Snixxwrath asked: 21. "I'm bulletproof, but please, don't shoot me."
It's four days after the attempted robbery that Santana meets Detective Pierce again. It's almost closing time so Santana's the only person in the shop. She's busy at the counter, her back to the store, carefully trimming stems for what Santana calls the I-fucked-up-please-forgive-me bouquet; she doesn't hear the wind chimes above the door because she's humming to herself.
"I love that song," a voice says from right behind her, and Santana spins around with a shriek, holding a couple flowers in one hand and dethorners out in front of her in the other.
Detective Pierce, in all her effortless beauty, stands on the other side of the counter with a small smile and slightly worried eyes. "I'm bulletproof," Detective Pierce says, tapping the bulkiness of her vest under her police windbreaker, "but please, don't shoot me. Especially with whatever those are," she says, gesturing to the dethorners. She pauses and her smile turns teasing. "Or hit me with a vase."
Santana rolls her eyes and sets the flowers and dethorners down. "You knock a guy out with a vase one time," she complains.
Detective Pierce laughs and Santana's heart leaps. "The guy complained the entire way back to the precinct."
Santana's brows rise. "You're saying I shouldn't have stopped him?"
"Oh no," Detective Pierce giggles — she actually giggles and Santana has a hard time breathing, "You absolutely should have slammed a vase on his head. It was glorious."
Santana busies herself with putting her tools away and placing the flowers in one of the coolers; she was planning on working a little bit later tonight, but Detective Pierce is much more interesting to talk to than the flowers.
"So what brings you here tonight, Detective?" she asks.
"Detective Pierce," she says, pointing at herself with a teasing smile, "I believe we've met."
Santana laughs and feels a tugging on something under her sternum. The detective is really, really, really cute, even if her jokes are awful.
"Detective Pierce," she greets, "What brings you back to my humble flower shop?"
"Brittany," Detective Pierce says.
Santana frowns. "Is that some kind of code? Or like, whoever's been targeting all the flower shops?"
Detective Pierce looks a bit like she took a bite of something sweet. "No, my name. Brittany Pierce. It's not very fair if I'm calling you Santana and you're still calling me Detective."
Santana blinks before her smile spreads. She had been wondering, when they first met, if Detective Pierce — Brittany — was flirting with her, but Santana's nothing if not completely hopeless when it comes to girls flirting with her; now she's sure that Brittany's flirting with her (or, mostly sure, at least seventy-eight percent sure). "Alright then, Brittany," Brittany looks as delighted as Santana felt the first time she said Santana, "was there a break in the case or something?"
"Something like that. We think we've found the connection between them, but we still gotta prove it," Brittany explains, and the way her face switches from soft to focused makes Santana swoon. "I was wondering if you have and security camera footage that we could look at. We think that someone cased the shops before they hit them, so we want to compare as many customers across the shops as we can."
"And a phone call wouldn't suffice to tell me this?" Santana asks teasingly.
Brittany shrugs one shoulder and her face turns sheepish, her blush obscuring the freckles sprinkled across her nose and below her eyes. "It was the end of my shift and I really wanted to make sure your hand was okay."
Santana softens and melts. She holds up her hand, displaying twelve stitches neatly suturing her skin together with a proud smile. "Doc says I can get them out in ten days."
Brittany smiles. "That's great! It must suck not being able to close your fist though."
Santana shrugs. "I manage." The grandfather clock that Santana's mother got her for her opening chimes the hour, and Santana glances at it with tired eyes. Despite the fact that having Brittany only a counter away, she's exhausted. "Do you mind if I lock up?" Santana asks, "I should have done it an hour ago but I wanted to get a head start on some orders for tomorrow, since I'm slower and all," she explains with a wave of her injured hand.
Brittany's eyes widen. "Of course! I didn't mean to make you wait."
Santana waves her off. "It's fine," she says, "It's really nice to have some cute company."
Brittany flushes, her smile soft; Santana's face burns and she quickly flees to the backroom. She shuts off lights and closes blinds and triple checks the doors are locked, taking the few minutes to compose herself. She hangs her apron in her locker and heads back to the front, stopping at the staff room quickly to survey herself in the mirror, cringing when she plucks a small twig from her hair.
Brittany's looking at the bouquets and vases and special arrangements displayed near the front window. Santana approaches her quietly, losing her breath when Brittany glances at her and bright blue eyes meet her own.
"You made all of these?" Brittany asks, her voice full of wonder like she's seeing the stars for the first time.
Santana blushes and shrugs. "Yeah, almost all of them."
"They're beautiful," Brittany murmurs, more to herself than anything. Santana's blush just deepens as she heads for the front door. She holds it open for Brittany, who whispers her thanks as she slips out into the cool night air.
Brittany stands awkwardly by the door while Santana locks up, fidgeting with the bottom of her jacket. She's adorable; her blue eyes bright and open and her bottom lip caught between her teeth, one leg kicked back behind her as she waits for Santana.
Santana can see a question in her eyes, hidden just behind nerves and fear. Brittany's staring at the sidewalk with a focused intensity that Santana's never seen in anyone before. She pockets her keys and turns to Brittany with a small smile.
"Do you want to get a coffee?" Santana asks softly.
Brittany's head shoots up and she looks both shocked and breathless and like her greatest wish just came true. When she smiles, Santana's heart nearly stops beating at how beautiful it is.
"I'd love to."