AN: It's been a weird and unproductive couple of months, but I finally managed to get this out.
They set a date for the following Friday and Santana finds that she's too excited to let anything ruin her week.
Not Rachel Berry coming into her office (unannounced and with no appointment) three times, not the new intern getting confused with the printer that they end up with twelve extra copies of the same sample and not Kurt and Mercedes teasing her endlessly when they have lunch.
"Can you go on more dates with Brittany?" Kurt asked. "It makes you so much nicer."
Her retort has no real teeth to it and he can tell, but she doesn't even care.
She does end up telling Quinn about the vet incident, figuring that her friend will find out anyway, the next time she takes her cat to the vet. Santana gets an earful about being careful what she leaves around within Charlie's reach.
She promises to be more careful and while Quinn may or may not believe she's being genuine, Santana won't risk anything happening to that cat. Not when she owes him for her date.
It feels like the entire week is just building towards Friday, when she's changing out of her work clothes and into her date outfit.
She texts Brittany, asking her if she wants to meet at the parking lot.
The blonde doesn't reply. However, she rings the bell five minutes later.
"We could've met by your car."
Brittany shakes her head. "No way, this is a date, I have to pick you up."
It makes Santana melt a little.
"You look beautiful," Brittany compliments.
Santana smiles. "Thanks. So do you."
Charlie must hear Brittany's voice because he makes his way over to the front door and looks up at her expectantly.
Brittany bends down and pets him. "Hi Charlie," she says. "Don't worry, I'll have her home at a reasonable hour."
Brittany takes her for Chinese food. The place isn't too crowded and the service is pretty fast so they've barely been able to ask about each others' days when the food arrives.
"You know in all the chaos of the vet and everything, I didn't get a chance to properly ask you how your trip was?" Santana asks, taking a bite of noodles.
"It was good. My parents are good and my sister's applying for colleges and stuff. I think Lord Tubbington's still upset that I haven't been up to visit in a while. They had a little party for me and my dad, so it was a pretty good birthday all in all."
"Yeah, Tina told me you and your dad share the same birthday. The way she said it, sounds like there's a story."
"Oh my God," Brittany starts, a little embarrassed. "My mom really likes to tell this story, I don't know why. She told it to Tina the first time they came down to visit me. She was mortified."
"Well now I have to hear it," Santana presses, intrigued.
Brittany sighs but chuckles. "Fine. The year my mom was pregnant with me, my dad really wanted to go on this trip for his birthday, so they spent the day in this little Amish village. On the way home, my mom thought she had indigestion and she had him pull over and ran into some barn and well…" she watches Santana's eyes go wide as she continues the story. "Turns out it wasn't indigestion, it was me."
"Oh, oh my God," Santana says, shaking her head. "That's insane. Tina told me this was a cute story."
"Yeah... Anyway, my mom carried me back to the car and you can imagine how surprised my dad was. But he always said that I was the best birthday gift he ever got."
"Saved it. That is pretty cute."
"I guess that's why my mom likes to tell it so much," she pauses. "I...I really wasn't supposed to tell you that story on our first date, I'm sorry."
"No, it's ok," Santana laughs. "I like getting to know you."
Brittany beams at that. "Let me ask you an important question."
"Shoot."
"Favorite ice cream flavour?"
Santana laughs. "Rocky road."
"Interesting," Brittany nods.
"So did I pass or is the date over?"
"Oh the date's definitely still on," Brittany smiles slyly. "Ok, since you know the story of my birth, are there any embarrassing stories I should know about?"
"Uh, none to do with my birth. But you know," Santana smiles coyly. "I may or may not have gotten into some mischief when I was a kid."
"Tell me more."
After dinner, the two of them get back into Brittany's car where they stop at a convenience store, before driving off to a campsite. Brittany grabs a picnic blanket from her backseat and the paper bag from the convenience store and the two of them head into the grounds.
"You didn't bring me here to kill me did you?" Santana jokes, observing the forestry that surrounds them as she follows Brittany's lead.
"What? No way, that would be such an awful end to such a good date," Brittany replies. "We're almost there though."
They come to a clearing from some of the bushes to find a pretty clear space. It's quiet as Brittany spreads the picnic blanket and gestures for Santana to sit. She does and Brittany sits next to her, producing a pint of rocky road and two spoons.
"I thought it would be nice if we had desert under the stars," she explains. "I know there aren't too many chances to go stargazing in LA, but I thought it would be nice."
"Britt," she smiles. "This is really nice," Santana pops open the lid of the ice cream and the two of them start digging in. The weather is warm and everything feels right as the two of them eat ice cream under the stars.
"Do you see that?" Brittany points her spoon in the direction of a small cluster of stars. "That's the Mermaid's Triangle. The legend is that mermaids all live on the mysterious island near the Bermuda Triangle, but you can only see them if they want you to. If you do see them, they'll offer you a place to live on their island but their standards are kinda high so most people can't see them and don't think they exist."
"I don't think I've heard of that one."
"That's because I made it up."
Santana just looks at Brittany who smiles.
"Yeah, when I was a kid, we would go camping and you could see the stars and constellations at night. You know, like Orion and stuff? I always thought they were cool but all the stories were so sad. Everyone was always getting killed or cursed or separated from their true love, so I decided to make my own stories when I looked up at the stars.
She turns back to Santana who's eyes haven't left her.
"I think that's a really cool way to look at the stars."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Santana takes another spoonful of ice cream. "Ok tell me, what else do you see?"
"Ummm, that cluster over there? That's a cat and he's looking for his dish of milk."
"I could see that," Santana nods, pointing to a small trail of stars. "That's the tail right?"
"Exactly," Brittany turns to face her. "You're pretty good at this."
Santana shrugs. "You know, I thought that a nice view of the sky was supposed to be one of the only advantages of growing up in a crappy little town in the middle of nowhere, but I don't know. I guess I never took the time to look up and enjoy it."
"Maybe you were just waiting for the right person to enjoy it with," the blonde suggests. Santana meets her gaze, saying nothing and everything for a few moments.
"I think you're probably right," she says finally. "Hand me the ice cream."
Brittany grins and obliges.
The two of them stay like that for a while. They trade imaginary stories of what they see in the stars in between real stories of their lives. Santana tells Brittany about that one time in college, where she, Quinn and Mercedes had blended in with a bachelorette party at a club. They'd consumed most of a bottle of champagne, before the bride realized that she didn't actually know any of them and they were forced to flee. Brittany tells her about her life on tour, how on a whim a bunch of the dancers went and dyed their hair a funny color. Brittany, herself had gone with purple.
"You went purple?"
"Mmm hmm," Brittany nods. "It stuck for a couple months, before I dyed it back."
"Wow, I guess I'm just used to seeing you like this, it's hard to imagine."
"Well, maybe I'll show you a picture sometime."
"Like...maybe on our second date?" Santana suggests.
Brittany smiles softly and nods. "It's a deal."
Santana looks at her date, the way her features are illuminated by the moonlight, the way her bright blue eyes twinkle and she moves closer, reducing the gap between them.
"You look beautiful in this light. Actually, in any light," she corrects herself. "You're always beautiful."
Brittany moves closer, further reducing the gap between them, till their faces are just inches apart. "So are you."
Santana closes the gap completely, connecting her lips with Brittany's. She feels a tingle run up her spine and her heart beat faster. It's soft and gentle and when Brittany's tongue runs along the bottom of her lip, Santana grants her access, as her hand finds its way to Brittany's waist.
When they finally pull away, Santana can't hide the smile on her face as Brittany glances down, before looking up at her with the same smile, but with a sort of slyness in her eyes.
"You know, I was gonna wait till I walked you to your door to kiss you goodnight," she explains. "But I kinda like this better."
Santana laughs. "Me too," before she goes in for another kiss, which Brittany is more than happy to reciprocate.
The thing about their second date is that it takes a while to happen.
Santana gets it in her head that she wants to take Brittany to this amazing sushi restaurant, the best in LA. She went once for a client meeting and the toro salmon is to die for. The view of the ocean's no joke either.
It's too bad that the place is always fully booked. She has Marley call them twice a day, but there's never an opening.
When a last minute cancellation finally occurs, Brittany has an audition out of town and they can't go. The next time, Santana has back-to-back meetings and impossible deadlines she needs to adhere to.
After that, it's just schedules constantly misaligning and before they know it, it's been a month. It's not like they don't see each other. They still hang out and play with Charlie and schedules permitting, they grab coffee together some mornings. It's just that Santana hasn't had the opportunity to take Brittany out on a proper date. There's always a client call or an audition or Caltech research to be done.
It's Saturday evening when she finds herself trying to put together the last elements of Rachel Berry's promo materials (now their third attempt, because Rachel has opinions about everything) and Charlie climbs onto her desk and starts pawing at her laptop.
She tries to shoo him away at first, but he's persistent and actually manages to get his paws on her keyboard, as if to prove a point.
Santana stares at him for a minute and he stares back.
"You know what? You're right."
She texts Brittany if she's free for dinner and when the blonde replies in the affirmative, Santana changes into some jeans and heads over.
She rings the bell and waits patiently, as she hears footsteps approach the door and Brittany emerge.
"Hey," she greets Santana with a kiss on the cheek. "Where are we eating?"
"How do you feel about burgers?"
"Love them."
"Great, I know a place. It's not far, I thought we could walk since it's nice out."
Brittany smiles and nods, before taking Santana's hand. "Lead the way."
They walk through the park to get to the restaurant, which is sandwiched between an alleyway and a laundromat. It's nothing impressive from the outside, but Brittany doesn't seem to have any hesitation, following Santana in.
The inside is actually pretty cool, it's set up like an old diner, with a couple of arcade machines from the 90s plugged in by the back.
They order burgers and milkshakes and agree to split an order of fries as Brittany looks around the establishment. There aren't too many patrons and the sounds of the arcade machines ring to life as a couple of kids give Street Fighter II a shot.
"This place is awesome, how have I never heard of it?" Brittany says.
"I think it's kind of a neighborhood secret. I don't think they're on Yelp or anything," Santana replies. "I kinda like it that way."
Their food doesn't take long to come out of the kitchen. Brittany takes one bite of her burger and her face lights up.
"Oh my god, this is amazing!" she gushes.
Santana grins and tucks into her own food.
"How did you find this place?" Brittany asks, taking a sip of her strawberry milkshake.
"By chance. My car broke down once, a couple of blocks from here. My phone ran out of juice so I was walking up and down trying to find a mechanic or a gas station or something," she explains. "And it was hot, like boiling hot and I was exhausted and hungry. This was the first place I found I could eat in and borrow their phone."
"What happened?"
"The car insurance guys told me it was gonna be at least an hour before they could send someone."
"Why was it the worst day ever?"
Santana pauses. "I was still in college and broke and trying to make decisions about what I wanted to do with my life. Then my parents told me they were getting divorced. Then my car completely shit itself and my phone battery died."
"I'm sorry. That does sound like a bad day."
"Yeah, I ordered a burger and a milkshake and fell in love with the place. Kinda made me forget about everything else that was going on. Even just for a little while, you know?"
She notices Brittany looking at her in a way she can't quite place. It makes her feel uneasy, so she looks down at her food and takes a bite out of her burger.
"So did you move into your apartment just for the proximity to this place?" Brittany joked.
"Well there are other advantages to living in my apartment. Gorgeous dancers who live only a few doors down for example," she replied smoothly and she could see Brittany grinning down at her milkshake at the remark.
"You must say that to all the girls," Brittany teases, taking some fries.
"No, just you. Actually, you're the only person I've taken here."
"Really?" Brittany asks softly.
Santana nods. "Like, I said, I kind of like that it's a secret place."
Brittany reaches over the table and holds her hand.
"Thank you for sharing it with me," she says with full sincerity.
Santana pays for dinner and the two of them decide to take a stroll through the park, since it's still light out.
"This is really nice," Brittany comments, her hand in Santana's. "I was a little worried we were never gonna have a second date."
The words make Santana freeze in her tracks. Brittany must notice the deer-in-headlights look she has, because she chuckles and rubs her thumb against Santana's knuckles.
"Was this not a date?"
"I...um…"
"Santana, you picked me up at my door, we went to dinner, you paid and now we're holding hands, walking through the park. Isn't that a date?"
The realization of it makes her feel like an idiot and Santana lets out a groan of embarrassment before a stifled laugh comes out.
"I guess I just had it in my head that I was gonna wine and dine you, you know? Take you to a nice restaurant with a view and music and..."
"And?"
"And...woo you, I guess," the brunette feels her face start to get hot.
"Santana, you don't have to woo me, I have been sufficiently wooed by you already, I promise," Brittany says. "Even if it wasn't on purpose. And if you want to take me to some fancy restaurant where we get all dressed up, then that would be a lot of fun. But tonight? This was a lot of fun too."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
The two of them stand there for a while, when they feel drops of water start to land on them and decide they should head back home. It doesn't take long for them to start to hear rumblings in the sky and the rain start to fall harder.
"Crap! You don't have an umbrella, do you?" Santana asks.
"Nope," Brittany shakes her head as they speed up in an attempt to beat the rain home. It only starts to pour harder and Brittany grabs Santana's hand. "C'mon!" she says, as they make a dash back to the apartment.
It must be climate change or some otherworldly force at work because in LA, the rain manages to soak them both, by the time they get to the complex. Despite Brittany's longer limbs, Santana manages to pull ahead of her slightly in an attempt to find some shelter by Brittany's door, when she hears the blonde's voice.
"Hey! Wait, wait wait!"
Santana turns around in time to feel Brittany pull her into a kiss. It's deep and passionate and Santana can instantly feel herself getting lost in it and not caring that the rain has soaked her to the bone. She places her hand on Brittany's cheek and deepens the kiss.
When they pull apart, she meets Brittany's eyes.
"I've always wanted to have a kiss in the rain," Brittany explains.
"Oh yeah? Was it everything you ever hoped for?"
"And so much more."
They both grin.
"Do you want to come in?" Brittany asked. "Tina's visiting her grandparents, she won't be back till Monday."
"What would we do if I came in?" Santana prods, though she's pretty sure she knows the answer.
"Well," Brittany drawls. "We could get out of these wet clothes...and then we could see what else happens."
Once they get inside the apartment, their lips crash together again and Brittany presses Santana up against the wall, as they both struggle to remove their wet clothes. Brittany manages to peel off her own shirt, the material sticking to her skin as she peels off the fabric and tosses it onto the floor, before helping Santana with hers.
Santana grabs Brittany's hand and yanks her towards the bedroom. She pushes the blonde onto the bed and presses her lips against her neck to begin an feels Brittany's hot breath against her shoulder and hears her let out a moan as the blonde's hands fumble slightly, trying to unbutton her jeans.
Santana's jeans wind up on the floor, followed by Brittany's and the rest of their clothes. She runs her hand down Brittany's stomach and explores her abs, before in one smooth motion, Brittany flips them over so she's on top, pressing their lips together again as she lets her hand trail up from Santana's thigh and in between her legs.
Santana lets out a gasp and she can swear she can see a smirk on Brittany's face with what happens next.
The sunlight coming into her bedroom wakes Brittany up. The memory of the previous night makes her smile. Being with Santana felt different. When they were together, it felt like pieces of a puzzle finally slipping into place. Her heart beat faster when they kissed, but it slowed and relaxed in contentment when she held Santana's hand. It didn't make sense, except it did. It made perfect sense.
Disappointment fills her, when she reaches over to the other side of the bed, which she finds to be empty. She frowns in confusion when she hears footsteps and the rustling of paper bags coming from the apartment.
Brittany sits up in bed, when she hears footsteps approach her bedroom and Santana pops her head through the doorway. She's wearing sweatpants and a hoodie that's obviously too big for her and her hair is still rumpled from the previous night's activities.
"Good morning," she greets, taking a seat on the edge of the bed producing a cup of coffee from Joe's and handing it to Brittany. "I got you something."
Brittany's confusion and disappointment from just moments ago instantly evaporates and she grins.
"You're the sweetest. C'mere."
She cups Santana's face and kisses her. It makes her feel all warm inside and she starts deepening the kiss. Brittany pulls Santana closer by the collar of her hoodie, when she feels the familiar material against her fingers. She pulls back from the kiss with a grin.
"You're wearing my clothes."
"Yeah, well all my clothes are sort of in wet piles on the floor, so…" she trailed off and they both laughed. "I hope you don't mind. I wanted to make you breakfast, but all I found in your pantry were like sixteen cans of tomato soup, so I went to go buy something."
"You should keep them, you look hot in my clothes."
Santana laughs and Brittany moves her coffee cup to the bedside table, before pulling her closer.
"But, I think you would look hotter out of them," she says in sultry whisper, her hand finding its way onto Santana's waist, just running her thumb under the waistband and along the brunette's bare hipbone.
"What about breakfast?"
"I think I have something else I'd much rather eat."
A few hours later they finally get out of bed to have breakfast. The coffee is cold, but they're both in too good of a mood to care in all honestly. Brittany ducked out to go throw their wet clothes in the dryer of the laundry room. When she returns she can't help but laugh at the fact there are five paper bags containing different pastries on her table.
"Why did you get so many?" she asks with a chuckle.
"Well, sometimes when we grab coffee you get a bagel and sometimes you get a muffin or a croissant or a bear claw. I didn't know what you would be in the mood for."
Brittany places a peck on Santana's lips and boops her nose. "The sweetest."
"Pffft, I'm a badass," she fronts. "When are you gonna stop calling me that?"
"When you stop being so sweet," she answers easily.
They share breakfast, enjoying how easy and relaxed everything feels.
"Do you have plans today?" Brittany asks.
"I've got some work I need to finish, but that shouldn't take too long," Santana replies. "And I should probably head home and feed the cat before he ransacks the apartment searching for his food."
"Right," Brittany laughs. "Wouldn't want that."
"Do you want...to come say hello to him?" Santana switches course at the last minute. "He misses you."
"Sure," the blonde says with a smile. She observes Santana, the way she's biting her lower lip and the fact that she's wringing her hands under the table. "Is that all? It looks like there's something you want to say."
"Be my girlfriend?" Santana blurts out. "I just um...I know it probably seems fast, but I really like being with you and...everything feels good when we're together and I don't just mean the sex," she chuckles nervously. "Even though that's awesome. I just…"
"Hey, come here," Brittany says, extending her arms as Santana moves towards her and Brittany pulls her down onto her lap, wrapping her arms around Santana's neck.
"I'd love to be your girlfriend. You're right. I know it's kinda fast but I also know that it feels good...it feels right."
Santana kisses her and Brittany's pretty sure she wants to spend every morning like this.