Brittany gets into a motocross accident at a match and Santana flips her shit from the stands and tries to get down to the track to get to her. Once they get to the hospital, she finds out Brittany is hurt pretty bad, though not life threatening.
Santana knew about Brittany's little reputation through Noah, but as she got to really know the girl she couldn't see what in the hell he was talking about. Aside from her occasional flirty comment or the way her eyes would linger lower than they should, Santana didn't see anything out of the ordinary when it came to Brittany. Underneath her tight jeans and leather jacket and clunky boots, Brittany was actually kind of sweet.
On the morning after breaking up with Noah, Santana surprisingly felt great. She was still a little groggy from the wine she ended up having after Brittany had dropped her home, but other than that she was fine. As they planned the night before, Brittany arrived at Santana's after checking to see if she was up yet so she could take her to pick up her car. What wasn't planned was the venti caramel frappuccino and chocolate chip cookie Brittany brought her when she did. It was something about the natural chemicals or something in chocolate that would make her feel happy, but Santana didn't know how to tell her that she wasn't sad at all.
From then on, they became fast friends. Occasionally grabbing lunch on the weekends or having a drink after long days of practice, Santana and Brittany talked easily about their days and whatever new was happening in life. The whole friends thing was a little strange for Santana, she didn't have that go to person she actually liked to spend her free time with, but Brittany was very easy to get along with and she was an expert at making Santana laugh.
With Noah out of the picture, there wasn't much reason for Santana to be at practices or meets but she showed up anyway.
Not for Noah, but for Brittany.
And not because Brittany forced her into going like Noah used to, but because she genuinely wanted to be there and show her support.
"Hey Santana." Noah greeted, shifting his weight from side to side as Santana lounged on a lawn chair in front of the track. His voice was low and little unsure and he kept messing with the zipper of his riding jacket, "How are you?"
"Fine." She answered curtly, not even bothering to look up at him, "You're in my sun."
She wasn't tanning but the large shadow he casted over her had her wanting to roll her eyes. She had only been to a handful of practices after breaking up with Noah, but they went through the same thing every single time like he didn't get that she wasn't here for him the first time.
"So when can we talk?" He asked, rooted in his spot.
"Uhm, never?" Santana told him, shaking her head, "I told you, we're done."
"Then why do you keep coming around here, Santana?" He snapped, his gloved hands slapping to his sides impatiently, "If you're not here for me then who could you-"
"Hi Santana!" Brittany greeted happily, walking over to Santana in just her riding pants and tank top. She had her jacket hooked on her finger over her shoulder and her helmet was tucked under her arm as she smiled coolly.
Santana looked up instantly and smiled at the brightness that always lined Brittany's tone. She tried to keep from licking her lips at the sight of the girl in her uniform, or half of it anyway, it always sent tingles down her spine. She crossed her legs and gave her a small wave, "Hey Britt!"
Noah was quickly forgotten as Brittany kneeled beside her so that they were somewhat eye level. She set down her jacket on the chair next to Santana's along and rested her helmet on her knee, "I didn't think you'd make it today. I know you said you were going to be super busy."
"I finished up earlier than I thought." Santana answered a little too excited. Any extra time spent with Brittany was time well spent and she was glad she could get away from the office for awhile.
"That's awesome. Now I can show off my sweet moves." Brittany winked, bumping her shoulders with Santana's, watching her laugh.
Heat flourished on Santana's cheeks as she tried to keep her cool, "Your moves are always pretty sweet though."
"You haven't seen nothin' yet!" She smirked, eyes shimmering with amusement.
"Oh, so it's her?" Noah huffed, crossing his arms as he watched the two interact. They honestly forgot he was even there and looked up as he continued to grumble, "You're here to watch her."
"Well, I already know what you can do.." Santana replied in an aggravated tone.
Noah's eyes shot to Brittany who yet again looked uncomfortable being caught in the middle of their argument. She kept her demeanor eased and nonchalant while Noah glared at her, "Back off, Pierce. She isn't like you."
Brittany just quirked her brow at him and shook her head as she began to stand, grabbing her jacket and tucking her helmet under her arm, "You're right, she's much better than me because you would have two black eyes by now. The quicker you learn that you can't control people the better." Her tone was so even and calm you would've never thought she was insulting him, and as she turned to leave, she stopped and turned back around this time staring daggers at him. Santana had never seen her look so angry, "And another thing, don't forget who brought you on this team. Seconds are a dime a dozen and you just happened to be in the right place at the right time, don't make me regret that decision. I'll see you on the track." Then she turned to Santana and smiled softly, "Thanks for coming."
Noah just kicked at the ground and stormed off leaving Santana to watch the sway of Brittany's hips as she walked towards her bike. Even if Brittany took the comment differently, Santana hated the way Noah made Brittany sound like her sexuality was some kind of bad quality that Santana could never possess. She isn't like you. Why couldn't she be? What if she was? Would it be so bad?
"Who gives a fuck what he thinks." Santana muttered to herself and slipped on her shades as the whir of engines began to roar. She wasn't going to let him ruin her day of relaxation and Brittany. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of pissing her off yet again. She was done with dealing with his crap and she wasn't going to get sucked into it anymore.
She was going to chill on her lawn chair and watch Brittany practice. She was going to sip on the strawberry lemonade she picked up on the way over and let the sound of motors revving relax her. She was going to watch Brittany straddle that motorbike and fight off thoughts of wishing to be that motorbike. She was going to curse herself for thinking of how hot Brittany probably looked underneath all that gear. She was going to think about how hot Brittany was and she wasn't going panic about being gay or whatever she was.
Noah wasn't going to ruin any of that with his whiny behavior.
As she watched, Santana could tell when Brittany was showing off and when she was genuinely just practicing for an upcoming event. The jumps were impressive and the tricks Brittany pulled had Santana on the edge of her seat, concerned for the blonde's safety. It was hard to remember that Brittany was a professional, falls were bound to happen but she had been in the business for so long that she knew what she could handle and what she couldn't.
Still, Santana's heart stopped at every big jump or wobbly landing. She had seen a crash before at Noah's other race but she had never witnessed them first hand and she didn't want to start now. Thankfully, after a few more laps Brittany was pulling off to the side and dismounting.
One of Santana's favorite things about watching Brittany ride was when she was finished, and not because she didn't enjoy watching, but because Brittany looked so damn good ridding herself of her gear, her helmet in particular. Santana licked her lips as Brittany reached for her helmet and slipped it off, long blonde hair cascading down her back and shining bright beneath the sun. Next to go was her riding jacket; that slow motion feeling always came as Brittany unzipped the jacket and shrugged out of the heavy material, sunlight causing her sweaty skin to shimmer, her tank top clinging onto her toned torso for dear life.
Santana swallowed hard, she really needed to quit the leering because this wasn't innocent at all, especially with the naughty thoughts filling her head. She should probably give the lesbian porn a rest because it was doing wonders on her imagination.
She watched as Brittany handed off her stuff to crewmen and spoke briefly before making her way over. Santana sucked down the rest of her drink hoping she can blame her goosebump covered skin on the icy cold beverage.
"Thirsty?" Brittany smirked at the sound of Santana's loud sucking and rusting of ice cubes.
She blushed and slowly pulled away from the straw, "You finished already? That was only like twenty minutes."
"Not yet, but Noah needs more practice than I do." She shrugged, "And he kind of pissed me off earlier so I can force him to practice all afternoon if I want. I'm kind of his boss."
"Don't worry about him," Santana sighed, "He just uses his ego to compensate for other things."
"Gross." Brittany laughed, crossing her arms as she stared down at Santana biting the end of her straw, "I'd ask if you wanted to grab a drink someplace but I'm kind of sweaty and probably smelly."
"And you still need to practice." Santana smiled up at her.
"How about afterwards then?" She asked, her voice dipping into that low flirty tone Santana was growing to really like, "I'll take a super quick shower and I'll take you to my favorite spot right down the road?"
"Mm, maybe." Santana smirked, not wanting to give up so easily. Brittany was probably used to girls falling all over her, but Santana wanted to at least give the impression that she was a little hard to get.
"Maybe?" Brittany questioned playfully.
"Mhm, maybe."
"Okay then, maybe." Brittany smiled and nodded, "Well I'm gonna go back but you keep thinking about that drink."
"I will." She called after her, watching Brittany jog back to her bike and reach for her offered jacket and helmet but right before she stuck her helmet on, she looked back at Santana and winked. Brittany's signature wink paired with her pearly white smile was like a one two punch.
Santana of course swooned; what else could she do?
She didn't know what her hormones were doing anymore and the worse of all, she didn't really care. She even liked the feelings Brittany always made her feel, those fluttering tingles in her belly, the sudden heat rising up her neck and on her cheeks, she liked it all.
Santana was so caught up in thinking about all these new feelings Brittany came with that she just barely caught sight of Brittany tumbling off her bike after a big jump. Her heart stopped and her eyes grew as Brittany's body crumpled to the dirt and Noah's bike flew over her. He landed fine, but Brittany.
She didn't move a muscle.
Before Santana knew it, she was running to her, almost beating out the medical crew that was on site already.
"Brittany!" She yelled but it was no use, everyone was already trying keep her away, "Get off of me! Is she okay? Brittany!"
They pushed and tried to restrain her from getting any closer but she was putting up quite the fight. She had to make sure Brittany was alright, that she was breathing and nothing was broken and there wasn't any blood and she felt no pain. She needed to make sure, she had to, but no one would let her close. She could only see over shoulders of the people keeping her back as they carefully moved Brittany onto a stretcher. There was still no sign of movement, no sign if she was okay. No one told her anything so all she could do was watch them cart her off.
She didn't even think before she was rushing to her own car to follow the ambulance down to the hospital. Her thoughts were all over the place and her body buzzed with anxiety as she rushed after the ambulance. Everything was a blur after parking; all she knew was that she had to find Brittany soon and she didn't care what she had to do to make that happen.
But apparently bribing the front desk wasn't going to get her any closer and since there was no significant relationship to Brittany, Santana wasn't given any slack and trying to make a run for it only had security dragging her back to the waiting room. She was going to have to do this the hard way and wait it out and hope and pray that Brittany was okay. Although she had finally allowed herself to understand that she wasn't going to see her until she was actually allowed to, she hated it. She was restless and anxious and jittery like she had drank way too much coffee and was being forced to sit in a room made of glass and not break anything.
"Miss Lopez?" Someone called nearly two hours later. Santana jumped to her feet and nodded, "She's awake now. Come with me."
It was nothing but stark white walls and endless doors and scrubs until than nurse finally led her to Brittany's room. Something inside Santana broke at seeing the blonde looking so banged up; there were stitches above her left brow, a dark bruise forming at the apple of her freckled cheek, and her left arm lay in a sling. Santana's lip trembled at the sight, of how in a matter of a few hours Brittany went from a free spirited beauty to stitches and bruises.
"Hey Santana, sorry they made you wait so long." Brittany said somewhat cheerfully, shocking Santana with her tone. She even smiled at Santana despite how pained she looked, "I tried to pass you off as my sister but they didn't believe me."
Santana was speechless as she stepped closer, still taking in all of Brittany's injuries and wondering how Brittany was so calm about it, "Britt..a-are you-you're so.."
"You alright?" Brittany asked worriedly and looked to her nurse, "Could you pull up that chair next to me, please?"
Santana just shook her head and reached a shaky hand out to touch the bandages around Brittany's shoulder ever so lightly. Brittany bit her lip and furrowed her brows at the touch and Santana instantly withdrew her hand, "Sorry, does that hurt?"
"It's fine. I've had worse happen." She tried to shrug then winced, "Ow, can't do that anymore."
"Brittany..I saw you fall from fifteen feet in the air, how..how are you even alive?"
"It was only ten," She chuckled, "Like I said, I've had worse happen. I'll be fine, Santana, really. I've broken my collarbone a couple ti-"
"You broke your collarbone?!"
"Yeah, it's a common thing. Sucks, but it happens, nothing to look so sad about." Brittany smiled and reached up with her good hand and poked at the lip Santana didn't realize she was jutting out.
"I've never see someone fall like that before," Santana shook her head, still dazed, "That was really .. and you're just, you're not even fazed."
"Oh, I was scared. Believe me, falling is always really scary." Brittany told her softly and settled back against her pillows, "You never know what'll happen, you'll never know how bad you'll get hurt."
"Then why do you do it?"
"Fall? I don't mean to.."
"No, not that. I mean, motocross. Why do you do it if it's so dangerous?"
"Because I love it." She said easily, "Do what you love, love what you do. There's no other way to put it."
"Yeah.." Santana sighed, still awkwardly standing next to Brittany's bedside, her fingers picking at the hospital grade sheets.
Brittany just smiled up at her worry and reached for her hand, "Come on, sit next to me."
Santana allowed Brittany to tug her down next to her but the new closeness only gave her a better look of all the tiny cuts and scrapes on Brittany's face. Without even realizing it, Santana was running the backs of her fingers over the small swollen lines lightly, "God, Britt..look at you."
Brittany only closed her eyes and leaned into Santana's touch, "It doesn't even hurt that much, honest."
"I don't believe you." Santana chuckled, her laugh opening Brittany's eyes again.
"Well, It might hurt a little tiny bit, but I know what you could do to make feel better." Brittany began to smirk, her tone innocently playful.
Santana just rolled her eyes and laughed again, "Oh, so now you want me to kiss you? After all those times.."
"I didn't say all that." Brittany giggled, curling her arm around Santana's waist so she wouldn't fall off the bed, "I was actually thinking about that drink I was talking about earlier. It sounds so good right now and I'm probably not supposed to drink because I'm sure I'm on a ton of meds right now but I can at least buy one for you, you know, for making you so worried."
"I-I wasn't worried about you, I was..I-I was just-"
Brittany wasn't convinced at all and smirked even deeper, "Well that's a shame because no one ever worries about me." For some reason that made Santana frown and so desperately want to take back her words. Brittany nodded, eyes scanning the room, "Notice you're the only one here?"
Santana didn't even realize it at first but the room was empty aside from the nurse who kept wandering in and out of the room. No parents, no managers, no teammates, no one, just Santana.
"Everyone knows what dangers this job brings and they're used to it. I've been sent to the hospital loads of times for falls so no one comes anymore, they know I can handle myself. No one worries." Brittany said quietly and the tone of her voice was so unfamiliar to Santana.
"Brittany.." Santana mumbled, turning to look at her but blue eyes were focused on her sling.
"I'll be fine, Santana. I know how to take care of myself." Brittany told her, "You-you don't need to stay with me. I'm-"
"Britt." Santana cut in abruptly causing the blonde to look up at her. Santana just smiled and shook her head, "Just stop."
Brittany was confused but then Santana leaned in. Her eyes were closing slowly and her lips puckered and for the first time, Brittany didn't stop her, she just let Santana kiss her. She let her take control and kiss away all those sad feelings that were creeping up on her. She let Santana hold her jaw delicately and urge her closer, deepening the kiss. She let her explore, let her feel the softness of her skin and the warmth of her lips.
When she pulled away, Santana's face was flushed and her eyes glazed over, "Wow."
"Yeah." Brittany breathed out dreamily and blinked, "That was way better than a drink."
Santana just shook her head at her and smiled, licking her lips and tasting Brittany, "I've never kissed a woman before."
"No?" Brittany smirked with her brow quirked, "Well, you are very, very good at it."
"I am?" Santana asked, completely shocked, "Really?"
"Hmm, well I might need another one just to be sure." Brittany teased, leaning into Santana's side as best as she could. Santana just laughed and let herself lay another one on Brittany. And another, and another, and another.
"I think that's my new favorite thing." Santana mumbled against Brittany's lips.
"What? Kissing girls or kissing me?"
Mischief twinkled in Santana's eyes as Brittany ran her finger along Santana's jaw, "Kissing you, but I might need a few more to prove my point."
"You have my full cooperation."