Pairing: (AU) Brittany S. Pierce/Santana Lopez
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: +4.5K
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its affiliated places. All mistakes are mine.
A/N: Hello again my beautiful followers! So there was a little bit of mixed views on the whole Quitt getting together, especially because of the previous Sam and Britt relations. Hopefully those who said the story was ruined by these pairings are still lurking around just to see what happens. Brittana is endgame I swear and there will be lots of it.
I'm amazed by all the followers, favorites and reviews this story has already accumulated (seriously, four chapters and 250+ follows? 75 reviews? 80 faves? AMAZING!) and I just wanted to say thank you to every one of you, even if you're just lurking about in the background and not leaving reviews. I love all of you and appreciate the time you out in to reading and waiting (:
Anyways, I'm rambling yet again. Enjoy the next installment of PTP (:
A/N 2: I was reading through the chapter again because someone left a review and decided to edit and re-upload this chapter to ix mistakes and make the flashback portion easier to discern from the present scene.
Groggy and disoriented, Brittany wakes to the sound of hushed voices. And a steady, quiet bleep. Eventually she blinked her heavy eyelids open, surprised to find her hospital room filled with friends. Her cheeks hurt from the broad grin suddenly ripping her face in have as she wiggled into a sitting position, grumbling, "Wow. Visitors already?" She cleared the gravel from her voice and laughed softly.
"Brittany, are you not aware that the sun is already down? It is nearly dinner," Rachel sounded concerned as she hovered closely at the blonde's bedside.
Brittany rubbed at the corner of her eye, glancing around at the rest of the people in the room, taking note that Mike, Tina, Quinn and Puck were there as well. Then she took a glimpse out the poorly strung shades of her window to see that Rachel was right, where she expected to see a sun was a dark sky and a tiny sliver of a moon. "Oh," her voice conveyed her surprise.
Puck laughed deeply from his perch in the chair under the window, saying, "They must have drugged you so good."
"I guess so!" Brittany exclaimed with a beaming smile, taking a soft hand and squeezing as Quinn daintily poised herself on the edge of the crisp white sheets of her bed. "The anesthesia was heavy, but I thought―" Her words trailed off as she was distracted by the door opening, expecting a doctor but seeing a certain brunette scowling as she carried a tray of cups. "Santana!
The Latina in question whipped her head in Brittany's direction, eyes wide and breathing out a surprised, "You're awake!" But soon went back to scowling, throwing daggers with her eyes at the rest of the room's occupants, "And no one decided to text or call me?"
Tina rolled her eyes, playing with Mike's hair as she sat on the arm of the chair he was lounged in. "Relax Santana it hasn't even been five minutes yet."
Still upset, she grumbled, "Well if I hadn't been sent on a coffee run for everyone maybe I would have been here."
Brittany was definitely confused, though ecstatic to see that the woman had cared enough to visit with the rest of them. She laughed softly, "Bring any coffee for me?"
Santana's eyes were locked with blue in an instant, the smallest of frowns marring her pretty face and a crease forming between her eyebrows. "Do you want a cup? I can always go back down." The entire room was flabbergasted into silence. Or at least, nearly.
Rachel had to speak up, of course, "As kind of an offer that is, Santana, Brittany most likely cannot ingest any fluids other than water." She turned to the blonde, looking expectant.
"Uh.." Brittany glanced between all her friends before shrugging, "I don't know. I haven't seen the doctor yet, this is the first time I've been up since the surgery."
The room erupted in a wave of concerned questions, causing Brittany to go wide-eyed and freeze. It was Quinn this time that spoke up, loud enough to cut everyone off until it was relatively silent, sans the frequent beep of Brittany's heart-rate monitor. "Guys, give her some space!"
Brittany offered her a grateful smile to which Quinn returned, the pair staring at each other for a long moment until a scoff drew their attention to a certain tan brunette. "You're telling us to give her space? Why don't you get your scrawny ass off her bed and get out of her face, Britts needs to breathe."
Quinn smirked crookedly before winking at Brittany and squeezing her hand before slinking off the bed to stand, asking in an all too polite tone, "Oh, it looks like there aren't enough seats, Santana, would you be a doll and fetch some more?"
Santana narrowed her eyes, mouth opening to retort when there was a man's voice interrupting, "Knock, knock." The doctor poked his head into the room, grinning and laughing softly, "Well, well, I should have known you'd have a large fan base, Miss Pierce."
Brittany giggled softly, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. "Guys this is Doctor Matthews, Heath this is Quinn, Puck, Rachel, Santana, Mike and Tina," she explained, pointing to each friend as she listed off their name.
"Hello folks," he said, hearing a round of greetings in return, before direction his attention back to the patient, "I love that you have a lot of support, but they all can't be in here when we talk about the procedure you just went through."
Even though Heath was looking at her with kind gray eyes and a genuine smile, she still felt paralyzed, eyes flickering around until they settled on a swirling brown-green. Quinn slipped her hand into Brittany's, and she clung on in desperation, clearing her throat before speaking quietly but with a sense of authority, "I need Quinn and Mike to stay." The perfect two choices, Quinn could ground her and keep her calm, while Mike was her soon-to-be physical therapist and Britt would parrot most of this information to him anyway. Rachel would ask too many questions and talk so much that Brittany wouldn't be able to concentrate. Puck was her best friend but honestly no help really because his smarts were in other areas. And she wasn't as close to Tina or Santana as she was to the others.
Doctor Matthews took in the fidgeting young adults before nodding, "Of course, Brittany. If the rest of you would file out for now, it would be appreciated. I won't be too long." He flashed another broad smile as everyone shuffled around.
Mike and Tina shared a brief kiss, while Puck took Rachel by the arm and guided her outside, taking her away before she could ask any questions. Santana lingered slightly, casting a long look in Brittany's direction, more directly at her hand that was practically strangling Quinn's fingers. Brittany smiled at the Latina, murmuring, "I'll be fine."
Santana let her gaze drift towards Quinn, before nodding subtly and finally exiting the room. Heath's chuckle drew their attention after the door clicked into place, "Well you've got a great group here."
Brittany grinned at him, "Totally."
Rachel was the first to swoop into the room after Heath left, shooting straight into a questionnaire, "What was that Brittany? Are you okay? Did something go wrong with the surgery?"
Puck took one look at his good friend's pale face and wrapped an arm around Rachel's waist to lead her back to the door, "Alright, Rach, time to take a trip to the cafeteria, let's go."
"Noah, I'm not done here," she retorted, gripping at the tanned forearm around her stomach, trying to pry it off.
"Yes you are," Santana said with a chuckle, holding open the door for Puck to cart the girl out of the room. He saulted his long haired blonde dancer friend and grinned crookedly as Rachel attempted in vain to break his hold. "Good riddance," Santana mumbled as she shut the door, turning and leaning up against it, "She wouldn't shut up the entire time we were out there. Had some crazy ass theories too."
Brittany thought she detected some form of concern behind all the snark and annoyance the brunette tried to exemplify through her actions. She was sitting up more comfortably in bed, propped against plush pillows and the blanket pulled up to cover her chest, arms dangling over the white material, hand firmly clasped in Quinn's who again was sitting comfortably at her side.
"She's so dramatic," Brittany said with a small laugh and eye roll.
"You are okay though, right?" Asked Tina, already having attached herself to Mike's side.
Brittany offered the group a fond smile, nodding as she said, "Yeah, I'll be back to normal before you all know it." Then a thought occurred and she sat up straighter, the heart rate monitor picking up speed. "Wait, Puck won't take Rachel home right? He'll just wait until she's calm before bringing her back? I don't want to not say goodbye to either of them!" She looked at her friends and their shocked faces, which were quickly turning semi-awkward as she refused to meet her eyes.
Her breath caught in her throat and she was two seconds away from flinging off the sheets and finding the two Jewish friends before Quinn squeezed her hand and drew her attention back to the room. "Actually, she can't leave. Neither of them can."
"Oh," the blonde breathed out, relaxing back against her pillows. "Wait, why not?" she asked, face twisted with confusion.
Mike cleared his throat softly and then spoke up, "None of us can leave until Santana says so, she drove us all here in her huge Jeep." Bright blue met soft mocha and Brittany just stared at the Latina.
Until Santana shifted awkwardly and looked away grumbling, "Yeah well, no one was even going to invite me. I'm lucky I called Q-Tip just in time."
"You insisted on us all getting in one vehicle so no one had to pay more than once to park, and yours was the only car big enough to fit us all. And it was kind of funny, how you were incredibly adamant about not letting us go without you even though we had to wait a good twenty minutes for you to get back in the area," Tina inserted from the sideline while smirking, causing Santana to throw a glare in her direction.
Brittany interjected before things could get too heated, saying, "Well, I'm really glad all of you are here." She watched as Santana turned her attention back towards her, their eyes meeting and gazes softening.
"Of course we'd be here for you, Britt," Quinn insisted, running her fingers gently through long blonde locks. Santana's eyes hardened after noticing the action and the way Brittany leaned comfortably into her touch, bringing her arms up to cross over her chest.
Brittany changed the direction of the topic by asking them about their lives since the last time she saw them and listening studiously. Rachel returned a short while later, and surprisingly didn't grill Brittany on her procedure or what the doctor wanted to talk to her about. Eventually it was getting late and a few of them had plans, mainly Santana who said they had to leave by a certain time because she apparently had important things to do at this late hour.
They were exchanging hugs and kisses goodbyes when it happened. Mike, Tina, and Rachel had left the room, leaving Puck lingering by the door and Santana and Quinn the last to say goodbye. Santana had awkwardly wrapped an arm around the blonde to give her a quick hug, but Brittany wasn't having that, she flung both arms around the girl's neck and dragged her closer until Santana was forced to give her a real hug. The dancer hummed, content with the warmth and tingles she felt with the Latina's chest pressed against her own. "Thank you," she mumbled into dark locks, and Santana pulled back with a somewhat confused look on her face, not quite sure what she was being thanked for.
Brittany just grinned at her and rubbed Santana's arms before leaning up and planting a kiss. She had aimed for a round cheek, but misjudged the distance a bit and caught the corner of Santana's mouth by accident. The Latina jerked backwards, shocked at the contact and looked down at the now blushing and flustered blonde. "No problem," she mumbled, turning and heading for the door.
Brittany looked after her, embarrassed by her accident, until Quinn's hands were cupping her face. "Get better soon," urged Quinn, not exactly talking quietly. And Brittany glanced towards the other occupants in the room to notice them looking in their direction just before Quinn brushed a barely-there kiss against her lips. "I'll miss you," she murmured just a little quieter, but it would still be heard by the other two. Then Quinn kissed Brittany's forehead and walked to the door, throwing an exaggerated wink over her shoulder as Santana disappeared out the door first.
Exhausted by the visit, Brittany didn't have much time to dwell of it all before she was drifting back to sleep.
Brittany was on strict orders not to do anything until the swelling from the surgery went down. She told the doctors that she was highly active and prone to not listening, so she should stay in the hospital for as long as they could allow before sending her home. She stayed a total of fifty two hours since the time of her surgery until she had to sign the release forms and go home. Once she had been dropped off at her apartment by Puck who laughed the entire time she waddled around on her crutches, she called up Mike to know when he would be available to do some physical therapy with her.
"You're sure that's okay with you?" She asked, toying with a loose thread on the blanket draped across her lap.
"Yeah, tomorrow after work is perfectly fine, I promise," he told her, chuckling softly over the phone line.
"Well, okay," she mumbled, chewing on her lip.
"My last class ends at ten, so just make sure to come a little after so you're not getting knocked over by people rushing out of my room, okay?"
She laughed softly, nodding to herself, "Alright Mike, I'll see you then."
"Okay, rest up Britt."
"Will do," she said with a slight eye roll before they said goodbye and hung up. Once off the phone, she fiddled with the device until she dropped it next to her on the couch with a sigh and flipped on the television. Not much was on for a Wednesday afternoon, or at least nothing interesting to hold the blonde dancer's attention for long, soon she was hobbling into the kitchen to scrounge through her fridge and cabinets for something to eat.
When her search came up with nothing Brittany found herself on the couch again chatting with the Chinese restaurant around the corner, asking the old lady in charge how she's been doing and nearly forgetting to order herself food. She was a chatty-Kathy the whole twenty minutes it took for her order to be delivered, and when the knock came she laughed in a pology, "Sorry for keeping you on the phone this whole time, Mai, I'll let you get back to work, I can't imagine how many orders I've held up."
"No, no, Brittany. You call any time, I love hearing from you. Enjoy the food, feel better."
"Thanks a bunch!" She grinned, hanging up and hopping to the door with a smile, she greeted the delivery boy and handed over money, giving him a generous tip and grateful, "Thank you, have a nice night!" Before waving goodbye and closing the door.
Having not realized how hungry she was, she hadn't had lunch before being discharged, Brittany ate everything that had been delivered, lazily sprawled on the couch she rubbed her belly, eventually falling asleep to crappy television.
The next day was filled with figuring out how to do simple tasks while her knee was in a stupid ugly and bulky brace. Sitting down to go to the bathroom and getting up was a trouble she hadn't thought she'd be dealing with. But showering was the absolute worst! It was so challenging wiggling off the brace, shaving her legs and washing her body and hair without bending her knee so much, to then have to dry off and wiggle the brace back on. It was some sort of bizarre torture. As was dressing herself!
Who knew how difficult it would be to pull on a pair of panties? Brittany thought she may want to invest in buying more loose clothing because it was not an easy feat to drag spandex over the bulging contraption on her leg. She settled for a pair of sweatpants that had been cut off into shorts. Slipping into a sports bra and tank top was easy enough though, as was tying up her hair into a messy bun. But getting her shoes tied was an atrocious feat.
She decided on hailing a cab to take her over to the gym, she didn't want to inconvenience any of her friends, or call her parents who still didn't know she'd gone through with the surgery. The cabbie had laughed under his breath for the entirety of the ride because Brittany was squished in the back seat with her two crutches, awkwardly with her leg up on the bench as he drove to the gym.
She hobbled out and shoved a wad of bills into his hand, and Brittan swore she could hear him cackling as he drove off. With a huff of annoyance, Brittany straightened out her crutches and made her way into the gym, pausing briefly at the counter to say a quick hello to the receptionist before making her way to Mike's room. She was right on time for being late to the end of his class and worked across the floor at a leisurely pace.
Her crutch got caught on the edge of a machine and Brittany stumbled forward, only to be gripped by the forearms and guided back to a standing position, "Woah there, watch yourself."
Brittany lifted her eyes to see Blaine before her and cracked a wide grin, "Hi Blaine!"
"How are you, Britt? I heard about the surgery."
"I'm good. How are you?"
"He's running late," a voice hissed from behind her.
Brittany glanced back to see hardened eyes, so brown they were nearly black staring back at her. She withered from the intensity, her stomach sinking as she quietly greeted the woman, "Hi Santana."
The blonde noticed the way muscles bunched together from the clenching of teeth, before lifting to meet that burning gaze once more. It took a moment, but then Santana's features were schooled into a façade of calm collectedness, eyes turning towards Blaine. "Are you ready?"
"Santana, that's no way to treat a friend! You're being incredibly disrespectful and rude to Brittany. Did you even know she was hurt?"
Their eyes clashed once more and Brittany suddenly felt much smaller than the tiny Latina. It felt like she was being sized up, but found wanting. "I'm aware. I visited her in the hospital." Something flickered behind her eyes, before she was walking past Brittany and heading to the back of the room where the boxing area was.
"I'm really sorry for her behavior Britt, I'm not one to make excuses for others, but she tends to be more temperamental before she's been able to blow off steam in our sessions. Maybe afterwards she'll be a little nicer," he said sounding hopeful and offering a kind smile.
"It's okay," Brittany barely managed to get out, forcing a smile, "I'll see you later, go do your thing." She turned to continue her way to Mike's designated room.
By the time Brittany was crossing the threshold her eyes were filled with tears. Her plan to make Santana jealous was obviously failing and instead she had done something to make the Latina absolutely hater her guts. It was a sickening feeling and Brittany was close to running across the room and begging for her forgiveness.
"Hi Britt!" Mike greeted her. He came over quickly and the moment he noticed a tear trail down his friend's cheek his entire demeanor changed into that soft and caring mode he got when someone needed him. His voice dropped, low and sweet as he asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"
And Brittany broke down; she lurched into his arms, getting out the story between hiccups and sniffles. How she and Quinn had formed a plan to tease Santana and make her jealous until the Latina could stand it no longer and finally approached Brittany, but that it's obviously gone haywire and not working and that Santana probably hates her now instead.
"Oh Britt," Mike rubbed her back while shaking his head, shoulders jumping as he chuckled in asmusement.
"Why are you laughing?" She whined.
"Because!" He flashed a bright smile and tucked some of Brittany's loose hair behind her ear. "You're so wrong, she doesn't hate you at all!" Her features twisted into puzzlement, blue eyes seeming brighter than ever while ringed with irritated red. "Brittany, she definitely likes you. I think your biggest problem right now is Rachel."
"Rachel?" Now Brittany was really confused.
"Yeah. Apparently Quinn confided in her about what happened after your date at the club.." He trailed off, watching amusement as Brittany's ears burned red while her face paled. He laughed softly, "Yeah. Tina was there to see the explosion happen when Rachel spilled the beans to an unsuspecting Santana the other day," he explained.
Quinn and Santana were face to face on separate biking machines, grinning while they challenged one another to out-best the other. Until Rachel joined them, hopping up next to Quinn and starting at a much more reasonable pace and distracted them. It caused a small uproar of laughter from the two high school friends and Rachel watched them with a smile, "Well you two seem in very high spirits. Santana must not have taken the news too badly."
"What news?" The brunette in question asked, wiping her brow with a towel and slowing her pace while she looked between her friends.
"Oh!" Rachel turned her shocked expression towards Quinn who had visibly paled and stopped cycling all together. "You didn't tell her? I was sure, after you informed me of your conquest that Santana would be the next to know."
"It wasn't a conquest, Rach," Quinn was quick to interject.
Coming to a stop, Santana pierced both of them with a firm look, asking, "What are you two squabbling about?"
Quinn swallowed thickly, opening her mouth to explain, but Rachel beat her to it, leaning forward to stage whisper across the machines, "Quinn and Brittany engaged in a Sapphic filled night of coitus over the weekend."
"Really, Rachel? You have to say coitus?"
"I'd rather not be crude, Quinn."
"Right scientific is so much better," she scoffed.
"You did what?"
Hazel and brown flickered to Santana to find her staring at them blankly. Quinn had expected coldness from the Latina, it was usually how she channeled her rage, but behind that emotionless façade she could see hurt shining in those mocha orbs. "San," she started, only to be cut off by the raise of a hand.
"I can't believe you would do that," she hissed, all venom. That was the kind of reaction she expected. Short legs flung over the seat, sneakers squeaking as they landed on the floor as Santana turned to leave.
"San wait," Quinn scrambled off her own machine to go after her, shooting a glare at Rachel he was stunned by this turn of events.
"Don't talk to me Fabray," the Latina growled, stomping her way across the gym.
"Can you just relax," she huffed, grabbing the other by the wrist.
Santana acted before thinking. She used her many lessons from Blaine to counter the 'attack' and get Quinn's arm bent up behind her back causing the girl to yelp in discomfort and bent down towards the ground. "You went behind my fucking back, Fabray!" She snarled. "Betrayed me like we were back in high school, and for what?" She pushed a little harder, the hazel eyed beauty crying out in pain. "You didn't even have the lady balls to say it to my face. So don't try to explain or tell me to fucking relax." Santana let go, giving her a push towards the floor before going on a manhunt for Blaine to get in a few hits.
"Oh wow," Brittany murmured, eyes wide with shock.
"Yeah." Mike nodded firmly. "The thing with Santana is that she might be really tiny but she has a lot of rage. I mean more than the average person. And so when she has conflicting emotions she kind of goes to this 'rage place'" he explained, quoting the words with his fingers, "And that's how she works."
Brittany nodded slowly. It was a shame that she had to learn all these things from outside points of views, she'd love to hear these sorts of things straight from Santana herself.
"So she played the cold, harsh, aloof bitch earlier, right?" Brittany bit her lip and looked down at the floor, nodding again. "That doesn't mean she hates you. Santana likes you, if she didn't hearing about you and Quinn wouldn't have affected her so much." Mike pat her shoulder in a comforting way, "If it's any consolation, I think Santana had confided in Quinn about her attraction or feeling towards you, or had been meaning to, and hearing from a secondary source that her friend and the object of her affections got together without her knowledge must have been a tremendous blow to take."
"It wasn't even like that," Brittany breathed out.
"What do you mean?"
"I barely remember having sex with Quinn, we got really seriously drunk, and I had already told Quinn that I didn't like her that way and I wanted Santana. But we played strip poker and things got sexy and I think I just needed to blow off some tension because I wasn't making any progress with Santana and Quinn was just there, available and willing so in my drunk state I just went for it." She explained to Mike, playing with her fingers and not making eye contact.
"Santana doesn't know that," he murmured, rubbing a soothing round of ovals against Brittany's shoulder blades.
"I don't know if I like this jealousy idea anymore," she mumbled, slumping forward and dropped her head into her hands.
"I get what Quinn was saying. If Santana gets pushed far enough she'll snap and take what she wants. Which would be you. But after hearing about you and Quinn, she might not be ready to go after you just yet."
"So I should go after her?"
"You should do whatever you want to do, Britt."
A long sigh escaped her pink lips. "I just want to get to know her better. Puck always talked about how great of a person she is, but all I've seen points the opposite direction."
"She's hard to get to know," he reminded Brittany, giving her one shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"Yeah but she barely even said a word to me when I first got here and everyone else was so eager to greet me."
"I'm not in her head, we both know that much, so there's only so much I can help you with. Try talking to her sometime, I'm sure we'd both be surprised by what she has to say."
"You're such a great guy Mike," she said with a grin, throwing her eyes around her friend.
"Thanks Britt, you're not too bad yourself." He gave her a friendly squeeze before hoisting her up onto her feet again. "Now let's get to some physical therapy!"
"Okay!" She extended her hands to the air smiling broadly, "Where do we start?!"
Mike laughed heartily and it only took Britt a moment to join in, before they were setting up some exercises she would be doing tonight.
That's it for now hope it was worth the way. I know there hasn't been much Brittana interaction so far, but I promise it's coming soon. I didn't intend for this story to drag on so much, but it's just kinda taken on a life of its own and I do apologize because it was really only supposed to be two chapters and the second one was gunna be all smut, but now out of nowhere there's like character development and twists I never even saw coming. But if there's anything else y'all would like to see I this, let me know. I swear Brittana interaction is coming up! Hope you enjoyed, and if not tell me why.