As much as I would like to own them, all the characters of Glee belong to Fox – I own nothing. All the characters of The Fast and the Furious belong to Universal Studios, I'm just borrowing some of them. All writing belongs to me.
I'm back! First of all, here's to our pairing getting married! Finally, our babies! Second, I would like to congratulate Miss. Rivera on her amazing baby news this week, she's gonna make a great mom, and finally here we are – 30 chapters. I'm sorry for the late update but I needed extra time on this one and I didn't particularly want to post angsty Brittana right after the wedding. That being said that one shot I mentioned in my last author's note is coming along nicely and should be posted soon, it's about halfway done. So, with all that being said enjoy the update!
P.S. Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of me first posting this story and that's amazingly scary! I would like to thank everybody who gave this story a try from the very start and here's to finally hitting the final story arc! I hope you enjoy it and stick with it! :)
Thank you to everybody who has reviewed since the last chapter and welcome to all my new followers and favers, it's great to have you on board and it means a lot that you all continue to love this story. :D
"I have a plan you might be interested in"
"Get out" Dani growled, Quinn now having to physically hold her back.
Letty glanced from Dani back to Santana. "You're not welcome here"
"I know"
"Then leave"
"Not until you hear me out"
"You heard Letty Santana. We don't want you here" Rachel said, her arms crossed over her chest as she stood protectively next to Brittany.
"Look, I know I'm the last person you want to talk to, trust me, but after last night I couldn't keep it to myself any more"
"What are you talking about? You can't possibly have any more lies" Marley complained, a frown etched across her face.
"I'm not here to tell you anything else other than I have a plan. I told you everything that day in the hospital room. I'm simply here to present you with an opportunity to beat Cassandra and Puck at Race Wars."
"And how do you propose to do that?" Letty asked, a questioning eyebrow raised in her direction.
"Simple: a car for every single one of you"
"And hows that going to help us?"
"It's going to give you the edge against puck's crew, especially with their new cars"
"Stay here. Everybody else follow me"
Grudgingly everybody followed at her request back into the garage, Quinn having to pull Dani forcibly by the arm to get her to stop glaring at Santana and do as their leader said. Santana sighed and watched as they moved to the back of the garage well out of ear shot and decided to move back over to her car, leaning up against the side of it as she waited. Her free hand playing with the hem of the garage shirt she was wearing she couldn't help but feel anxious. She'd been working on this plan from the moment she was up and mobile, or at least behind the wheel of her car again. Still, she'd been thinking about this plan since she'd gotten out of the hospital and now here she was hoping and praying that the crew would take at least a little pity on her and just hear her out. She knew she didn't deserve it and she was ok with that, she understood their reasons for not wanting anything to do with her, but a part of her deep down inside couldn't help but hope they said yes.
Meanwhile at the back of the garage said people weren't happy.
"Why should we give her a chance?" Quinn asked.
"Yeah, why after everything she did to us should we hear her out? There's probably a loop hole somewhere"
Marley nodded in agreement with Rachel. "Yeah, knowing her she probably has an angle to this"
"But what if she's telling the truth? What if what she has to offer gives us the edge we need to beat Puck?"
Dani shook her head at Tina. "She's only in it for her own gain. She just wants to take down Cassandra for her own benefit. She's not telling the truth, are you forgetting that she almost killed me and then nearly all of you guys last night?"
"Ok, so this plan might not be full-proof and she might have an angle but I'm willing to do anything to beat Puck. Usually you know I would say that we grind it out for these next few months to beat Puck but the truth is that right now I will take all the help I can get, especially if we don't what to get our asses beaten again. I say we listen to her, hear what she has to say about these cars and then go from there. Are you in?" There was a round of hesitant verbal agreements and physical nods. "Ok then, let's go hear her out"
"I can't believe we're actually doing this" Rachel grumbled as they began making their way back to the entrance of the garage.
"I know but we need to beat Puck" Letty replied, placing a comforting hand on her adopted sisters shoulder.
"Fine but if this blows up in your face the entire blame's on you"
"I know hermana, I know" When they reached the entrance Letty called over to the woman who was lent up against her car. "Lopez, you have ten minutes and then you have to leave"
Santana nodded and hurried over. She was directed to sit on the arm of the couch and once everybody else was sat down she held up the manilla folder which she had been carrying that had the Lima Police Department logo on it.
"Ok so this is the case file. Police chief Washington allowed me to bring you it so if you say yes you'll have full access, nothing held back – that's the deal. We'd all be on a level playing field when it came to the case. I wouldn't have brought you in if you didn't know everything that was going on. Then there's this," She placed the manilla folder on her lap in exchange for the leather portfolio. "It has absolutely everything detailing every car and how to get them. You'd all know exactly what you were doing"
"Ok, so how about you walk us through it then? Start with the first car we would get"
Luckily Santana has planned for this and arranged the files in a sort of order that would make the most sense to stick to as a guideline. She opened the cover to the first page which was a list of everybody's names and the cars she'd scouted. She didn't need to look at the other files in the folder, she knew them off by heart by now after so much planning and such. "The first car would be Mia's"
"And what would it be?" Letty prompted.
"A 2002 Acura NSX-T"
"And how would we get it?"
"I found out that the owner is moving the car by freight train up country to their new house. This means that we'd have to intercept it on the move. The cars coming from the tri-city area and it's making one stop in Lima to pick up passengers before it continues out of town and towards where it's supposed to be delivered. The plan is to board the train in Lima, wait until it's out of the city and get the car out not long after"
"But how?"
"Disconnecting the trailers."
"Whilst they're in motion?"
"Yes. We disconnect the rear trailers whilst the train is moving, get the car onto a flat-bed truck or something like it and escape before the train driver even knows it's missing it's last few carriages. Bare in mind that the window for this only allows for one chance. That's why as it's timed it's the most urgent one"
Letty eyed the Latina for a few moments curiously before nodding. "Ok, who's next?"
"Marley. One day I was on my way to a training session with Matt when I passed a scrapyard and I had an idea. I did some checking around and asked Roz and she told me that Jake's Shelby had been sent to the scarp heap ready to be crushed. She said that it's mostly just the bare bones of the car left and it would need a hell of a lot of work to get it back up and running"
"Then why even consider it?"
"Because I knew that Jake was the only person that we didn't get a car from. I know he died but I thought seeing as no one, not even Puck, had claimed what was left of the car I could try and put it back together again, especially considering Marley and Jake's history with each other. Plus it would cause an emotional reaction in Puck that might throw him off his game on the day of Race Wars. The amount of work that needs to be done is the reason why I need to get it asap, as well as the fact that it could be crushed any day now. All we'd have to do is break into the scrapyard, locate the car, load it onto a truck and get the hell out of there"
"Hmm, next one"
"Next is Quinn. A 2009 Nissan VSpec R35 Skyline. It's imported but I know somebody who has one that we can get. When I came up with this plan I figured there would be one guy I needed to definitely check out as a possibility. Josh Coleman. I know any one of us could easily beat him but the fun's in the stealing it. Plus I know that he hasn't driven it since I checked his place out and asking him to face off against us in a specific car would raise suspicions. He lives in a gated mansion so we'd have to sneak in at night and try to steal it that way. I can hack the lock on the gate but it would have to be done quickly and we'd drive it out and back to a safe place. This one was chosen next as I figured that we'd have to get Holly to fly in overnight parts from Japan and the tuning would need to be on point and I don't know how long that would take considering that I've never worked on a R35 before"
"Sounds interesting. Which one next?"
"The next would be Rachel. A 1995 SP Mazda RX7. This one is the one that bridges the gap so to speak"
"Why?"
"Because it's kind of urgent but it's not"
"What did you have in mind then?"
"I've seen this Asian guy a few times whilst I've been downtown and he's only ever been there at a specific time or on specific days of the week. He drives like he's on speed and I can't seem to find where he lives or hangs out so we would have to catch him on the move. That's why this is kind of urgent. We'd need to get him on the first try or we could end up spooking him and we'd never see the car again"
"Plan of action?"
"Spend a few afternoons on the days that I've seen him and learn his pattern, as stalker sounding as that is, and then intercept him on one of the guaranteed days. The next thing would be to somehow take control of the car whilst he's on the move and steal it."
"And you have an idea of how that will work?"
"It's all in this folder along with all of the other details"
"Who's on the list next?"
"Dani. This car is a BXR Bailey Blade GTR"
"I've never heard of it"
"That's because it's still relatively new. I only heard about it last month whilst visiting the race track just outside of the city with my abuela. The car's up for standard race track speed testing before it goes into the workshop for team integration. That's our window. If we don't take the opportunity to break in and liberate it the car will be modified to track spec and we won't be able to legally drive it on the road. That's why you'd need to steal it before then."
"Wouldn't a car like that come with a lot of heat? Surely it would stick out being only one if it's kind around here?"
"It would but all you'd really be doing is changing appearance. Roz can manipulate ownership details for the right people from the right people. They'd never have to know that we never actually bought the car, we just own one. She has ways of sending them looking for it in a different direction."
"Performance-wise? You said it would only need changing visually?"
"Yes, this one has at least a thousand plus horsepower and that's even without it being modified. That's why it's street legal – all the power without the track-only modifications. It's a step up from the GT to a more race track-like performance car"
"Ok, who's the next one?"
"Uh, Tina. I found a Mitsubishi Evo 9 MR Edition that's being shipped into the country in about a month or so. I have a friend at the docks who let me practice there and he had the low-down on some hot imports that are sure to be on the racing scene within the next few months. He told me the car is arriving in the tri-city harbour and we'd need to find the shipping container, break it out and bring it back. Roz has a way of manipulating the owner who's waiting for it to make him believe it was a shipping error leaving us out of any suspicion we were even ever involved. You'd need a precision driver to get you in and lead you back out so I would suggest a drifter to get you around those tight turns quickly and efficiently. From what I've heard the car is already heavily modified already so all you'd have to do is make a few tweaks and changes here and there but the work is minimal"
"And after that?"
"Brittany. I originally went for the Subaru BRZ but around this area all I could find was a similar production version, the Toyota 86. It's a 2014 model but the guy who owns it is holding open competition for anybody willing to try and beat it. Simply put you race against it for it's pink slips. You win you get the car, you don't he moves onto the next one and you get to keep your current car. I would have said it's one of the easiest to obtain, any one of you could beat it hence the reason why it's not as urgent to act on. Performance would be a breeze, the parts wouldn't really need all that perfecting considering it's such a new car"
Letty nodded. "And me?"
"An Equus Bass 770"
"A what?"
"It's basically a brand new car on the market just like Dani's car, although this one isn't being raced on the track. I was checking in with Matt one day and getting up to speed on the progress of Cassandra's case when they brought in a car into the impound lot. I'd had my ear to the ground since I started this plan and checked all the cars that were coming in. The story is that the car was brought brand new, one of the first of it's kind in the country, and the owner couldn't keep up repayments. They're currently on the run for dodging those payments but the car was left abandoned, much like the story of the super cars over in Dubai. The car was brought in and whilst the owner is on the run up country the car is just sitting in the impound lot getting dusty. All we'd have to do is break in and steal it as there's no way to legally get it released due to the fact that the repayment case is still active. Performance pretty much stands like Dani's. It's fast bordering on the edge of super car territory but it's muscle, your territory, and technology combined. All you'd have to do is make a few tweaks but other than that it's already pretty fast as it is."
"And that's it?"
"Yep, any other details are all in this portfolio"
Letty checked her watch before looking up at Santana impressed. "Impressive but I still don't know. You seem to have everything planned to a point but we still can't trust you"
"I understand. I wouldn't either"
"Then why even come here at all?" Brittany asked, shocking everybody as she spoke up for the first time since Santana had arrived.
Santana shrugged, standing up and trying to ignore that way she felt her heart beat ten times faster when Brittany personally addressed her for the first time in months. "Because you needed a way to beat Puck. I know you lost at Race Wars and I know it was because of me, I will take full responsibility for that but right now, ever since I started getting better I knew that you couldn't go into the next one and let Puck drive all over you. You deserved better than that, all of you. That's why I hatched a plan to pay you back and give you what you needed to crush him and that bitch he calls a girlfriend. You guys can trust me or not but just know that if you say yes I am determined to see this plan through whether it kills me or not. I knew you would be the only ones who could help me and as much as I hated asking for your help I'm asking for it now, for all of us. Cassandra not only fucked me over but she fucked all of us over and she needs to pay and whether you want to go ahead with this plan or not I'm telling you that I'm dedicated. Even if I have to do all the modification work to these cars myself you are going to win Race Wars with or without me on your crew. I can't make up for what I did and I can't say I'm sorry enough but I need you to believe that you can stop Puck and Cassandra. I just need your help doing it. There's not a group of racers that can even amount up to your skill set. Just give it a chance."
The entire group was silent, Santana's taking in a deep breath after her little 'speech'. She hadn't intended to ramble off but it was true. She'd spent the past few months coming up with ways to repay them and this was the closest she came to an acceptable answer. She believed that it could work but the way that Brittany had spoken to her in that ice cold tone sparked something within her that pushed her to verbally defend herself and her idea. Pain searing through her braced shoulder struck her from her thoughts, the force of an impact spinning her around on her heels to see Brittany walking determinedly towards her car.
"Brittany..."
"Save it Santana"
She sighed, her shoulder's deflating at Brittany's stone cold answer as the pain set in and turned back to Letty handing her the leather portfolio. "In here's a copy of everything; every detail and every possible thing you would want to know about each car and their individual plans."
"Thank you" She replied, taking it. "Give us some time to think this over"
"I understand"
"I'll call you with an answer. I couldn't tell you when that would be but once we've made our minds up you'll know"
"Ok. Thank you for at least listening"
With the manilla folder clutched within her good hand Santana made her way over to her car just as Brittany barrelled out of the yard in a flash of speed. She sighed as she slipped into her own car, buckling the harness with her good hand before starting it up and leaving.
Cassandra pulled up her car outside of her and Puck's garage. Puck wasn't far behind, parking his Charger up next to it as the blonde woman stepped out.
"Nice, that was good"
"Hmm, I seemed to think so" She smirked, watching as he made his way over to her.
"Your car is fast. Maybe it's time you start racing"
"I think so too. Especially now that Miss Lopez is back on the scene"
"Yeah, unfortunately"
"It's not unfortunate, it's just that she could have waited a little longer. I was having fun crushing Letty's pathetic little crew every time they decided to race"
"Me too but the bitch is back and she won her first race"
"She did, but it cost her. She's still not over her injuries"
"Thanks to you"
"I know but at least she's struggling"
"Yeah but how long will that last?"
"What do you mean?"
"How long before it wears off and she's back to one hundred percent? What happens when she starts racing on the regular again?"
"She won't be a problem, I assure you"
"How can you be so sure?"
"If she's smart she'll stick to herself and not even think of joining another crew. She should be especially smart when thinking about it or else I'll shoot her again and this time it won't be non-fatal"
"You'd do that?"
"If she gets in our way, yes, but right now I don't think she's really capable of anything. If the little bitch stays alone she won't be a problem, especially not at Race Wars. Right now though we focus on our plan and keep dominating the scene up until the competition begins. When we get there we're going to crush Letty's crew again like we did last year and maybe then they'll get the message and leave Lima all together"
"But how do we do this? She beat my guys last night like they were nothing and they were in super cars! There's no way her car could have been that good"
"I will admit that when I first took her in that car barely even scratched the surface but after last night we will have to watch her. Even I don't know what it's capable of but the way she acted when she had to start from scratch tells me there's a lot under that hood that we don't know about. In the meantime I think you should get your own crew in order. Their driving was sloppy last night. Sam looked like he was daddy's little rich boy jacked up on God knows what fucking drugs and Brody was sloppy and all over the place, an accident waiting to happen. I suggest we start training immediately if we're going to attempt to keep our hold on this city"
Puck grinned. "I fucking love it when you speak all hot and fucking sexy like that"
"I'm serious Puckerman"
"And I'm serious too. The guys can wait until later. Right now we have the garage to ourselves until they come back"
"Well how could I refuse that tempting one-on-one time offer?"
"You can't"
"Hmm, no. How long do we have?"
Puck checked his watch. "Fifteen minutes"
"Then I guess you'd better make it quick"
"Oh, I plan to"
Brittany couldn't breathe as her car finally came to a stop in the parking lot of the familiar beach. Her whole body was frozen as a swell of emotions washed over her, keeping her immobile as multiple thoughts bombarded her all at once. Her hands held the wheel in a death grip and she rapidly felt more and more air leaving her lungs and not returning as if it was being sucked out of the interior of the car. Her heart rate picked up, the numbness of the situation now wearing off from being stationary, the motion of the car no longer the distraction she had lost herself in in favour of ignoring the truth about what was happening. In the end getting out was inevitable with her heart beating rapidly in her chest more and more with each passing second. She suddenly felt the need for air become too much, throwing the car door open with more force than was necessary as she fumbled with the harness of her seat. A few exasperated moments of mumbling and fumbling with her fingers later and she had managed to unclip the harness and finally pull herself out of the car.
She gasped desperately for breath as she threw herself into the cold morning air in the search for oxygen. Immediately the sound of crashing ocean waves and the smell of the salt from the sea water assaulted her all her senses at once and made her feel sick. Nausea attacked the pit of her stomach before rising up into the center of her chest, throwing her off balance as she fought to keep control of not only her mind but her body as well. It gripped tight at her chest and she found that she had to grab hold of the top of her car door for balance or else she was sure she would have thrown her guts up at any given second. She didn't trust herself to stand whilst the nausea ripped through her entire body, making her head spin and her chest tight. That's when she forced herself to calm down. Gripping hard at the door she took a deep breath and embraced the sights and smells around her, using them and the knowledge of the familiar surroundings to calm her heart rate and push the feeling of sickness back down to the pit of her stomach where it had originally come from.
Looking up she took in the sight of her beach, the place where she came in dire times of need – to get away from her life no matter what matter it was that was throwing her off. The waves crashed more violently along the shore and the greyed sky only served to tell her that today wasn't going to be sunny, it was going to be quite the opposite. That had been confirmed the moment she had watched that stupid golden Nissan pull up outside of the garage. She could just see the indicators of fog and the wind blew particularly hard over her entire person, goose flesh forming over the exposed skin of her arms that weren't covered by her garage shirt. Hands instinctively came up to rub at opposite sides in the hopes of warming herself up but in the end the effort was futile. It didn't make a difference but she kept at it over and over in the hopes that it would eventually pay off. It was a nice distraction that didn't last long.
Soon enough thoughts of Santana had started flooding her brain in an onslaught of feelings and pain and before she knew it she couldn't hold them back any more. She couldn't hold back everything that she had been boxing in since that day she read her letter and she sure as hell couldn't hold back the tears that now rained down her cheeks at the experience of seeing Santana in the flesh once again, mostly recovered and alive from her gunshot injuries and telling them she had a grand plan to repay them.
I mean, who the hell does she think she is? The blonde pondered, not quite sure on what else to ask herself other than the fact that Santana had no right to walk back into their lives and act as if they would just willingly let her repay them. What made her even more angry was the fact that Santana knew this. She knew that she had no right to just come back and expect a second chance and she was completely honest about it. She was aware and for some unknown God damn reason Brittany couldn't for the life of her understand why on Earth this left her infuriated and enraged more than ever before in her entire life.
She came back as if she was at least somewhat welcome and asked if she could race and then beaten everybody. She was paying the price physically (via the shoulder brace) but as much as the other woman seemed to infuriate her Brittany couldn't find it in her heart to say that she deserved it. That wasn't her, she wouldn't wish pain on anybody, even if that person was someone who had broken her heart. It confused her, the fact that Santana could do this to her, and she didn't know what to do. Her hands shook as she gripped at the car door, Brittany trying to find a reasonable explanation as to why she was feeling all of these different and conflicting emotions. She felt sorry for her, then she felt anger, and then she felt pain in her chest and she didn't know what to do. She didn't know whether to suck it up and be a woman about it or get back in her car and cry against the steering wheel until she was too tired to carry on. The latter was very tempting, the urge to cry sounding more appealing with every passing second but she caught a fleeting thought at the last minute.
She couldn't let Santana win, not this time.
Her letter had broken her, sure, and she had realized that deep down inside of her that a part of her still loved the woman that she had gotten to know but after she had physically come back and walked back into her her life once again she couldn't let her win, not again. Her heart was telling her something familiar deep down inside but her rational mind knew it wasn't right. It wasn't right to feel all these things over a woman who had come in, gained her trust, made her fall in love with her and crushed her tender heart as if it was made of extremely fragile glass. She'd only just managed to put it back together again, the bare bones if you will, and she was slowly arranging all of the broken pieces back into the small gaps and crevices she had created but she wasn't going to let Santana break it again by being back in her life. She had to be strong, she knew that now and as much as her heart screamed at her that there was something about Santana that she couldn't understand nor let go she couldn't listen. Not this time. She'd done that once before and look at where it had gotten her. She had to be a woman and stand up and take it in her stride. That meant clearing her throat, taking a deep breath and heading back to the garage to join the crew.
That plan was thrown out of the window in a matter of moments though when she heard the sound of a highly tuned engine that she was slowly getting to know, a unique sound that wasn't that hard to remember due to the fact that it was so different. She sighed heavily from her chest as both hands gripped the roof of her RX8, not trusting herself to look up at the car that had just pulled up not that far away from her. She heard the sound of the door opening and closing and then sneaker-clad footsteps slowly approaching her. She heard the cautiousness and hesitance in each and every step and a part of her thanked God that the other woman had enough sense to at least proceed with extreme caution, especially with the way that she was feeling right now.
Not looking up she felt her hands clench against the cold metal of her cars roof. "What do you want Santana?"
There was a brief silence, a tense yet hollow break that spoke volumes in the way of showing just how much had changed between the two of them. For a brief moment she didn't know how to respond, the other woman not having answered her but she couldn't blame her. Santana had probably followed her here after she had left without a good reason to and it made her mad.
It made her finally look up to see the other woman nervously wringing her hands together. It only served to fuel her anger more. "What did you do? Follow me here only to just stare at me? What do you want Santana?!"
It seemed to snap the other woman out of her nervous daze, Santana's eyes instantly flickering up to meet hers as she watched as she took an anxious gulp before speaking. "I don't know"
"So you just followed me here?"
"I don't know why I followed you here Brittany"
"Then why did you?"
"I don't know!"
"You must have a reason Santana! You know this looks bad!"
"Don't you think I know that?! You left and I had to follow you, I don't know why! Maybe I just wanted to make sure that you were ok, you seemed madder than I've ever seen you before"
That's when Brittany's body turned to face her, the blonde frowning at her as she thought about her words. "You don't get to do that any more Santana, you know that"
"What? I'm not aloud to make sure that you're ok?"
"Exactly!"
"Why?"
"Because you lost that right the moment you broke my heart!"
There was a few fleeting moments as they both let her words sink in, Santana not quite sure as to how to respond. "Brittany..."
"No, don't. I know that tone of voice, like you want me to feel sorry for you but it's not going to happen"
Shaking her head Santana felt the nervousness finally dissolve away and get replaced by mild anger. She couldn't be mad at Brittany, not ever, but she was mad at the current situation. Then again she'd brought this upon herself. "Hey! I never asked you to feel sorry for me, not once"
"Then why act like it?"
"Look, the last thing I want is sympathy, God knows I've had enough of it the past three months ever since Cassandra did this to me, but you're the last person I expect it from, if even at all. Not after what I did to you but Brittany I can't help it!"
"Can't help what?"
"These thoughts I've been having about you ever since the moment you heard the truth leave my lips in that hospital room. I loved you, I won't deny that, but I needed to make sure that after me coming back you didn't do something to hurt yourself. Despite what happened between us I still care about your well-being"
"Wow, coming from you that means a lot"
"What else am I supposed to say Brittany? Should I get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness until you say yes or should I leave completely and never come back? Should I just disregard all these feelings I have inside and go back to where I came from or should I try and make it up, even if it just mends things a little? I don't expect any of you, especially you, to forgive me after what I did but I won't let you make me feel like the bad guy when all I wanted to do was make sure you were ok, friends, girlfriends, or acquaintances alike. I just wanted to make sure that you were ok."
She didn't know how to respond. She was mad at her, she was pretty sure that wasn't going away any time soon but she couldn't deny that she had a point. What had she expected her to do? Have her grovel until she'd had enough of her sorry excuses? She was angry, but she wasn't that cruel. Instead she decided to slightly change the subject in the hopes that she could spend some alone time later on to think privately about it.
Sighing she rubbed at her temples. "I got your letter you know"
It didn't take more than a few seconds for Santana to realize what she was talking about. "You did?" Her frown softening.
Brittany nodded. "Yes, and it broke my heart"
"Britt..."
"No, you don't get to call me that. That letter hurt me Santana. I spent three months trying to erase the fact that I loved you, that I finally let someone in deeper than ever before only to have my heart broken. You know what it made me feel on top of all the pain and hurt that you put me through?"
"What?"
There was a brief pause and a shallow breath before Brittany continued. What she said next she couldn't take back but she couldn't stop herself. "That a part of me deep down inside, a sick and twisted part of me still wanted you, still loved you. That letter made me realise something that terrified me and I still don't know what to do about it. It reminded me of the woman I knew before she broke my heart by telling me the truth and some part of me wanted to go back to the time before you left me that morning to deliver that car, back to the time when we were together and happy, when I didn't know about your secret double life and I was happy nearly every single second of the day. Back before those three months of harrowing hell that nearly killed me, mentally and physically. I couldn't sleep without having nightmares every single night and I'm now only just getting better but only little by little. I was confused, I still sort of am, but that letter made me realise that I was still feeling something for you, despite what you had done. I was confused and angry and I was denying my feelings, feelings that I didn't want to have but yet again you made me feel anyway without giving me a choice. That's why I can't let you in again, not now even when you're trying to make it up to us. I can't stand the thought that I still have all of these emotions and affections that I can't help but have. I can't control them, not after all this time but even with all of this, all of the things that are making me feel the way that they are right now I simply can't deny it any more. I can't be with you again Santana, we both know that, but I can't deny that I miss my old life, that I miss the person I used to be when we were together and most of all I miss how we were before you told us the truth. I miss you, but I don't miss the way that this is making me feel, the way it made me feel these past few months. I can't trust you, you probably already know that, but I just can't do this. Not now, not when I'm not ready to face it."
"What did you do with it when you were finished?" Santana asked, now the anger between the two of them having dissipated and replaced by a lingering sadness. She understood how Brittany felt and she didn't blame her, she just had to know that even if there wasn't a chance between them she had to have done something with the things she had left behind for her.
And Brittany didn't miss a beat, didn't miss the true question behind the words. "I still have the letter, I'm not ready to let it go. As for the thing you left with it, I'm not sure what to do with that either. I know one thing though, I know that every time I look at it all I can think of is the things that you did to me. It's not happy Santana, every time I look at it it reminds me of what I lost and I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. Whatever it is I don't think your original intention will ever make me feel differently. To be honest after I read the letter I didn't know if you even remembered writing it and leaving it for me"
"I remembered it the day I left the car in that garage. I made sure that you would find it. I needed you to read it Brittany, you needed to know how I felt"
"Yes, and it broke my heart all over again. All those stitches I had worked so hard on were for nothing. They all bust wide open the moment I finished reading it."
Not knowing how to respond with words, her vocabulary failing her, Santana stepped forwards and ignored the ache of pain radiating down from her shoulder and engulfing her entire arm as she cupped Brittany's face with both hands. The both of them were surprised that Brittany didn't pull away at the first contact that they had shared since the day the truth had come out but quickly brushed it off in favour of figuring out just exactly what Santana was doing. The air seemed to still between them as they simply looked into each others eyes, the sound of the ocean and the slight breeze of early morning wind forgotten as they lost themselves in one another's gazes. It wasn't romantic, but it felt like understanding. Well, that's what they told themselves. In a surge of confidence for fear that Brittany may pull away at any given moment Santana quickly closed the gap between them but when their lips met it was anything but rushed. They both moved languidly against one another, just feeling, just touching and exploring after months of no contact. Brittany wanted deny the upsurge of emotions and warmth but she couldn't as she was unable to stop herself from momentarily getting lost in the feeling of Santana's lips upon her own – just like she always did.
Without thinking her hands came up to rest upon the other woman's biceps, one covered by a shoulder brace, as she let her entire body sag and melt into something she didn't completely understand. She should have been mad but she couldn't bring herself to pull herself away. She wasn't lying when she said that a part of her still loved Santana, she just didn't expect for it to be thrown at the forefront so soon and so quickly. When Santana pulled away from her though it felt as if the entire world came crashing down around her, reality becoming painfully real. Santana's hands lingered though, still cupping her face as their foreheads naturally gravitated towards each other to gently rest against one another. The silence between them lingered longer than necessary and as they regained the air into their lungs it was a few moments before either one of them spoke. If there was one thing Brittany hadn't expected it was a kiss, and she certainly hadn't expected to enjoy it even with all of her current and conflicting emotions.
"I'm sorry Britt." She paused for a few seconds as if she was trying to find the words before she continued.
Suddenly the warm air that had formed between them was gone and replaced by the cold sea air and Brittany was stepping away back towards her car. She didn't know what point she had exactly moved away from it but now the air was suffocating her once more, this time even out in the open.
"Britt..."
She held up a hand to stop her from continuing. "No, don't. You know this isn't right Santana"
"I know"
"Then why?"
She shrugged, at a loss for how to respond. "I don't know, I just..."
"Didn't think before you acted. Why am I not surprised?"
"Brittany..."
"No"
"But-"
Internally panicking a little Brittany backed right up to her car and made to get in. "I need to go, I can't be around you right now"
Santana watched helplessly as Brittany got into her car and left the parking lot quickly and abruptly. She rubbed at her temples with her good hand and shook her head, not quite knowing what had just happened. She had felt this pull that she couldn't ignore and it was true, she had done it without thinking but even now just after it had happened she was sure she wasn't going to regret it. It was spur of the moment and by the way Brittany had reacted during the kiss she had felt that longing and what they had once been before everything went to shit. Sighing she took a breath in before making her way back over to her own car. Taking one last look at the sea view she had once enjoyed with the other woman she got back into her car and strapped herself into the harness of her bucket seat. It was few silent beats before she started the car, taking a moment to think about the repercussions of what had just happened. She didn't know if Brittany would tell Letty or anyone else for that matter what she had done but she knew her enough to know that she probably wouldn't. That didn't do anything to ease the fear in the pit of her stomach though, the fear that she may have just shot her chances of repaying them dead in the water. Deciding not to think on it at least until later she started up the car and backed up before pulling out of the lot and heading back onto the road.
Ahhh! Aye babe this my new shit
I'm the black Richie Rich with the roof missing
If it don't make dollars it don't make sense
Z, wake up like I gotta get it
And I got an engine full of trunk space
I get money three ways, fucking bitches three ways
7 different foreigns plus she no hablé
But I make that bitch walk for some cheesecake...
Some random heavy hip hop beat bumped through the speakers as Santana expertly weaved through the throng of people that led back to her table. Panting a little in exertion of people dodging she placed all three beer bottles down on the small table and slid one each towards the two other people that had been waiting patiently for her return.
"Thanks S"
Santana looked over at Matt and smiled. "No problem. Roz, you ok?"
"Oh, yeah. I was just thinking"
"About what?" The Latina asked, taking the first sip of her drink.
"How did it go yesterday?"
"As well as you could have guessed"
"How so?"
"They gave me ten minutes to go over the plan and then leave"
"Ok so did you?"
"Of course I did. I was finished before the time was up."
"Any questions?"
"There were a few here and there but nobody really talked it was just Letty"
"What did she say when she was done?" Matt asked, piping for the first time in the conversation as he took a sip of his own drink.
"She just told me that they'd think about it and they'd call me when they'd made a decision. She told me she didn't know when that would be"
Roz frowned. "So we're waiting for their reply?"
"Pretty much" She replied, taking another sip of her drink.
"What's our plan of action now?" Matt asked, turning towards the off-duty police chief.
Roz shrugged. "We wait"
"That's it?"
"Yes, until we know what they want to do we can't do anything"
"Ok but let's just say that they didn't, what would we do then?"
"We would move forward and continue our investigation without them"
"But hopefully it won't come to that" Santana cut in, licking her lips after taking another gulp of beer. "We really do need them on our side if we're going to go up against Puck and Cassandra whether they like us or not, especially me. The others seemed to stay quiet but Dani looked as if she wanted to rip my throat out and crush my skull with her bare hands"
"Come on, she couldn't have seemed that mad"
"Yeah, but you didn't see her"
"I wouldn't blame her after what happened at the race the other night"
Roz's gaze flickered from Matt back to Santana. "Why? What happened at the race?"
"Just before we crossed the line she nudged me and I nudged her back. I would have lost if I didn't hit her back"
"But you won yes?"
"I did but that didn't stop her from accusing me of nearly killing her and the rest of the crew. It didn't help that Puck and Cassandra got in on it too"
"Anything bad happen with them?"
"No, I just snapped back at them. Though, if you wanna call something bad then it's probably my abuela flipping out at me when she found out that I'd injured myself"
"Santana, what did you do?"
"It wasn't anything major"
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that" Matt laughed.
Santana glared at him and Roz frowned at the Latina. "What happened?"
"I just got thrown about a little and twisted my arm the wrong way a few times. It wasn't anything major, I promise"
"For your abuela to flip out and you to be wearing that brace right now I have a feeling it was a lot more serious than you're making it out to be."
"Fine, I had to schedule a few more physical therapies it's no big deal"
The police chief raised a questioning eyebrow. "There's something you're not telling us"
Sighing Santana's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Okay so my abuela may have demanded that she come along with me to every single one and I don't stop until I'm back to what I was before the race"
"You must have done a number on it if she was that serious" Roz smiled, raising her bottle to her lips.
"Yeah, you could say that. She told me she almost had a heart attack when she saw the amount of pills I dropped when I got back but I guess she's right. I shouldn't have pushed myself like I did but I had to win. This was my fault" She said, looking down at the brace on her shoulder.
"Are you in pain now?"
"It's ok. I'm due to take meds when I get home as long as I don't have more than one of these" She replied, holding up her Corona to emphasize her point.
"Then we'll get out of here after"
"Nah, don't worry. You two can stay and enjoy your night off"
"You sure?"
"Of course"
"You okay to run tomorrow?"
"My arms injured, not my legs. Of course, seven am sharp like always."
"Ok, I'll see you there. In the meantime why don't we make a toast?" Roz smiled, holding up her bottle to the center of the table.
"To what?" Matt questioned.
"To a clean slate"
Santana nodded and held up her bottle to Roz's, Matt's joining soon after. "To a clean slate. Word to that" She smiled, clinking her drink with the other two and then taking a lengthy gulp. It definitely was a clean slate, she just hoped that things would go according to plan.
We poppin' like ayo
All my bitches got real hair chilling with the top down
Screaming like ayo
I'mma take her ass down when she bring her friend around
Fuck 'em both like ayo
I'm a bougie ass nigga left the roof at home
We popping like ayo, ayo, ayo
But don't be acting like I need you
Mia smiled happily as she watched Letty take a sip of her drink as they sat in a booth tucked away in the corner of Shelby's diner. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon as they sat with plates of food which were surrounded by various pieces of paper from the black portfolio that laid out Santana's plan. There were maps, detailed explanations, exact car stats and pictures along with various other pieces of information that they could possibly need. Now that both Shelby and Holly were aware of Santana's plan the couple had decided to sit down and share their thoughts and take a look at it in detail.
"If there's one thing we can't fault her for it's her detail" Letty said, breaking Mia from her thoughts.
"Mmm, she seems to have gone to great lengths to make sure of that. I mean everything's here" She replied, placing a fry into her mouth as she used her other hand to hold up the piece of paper that detailed the possible acquisition of a car for Tina.
"Yeah, it's all here."
"Let, can I ask you something?"
Looking up Letty nodded. "Of course Chica"
"Why did you ask me to help you with this?"
"Besides the fact that you're my girlfriend and I go to you for everything?" Mia nodded. "Well it's simple: you organise things nearly everyday and out of everybody you seem to have the clearest head right now. I figured I could use a lot of clear-minded brains to make this decision."
"Ok but what do we do? I mean, she's obviously planned this out to every detail and she's offered up the opportunity for us to be on the same page as her but can we really do this after everything she put us through?"
Letty sighed as she sat back in her seat, taking another sip from her cup. "I honestly don't know. I like the idea of having new cars, but what petrol head doesn't? Even though she screwed us all royally there's one thing I do know"
"And what's that?"
"I'm not losing to Puckerman at Race Wars again. It's just not happening, especially with that blonde bitch he calls a girlfriend by his side"
Mia reached across the table and intertwined her own hand with Letty's free one. "I know, me neither but do you really think we can trust her again?"
Letty shrugged. "I don't know Mia. I don't know how the rest of the crew would react to having her being around again most of the time. She wouldn't have to be a crew member again but...still, what if it blows up in our faces again? They'd all probably leave if I made the wrong choice"
"I understand, I do" She smiled, grabbing her hand and rubbing her thumb soothingly over Letty's knuckles. "But maybe you don't need to make this decision on your own, or right now for that matter"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean love, is that maybe you should wait until we get back to the house, call a crew meeting and all make the decision together. We are a family after all"
Instead of responding verbally there was a slight pause as a grateful smile formed on the crew leaders lips. She looked over at the woman she loved with nothing but pure love and adoration before sliding her hand on top of Mia's so that she could brush her thumb over the promise ring that now resided on her ring finger.
"You're amazing you know that?"
Mia blushed. "I try"
"Come here"
Before Mia could stop her Letty was pulling her forwards gently, enough to close the gap between them and connect their lips together. When they pulled apart Mia's eyes were the first to open, her smile growing tenfold when she saw Letty's still closed. She pressed another kiss to her lips before pulling back and settling into her seat, their hands never breaking contact.
"I love you" Letty grinned, watching as Mia blushed at her from across the booth.
"I gathered that. I love you too" There were a few silent moments before Mia spoke again, deciding to push the subject further away from Santana and her plan in favour of a lighter subject. "You know, you need a ring too"
"Oh, I do do I?"
"Mmm, yes" She grinned back, biting her lip as Letty's finger continued to brush back and forth over her promise ring.
"And when do you suggest I get this ring?"
"Leave that up to me"
"You think that's wise?"
"Hey! Are you saying that I don't have good taste in jewellery?"
"Of course not babe" She laughed, her hand squeezing momentarily tighter to reassure her. "It's just that I wanted to enjoy the fact that you have a ring on your finger"
"It's not like we're getting married Let"
"I know but I like that people now know you're taken, promise or engagement ring or not. Not to say that I own you because that's just wrong but you get what I mean" She rambled, making Mia let out a breathless chuckle. Letty never rambled.
"I know" She smiled reassuringly back at her. "The gesture was a very nice one"
"So it wasn't cheesy that I took you to that Mexican restaurant I took you to on our first date with really cheesy Mexican music playing in the background and slid it across the table in a blue velvet box as if I were actually proposing?"
Mia couldn't help but chuckle once more. "Of course not, it was romantic and now it just confirms what I already knew"
"And what's that?"
"That one day we will get married and the promise ring was just the start"
"It may be a start but you know I've always thought you were it for me when we first called each other girlfriends right?"
"I know Let, me too"
Sighing in relief Letty's eyes flickered down to the simple slightly jewelled silver band with a heart in the middle now adorning her girlfriend's ring finger. Sure, it was a first step in declaring just how much Letty truly did care for her girlfriend, but it was nothing compared to what they had felt all along. Ever since the first moment they had become official, probably even long before that when they were teenagers, they both knew that they were going to be by each others sides for a very long time to come. Not one to put a cheesy label on it Letty despised calling it 'eternity' or 'forever' or 'everlasting' or some crazy shit along those lines in favour of just being with her. She and Mia both knew they didn't need to put rings on it to confirm what they already knew but in a spur of the moment decision that Letty had made not long before Valentine's Day itself she couldn't deny the pleasantly warm feeling she had gotten deep down in her stomach when she had seen Mia's face light up at the sight of the ring. It was only a promise ring but one day in the future Letty had decided then and there that she would someday make her her wife and this was just the start.
Breaking forth from her thoughts she looked back over at said girlfriend and smiled sweetly and lovingly, Mia seeing the genuineness behind the action. Letty wasn't one for 'soft' public displays of affection, she much more preferred growling and being possessive of her when guys came up to her at race meets and hit on her. Not that she didn't like it though, she just liked these rare moments when she could see the woman she loved shining through instead of the tough as nails crew leader and street racer that everyone else saw. That's why she felt pride swell in her chest to wear the ring and show everyone that she loved her much more than anyone had initially thought.
"I love you Letty Ortiz"
Smiling back at her girlfriend Letty felt warmth pool in her stomach. "And I love you Mia Toretto"
Letty kissed Mia on the forehead softly before clutching her beer in her hand as she made her way through to the living room where everybody was waiting. After their conversation that morning she and Mia had decided to call everybody, including Blaine, Kurt, Kitty, Shelby and Holly. This affected everybody, including them, and Letty wanted everyone there so that they could make this decision together. So, sitting down in the last available space at the end of the couch next to Quinn Letty waited for Mia to sit on the arm of the couch next to her before beginning.
"Ok, so you wanted us all here?" Holly prompted from across the room, a beer of her own in hand.
The crew leader nodded. "Yes. As you all know at the start of the week Santana came to us with a plan to get us all cars. She wanted to give us full access to the case and it's progress in return for bringing down Cassandra. That being said I've spent all week going over it over and over again and for the life of me I can't possibly decide this on my own. That's why all of you are here. I wanted to know where you all stand and if you want in or not. This is for all of us, not just me so I wanna go around the room and ask you. I figured at the end we could go with a majority vote in favour of the most popular answer and then call Santana up with our decision. Sound fair?" There was a round of various nods and verbal agreements before she sat forwards in her seat and looked over at Tina. "T, you wanna start?"
Nodding the Asian woman sat up a little straighter in her seat, barely noticeable if you hadn't looked past Marley who shifted a little in her lap. "Personally, I like the idea. I know we can't trust her completely but the detail of how to get all of the cars is undeniably perfect. She did her research and she seems sure enough that we could do this. It would also be good as we'd have full access to the case too. If you wanna know my opinion I'm in. It's worth a try in order for a chance to try and take Cassandra down."
Letty nodded. "Ok, Marley?"
The brunette shrugged from her place on Tina's lap. "I can't deny that her plan is good. I'm still pissed but as long as you promise to keep an eagle eye on her I think we should at least give this plan a try, if not for her then at least for us to have a chance at taking down Puck's crew at Race Wars this year. I'm in."
"Blaine?"
"If you ask me she's not welcome back on this scene, even if she did win but we can't deny that we need someone to help us win against Puck, whether she's a part of your crew or not. If we go along with this plan of hers no matter how much detail there is you'd have to bring her on board if you're gonna get it done in time or if even at all. If you want an outsiders opinion I don't think you should trust her again, even if you do plan to keep her at arms length."
"Good point. Kurt?"
"As a friend looking in from the inside for the past three months you guys nearly fell apart from what she did to you. Can't you see that this will just turn out the same way? I won't watch her rip my friends apart, not again. No matter what her plan involves I think you guys can do it without her help. My answer's no."
Nodding Letty sighed, the stubborn tone from Kurt understandable. She lingered on the painter for a few moments longer before moving on to the next person. "Kitty? Your thoughts on this?"
The blonde shrugged from her place in her girlfriends lap. "Honestly I don't know what to tell you. I know what she did to you was bad, I know because I'm dating Dani, but her plan is really good. I don't want to watch you lose to Puck again, not after he played dirty and basically pushed you to the side like trash. If there's anybody in this world, the only person that can help you is Santana. She knows all of you guys personally, she knows how you drive and she can get the job done if you give her another chance, maybe not as a crew member again but at least as a mechanic. She can give you that edge and as much as my girlfriend hates me for saying this my answer's yes. She was wrong to do what she did but she's the only one who knows you well enough to help you take down Puck and Cassandra."
"And Dani?"
"You don't even need to ask" The blonde sighed, taking a sip of her beer. "My answers a definite no but I know that you probably won't listen to me anyway. Ask the next person."
Deciding to leave Dani alone, the woman like a bear with a sore head Letty turned to the next person in line who just so happened to be Holly. She smiled over at the parts shop owner and took a sip of her Corona before continuing, using the few moments of silence to let Dani's tense atmosphere dissipate a little. "Holly?"
"Dude, first of all this is all crazy by the way. After thinking about it from when you first told me I was kind of angry you'd even consider it by not saying no outright but in light of that I figured that the plan she gave you is solid and it's just what you need. You need a boost in order to beat Puck, I won't lie about that but Santana, despite what she did, is the only person capable of giving you what you need. In no way am I saying that you are dependant on her when it comes to winning Race Wars but you need these cars, you need this edge and it will be worth taking down Cassandra on the good side of the law for once. I say you go for it and then part ways with her once you've won and taken them down. My answer's yes."
"Shelby?"
"Despite what my girlfriend thinks I disagree. Simple fact of the matter is that she betrayed us. She lied and took the one thing that was the apple of Race Wars. Me and Schue spent thousands of dollars on that car only to have it taken away in the space of a few hours. Her plan may be good but I know there's a loophole somewhere that we've missed and personally I don't think we can trust her, with anything. That includes this 'plan' of hers. I can't trust her and I don't think you should either. I'm saying this from years of street racing experience and being your adoptive mother, my answer's no."
Sighing Letty nodded appreciatively at her answer and then averted her attentions to the next person. She didn't want to ask her as she could clearly see that it was a sore subject for her but she had to considering that she wanted the entire crew, including her, to make a decision equally. "Britt?"
Looking up Brittany took a deep breath and then a gulp before shaking her head. "No."
"Any reason why?" She knew perfectly well her reasons but she had to make it at least look like she was keeping everybody on an even playing field by getting their reasons for their answers. That included Brittany as much as she didn't want to press her on the subject. She'd been the one most affected by the Latina's betrayal.
Sighing Brittany shook her head once more. "My answer's no. She betrayed all of us and lied when she knew she could have told us the truth from the start. Her plan probably isn't perfect, as Shelby said, and we can't trust her again. I'm sure we can do this without her, we just need to make sure we practice more, we're perfectly capable. That's why the answer's no."
Letty could see the pain in Brittany's eyes and decided to leave it there, the situation perfectly clear to everybody else in the room that Brittany was definitely done talking about it. That being said she continued on to the next person who just so happened to be her adoptive sister and Brittany's best friend. "Rach?"
"My first instinct is to say no, you should know that better than anybody, but we can't lose to Puck again, even I can see that. Getting some of the cars would be risky hell, we all know that. I don't agree with what she did to us and like Marley I'd want eyes on her nearly all the time but I think it would be worth a shot to go along with this plan for the chance to wipe those stupid smirks off of Puck and that bitch's faces. I don't trust her but I trust in her plan. That's why my answer's yes."
She turned to the woman sat next to her on the couch. "Quinn?"
"I don't think you can trust her as far as you can throw her. She betrayed us Letty, she broke our trust and proved why we should have never agreed to add another crew member in the first place. It led to us losing in the end anyway. No matter what she can offer she can't get that trust back. Her plans good, but it's not good enough. She owes us a lot more than a new set of cars. I want to bring down Cassandra and Puck as much as you do but I won't let her do to us what she did to us before. That's why my answer's no."
Nodding Letty looked up at the woman who was sat on the arm of the couch next to her with her arm around her shoulders. "Babe?"
Squeezing Letty's shoulder she shrugged as best she could in her position. "I'm skeptical on how much we can trust her, especially after what she did to us but can you blame us? I will admit that I was one of the ones who pushed to add her to the crew but she's never once shown us why she's anything but a good driver. Just thinking about that for a moment, there's no one else that could possibly give us an edge like she can. I'm not saying add her to the crew again but maybe we should give this plan of hers a try, at least so that we can see if it's worth anything in relation to getting back at Puck. She went to the trouble of picking cars for every single one of us and it's not like they're substandard either. Those cars will give us the edge we need and I'm not saying trust her completely again but my answer's yes, I think we should say yes to the plan."
Nodding Letty took a few silent moments to consider all the information she had just gained from everybody else in the room. All eyes were on her as she deliberated her choice and when she'd had her mind made up she sat up a little straighter in her seat. "Then that's it then."
"What's the choice?" Quinn asked as Letty fished her phone from her pocket and dialled a familiar number, setting it to speaker. Moments later they all heard her voice.
"Hello?"
"Santana, it's Letty"
"Oh, hey"
"I just wanted to let you know I've made my decision"
"Ok"
"Meet me at the garage tomorrow morning at eight sharp"
"I'll be there"
"Ok, bye"
"Bye"
Sliding her phone back into her pocket Letty looked around the room at expectant eyes and faces. "You'll find out tomorrow. In the meantime who's up for a Sunday night movie?"
Rachel instantly perked up only to be shot down by Tina from across the room. "We're not watching Funny Girl Rach". All Rachel could do was pout.
Songs used: Chris Brown & Tyga - 'Ayo'
TBC