Chapter 5: Twenty-Five (Part Two)

You found her when you were twenty-five years old.

The next morning, you're woken up to the smell of breakfast and coffee. That and the sounds of old Glee Club performances being sung in the kitchen. Your entire band of merry men have invaded Quinn's home and you wonder how you managed to sleep through all of their arrivals.

Most of the day is spent with them, exploring the city and reminiscing about the old days. Occasionally, you have to defend yourself every time someone states how much of a bitch you were back then. Your friends also spend a good amount of time teasing you about your imaginary girlfriend that they thought didn't exist until both Mercedes and Tina finally saw her that night at the club.

When they tease you about how smitten you are you don't even try fighting them on it because you can't help but feel lucky to have found her again.

As dinner plans are being decided on, you excuse yourself and make your way back to Quinn's apartment to get ready for your date. You realize quickly that you don't know what you're supposed to wear, and you send a quick text to Brittany to ask. She tells you dress nicely but comfortable and to also maybe bring a jacket.

Once you're satisfied that you look presentable but still cozy and not homeless chic, you take a taxi to the location of Brittany's choosing. The air is slightly nippy, and you're glad Brittany suggested the jacket.

"You look beautiful, Santana." A voice from behind you speaks, and you turn around to find Brittany standing there. You can't explain it, but every time you see her, your heart leaps out of your chest. Her cheeks are tinted pink from the cold air and you have to fight the urge to reach out to warm them. "Are you ready?" She smiles at you and you nod.

"Lead the way."

She reaches for your hand and laces your fingers together before leading you to a small hole in the wall restaurant. It wasn't what you were expecting but Brittany doesn't stop and instead walks straight through a door in the back and into a short hallway. You follow her up a flight of stairs and through a few more doors before walking out onto a patio with a small number of tables set up for dining.

There are already a few people seated and eating, and she walks you to a table near the back corner. String lights hang above you, illuminating the small space and you can hear soft music being played through some speakers.

"I hope this is okay." She says softly as she pulls out your chair for you and you blush at how gentlemanly she's being.

"Brittany, this is amazing. You didn't have to do all this. I'm the one that asked you out." You smile at her when she takes her seat across from you. She just shakes her head at you in response.

"You deserve it." She says shyly, and you can't help but look at her softly. The pink on her cheeks make an appearance again and she turns away to wave to the man at the front. He nods before disappearing behind a doorway. When he returns, he's holding a small basket and sets it in front of you.

"Everything is already ordered." Brittany tells you quietly, "Don't be mad, but I checked with Quinn on what you like. I just wanted this to be perfect."

"Brittany…" you breathe and look up to see shy eyes. You can't even bring yourself to be upset at the fact that she went against her own words and asked Quinn about you because now you want to marry her. You're sure of it. It's only been about 10 minutes into your first date with Brittany and you already want to marry her because placed before you is a basket of breadsticks and you're completely swooning.

Conversation takes over easily from there and it's more or less a quick-fire session of the basic questions. Favorite foods, colors, animals, books, anything.

Over dinner, you talk about your friends, and how Glee Club was basically the highlight of your high school career. You talk about your friends, and how you don't know where you'd be without them.

She talks briefly about Quinn, and how she met her in the library studying for finals. She tells you about her younger brother who's going to college in New York, and her parents that live in Seattle.

Over dessert, you talk about LA and compare it to how different it is from SF. The pace, the people and most importantly, the food. You learn that she's been living in SF for six years now, because of college, but she doesn't know if it's the right place for her to plant her feet and grow some roots.

You resist the urge to offer LA as a viable option.

It's a losing battle when you attempt to fight with her on the bill because once the leather jacket arrives, she opens it slightly to show you that her credit card is already in the sleeve and all she has to do is sign. She must've handed her card to the waiter when you weren't looking. Her confidence is definitely back when she winks and tells you that you'll pay for the next date.

Once you make your way back out onto the street, you thank her for the amazing meal and she easily reaches for your hand, holding it again as you walk side by side down the road. You don't think you're going anywhere, just strolling casually under the lights of the shop signs and city street lights. You stop by a nearby coffee shop to get something to keep you both warm and this time you refuse to let Brittany pay. You do have to clarify that the coffees don't count toward the second date though.

"So, where does young Brittany dancing in a small Lima studio fit into everything?" You ask, once you're back outside. It's subtle, but you notice her take a steadying breath. It makes you pause, interpreting her reaction as slight hesitation. You weren't expecting her to respond in that way because you had always thought of dancing as a being a big part of who she is.

"Well, we lived a few towns away from Lima. I took to dancing early as a child and my Aunt Sue in Lima was the one to notice my potential." Brittany starts but you stop her quickly, your ears perking up at the familiar name.

"Sue?" You turn to her and she smiles. "As in Coach Sue?" She nods, and you finally start to make sense of a few things. You always thought it was weird how Sue had acted towards Brittany and the way she held on to your letter for so long. Because you know Sue and you know she would never do that for just anyone.

"She suggested to my parents that they sign me up at this new up and coming studio." Her eyes glance sideways to yours, a small twitch on the corner of her lips.

"My abuela's studio. Where we met." You smile knowingly.

"They used to drive me an hour every Saturday to take me there. After a few years, I could tell they were getting worn out, especially after my brother was born, so I asked to move to a closer studio, in our town. It was a lot smaller, but the owner there had all sorts of connections and I got to be exposed to more varieties of dance than just ballet."

"That's pretty cool." You tell her carefully, slightly confused because the way she's telling it is making it seem like it's a sad story.

"It was, at first. Back then, I fell in love with dancing. It was so carefree." She smiles softly, sadly, "but after a while, it became a chore. My parents would be relentless in my training. They wanted me to be the best. It wasn't until I was in high school when I realized that all my hard work was more for them than it was for me."

You can tell she's not comfortable with her words because her voice comes out a little shaky, so you stop walking and face her. You don't know this side of her yet. This sad, nervous side. You're not sure what to do so you wait, allowing her time to gather her thoughts.

"Sorry." She mumbles, and you give the hand you're holding a soft squeeze. "I don't know why I'm getting all emotional about this, now. I guess I just haven't talked about it in so long."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." You try to offer but she shakes her head.

"No," she straightens her back, "You deserve an explanation for what happened."

You nod in response, realizing this must be about the time you saw her in high school. She wants to explain why she disappeared. Why she wrote the letter. She turns to walk, seemingly in a purposeful direction this time and soon enough you reach a park with pathways and benches, park lamps softly illuminating the grounds. You let her lead you down one of the pathways as you both take in the soft sounds of the surrounding nightlife.

"I found out my parents sent some of my dance videos to pretty much every performing arts high school in the country, hoping for one of them to take me under their wing." She frowns, "We may not have been that well off, so I get why my parents pushed for better opportunities, but I loved my life in Ohio. I was only then just finding my stride and I didn't want to leave so close to the end of the school year. Not when I was the captain of two teams, I had people depending on me. I mean, I was even academically at top of my class."

"Because you're a genius." You joke to break the tension and it works. She turns to you, rolling her eyes with a smile. A genuine smile.

"I'm not a genius, Santana." She laughs lightly. "Anyways, one of the Academy's reached out and offered me a full-ride scholarship."

"That's amazing, Brittany." You tell her, but she shakes your head and you look at her questioningly.

"It was all the way in Seattle. They wanted us to move literally across the country in as little as a month. My parents didn't even give me a say. I was so mad at them. All I wanted was a normal childhood, but they didn't care."

"So that's why you weren't at nationals." You say, and she nods, frowning a little.

"I was miserable. I thought I'd never see any of my friends again." Her eyes look to you, "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

You think back and finally understand the reason for her letter. Why she didn't want you to look for her. To wait for her. You remember how miserable you were in the years following and almost feel guilty at the thought. You were miserable because you were pinning after a girl, but Brittany, she was miserable because she had to leave her whole life behind.

"I must sound like the biggest brat right now, oh my god." She rolls her eyes playfully and you shake your head, "Most kids would've killed to get into a school like that and I was so ungrateful."

"No," You grab her hand and she looks at you as if she's challenging you to disagree, "Okay, sure it's a great opportunity but that doesn't matter if it's not what you wanted. You're allowed to be sad that you fell out of love with something that used to bring you joy." You try to comfort her.

She smiles at you like she's glad you understand. "I think once we officially made the move, I kind of resented dancing. I was never the same to my parents after that. My relationship with my brother fell apart because to him, I was the reason he lost all his friends too. I wasn't dancing for myself anymore and I was so unhappy."

You want to hold her. You wish you knew all these years that she struggled with this. You can't imagine how alone she must've felt. But thinking about where she is now, you know she found a way to be happy again. To do something she truly loves. You wonder how she got there.

"So, you turned to computers…" You joke because computer science really does seem like a random jump from dancing. She laughs at that and you smile at the sound.

"Calculators actually," She blushes, ducking her head, and you arch an eyebrow, "In high school, I saw this video on the internet where this guy programmed the game Snake onto his graphing calculator and from then on I was hooked. Every second of my free time was spent learning to code."

"Brittany…" You can't stop the wide smile that forms across your face, "Brittany, that is possibly the most adorably nerdy thing I've ever heard in my entire life." You laugh and watch as the blush grows to the tips of her ears. "But it's cute. I love it."

"Yeah?" She looks at you like she's nervous again. Like she's worried you might not like her anymore because she isn't what you expected her to be. You can't understand why though. She's amazing. Everything about her is amazing.

"Yeah, Britt." You tell her, throwing in the nickname that you've heard everyone but you use. She notices because she turns her head to you, showing off a big goofy grin. It makes you blush, so you pivot the conversation. "So, if you were in SF all this time, how is it that we ran into each other in LA?"

"Oh," She laughs, "A few of us students were sent to down there to attend a CS conference. I don't know why but I really felt like dancing that night. No one else wanted to go but I managed to hit up some old contacts of mine from my dancing days. That's how we all got in." She chuckles, "And also why no one else looked dressed for the club. They didn't exactly pack for the occasion."

"But you did?" You question, smiling.

"Oh, I always make sure to pack a good party dress." She says as if it's obvious. "Dancing may not have been something written for me career-wise, but once the pressure was off, it became a lot more enjoyable for me again. I don't really tell my parents that though. I don't want to give them anymore reason to be disappointed in me."

You shake your head, "Look at how much you've accomplished. You graduated from a top performing arts high school, then completely switch tracks during college and still came out of it with a master's degree in Computer Science, at 25, with honors. That's not easy to do. No ordinary person can just do that. Your parents are insane if they're not proud of you."

At your words, Brittany's eyes glisten in the low light and the smile she gives you is so genuine. "Well, it took them awhile but eventually once they saw that this was really important to me, they were on board. It also helped that I was always on the Dean's List." She laughs awkwardly, like she's trying not to sound too braggy.

"I don't know how many times I have to say it. You're a genius, Britt." You pause, smirking, "and maybe a little bit of a nerd." You tell her, and she gasps playfully.

"You're one to talk, Santana," Brittany laughs, "I've heard all about the comic book collection." Your mouth drops open and you stop walking, completely speechless. She shrugs easily and turns to face you, "Quinn may have provided me with more information than I asked for."

"I'm gonna kill that bitch." You fume and Brittany giggles.

"No, it's cute." She smiles, "I love it."

You soften at the way she mimics your words earlier and you both smile knowingly. It's a comfortable silence between the two of you and you use the opportunity to once again take in all that is Brittany S. Pierce. She must know what you're doing, probably due to the fact that you do it every time you see her, because she blushes lightly.

"Am I," she ducks her head to hide her blush, "Am I what you expected?"

"Not at all." You tell her, and her eyes look up to meet yours curiously, "But at the same time, you're also everything that I expected. I don't know how to explain it."

She smiles. "My body wakes up." She says softly, "When I'm near you, my body, it just knows you. Even though technically we barely know each other."

"It's like," You nod, "like we've only been given glimpses all these years and now we're finally able to fill in the blanks." You smile at the thought. You've looked at every incident as a missed opportunity but now, maybe it was so much more than that.

"Maybe we just weren't ready for each other all those other times." Brittany whispers and this time it's you who's blushing at the way she put into words what you were thinking.

"Maybe the universe was on our side all along." You state and at your words, Brittany looks at you in a new special way that makes you forget how to breathe. You take a shaky breath and wonder if you'll always react this way every time she looks at you like this.

Brittany's eyes pull you in easily and you silently wonder if she might be a sort of siren, all these years of luring you in with sparkling eyes and soft lip twitches. Her eyes flutter down to your lips before locking back with yours. Now, her eyes a darker shade of blue, reminiscent of the night you danced with her in the LA club.

"I'm really glad I kissed you yesterday," Brittany breathes, "because I was really scared that the universe was gonna separate us again."

"But it didn't." You tell her. "I told you, Pierce, we're meant to be."

"Does that mean that I get to kiss you again?" She asks stepping forward until your faces are inches apart, "but this time, like there's no one watching?" Her words fall onto your lips and when you nod, she leans in to close the distance.

Her lips move easily with yours and her arms wrap around your neck, pulling you even closer. You're sure now that you'll never get use to the way she steals your breath. You're also sure that never want to experience a kiss without feeling that.

When her tongue pokes out slightly, asking for access, you immediately grant it. She hums at the taste of cinnamon and coffee and you revel in the sweet taste of caramel. It doesn't take long before the passing vehicles start honking and the drunken patrons stumbling from a nearby bar start hollering.

Reluctantly, you pull away and Brittany is breathing heavily. You smirk, knowing that maybe this time you're the one that's stealing breaths. You continue to look into her eyes with so much admiration. Your hands caressing hers, she softens to your touch.

"What is it?" She whispers, shifting shyly under your gaze.

You smile, "It's just," you shake your head in disbelief, "after everything, I can't believe it." You tell her, "I can't believe I finally found you."

-fin-