Anonymous asked: 21. "Who hurt you?"
The damage to the shop is not nearly as bad as Brittany thought it would be but it's— It's still bad. Santana tries to be strong, but as soon as she walks in the door and sees the blackened walls and the charred remains of flowers tears spring to her eyes as she takes in the scorched remains of everything she's worked for since she was eighteen years old. Brittany is right beside her, and she quickly wraps her girlfriend in a hug; she's not a detective right now, right now she's just a woman trying to comfort her girlfriend on one of the worst days of her life.
Brittany takes some time off of work to help Santana rebuild; Santana insists that she doesn't have to, but Brittany wants to, and when she sees the relief creasing Santana's eyes the first day when Brittany rolls her sleeves up and starts clearing away burnt flowers, she knows she made the right choice.
Mike keeps her updated on the case, even though he's technically not supposed to, and Brittany kind of loves him for it. She only talks to him when Santana is in the shower, because despite Santana's reassurances, Brittany's insides crawl with guilt. It's almost a week after the fire, Santana's at the apartment taking an evening shower and Brittany's on her way back from a run to clear her head, passing the flower shop and feeling her stomach twist with guilt at the boarded up windows, when Mike calls her to update her. She's answers through her headphone microphone, and he explains that he's pinned down the head of the robberies, an upcoming mob boss with a reputation to build, and he's just waiting on some final paperwork and the captain's approval before he makes a move on them.
Brittany senses the shadows in the ally by the flower shop before she sees them, and she's pretty sure it's only her dancer-quick reflexes that stop her from getting a crowbar to the head; Mike starts yelling in her ears but all Brittany can do is grunt in response. There's three of them, each one bigger and uglier and dumber looking than the last, and fear mixed with adrenaline courses through her as she ducks under a punch. All she can think about is how easy it would have been for them to jump Santana if she were checking on the shop by herself, and her heart crawls into her throat. Brittany's no Hulk, but she manages to hold her own, ducking and weaving and spinning around them, only throwing her own punches when she's positive they'll land; but she was just on the last stretch of her run and she's quickly growing exhausted. Her phone tumbles onto the sidewalk when one of them grabs a hold of her headphones and yanks, and Mike's still frantically yelling over the line as the earbuds are ripped out of her ears.
Brittany grunts when she lands a punch into a stomach, swinging up and back with her elbow and stepping out of the circle they're trying to herd her into. She catches a nose with her elbow, and there's a satisfying crunch and an echoing ache in her arm. They manage to land a couple good blows, and Brittany spits blood when one of them manages to get her in the nose. Her eyes blur and she only barely ducks under crow-bar-man's swing; the hard metal grazes her shoulder and pain explodes throughout her back and arm. She kicks one in the crotch, and he sinks down to his knees with a howl, but she's gasping for breathe now and she's desperately searching for an escape when the remaining two lunge at her. She dodges one of them but the other manages to get her arm and twists it behind her back, holding her squirming body in place while the other one starts punching her in the stomach. She screams in pain and kicks wildly, her ears ringing and the blood she can taste in her mouth growing more bitter. She catches the guy holding her in the knee and causes him to grunt and stumble but not loosen his grip and then, Brittany doesn't know how, but suddenly Mike is there with a couple uniforms, his gun pointed at the guy who's about to punch Brittany in the face.
Mike and the uniforms arrest the three perps with very little fanfare, and Mike fusses over Brittany while he takes her statement. It's a pretty easy one to give; three criminals jumped an off duty cop because she got too close to the truth, and Mike's eyes are harder than Brittany's ever seen them when he glances at the patrol cars the perps sit in. He offers her a ride to the hospital, but Brittany quickly refuses; she has a bunch of increasingly worried text messages and voicemails from Santana and, in all honestly, she just wants to go home and get cleaned up and curl up next to Santana and sleep, the paperwork and doctor checkups can wait. (Brittany doesn't notice her slip up, but Mike's brows rise when she says home and a small, happy smile settles on his face as Brittany waves goodbye and heads for Santana's apartment; he really couldn't be happier for his partner.)
Brittany puts her key in the lock (the one Santana blushingly gave to her three months ago), but the door swings open before Brittany even has a chance to turn the key. Santana stands there with the most worried and terrified look Brittany has ever seen on another person; the fear eases as soon as she lays eyes on Brittany but the worry remains as she takes in her bruised and bloody girlfriend, and Brittany belatedly realizes she probably should have cleaned herself up a little bit so she didn't scare Santana, or, at the very least, spit out some blood or something.
"Brittany! Thank god!" Santana cries, reaching for Brittany and fiercely embracing her. "You weren't answering your phone at all and you were taking so long on your run and I— I thought the worst." She pulls back and carefully cups Brittany's face, taking in the blood still dripping from her nose and mingling with the sluggishly weeping split lip, the black eye starting to form around her left eye and the yellowish bruise on her temple, the way her hair is messy and limp, the way she stands awkwardly with one arm and shoulder held stiffly, the painful looking bloody and bruised knuckles, the twist of pain on her pretty features.
"Britt," Santana breathes, shaking her head in heart-stopping worry, "You're—" She takes a deep breath and shakes her head again. "I was thinking the worst and it just— You're— You're so hurt," she whimpers.
Brittany lets herself be gently pulled over the threshold. She's about to tell Santana that she's had worse, but she realizes just in time that that probably won't make things better. "Do you think you could help me clean up?" she asks instead, and something deep in Santana's eyes shifts and settles.
She leans up and kisses Brittany with such tenderness that Brittany's pretty sure her heart crawls out of her chest and into Santana's. "Of course," Santana breathes. She takes Brittany's hand and leads her to the bathroom, and Brittany can feel Santana growing more and more tense with each step; she draws hearts on the fleshy part of Santana's thumb with her own, hoping to soothe her, but it doesn't really work.
"Who hurt you?" Santana suddenly demands as they enter the bathroom, and the fire and anger in her eyes as she turns both shocks and comforts Brittany, makes her feel safe and protected and loved.
Brittany shakes her head, wincing as Santana guides her onto the side of the tub. "It doesn't matter," she mumbles, hoping the blood in her mouth stays there so she doesn't freak Santana out more than she needs to, "Mike arrested them. He arrested them all. It's over now."
Santana freezes in her frantic motions to put together a makeshift first aid kit, gauze in one hand and Bactine in the other. "You mean," she starts to ask but immediately trails off, trying not to get her hopes up.
Brittany nods but instantly regrets it. She reaches for Santana instead, her hands finding Santana's hips and tugging her towards her. Santana lets herself be pulled between Brittany's legs easily, brushing stray blonde hair back from Brittany's face with all the care in the world, and Brittany's heart aches with love for this girl. "They're all taken care off." Santana breathes a deep sigh of gratitude and gives Brittany a small, relieved smile. She kisses Brittany on the forehead, her warm lips lingering there and soothing the headache Brittany can feel building. Santana carefully wipes grime and sweat and blood from Brittany's face, starting at her hairline and working across each temple before starting on her cheeks. Brittany traces small patterns across Santana's hips, and despite the ache in her body, she starts to relax under Santana's gentle, loving ministrations.
"I'm sorry," Brittany mutters suddenly, hissing and wincing when Santana dabs at her bloodied nose.
Santana frowns so deeply her eyes become slits of brown confusion. "What for?" she asks softly.
Brittany shrugs even though it hurts. "If you didn't start dating me they wouldn't have re-targeted your shop and burnt it down when I started closing in on them and—"
Santana cuts her off with a kiss so fierce it makes Brittany's nose and lip hurt; she doesn't really care though, not when Santana's hands are stroking her face with such care that Brittany feels like crying, not when Santana is warm and solid against her as she kisses Brittany, long and fervent and deep. "I don't care about that," Santana rasps when she finally pulls back, carefully wiping blood and spit from Brittany's lips with her thumb and Brittany's heart thuds. "I should care, but if the price of my shop is you, getting to know you and falling in love with you and spending the rest of my life with you, it's worth it. I'd rebuild my shop and let it burn down a hundred times just for the tiny chance to fall in love with you."
Brittany feels doubt flutter within her chest for a split second before it's replaced with bright warmth and butterflies. "The Fire Marshall might start to get suspicious," Brittany says softly, and Santana smiles all dimples deep and crinkled eyes and scrunched nose, and Brittany knows that Santana knows that she gets it now, that the ruined shop is something that can be fixed because they'll be fixing it together now. Brittany would take a hundred beatings for Santana, and then she'd take a hundred more, because Santana is her girl with the infinity eyes and the forever smile and Brittany knows that they have the rest of their lives ahead of them to rebuild Santana's flower shop.