already? Don't goooo…" Brittany whines and Quinn laughs at her best friend.
"You'll be fine, Britt. Besides, you'll be busy trying to get your wife back anyway," she winks and Brittany smiles wistfully at the thought of getting Santana back after so many years. Quinn averts her eyes in the direction of the front door and sees Olivia and a petite brunette entering the café. "Speaking of… she's here" she says and Brittany looks in the direction of Quinn's gaze. Brittany raises her right arm and waves it a little bit so Olivia and Rachel can see them.
As the two brunettes approach their table, Brittany couldn't help but shamelessly stare at Santana… err… Olivia. Her heart rate quickens and it seems as though every movement around her slows down and all she could focus on is her favorite brunette walking towards her. This is only the second time she's meeting Olivia and it's taking every ounce of the blonde's self-control to not run over to her and hug and kiss her senseless. The Latina is wearing a black Rolling Stones t-shirt, ripped denim jeans, and a pair of white heels. Yes, her wife looks stunning even in the simplest of outfits and if only-
Brittany's thoughts about the gorgeous brunette in front her were interrupted by an elbow to her left rib. She snaps her head to Quinn and scowls at her best friend who's now sporting a knowing smirk as if telling Brittany 'I see you over there checking her out.' She didn't realize that Olivia and Rachel were already standing in front of them so she quickly stands up and clears her throat.
"Hi… um" she holds her right hand out and Olivia shakes her hand and does the same with Rachel. Brittany glances at Santana's left hand and her heart drops at the fact that she doesn't have their wedding band. She swallows the lump forming in her throat and blinks her eyes rapidly to fight back her tears. She then points her hand to Quinn to introduce her, "This is Quinn Fabray, my best friend." Quinn holds her hand out to Olivia first, "Quinn, this is Olivia Wright and-"
Rachel takes Quinn's hand and introduces herself, "Rachel. Rachel Berry" she says with a huge smile that Quinn thinks is overly friendly but smiles back anyway.
"Right." Brittany clears her throat, "Please, have a seat" she says just as the waitress comes to their table to hand the two brunettes the menu. They ordered their coffee and for about 5 minutes, their table stayed silent; no one really knew how to start this meeting. Quinn nudges Brittany's knee with her own under the table, encouraging the blonde to start talking and Brittany takes a deep breath.
"So…" Brittany starts, "You're sisters? That's what you said in your GMA interview," she looks up to meet Olivia's eyes and then looks at Rachel. The two brunettes nod their heads slightly before Olivia clears her throat to speak.
"Yeah, kind of" she smiles at Rachel and looks at the two blondes in front of her.
Quinn quirks an eyebrow and asks "Kind of?" The waitress comes back to their table and places two coffee mugs in front of the brunettes.
"Mhmm…" Rachel hums after taking her first sip of her coffee "That's why we're here. At first I thought Olivia and Santana could just be twins separated at birth just like in that movie called 'Three Identical Strangers' but then she…" Rachel points a finger at Brittany "mentioned a butterfly tattoo on Santana's lower back… which Olivia has as well."
"And her birthday is on July 4th… I-" Brittany butts in and shakes her head "I don't understand how you know when your birthday is but can't remember me… or our daughter" she says sadly and looks at Olivia with teary eyes. Quinn gives Olivia a sad smile as well before facing Brittany.
"It can happen, B" she holds Brittany's left hand and continues "Some people could lose their memories but are able to retain some information" Quinn nods in Olivia's direction "like her birthday."
Olivia smiles sympathetically at Brittany for the first time since they met "Um, I've always known my name was Olivia and that I was born on the 4th of July" she chuckles "I mean, it's kind of hard to forget that date, you know what I mean?"
Brittany chuckles at Olivia's response and nods "Yeah, I mean, not a lot of people get free fireworks on their birthday" she takes a sip of her coffee and changes the topic "So, how'd you become sisters?"
Olivia shifts in her seat and glances timidly at Rachel. Rachel takes this as a hint to start retelling the story.
"Well, my dads own a restaurant in Staten Island and I always help out there whenever I can. One night back in 2013, I went out the back door to throw the trash and then I was startled when I saw her" she points at Olivia "dumpster diving." Rachel scrunches her nose at the memory. Brittany and Quinn's jaws dropped at this information and stared at the two of them in disbelief.
"Yeah… so, I asked her why she was doing that in the middle of the night and she said she didn't get a spot at the shelter two blocks from the restaurant and had to find something to eat. I then insisted that she come back to the restaurant with me so our chef could make something for her and she reluctantly agreed." Rachel turns her head to smile at her sister "You know, now that I think about it, she looked really hygienic for a homeless person. Scrawny… but hygienic."
Brittany frowns at the idea of Santana being a homeless person in New York. She couldn't imagine what Santana had to go through while living on the streets and in shelters. Before she could even prevent it, a single tear already streams down her cheek which Olivia noticed first.
"Hey, you okay?" Olivia asks, concern evident in her voice.
Brittany smiles at her weakly and wipes the tear off her face. "Yeah, I'm okay. Please, continue."
"Okay." Olivia nods "Well, going back to the story… um, yeah, I was homeless but I wasn't unhygienic. McDonald's was my go-to place when I needed a shower" she giggled and so did Rachel and the two blondes. "Anyway, being homeless was tough. I had to survive on the streets so I did what I had to do; lining up at shelters, dumpster diving, showering at McDonald's, panhandling… the works.
Then, I got lucky when I met Rachel outside their restaurant in Staten Island. That meal I had that night was the best I had in a long time." She smiles gratefully at Rachel and glances at Brittany. She couldn't help but stare at the blonde a little longer, just taking in how beautiful Brittany actually is. She clears her throat and continues, "After that, I met her dads and they offered for me to stay the night at the office of the restaurant. I couldn't think of a way to repay them so I offered to help out in the restaurant the next day. I helped with dishwashing and cleaning… which went on for another couple of days in exchange for food and shelter" she takes Rachel's hand to hold "Eventually, the Berrys took me in and they treated me like one of their own. Rachel has been my sister and Hiram and David, my dads, ever since."
Brittany smiles gratefully at Rachel. She's thankful that despite the tough time Santana had to go through while living on the streets, she was able to eventually find a family.
Quinn on the other hand had the wheels in her head turning. "So, you've always been homeless?" she asks and Olivia nods "What about your parents?" Olivia shifts in her seat and lowers her gaze before answering.
"They abandoned me" she shrugs nonchalantly.
Quinn eyes her skeptically and tilts her head to one side, "Huh. What are their names?" She challenges the brunette then glances at Brittany and the blonde looks back at her with furrowed brows.
Olivia meets Quinn's hazel eyes before her eyes move frantically from side to side. "I… uh…" she stammers, "I-I don't know." She furrowed her eyebrows as questions started forming inside her head. Why can't she remember her parents' names? Was she abandoned as a baby? But she's never been in a foster home. Why was she homeless in the first place? All these questions in her head are starting to overwhelm her so Olivia stands up and excuses herself to the restroom. Rachel starts to get up from her chair but Brittany catches her by the wrist.
"Can I?" she asks Rachel hopefully and the brunette nods. Brittany gets up from her chair and follows Olivia to the restroom. Rachel sits back down and turns her attention to Quinn.
"So… you're a psychologist?" Quinn smiles at her and nods "You have any idea of what might've happened to her?"
"I have my suspicions…" she says before taking the last sip of her coffee "although, this might not just be a simple case of retrograde amnesia but I can't know for sure unless she gets properly observed. She might've been abducted and probed by aliens for all I know" she jokes and giggles at herself for using Brittany's theory and Rachel does the same. Her chest
"Well I think that's more possible than my theory. I told Liv that maybe she and Santana got the same butterfly tattoo when they were babies" both of them started laughing "I mean, who gives babies tattoos? I swear, Liv was about ready to disown me when I said that." Both ladies giggled for a few minutes before starting a conversation about each other's jobs.
Meanwhile in the restroom, Olivia splashes some water on her face and dries it with a paper towel. She stares at her reflection in the mirror, confused as ever. If her life was a musical, she'd be singing the chorus to 'Reflection' by now since that's exactly how she feels; a stranger in her own body. Her body jumps slightly in place when she hears the restroom door open, revealing Brittany's beautiful face.
"Hey" Brittany says gently but with a hint of concern, "You okay?"
Olivia stares at the blonde through the mirror and offers a soft smile, "Y-Yeah, I'm okay. I-It's just…" she drops her gaze and shakes her head.
"I'm sorry. I know this must be overwhelming for you" the blonde says apologetically.
"It is but...it's okay" Olivia looks up again to meet Brittany's eyes through the mirror "I think we've already established that there's a 99 percent chance that I am Santana so I would like to know everything." Brittany smiles tenderly at the brunette and points her thumb back in the direction of the door. "So, shall we go back out there?"
"We should." They got out of the restroom and made their way back to their table where they can see Quinn and Rachel now having an animated conversation. They sat back on their seats and couldn't help but smile at Quinn and Rachel giggling at each other. The giggling stopped when Olivia and Brittany took their seats and Rachel cleared her throat.
"So… tell us about Santana."
13 years ago…
Santana was taking out books from her locker while Mercedes kept bugging her about going on a double date with her boyfriend and his sister on Friday night. Santana just listens to everything she says and lets it out the other ear. "C'mon San, it'll be fun." Mercedes pleads.
"Cedes, I don't have time for dates right now. And besides, I have to help Blaine with the last minute preparations for the musical this year, because if I don't, I'm never gonna hear the end of it."
"Ugh, whatever, Satan. You honestly need to date again though. Ya losing ya game girl!" Mercedes said in a ghetto accent while nudging Santana.
Santana places her books securely in her left arm and sneers "Hey! I am not losing my game!" She then throws a piece of crumpled paper at her friend and smirks. "Just watch until this musical is over, I'll be back in the high school dating scene."
"Alrighty, if you say so. Anyway, gotta go, San. I'll see you later at drama class." Mercedes says before turning on her heels and walking to her next class. Santana waves her off and the Latina closes her locker. She was about to start walking when a sudden blow to her left shoulder caused her to drop her books out of her hand. She quickly kneels down to pick up her books and turns to see who bumped into her. Not to her surprise, it was Brittany Pierce, in her Cheerios uniform and high ponytail, walking and laughing with her posse.
"What the hell, Pierce?!" Santana yells towards the blonde's direction. Brittany just looked over her shoulder, smirked at the Latina, and continued walking. "Bitch." Santana mumbles as she continues walking towards her next class. Santana sits on her chair in class and since their teacher isn't there yet, she grabs her phone from one of the side pockets of her backpack and her eyebrows furrow when she finds a folded paper that wasn't there when she first put her phone inside that pocket. She discreetly unfolds the paper and reads the note;
Hey Santana,
Can I talk to you after school? Meet me at the auditorium.
BSP
"BSP?" Santana thought to herself. "BSP as in Brittany S. Pierce? What could she possibly want from me?" Santana spent the rest of the day thinking about what the blonde wanted to talk to her about after class. She and Brittany never got along in school because, well, Santana was all about academics and girls while Brittany was all about popularity and boys. They're both head bitches in their own territories so Santana is genuinely wondering why Brittany wanted to see her.
As soon as her after school activities were over, Santana marched towards the auditorium. She found Brittany sitting at the edge of the stage so she walked down the steps and towards the stage.
The sound of footsteps causes Brittany to look up and a radiant smile forms on her face when she sees Santana approaching her. "Hey. I'm glad you saw my note. Can we go backstage? I don't want anyone to see us talking here." Brittany asks while standing up. Santana eyes her curiously but eventually nods and follows the blonde to the backstage. As soon as Brittany felt like they were in a safe area, she turned to face the Latina.
"What do you want, Pierce?" Santana asks while crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at the blonde.
"Woah, chill out, Madam President. I'm not here to pick a fight with you." Brittany fidgets and looks away and the brunette couldn't help but wonder why Brittany, the HBIC of the cheerleading squad, is acting all weird and shit.
"Okay, then, why did you want to talk to me?"
"I...uh. I kind of wanted to ask you something." Brittany wrings her wrists and looks down on the floor.
"What is it?" the brunette asks impatiently.
"Wouldyougooutonadatewithme?"
Santana furrows her eyebrows and leans her head a little bit towards Brittany, "Would I what now?"
"Um, would you go out on a date with me?" Brittany asks, slowly this time. Santana just stood there, eyes wide open because she definitely did not see this coming. She stares at the blonde for a few, uncomfortable minutes before opening her mouth to speak. "You… you want to… huh?
Regaining a little bit of her confidence, Brittany adds, "Look, Santana, I know this came out of nowhere and you might not believe me or something, but... I really like you. I always have ever since we got partnered up in that chemistry class in junior year. And now that we're almost graduating, I didn't want to miss this chance to get to know you better."
Santana feels like her heart is going to come out of her chest and she can feel her face heat up when she meets the blonde's adoring stare. "I-I didn't even know you were into girls…" she stutters.
Brittany giggles at Santana's obvious nervousness "Yeah. Well, nobody else in this school actually knows that about me except for my parents, Quinn and now... you. I never wanted anyone from this school to know so I never fooled around with girls here. It's different with you though, I'd like to have a chance with you, Santana, and not just fool around. I would like to date you."
Santana looks at her incredulously after that confession but the truth is, the feeling is mutual. Santana's been an out and proud lesbian in school since her sophomore year and yes, she's dated some girls from school but nothing was ever serious. Santana's priority has always been her academics. Another fact that no one knew about her is that she also has a crush on Brittany and even though the blonde can be a bitch, Santana finds her bitchiness really hot. She just thought that she wouldn't stand a chance with the blonde because Brittany always dated some guy from the football team and didn't give away any indication of liking girls so the school automatically assumed she was straight, which apparently is a big fat lie.
"Please?" Brittany pleads to Santana once again, this time, with her puppy dog eyes.
"I...I uh… sure? Okay… yeah." Santana nods and gives Brittany a genuine smile for the first time since they started that conversation, "We can go out on a date, I guess."
"Really?" Brittany beams, feeling like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders.
"Yes, really. I would love to go out on a date with THE Brittany S. Pierce." Santana says, matching Brittany's now ear-to-ear grin.
"Wow. Hooo." Brittany breathes out and places her hands on her hips, "Thank you. Um, is Saturday night okay? I'll pick you up at 6:30."
"Yeah, that's fine." Santana agrees but then narrows her eyes at Brittany, "Wait… you're picking me up? You don't even know where I live."
"I know where you live, Lopez. Trust me, you're not the only senior from this school that lives in your neighborhood." Brittany chuckles and winks at her.
"Well, okay. I'll see you Saturday then." Santana tucks her hair behind her ear and smiles shyly at the blonde.
"Awesome. Well, I need to go." the blonde winks before walking backwards towards the exit with a goofy smile plastered on her face and a spring in her step. "See you later, Lopez."
"Later, Pierce." Santana giggles and shakes her head as she watches the adorable blonde walk out of the auditorium.
