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.
Ok peoples, here we are! As you can guess by the chapter title this is an important update – ten whole chapters since the truth came out and here we are. Honestly it feels like that was way too long ago that I posted that chapter but alas, we finally reached ten updates later. Anyway, enough with that. I want to warn you that this is definitely the longest update to date – 16,000+ words and the reason for that is because it is quite monologue heavy but I hope you enjoy nevertheless – it was a bitch to write, it's about damn time that this chapter got written! Enjoy!
Welcome to everybody who has just started following this story and if you don't already know and haven't already read my previous A/N's then I would like you to know that I update every one to two weeks on Saturday's depending on how long the chapter turns out to be.
Thank you to all of you plus favers and reviewers, I still appreciate the love, you know I do, even this far into the story! Thank you and I will hopefully see you next week. Enjoy reading! :D
The sound of laughter rung in Tina's ears as she withdrew her hands from the keyboard. Pulling out her headphones she let her eyes stare blankly at the screen, not quite sure how to react. She knew there was probably more that she could get but she had a pretty good idea that she'd gotten everything that was relevant. Leaning back in her chair she sighed and pulled off her glasses, the Asian woman already wondering what she should do now that she had the conversation recovered. Months of hard work resulted in this moment, countless hours and sleepless nights as she worked to recover the critical piece of information that would tell them what happened that day in the warehouse leading to Santana laying in the hospital with two gunshots. But she hadn't expected anything quite like this. It was very different from what she had initially expected to find but this changed everything. Suddenly she felt guilty for ever hating the other woman. She'd been as in the dark about Cassandra's true intentions as all of them had been and Tina realised as she stared at the screen that they'd all been very wrong in treating her the way they did.
Making a choice there and then she decided that she wasn't going to burden everybody else with this until the morning. It was currently late and she had to admit that she was tired and all she wanted to do was cuddle with Marley. It just wouldn't be worth getting everybody up for it. Instead she was going to sit on it and bring it up in the morning to Letty.
Closing the lid of her laptop she rubbed at her eyes one last time before grabbing her things and leaving the living room. She stretched as she trudged sleepily up the stairs and quietly slipped into her and her girlfriend's shared room. She smiled at the sight of Marley fast asleep in the middle of their bed and as quickly and quietly as she could she changed into her pyjamas and slipped in beside her. As if almost instantly Marley snuggled into her arms and she soon forgot about everything she'd just heard and fell into a deep sleep.
There was a knocking on the door that woke Letty up the next morning. Looking sleepily over at the nightstand she saw that it was 6:45 – way too early. Groaning she reached up the hand that wasn't wrapped around Mia to rub at her eyes and forehead before she let out a sigh and turned her head in the direction of the door.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Letty, I need to talk to you"
"T, what could it possibly be? It's way too fucking early"
"It's about Santana"
Almost instantly the Latina was awake, her eyes wide open as she stared up at the door. "Come in" Tina hesitantly opened the door and peeked her head in through the crack. "What's it got to do with Santana?"
"It's about the day she got shot"
"What about it?"
"I've been working on recovering the conversation between her and Cassandra ever since that day. I finally recovered what I think is the whole thing last night. I'm not playing around about this either, it's some serious shit Let. This is game changing shit and everybody needs to hear it, especially you."
Letty sighed. "Ok, if it's as important as you think it is start rounding up everybody else, including Brittany. I want to be at the garage in fifteen minutes T"
"Got you loud and clear boss"
Letty nodded and watched as Tina slowly backed out of the room and closed the door with a soft click. Looking down she reached her hand down to brush some stray strands of hair out of Mia's face, smiling when her girlfriend's brow creased and her nose crinkled in response. Slowly the other woman started to wake up and a graceful smile formed on Letty's lips as she watched her eyes flutter open.
"Hey there chica. Buenos dias amor."
Mia simpered happily and snuggled deeper into Letty's neck, her arm clutching tightly at the Latina's tank top. It only served to make Letty chuckle.
"What's so funny?" She mumbled into the skin of her neck.
"We've gotta get up"
"What for?"
"Crew meeting"
"It's too early for a meeting"
"I would agree with you but it's about Santana"
As soon as the younger Latina's name was mentioned Mia was raising her head so that she could look Letty in the face. "What about her?"
"Tina's recovered the conversation of the day she got shot. She's serious about this and you know if she's serious about something we need to hear it right away. I would love to stay curled up in this bed with you and sleep but we've got to get up and get to the garage. I don't want to sit on this as long as I can help it. Put it this way, we had to get up for work in an hour anyway."
Mia sighed against her collarbone but sat up anyway. She stared at Letty for a few minutes before leaning in. She kissed her softly before getting up out of bed and heading for the dresser. Letty sighed and did the same. She just hoped that giving up another hour in her warm bed with her girlfriend was worth it.
Six minutes later, Mia having counted it, they were already heading out the door. Everybody knowing that they were heading to a crew meeting they knew it was important so instead of doing what normally they would when it came to a work day they spilt out into their own cars, the importance of the situation calling for something a little more 'formal'. Well, at least as formal as you could expect to get when it came to a group of street racers.
Brittany's head immediately snapped up when she heard the front door of the house shut and as Mia locked it up the blonde immediately started for Letty who was already halfway across the lawn to the driveway.
"Letty!"
Looking up from the keys in her hands the crew leader knew what was coming so she stopped and waited until Brittany caught up with her. "What can I help you with B?"
"I heard it's about Santana. Is she ok? Tina wouldn't tell me anything"
Looking over her shoulder to see Mia just starting to step off the porch, rummaging in her purse for her car keys, Letty looked back Brittany and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "She's fine, I promise. She's in no way hurt or in any trouble. Tina just found something that she needs all of us to hear as a crew – serious shit. We'll head to the garage and see what it is, Shelby and Holly are already on their way there, and then we'll call her afterwards. Sound good to you?"
Brittany studied her carefully before nodding. "Ok, I trust you. As long as she's not in any trouble"
Letty laughed despite the seriousness of the situation. "I promise she's not. Britt, I know that with whatever it is you two have got going on between you you're worried but right now she's still in the clear. Come on, fire up that car of yours and I'll see you at the garage"
Nodding Brittany pulled her in for a hug. "Thank you"
Hugging back Letty smiled. "It's fine. Just take what we find out in stride. Remember what I said: don't fuck it up."
The blonde laughed as she pulled away. "Loud and clear boss. I'll see you there"
Letty laughed in response to the reply and knuckle tapped Brittany before watching her walk away and towards the sidewalk where her car was parked behind Mia's Silvia. Opening the door to her Plymouth Letty hoped that whatever they heard it wouldn't change how well they'd all been working together. She sure as hell had had enough curve-balls thrown her way in the past few months to last her a lifetime.
Shelby made her way across the yard to the open garage, waving hi to Burt before turning her attentions to a serious looking Letty. "What did you need us for a crew meeting for?"
"And where's Santana?" Holly asked, her eyes scanning the garage and not spotting her.
"Not here"
Shelby raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because it's about her"
"I get the feeling it's not just about her is it?" Holly prompted resulting in Letty shaking her head.
"Nope. It's got to do with the R8"
"Have you found it?"
She shook her head at her adoptive mother, placing a hand on her shoulder. "No but it's got something to do with the day it went missing"
"And it's got something to do with Santana so that's why she's not here"
The Latina nodded at the blonde shop owner. "Right on the money. Come on, Tina's waiting"
They made their way into the garage and once they were all sat down Letty prompted Tina to start. The Asian girl stood up and nodded, swallowing nervously. With a reassuring nod from Marley she felt the nerves melt away as she stepped forwards, placing a small wireless speaker down on the toolbox she'd placed in the center of where they were all sat, her phone clutched tightly in her hands as she tried to ignore how much they were sweating.
"Ok, so ever since the R8 went missing I've been working on something. At first it was trying to locate it but that led to a dead end. Instead I came across something and for the past nearly four months I've been patching up an audio file bit by very tiny bit until now when I think I have the full conversation. Thanks to Shelby's ruthless planning and back-up countermeasures I found that whatever was recorded on Santana's earpiece the day she went missing was backed up and it's taken me all this time to find all the pieces. Basically I needed to recover it and patch it together. Last night I cracked it and it's the conversation between her and Cassandra the day the R8 went missing. It's what happened in the warehouse that we didn't get to see or hear. I think after this we've got a lot of rethinking to do. Are you ready?"
Letty glanced around at the gathered group before turning back to the Asian woman. "Go ahead T"
…
The conversation played out loud through the small speaker without interruption, Tina pretty sure that she had gotten all of it. Everybody was silent as they heard the two women talking, the gunshots ringing out through the garage even though they were coming from a speaker. It all suddenly felt too real and as Brittany curled her hands into balls on her thighs nervously Rachel reached over and took one of them, uncurling and clutching it in her own with a reassuring squeeze. The two shared a look as it neared the end, Brittany thankful for Rachel's understanding. Even after so long and where she and Santana were currently at when it came to 'them' she had never expected that that was what happened after she had left her that morning. That being said now that she and the Latina had worked things out it only made her realise just how scared she was. It terrified her to know for most of that conversation that Santana was shot and bleeding out. It resulted in her squeezing Rachel's hand without realising it. Her eyes flickering to the blonde sat next to her Rachel decided not to acknowledge it, knowing that it would only make things much more real for the other woman. She wasn't stupid, she had seen the change between her and the Latina as much as her sister had, she just chose not to comment on it in case she called them out on something they weren't ready to commit to. In the end it was none of her business, she just hoped that after this the two women stopped messing around and got back together already. It was so obvious it made Rachel want to scream but ultimately she refrained, knowing that it would only cause tension and trouble between all of them. That still didn't stop her from screaming inside though. She just hoped that with this they stopped fooling around and saw what she saw. Anyway, back to the situation at hand she ignored the way Brittany squeezed her hand hard without realising it and focused back on the conversation that she had a feeling was coming to a close.
The audio did in fact soon come to a stop, the last thing they heard being Cassandra's crooked laugh. When it was done everybody's attentions turned to Letty. "I think we'd better call Santana"
Ten minutes later Santana was pulling into the yard, soon followed by Roz's cherry red BMW. When the two women stepped out of their cars they shared equal looks of confusion over the roofs before closing the doors and waking side by side up to the entrance of the garage where Letty was waiting with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Am I in trouble? Why did you need Roz?"
Letty shook her head. "You're not in trouble. I just needed the both of you here as I've got something important regarding Cassandra"
"Then lead the way" Roz prompted, both her and Santana sharing another look before following after the crew leader.
Letty motioned for them to take a seat but they waved her off, the two of them preferring to stand considering the fact that everybody else in the room was looking at them pensively. Well, everyone except for Brittany. Looking over at her Santana could see the worry clear on her face and she could tell that the other woman desperately wanted to jump up from her seat to race over to her. Instead she was thankful for the fact that at least Rachel was holding her hand. Turning back to Letty she steeled her features.
"So, what is it?"
"Tina finished recovering something. It's the conversation between you and Cassandra the day she shot you and took the R8. We just listened to it from start to finish."
Santana's features softened into what looked like worry and confusion. "Oh"
"Don't worry. You're still not in trouble"
Crossing her arms over her chest Santana suddenly felt herself become uncomfortable. "So, you heard everything?"
Letty nodded from the toolbox she was now sat on. "Yes. From the very first moment you stepped out of the car to her driving away. We know everything."
Mia nodded. "It confirms that everything you told us that day in the hospital room was true."
"Uh, I don't really know what to say other than you now know exactly what went down. Did you..."
Seeing the way Santana rubbed nervously at her jacket covered shoulder, the place where she'd been shot, Letty cut her off. "You don't have to say anything. We heard everything."
"Including..."
"The shots? Yes."
"Can you play it for us? I want to know what she said"
Letty nodded at the police chief who had spoken up for the first time. "If Santana's ok with it?"
"Sure"
She didn't know if she was ready to hear it, she hadn't even really considered the possibility of reliving it word for word, especially when she knew that for half of it she spent it bleeding out onto a dirty warehouse floor. Instead she steeled herself and prepared to hear it for the first time in three months. Tina pressed play and she was instantly transported back into the scene remembering everything that she had felt, everything that had been running through her mind. It was overwhelming just like it had been that day but now she knew that she was at least safe enough that she wouldn't get shot, at least not around the crew.
She physically flinched at the sound of the two gunshots, suddenly remembering the pain ripping through her body. Pain rippled through her scars, aching and throbbing as she listened to her and Cassandra talking, the blonde finally revealing the truth about what she had been doing and how she had been using her. She held back the tears when she listened to her talk about watching Brittany find out the truth and leave her after what she had done. The only thing that kept her from falling apart was the knowledge that she and Brittany were indeed way past that point and were in a good place. Still, it wasn't enough to keep her mind from running. It hit her like a punch right out of left field, having not expected to be assaulted by all the emotions she'd thought she'd gotten past, Instead they re-opened her old wounds and a mess formed across her mind as she struggled to focus on staying strong in front of everybody. Her shield she'd worked so hard to forge was cracking at the seams.
When she heard Cassandra's laugh and the sound of the R8 pulling away, the recording coming to an end, she remembered how she felt so much pain she wanted to die from it in that moment, just to actually be put out of her misery. It had been overwhelming and it had made it hard to breathe and she was thankful to finally black out but now as she listened to it she realised just how close she had come to dying and it scared her. Wait, correct that – she was fucking terrified.
The room remained silent, all eyes on her as they waited for a comment – anything as she just stood there in complete shock overwhelmed by every possible emotion. She was frozen on the spot and couldn't find it in herself to pull her eyes away from the small speaker in the center of the circle. She was only broken from her thoughts when Letty had to practically yell her name.
"Santana!"
Looking up her eyes flickered wildly from one person to the next, suddenly everything becoming way too overwhelming. Immediately as everything crashed down upon her she couldn't breathe and before she knew it she was spinning on her heels and already moving out towards her car. Seeing this Brittany ignored what the rest of the crew would think and chased after her, calling her name. Santana stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she felt felt the familiar hand clutching around her wrist. Her breathing was quick as Brittany whispered her name once again.
"Santana"
She pulled her back around until they were facing one another and made it so that their foreheads were pressed together. Happy that Santana wasn't going anywhere Brittany reached both hands up to cup her face, Santana unable to hold back the tear that had been threatening to fall the moment she had heard herself get shot. Brittany's thumb instantly wiped it away, the two of them lost in their own little bubble. They didn't care though, it was just the two of them.
"Breathe Santana"
She took in a shaky breath as Brittany's hands remained planted on her face telling her that she wasn't going anywhere and she let herself relax slightly into the touch. She was thankful for the comfort that the blonde was giving her, not wanting to pull away from her for anything in the world. Instead she let her arms wrap around her waist to pull her close, glad when Brittany didn't pull away. Suddenly the rest of the crew reactions didn't matter and in a move of utter faith and adrenaline she lent in, their lips a breath apart as she allowed Brittany the opportunity to pull away. Instead of doing something that she would regret, although thankful for the thought, Brittany closed the space between them. The moment their lips connected with one another it was if the heaviest weight they had ever felt was lifted from their shoulders, instantly feeling lighter the deeper it grew. Everybody else around them who they knew were watching melted away until it was just the two of them, for the first time in a long time seeing with complete clarity just what they meant to each other.
When they pulled apart their breathing was a little laboured but there were smiles plastered across their lips. Santana pecked a kiss to her lips and reached up to brush some of her bangs out of her face. Naturally Brittany lent into the touch but she frowned when she started to pull away. Her hand gripped Santana's wrist as the Latina took a step back.
"Santana..."
"Don't worry, I just need some time to think about some stuff"
Brittany had no words to reply other than a whispered 'ok' and mirrored Santana's barely-there smile before the Latina pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. Her hand lingered on her cheek for a few moments longer before she pulled away completely and started heading towards her car. She opened the door and was about to get in when she turned to everybody who had been watching her and Brittany.
"I'm gonna give you guys some time to process what you heard and I know you're not mad at me but I guess that I wasn't ready to hear that. I just need some room to breathe to think about it"
"Santana!"
She looked up from where she'd started getting back in her Nissan. "Yeah?"
Letty was now stood next to Brittany. "Take all the time you need"
Nodding she slipped into her car and buckled herself up, already heading out of the lot. Letty watched as she left and placed a comforting arm around Brittany's shoulders. "She'll be ok Britt. Like she said, she just needs time – we all do, including you." She then turned back to the group. "Works out for the day guys. I think we need to process this on our own terms away from procuring cars for a while. If that's ok with Burt that is...?"
The garage owner shrugged as he came to a stop next to Mia. "Sounds good to me. Go and deal with it however you want but I want you all here by eight tomorrow morning. These cars aren't going to modify themselves"
"Loud and clear. You heard the man, let's go people!"
With a nod to Roz Letty watched as Tina handed her a flash drive copy of the conversation. She then turned to Mia and with a shared look of understanding they both waited until everybody else had left, the two of them deciding how to deal with it together.
Santana pulled up into the driveway and put her car in park. She sat there for a few minutes not making to move, her hands still gripping the wheel as she zoned out. Thoughts about everything that happened over the past few months, especially that day, assaulted her and she felt it start to overwhelm her again. She let out a choked breath as a hot tear rolled down her cheek, hands gripping the wheel tighter as the entirety of her emotions crashed down around her. She'd thought she'd gotten past them, thought she had buried them deep down enough to allow her to carry on but the truth was she had never expected to hear word for word that horrible conversation she had had with the woman she had thought she'd trusted. She hadn't been ready to hear herself get shot and she hadn't been ready to face the truth that she had almost died that day. Of course Cassandra had told her that it wasn't fatal but she was pretty sure that if they hadn't found her in time she wouldn't be here right now – she wouldn't be breathing.
Furthermore it made her angry. It made her angry to think that this woman had shot her and gotten away with it. She understood that in time when they finally nailed Cassandra's ass to the wall that she would pay for what she had done but right here sat in her car feeling not only sadness but rage for what she had done rip through her Santana wanted nothing more than to tear her apart. Her words that she'd tried so hard to erase were now fresh in her mind and this time she had no plan to immerse herself in to help her forget. Cassandra's words were there and they were clear and they weren't going way. In a way she felt guilty too. She'd attempted to leave and for the first time since whatever it was between them began her and Brittany had shown the rest of the crew that they were indeed more than just friends now that she was back. And she had left. She should have been rejoicing at the fact that they were now free in the open and didn't have to hide it from the others but she was so overwhelmed by the recording that Tina had found that she couldn't think about anything else. It was starting to eat at her and suddenly the cabin of the car was starting to become just a little too crowded even though it was just her inside it.
Starting to hyperventilate she all but tore herself from her harness and out into the cool air of the morning, breathing heavily as she bent over to rest her hands on her knees. Taking in a deep gulp of air she felt as if she'd run a marathon when all she had done was lose herself in her thoughts. Standing up and placing her hands on her hips she continued to breathe in deeply and slowly as she took in the neighbourhood she'd grown up in. It was a lot nicer than it had been when she remembered it but it still held that signature 'Lima Heights' charm. It only served her to remember why she had come here in the first place. She hadn't gone back to the house to be on her own, she had come here instead to the one woman who had helped her through everything – her abuela. She'd been there when she'd got shot and she had helped in her recovery every step of the way. She didn't know who other than Brittany to trust and wanting to give the blonde some time to think about the recording without her being there Santana turned to the only other woman who knew her just as much, if not deeper – the woman who had raised her.
Taking in a shaky breath and standing up fully she felt a stab of pain in both her shoulder and abdomen, her forearm also aching in discomfort. Understandable, she thought, she was feeling way too much at the moment and for obvious reasons her gunshots were throbbing in distress with every beat of her heart and her forearm was just hurting for the sake of the emotional stress. It was annoying but it reminded her as she made her way up the path to the porch that she was still here and breathing and Cassandra could never take that away from her. Taking in a shallow and sore breath she reached up and pressed the doorbell. She waited patiently and it wasn't long before the door opened, the face of her abuela immediately falling into that of worry and concern at the pain etched into her brow.
"Santana?"
"Abuela, I didn't know where else to come..."
Alma immediately reached forward, pulling her granddaughter into her arms and inside, already whispering comforting words into her ear. "Shush. Está bien Santana. Yo estoy aquí para ti, lo dejó escapar."
"Quinn, talk to me."
Rachel stared at her girlfriend who seemed to be deep in thought. They were currently parked up in a small observation parking lot high up in the canyon overlooking Lima in the distance and eating lunch they had gotten from Shelby's diner. They had spent the morning driving together and when they had finally stopped for food they had decided to come up here and take in the views with one another. It also helped with the fact that Rachel wanted to get her girlfriend alone in a quiet place to discuss certain parts of the recording with her – very important parts about someone they both cared deeply for.
Hearing her girlfriend's voice Quinn looked up from where she was clutching her club sandwich. "Huh?"
A small amused look crossed over her features as she reached up to brush away a strand of hair that had fallen from Quinn's beanie and into her eye. "I asked you to talk. What's going on in that beautiful mind?" She asked, placing a kiss to Quinn's cheek.
Looking up from her sneaker-clad feet which were resting up on the hood of her Skyline she shrugged as she took another bite of her sandwich. "Nothing"
"Quinn..."
"Rach, it's nothing"
Reaching across and momentarily ignoring her own need for food Rachel placed a hand on her girlfriend's jean-clad thigh. "Quinn, it's not just nothing. Please, tell me what you're feeling."
Looking up from her food to the other woman perched on the car hood next to her Quinn knew her efforts to conceal her feelings were useless. The true power of her girlfriend's concern never ceased to amaze her even after nearly five months of dating. Looking back at the view in front of her she wasn't sure she could meet her eyes, instead letting her shoulder's deflate in defeat.
"I don't know what I'm feeling"
"It's about Finn isn't it?" Her head snapped up to meet Rachel's gaze as if the brunette had just hit the nail on the head. "I'm not clueless Quinn, I know that this isn't just about Santana, as much as you make out to me that it is. This is about what you heard them talking about. It's ok, you can talk to me about it."
"But-"
"I can handle it Quinn, I've already talked to Santana about this."
"You have?" She asked, an eyebrow raised at the other woman.
Rachel nodded. "Yes, she called me up and we met on Sunday"
"So that's where you went? You weren't just going for a drive?"
"No, she called me up and told me she had something to tell me."
"And what was it?"
"She wanted to let me know before everybody else did. She said she had a feeling that Tina was working on something and before anybody else could spill the truth she wanted me to hear it from her first."
"And she told you what happened?"
"Yes, that my mother is sitting on the information that could bring Cassandra down and that she lied to me about Finn all these years."
Seeing the change in the brunette Quinn raised up an arm to rest around her shoulders, pulling her in and placing a kiss to the side of her head. "And you didn't tell me about this?"
"I didn't want to bother you with it Quinn. After everything that happened between you and Santana I didn't want to make things worse by telling you that she knew about your best friend and what happened to him considering that she didn't know him and you did."
"I understand"
Immediately Rachel pulled back enough to look in Quinn's face, a look of confusion plastered across her own. "You do?"
Quinn nodded as she took a bite of her food. "Uh huh"
"But-"
"Look, I know you're expecting me to say that I still don't trust Santana but it's hard not to. I may not be on good terms with her but I admire that she considered telling you before everybody else. I know what your connection with Finn was, it makes sense."
"So you're not mad at her?"
"No. Not anymore"
"Does this mean-"
"It doesn't mean that we're best friends but I can see the friends thing a possibility. Rach, right up until this moment when it started in that hospital room I couldn't understand what possessed her to do what she did but after this morning I think I'm beginning to understand."
"How so?"
All the blonde did was shrug. "I don't know. I think I was just waiting for any type of proof, no matter what it was, that told me that she didn't mean what she did, that she didn't hurt us all on purpose. Instead we got this bombshell and now I feel guilty for hating her. She got shot Rach, she got framed for a death she didn't commit and what makes it worse is that Cassandra thinks she got away with doing to Jake exactly what she did to Finn. It makes me so angry that all of these years we never knew what happened to him and then she just shows up out of nowhere and does the same. She used Santana and now I feel so embarrassed and ashamed for ever acting the way I did. That's not me Rach, I let my anger get the better of me."
Seeing the struggle visibly evident in her girlfriend's body language Rachel reached out and pulled her into her, her free hand caressing the side of her head as she rested it in the crook of her shoulder. "It's ok Quinn. I can't tell you to forgive her because you might not be ready or willing, but after what she did, after what she told me, I did."
"You did?" She sniffled.
Rachel nodded and placed a kiss to the top of her head before continuing. "Yes, I did. She gave me closure and now she's done the same for you. I was ready admit that what I did and how I treated her was wrong and I realised that she was just a victim that was drawn into a sick and twisted game of avoiding blood on someone's hands – Cassandra's hands. I've got her back Quinn, I want to bring that bitch down as much as she does and after hearing what she had actually said to her after shooting her, I can't let her get away for making Santana the victim. Like I said, I can't force you to forgive her, you need to do that in your own time, all I ask is that you just lighten up on the cold shoulder? She's been through enough in the past few months without us all needing to add to it."
Pulling away and sniffling Quinn let a watery smile cross her lips. Leaning in in she stopped just before she connected her and Rachel's lips together. "Thank you. I love you Rachel."
"I love you too. Now finish your sandwich she we can start driving."
The blonde chuckled before pressing her lips against her girlfriend's. "Yes ma'am"
The punching bag swung heavily back and forth as it was hit repeatedly. Marley watched from a few feet away as Tina let out her frustrations on the bag, the Asian woman showing no signs of stopping, but the sweat running down the side of her face told her differently. Deciding to step in Marley moved to the opposite side of the bag and placed her hands on it, effectively stopping it from moving.
"T, baby, stop"
Seeing the look on her girlfriend's face Tina pulled away from the bag and realised just how tired she was. Her breathing heavy she reached for the water bottle as Marley rounded the bag to come to a stop in front of her. Sitting down on the bench next to her girlfriend Marley reached for her own water bottle, unscrewing the lid and taking a long gulp.
"T, can I ask you something?"
Looking over as Marley wiped her mouth with the back of her hand she nodded. "Of course"
"How did you get all of that information anyway? I mean, I know you were working on it of course but..."
Looking up at the punching bag Tina sighed as she screwed the lid of her water bottle back on tightly. "You want the technical version or the simplified?"
"Normally I would tell you how sexy it is when you ramble off your tech goddess speak but I just want the simple version. I don't want my brain to hurt."
If it had been anyone else she would have taken it as offence but since it was her girlfriend she understood the need for a simplified version of a very complicated and very long process. "Simply put Shelby had a back-up plan. She had everything recorded as it was happening and it was uploaded to a server and split numerous times. I discovered a small piece when tracking the GPS and it's systems and as soon as I stumbled across it I started searching. Needless to say I went down a lot of fucking small avenues and roads to find the entire thing and I only just patched it all together. It wasn't easy."
"And I know it wasn't" She replied, placing a kiss to her sweaty forehead. "How are you feeling now that it's out?"
Tina shrugged as she tossed the bottle from one hand to the other and back again. "I don't know, I guess I just feel weird."
"Wanna try and tell me how?"
Tina's shoulder's sagged as she relaxed into the soothing touch of her girlfriend's fingers running down the side of her face. "I don't know, I guess I just expected more. I wanted everyone to know, sure, but I guess I wanted to see them react a little differently, discuss what we'd heard. Instead we all just split up and I was left without really knowing why I did all that work for nothing."
"But you didn't do it for nothing. In the end once we've all dealt with it in our own ways you know Letty's gonna call all of us to meet with her to talk about it. It's inevitable – we just have to wait. Tina, baby, your work wasn't for nothing. It's just gonna take some time"
"I know but after everything I put into it I just hate the idea of waiting." She sighed, letting her head fall to rest on Marley's shoulder. "I hope you're right"
"So do I baby, so do I" She replied, her arm wrapped around Tina's shoulders.
It wasn't until a few quiet moments later that Tina looked up at her. "You obviously know how I feel about it. How do you?"
Marley shrugged as her fingers continued to trace patterns on her bare shoulder. "I don't know. I guess even after all of this that I just want things to go back to the way they were, before any of this ever happened. I'm tired of the bullshit and all of us hating on each other, especially over little things, and I want us to go back to the crew we were a year ago."
"Simply put you don't want to deal with the Cassandra bullshit" Tina stated as she sat up, looking over at her girlfriend.
Marley nodded as a small smile graced her lips. "Yeah, simply put. You know me so well"
"Yeah, well, if I didn't I don't think we'd still be dating"
"True"
"But anyway, back to the current topic – you don't want to deal."
"No"
"I don't either but we have to do this, if not only for us but for Finn. Now that we know what happened to him and that it was caused by Cassandra it's our job as his fellow crew members to make sure she pays for what she did. I will admit, all of this 'case' bullshit is tiring and boring but I trust Santana enough that we can do it. If bringing her down is what we have to do then I'm gonna be there no matter how tiring it is. I now understand what Santana has been getting at ever since she got back and I'm ready to do this. How about you?"
Marley shrugged as she grabbed her water bottle, taking a sip. "I don't know. Right now I guess I'm still trying to process it but there are a few things..."
"Which are?"
"Ok, here goes – first of all, I'm proud of you for getting the job done. I knew you were good at all that techy stuff but I never knew you were that good. Second – I trust Santana more than I did yesterday, and third – Finn deserves to finally be laid to rest. We spent all this time not knowing what happened but now we do and Cassandra deserves to pay for it and if that means putting my ass on the line to do it, then so be it. She needs to pay. Last – you're so hot when you give me pep talks."
Tina laughed at the wink. "Is that so?" Marley nodded in response. "Well, then, I'll have to make sure I give you more. Anyway, you're on board?"
"Definitely"
"Then I guess I am too."
Smiling Marley lent forwards to place a kiss on her lips, unable to help herself from deepening it. However, moments later Tina was pulling away with a smirk on her face and already heading back towards the punching bag for round two. All Marley could do was roll her eyes before pulling herself to her feet to join her.
Holly pulled off her sunglasses as she stepped out of her Jaguar and locked it. Hooking them on her shirt she made her way towards the door and pushed on it, smiling in hello to the verbal greeting from one of the waitresses. Tipping her head in acknowledgement she let her eyes adjust to the darker light of the diner before making her way over to the booth at the very end. She knew that as soon as she sat down her girlfriend would understand that she wanted to talk so grabbing a menu she poured over it whilst she waited for her to realise she was here. Knowing that Holly always got served by the owner, for obvious reasons, no one came up to take her order but it wasn't long that she was kept waiting as a familiar body slipped into the seat across from her in the booth. Seeing recognizable hands clutch tightly together on top of a small worn notepad Holly folded up her menu and moved it aside before looking up to see Shelby more nervous than ever. Reaching across the table she took the worn hands into her own and squeezed with a reassuring smile on her face.
Shelby smiled back and relaxed a little as she let her partner's presence calm her enough to allow her to speak. Ever since that morning when they'd parted ways her stomach had been tied in knots. It wasn't just nerves though, it was guilt and she was more sure than ever that as Holly looked at her from across the table separating them that she could see it clear as day plastered across her face, not that she'd expected anything less though – Holly was just good at reading her like that. Before she could speak up first however, Holly beat her to the punch.
"First of all, I wanna say one thing"
"Ok..."
"What you did was stupid"
"I knew I had that one coming"
"Then you know that I am a little disappointed. I knew you had important information stored in that car and probably somewhere else if I know you as well as I do, but I didn't know it was this. I will admit that you were wrong about keeping it to yourself but I know what you're going to say."
"Which is?"
"That you were protecting me to keep me safe, I know, but that still doesn't change the fact that even after everything we went through with Cassandra before you still kept this from me. You kept what happened to Finn a secret from all of us, including your own daughter Shelby."
Sighing Shelby nodded, surprised that Holly hadn't yet pulled her hands away. "I know, I know it was wrong, but you had to stay in the dark – especially Rachel. I know what she's capable of Holly, she killed one of our own. Finn was like a son to me and she took him away from all of us. I couldn't tell Rachel or you, she would have tracked you down and either tortured it out of you or killed you in the process. I had to make sure that my family was safe."
"Yeah, but that still doesn't change the fact that you lied, Shelb's. You knew how much Finn meant to Rachel and you kept it from her. Then she had to find out from someone else."
"Yes, someone I blamed for everything"
Holly nodded. "Pretty much, yeah"
She watched as Shelby's shoulders slouched across the table from her. "I know, and I feel terrible about it"
"I'm not gonna lie, everything that went down with Santana went down the wrong way, but I guess now after hearing exactly what happened to her the least you can do is apologize, you know that's what I'll be doing."
"Yeah?"
The blonde nodded. "Of course, just as soon as I get to see her again. That's the first thing I'm going to do."
"I guess you're right"
"Maybe, but it's the least I owe her. She deserves this much after everything that happened to her. I mean, it's still hard to wrap my head around the fact that Cassandra literally used her like a puppet but she was shot Shelby. Even if she wanted to stop her from driving away in the R8 she couldn't. That much tells us that she had no way of stopping her. She was defenceless and we blamed her for it. We blamed her for something we didn't completely understand."
"I know, it's just hard"
"And it's gonna be. Imagine how she felt the day she came back with her plan? She must have been terrified, I know I would be. But, that's not the point. The point is that nothing to do with this Cassandra thing is gonna be easy, it was never meant to be. The best we can do is face up to all these flaws we have as a family and admit that in part we were wrong for the way we acted and the way we reacted. I'm not asking you to forgive her for what she did, I'm just asking that you consider calling her up and apologizing to her face. At least then we can start healing because to be honest, all this fighting between us is starting to make me wonder if things will ever be normal again."
There was a brief moment of silence between them as Shelby took in everything that Holly had said. Her hand not moving from where it was covering her own she was thankful that the blonde was giving her time to process her words. It helped her to form the next sentence which subsequently made her voice tremble with all of the emotion she was feeling.
"Thank you, I needed that"
All Holly did was shrug. "It's what I'm here for, love. Oh, and one last little thing..."
"Yes?"
"Call Rachel up and go over to see her. She's your daughter Shelby and you need to make sure you two are on the same page. After what you kept from her I don't think she's going to be happy with you."
"But what if she doesn't want to talk to me?"
"Babe" She chuckled breathlessly. "She's Rachel. I would be shocked if she did want to talk to you. I suggest you give her some space whilst we all figure this out and I'm sure when the moment comes around by the way it feels you'll just know that she's ready. In the meantime I think you need some space, as do I, and once I've eaten I'll see you back at the house after work. Sound fair?"
Shelby nodded. "Definitely"
Nodding in satisfaction a small smirk crossed her lips. "Good. Now, how about I order the breakfast special?"
"But it's one in the afternoon. You know we stopped making it an hour ago."
"I know that. That's why I'm asking for the owners girlfriend free pass."
"Oh, really Holliday? We're gonna go down that road?" She asked, an eyebrow raised as she stood up from the booth.
All Holly did was continue to smirk as she looked up at the brunette and lent back in her seat. "Of course, you know it love."
Instead of arguing with her Shelby rolled her eyes and lent down, pressing a quick peck to her lips before standing up and making her way towards the kitchen.
"Thanks babe" She called to her retreating form.
"Yeah, whatever" She mumbled as she pushed on the kitchen door.
Kitty sighed as she stared up at the ceiling of her apartment. Usually she would have been thankful that Dani hadn't wanted sex but to be honest the silence from the other woman was disturbing and she was starting to get antsy when they hadn't said anything since they'd gotten back from the garage. Sure, they'd been up and had lunch but not a single word had been spoken and after everything that had gone down with Santana, including her and Dani's recent canyon race, it was freaking her out just how silent her girlfriend was being. She wasn't sure if her being quiet was a good thing or a bad thing. Back to the situation at hand though and it had led them to now. They'd been on this bed wrapped up in each other for hours and even though she'd fallen into a nap every now and again, Kitty couldn't take it any more. Her hand combing through Dani's hair she took a deep breath before speaking.
"Dani?"
"Hmm?"
"You wanna talk about it?"
She half expected the other blonde to instantly pull away and snap at her for even asking but all she got in response was a quiet mumble against the skin of her neck where Dani had her head nestled. "Mmm"
"What was that? I couldn't hear you."
She felt the other woman's head pull away long enough to hear her repeat what she had said before. "I said that I didn't really know. I guess you're not gonna give me a choice though."
"You don't have to talk about it baby, I just wanted to make sure that you were ok. The silence is kinda scaring me and usually when you're pissed off or upset or wanna forget stuff you usually come over and we do other things in this bed beside laying together and staring at the ceiling."
This time Dani pulled away enough for their eyes to meet. "I'm sorry" She sighed, rubbing at her tired eyes. "It's just that I don't really know how to feel. I'm not mad though."
"You're not?"
"No. Plus, I didn't want to force you into something when we both needed time to actually think"
"Thank you" She replied, leaning forwards to place a kiss to her forehead. "And that was very thoughtful." It was true, she loved having sex but this time Dani hadn't pushed for anything and she was thankful for the surprise that the other woman had given her. She guessed that this time things were really changing when it came to her girlfriend. "Anyway-" She continued to but got cut off as soon as she began.
"I wanna talk about it"
She frowned, looking over at the woman she called her girlfriend. "You do?"
Dani nodded. Instead of replying she lifted herself enough to allow her to manoeuvre over Kitty's legs. Soon she was making herself comfortable between her legs and almost immediately as her head laid on Kitty's t-shirt clad stomach said girlfriend's hands came to tangle themselves in her hair. Smiling contently she took in a deep breath before beginning.
"Ok, so here goes. After hearing what happened this morning it got me thinking, not just about what happened with Santana and the bitch but what happened to me. I know we've been dating for a while now and seeing as the truth is coming out I guess I should tell you what happened before I came here to Lima. Well, at least some of it."
It was then that her gaze was directed upwards, Kitty having lifted her chin to look up at her. "Whatever it is, however small, you can tell me baby."
Dani nodded and pressed a kiss to her palm. "It's just hard to talk about and none of you know what really happened. I don't think I'm ready to talk about all of it but I guess a little explaining wouldn't hurt. I nearly died because someone lied to me. As a result my entire family got killed instead. That's why I left and came here. I have no one, no family Kitty and I'm sorry for being a bitch. I could have lost you and I'm sorry for everything."
Kitty continued to cup Dani's face with one hand whilst the other remained in her hair. "Dani, you have nothing to be sorry for, especially your past. All I ask is that you make it up to Santana. You hurt her pretty bad baby and you can't just ignore it. Do it, at least for me."
Dani sighed. "I know, I just don't know what to say. I called her up and apologized to her face but I don't know what to do next. I also want to do it for me. I owe her a lot considering what we found out this morning."
Kitty nodded whilst making a mental note to pick up the subject of Dani's past at a later date. That didn't matter right now, Santana however did. "We all do" She said, her thumb tracing back and forth along the other woman's jaw. "We underestimated the weight of the truth she'd admitted to all of us back in her hospital room. We were all fools for blaming it solely on her and I think up until now we did blame Cassandra but not enough. I don't like blaming people Dani but that bitch killed Finn and nearly killed Santana. It wasn't intentional but she could have had the blood of three people on her hands – Finn, Jake and Santana."
"I know" Dani sighed. "But she knew the risk when she shot her. She knew it was a fifty fifty chance that Santana could have died."
"Yeah and that's why no matter what our differences between her that we still have to work out, i.e. any animosity left between us, we need to learn to trust each other again if we're gonna bring them justice, both her and Finn. Dani, I know it's hard, and with what you've told me about your past which I'm not going to push you on, I know you've got trust issues. That's part of the main reason why it took us so long to get together, but putting that aside we need to learn to be friends with each other long enough to bring this bitch down. I'm not asking you to forgive her but I am asking you to make it up to her. You treated her pretty rough baby and now you've gotta face up to that and start paying her back. There isn't any other way."
Looking up from where she had her head resting contently on Kitty's stomach Dani met her girlfriend's eyes and wondered how she got so lucky. Any other woman would have left her by now. "How do you know all the right things to say? I still don't understand why you're still with me even after all the fucked up things I did to Santana and everybody else."
Kitty shrugged. "It's simple"
"Oh?"
"Yeah – I love you. It's because of this that I'm still here and I still will be. I will admit the things you did, especially to Santana, had me pissed but that's no reason to leave you. You're the only person I've ever felt so in love with and as much as you may do fucked up things and leave your clothes all over my apartment I'm not going anywhere. I just wish you'd think things through sometimes before you act."
Dani chuckled at the last part and a single tear rolled down her cheek, Kitty immediately wiping it away. "I love you too. And thank you. I'll try to change, I promise, and I don't ever wanna lose you."
"I don't wanna lose you either. Just think about things next time ok?"
"Ok" Leaning up Dani moved her head close enough for Kitty to close the remaining gap. "Thank you" She whispered against her lips.
"No problem baby"
The deep red of the evening sun painted itself across the room as it set, the woman perched on the end of the bed taking another sip from her Corona. The door quietly opened and closed from somewhere behind her but she hardly paid attention to it, instead remaining lost in her thoughts. Soon enough the bed dipped and she felt a pair of arms snake around her waist, a head coming to rest on her shoulders. Lifting the bottle to her lips once more she took another drag before letting her body slump.
"Letty, talk to me"
"What is there to say Mia? Everything on that tape explained everything she said in that hospital room and we ignored her, every word."
"But that's no reason to bottle it up. You did last time, this time don't shut me out. Please."
At her girlfriend's plea Letty knew that she couldn't deny her, not this time. The last time, the day Santana had spilled everything, she had kept it in instead of letting it out and it had been slowly eating at her ever since. Mia knew that she was angry, it was plain to see to anybody, but never once had she ever verbally voiced her feelings. Now was a better time than any.
"Mia, I..."
The crack in her voice told her everything she needed to know. She slowly turned the other woman around and as soon as she had placed the bottle she had been holding down on the nightstand she turned back to her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.
"It's ok Letty, talk to me and let it out"
It was almost immediate that she received a reaction to her prompt. She felt tears start to soak into her shirt and a sob followed soon after. Her hand came up to rest in Letty's hair as she cradled her close to her chest and the other wrapped around her shoulder's so that she couldn't go anywhere. If there was one thing Mia had learned after years of being with Letty it was that when she did let out her emotions (on the very rare occasion) it was that she liked to feel surrounded. That meant wrapping her arms around her as if nothing could get in and if that's what it took to help her Mia was going to do it. She wasn't going to force her to open up either. Instead she just pressed a kiss to the top of her head and whispered reassuring words into her ear.
"Shush, it's ok baby. Take your time."
And that's what she did. After what felt like hours Letty finally pulled away, her eyes red and puffy from her crying. She sniffled as Mia reached up to wipe away her tears and she was thankful for such a loving girlfriend. In appreciation she lent her head up and pressed a quick but loving kiss to her waiting lips.
"Thank you"
"Whatever you need"
Letty waited whilst she wiped away a few stray strands of hair out of her face and then as her head proceeded to rest on the shorter woman's shoulder she took in a deep breath before beginning. "She killed Finn Mia, she killed him and got away with it."
"Which is precisely why we need to stay together, even after hearing the conversation."
"I know, I just..."
"Feel helpless"
"Yeah" She replied with a sigh. "Finn deserved so much more. We put him in the ground without the full story not knowing what really happened to him and I wanted justice so bad. I went to prison trying to find out the answers."
"I know you did but you got out"
"I did but that still doesn't change anything Mia. I went to prison and if Cassandra didn't do what she did Finn would still be here today and I never would have left you."
Pulling away Mia looked down at the other woman. "But you didn't leave me"
"I did Mia and it always haunts me. If that bitch had never raced one of my best friends I never would have left you all alone. I-"
"Letty – stop. Quinn and Rachel were here and you didn't leave me alone on purpose. Sure, if Cassandra had never killed Finn then we wouldn't have what we have now. That's not to say that I agree with what she did because I was close to Finn too but I think we have to focus on the now. What's going on right now is much more important and you know as well as I do that we can't change the past, only the future. We need to focus on Santana's plan and bring her down for good, for Finn. There's no other good way to go about it but we have to try. We still have the chance to make her pay for everything she did, including you going to prison."
"I know, it just makes me angry that she's been walking around all this time as if nothing happened, that she can live with what she did. Finn was my best friend Mia and she killed him in cold blood and just walked away. Then she killed Jake and repeated what she did. God, why is it so hard?"
"Nobody said this process would be easy Let, but the least we can do is stick it out and try. She will pay for everything she did, we just need to stick together as a family if we're gonna actually get it done."
Pulling away from the other woman's chest she sniffled with a smile. "God, you're amazing. You know that right?"
Mia shrugged. "I've been told"
Letty rolled her eyes, feeling better already, and surged forwards to connect their lips together. When they pulled apart and her head went to rest against her chest once more Letty breathed out a sigh before speaking up again. "Mia?"
"Yeah?"
"What if I let them down?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if I let them down again?"
"Let, you're not making any sense"
"Mia, I already let them down once, what if I do it again?"
"But you didn't let us down."
"I did" She breathed out heavily, standing up and starting to pace in front of the bed.
It only served to make Mia frown. "Letty, explain it to me"
Sighing Letty raised a hand to her forehead as she continued to pace. "I wasn't there for them. I let this stranger in and she flipped everything upside down and my crew got caught in the crossfire."
Before Letty could continue Mia was already standing up from the bed and grabbing her hand, effectively stopping her. "None of this is your fault, Letty Ortiz – none of it. We are all still here and to be honest I think we were getting a little too comfortable. We needed some action in our lives and Santana was the one to bring it. Look, we are all still breathing, including her, and we are all still here, including me and you. Please don't blame this on yourself Letty, we need you more than anything right now. I need you."
Their foreheads now resting together Letty felt her shoulder's slump as she wrapped her arms around Mia's waist, allowing the other woman to pull her in closer as her arms came up to rest around her neck.
"Thank you" She sighed out, Mia already able to tell that a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"That's ok. Just don't ever doubt yourself. You're not to blame Letty. You didn't let us down."
Instead of replying the Latina lowered her head down until it was resting in the crook of her neck, Mia cradling her close. Swaying in the slowly setting sun they remained there until Letty spoke up once again.
"Mia?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you really forgiven her?"
"I think so"
"Then I'm proud of you"
"I know you are, just don't rush yourself just because I admitted it"
"I won't, I promise"
"Good. I love you Letty"
"I love you too Mia"
The sun had set over Lima as Brittany turned onto another street. She'd spent the day at her parent's house and she'd talked it out with her mom telling her about everything that had happened since the day Santana had come back. She told her about their situation, about how they weren't labelling anything and when she'd finally spilled about her growing confusion on the matter Whitney Pierce had replied in the only way she knew how. She'd told Brittany to ignore her head and follow her heart, as cheesy as that sounded. But it was true. This situation called for much more than listening to the most logical solution – it called for her to listen to the one thing she'd been ignoring ever since the very first time Santana had kissed her at the beach the day she came back. It had been monumental in kick-starting her feelings that she thought were buried so deep that she could just move on with her life and ignore. However, it hadn't worked that way. Everything, every single measure she'd thought she'd taken to protect her healing heart Santana tore down and at the time she'd thought that her chest was being ripped open but in reality the Latina had only just started to help her heal, no matter what their status was.
That's why she started driving in the direction of the safehouse. She'd spent all day considering all of the points of the conversation between her and that bitch of an FBI agent and the things that had stuck out the most to her had been the way she had manipulated Santana's personal life to get what she wanted done. That wasn't acceptable and if she had known that the day Santana had kissed her out of the blue she was sure that they would have saved a lot of heartache that had followed. Brittany wouldn't have questioned feelings that she had been so sure of before and she would have told Santana that she believed her so much sooner but that wasn't the case. Instead she'd found out along with everybody else about the real truth and everything she said in that hospital room that day clicked into place. Every single word she had said about her was true, that she did love her and that she really was the only thing that she had done for herself. The question that had been weighing heavily on her heart ever since that day finally seemed clear enough and she internally scolded herself for not seeing the answer sooner. Everything Santana had said to her about her feelings was true and she did love her. It wasn't fake, it wasn't forced, and she meant it.
As she turned into the familiar road that led up into the scattering of expensive homes that lined the hillside of the city's outer limits she scolded herself for not having seen or realised it sooner. And that's why she had to tell her. Three words churned through her mind over and over as she continued to drive and soon she was pulling into the familiar driveway and pulling up next to the gold coloured Nissan 350Z. The moment she stepped out into the air and looked at Santana's car she knew right there and then what had to be done. Those three words were literally bursting behind her lips and she was sure that if she didn't get them out now after hearing the full truth about what had happened that day in the warehouse she was sure she'd explode from the anticipation.
Her feet quickly carried her towards the gate and although she was itching to find the other woman knowing from her car that she was indeed here, she knew that her cat was too. She didn't particularly want her favourite feline friend escaping to go meet his motorcycle gang buddies all because she couldn't keep herself in check. So, closing the gate as quietly as she could and making sure it was secure she turned to see Santana sat at the edge of the pool with Lord Tubbington curled up next to her on the top step. The sight instantly melted her heart as she took it in but soon the real reason why she was here surfaced again and she stepped into the light.
"Santana?"
The Latina looked up from her coffee cup to see the blonde woman making her way across the bridge towards her at a rapid pace. As if on instinct she stood up and watched as the other woman approached, Brittany coming to a stop in front of her.
"Britt-"
Before she could question her the blonde had gripped her shirt and pulled her towards her. Their lips immediately crashed together in a heated kiss before Brittany pulled back to gauge her reaction.
"Britt? What was that for?"
Brittany licked her lips and took in a breath before speaking. "I can't do it any more" She said, her eyes meeting Santana's.
The Latina felt her heart drop to her stomach and the air rush from her lungs leaving her gasping for breath. "What do y-you mean?" She stuttered, not quite able to get anything else out of her mouth as her brain raced with an onslaught of thoughts. Yet, Brittany continued to grip her shirt tightly, Santana feeling her fingers clench and then loosen not long after. "Britt? Is this about the recording? I understand if you don't want to be-"
"No, it's not that"
Santana frowned. She was so confused right now. "Then what is it?" She asked, resisting the urge to wrap her arms around Brittany's waist in their close proximity.
Her eyes flickered away from the other woman's face a few times and taking a deep breath she mustered up every last drop of courage in her body and met her eyes again.
"I love you."
At Santana's frozen features she decided to continue anyway. "I love you Santana. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone else in this world, and because of that I think that anything is possible."
There was a pause in between them, Brittany feeling her heart racing more than it had ever done before in her entire life. Before she realized what was happening Santana was pulling her into a kiss, her arms finally wrapping around her waist. Soon enough she felt herself melt into the kiss as her arms came up to rest around her neck, lips moving languidly against one another as they just enjoyed the feeling. But things had a funny way of ending before you were ready and Santana eventually pulled away, letting their foreheads rest together as her eyes fluttered closed.
Taking in a few gulps of air she slowly opened them to look directly into Brittany's own sparkling blue one's which only seemed to intensify as they reflected the light of the pool beside them. "I love you too"
Brittany's eyes widened in realization. "You do?"
Santana nodded as the grip around Brittany's waist tightened. "Yeah, I do"
Brittany grinned widely and quickly stole another kiss from her lips, her entire body buzzing with the knowledge that Santana felt the same. "You don't know how long I've waited to say that" She sighed out happily.
Santana chuckled. "I have an idea. I seriously thought you were going to crush and leave me then though."
Brittany shook her head and tightened her grip. "No, I could never do that."
"What brought all this on?"
"I finally realised that you were telling the truth in your hospital room. You did love me – I just couldn't see it. 'Everything we shared together was nothing short of the real thing. I love you, that was never in question, I never expected to fall in love and the only reason I continued to have faith in what I was doing was because you loved me.'"
"'Those moments were real and even if I have to say it aloud you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I didn't want to lie to you but by the time that I wanted to tell you it was too late'" Santana finished, the quote meaning so much more after what had happened leading up from then until this point. "I meant every word Brittany. You were the realest thing I had ever had and my love for you was never in question, it still isn't. I wondered my entire life if I would ever meet the woman of my dreams and although the way we met wasn't ideal I still found you. I found the woman that I would eventually fall in love with. I am still in love with you and even though I'm not working to get a car – well, technically I am, I still have a goal and even though it hurt that you couldn't stand the sight of me you are the only one giving me strength to see this thing through to the end. I have faith that I can do this, but only by your side. I can see you love me now, I just didn't want to push you."
"And you didn't. I've missed you so much Santana"
"I've missed you too Brittany" She said, pulling her close and into a tight hug. When she heard a sob she pulled away and reached up to wipe away a stray tear that had trailed down Brittany's cheek. "Hey, why are you crying? This is supposed to be a happy moment"
"I know" Brittany chuckled breathlessly. "I'm just so happy right now. I love you so much Santana"
"And I feel the same way."
When Brittany opened her eyes to look at Santana something between them clicked into placed. Well, it was more like clicking back into place, as if something had been knocked out of line and only just set back into it's original position. What it was they were now sure of was them, the thing between them not clear until right now as they stared at each other with their feelings out in the open before one another. It was something they thought they'd lost all those months ago when the truth had finally come out but right here, right now, things couldn't be more clear. They were them again and it felt pretty damn good.
Brittany was the first one to lean in, Santana meeting her the rest of the way and the kiss that proceeded felt free for the first time in a very long time. It felt liberating as they held each other close, the two of them finally knowing after so long just who and what they meant to each other. It sent a rush of both renewed love and adrenaline through their veins prompting it to maturate into something deeper and much more meaningful. Suddenly a familiar flame reignited somewhere deep between them and a new flood of emotions circulated through their veins, old memories and feelings resurfacing as if they had never left. Before they both knew it they were slowly trailing towards the door of the house, Lord Tubbington barely lifting his head in acknowledgement as he watched them push through it. His head falling back down to his paws he wondered to himself why it had taken them so long. He'd seen it before anyone else, he'd just been waiting for them to act on it.
As the door closed softly behind them Santana manoeuvred Brittany slowly through the hallways and towards the bedroom, the one that they had already been sharing. This time was different though. This time she was planning on doing much more than sleeping in that bed and in the way Brittany kissed her, their lips never once parting even as they moved, she was sure that the blonde wanted the exact same thing. And this time it wasn't a dream. This time she really was kissing Brittany, her lips were upon her own and the heat between them was very real. It only served to kick her need into a much higher gear as she continued to lead her towards their bedroom.
Brittany reached out and pushed the large door open with one hand and if she hadn't been so preoccupied with other things Santana would have told her how hot it was that she managed to open it with just one arm, the blonde's strength something that had always seemed to turn her on. But now wasn't the time. What was more important was getting to the bed before she either dropped the other woman in her arms or they tripped over something because they weren't looking where they were going.
Luckily though Santana managed to guide them the short distance over to the bed and carefully placed the blonde down on it. Their lips finally parting whilst she took the moment to regain her breath she let herself hover over the other woman, simply taking in the entirety of her out-of-breath beauty – the way her chest rose and fell, the way her hair splayed out beneath her framing her soft features and the way her eyes continued to sparkle in the dim light all added up to the feeling of her heart swelling even more inside her chest. Still catching her breath she couldn't help herself and lent down, connecting their lips together one more time in a short kiss that spoke of volumes despite it's length. When she pulled away again this time Brittany was beaming up at her, the smile enough to make Santana's heart want to explode right there and then with everything that she was feeling.
Brittany reached her arms up until they locked around Santana's neck once more and she soon locked her legs around her waist tightly pulling the Latina down and even closer than before. Their hot breaths mingled as they both continued to pant for air and Brittany couldn't hold back the loud groan as Santana dipped her head to the side, pressing a wet kiss to her rapidly beating pulse point. So long had she missed this, the feeling of the other woman, and in even in her current 'hot and bothered' state she vowed that she never wanted to lose this ever again. She'd lost it once before and it had nearly torn her apart. Now she had Santana back she vowed that she was going to try her hardest to stay by her side.
Pulling the Latina closer with the arms she had wrapped around her neck Brittany turned her head to the side until it was level with the Latina's ear, unable to stop herself from voicing her thoughts again. "I love you Santana"
Instead of mumbling back a reply into her neck Santana smiled against it before pulling back enough to whisper in return into Brittany's ear. "And I love you too Brittany S. Pierce"
Their lips crashed together again as Santana was unable to resist now that Brittany had told her she loved her. It was addictive, the feeling of knowing, and she couldn't deny it no matter how hard she tried. Matter of fact, she had never been able to control it, not even before they broke apart. After so long it felt like coming home and she was going to revel in that for as long as she could. Brittany must have caught onto that though and pulled away so that she could whisper.
"Santana? What's going on in your head? You looked distant for a second there."
Santana nodded in acknowledgement, unable to hide anything from the other woman. "I was just thinking"
"Oh yeah? What about?" She asked, rubbing at the back of the Latina's neck.
"How I finally feel like I'm home"
Smiling Brittany pecked her lips before pulling way again, this time making sure that their foreheads were touching. "Me too" She whispered.
The confirmation that Brittany felt the same way spurred her on and a wave of pleasurable warmth washed over her from head right down to her sneaker-clad toes. She mashed their lips together once more and this time felt Brittany's own desire firing right back at her. They started to rock in place as they pushed one another back and forth on top of the insanely large bed, Brittany's arms pulling Santana as close as she possibly could.
Heat only continued to grow between them and soon it became too much. Brittany hands slid down until the were gripping hard at Santana's t-shirt, her knuckles turning white from the grip and the need. "S-Santana" She moaned, gasping as the other woman immediately latched her lips onto her neck. "S-San..." She stuttered, not able to concentrate on anything else other than the lips on her neck.
"Hmm...?"
It was a barely-there mumble but it allowed Brittany enough anchoring to voice a basic sentence. "Clothes...oh God...t-too m-many clothes"
Santana smirked against the skin of her pulse point but got the message. She had to agree, there were definitely too many clothes between them that they were still wearing. "Ok" She agreed breathlessly. "Hold on baby"
Her lips continued to trail down Brittany's neck until they reached the small expanse of skin just above the collar of her t-shirt. Propping herself up on her elbows she then lent to one side whilst she used her dominant hand to reach down to where Brittany-s shirt met the waistband of her jeans. She tugged and with a little wiggling on Brittany's part she had it up over her head and was throwing it somewhere behind her in seconds. Immediately her lips connected with Brittany's once more, the legs around her waist clenching and telling her that Brittany was definitely way too lost in this. She was too, she just needed to get rid of as many clothes as she could whilst her brain was still coherent enough. Luckily for her though Brittany, no matter how lost in the moment she was, was in tune with the Latina's thoughts and was thinking the same thing.
She pushed her upwards with all of her strength, Santana complying, and soon she had hold of the bottom of her shirt with both hands. Their lips broke contact for only a few seconds as Brittany lifted upwards and it didn't take long before the Latina let a gasp out and into Brittany's awaiting mouth.
"Santana?" She questioned, a frown quickly forming on her face. "Baby? What's wrong?"
"My shoulder"
Brittany's eyes instantaneously flickered to the spot that Santana didn't even have to verbally specify. It was as if deja vu hit her like an oncoming train, memories of the dream she'd had flooding into her mind as if the levies had broken all at once. Instead of just staring at it like she had in the dream she sat up a little more and placed a soft kiss to the nearly-healed skin. It was more or less a fleshy bump but it still hadn't completely healed, i.e. the fact that Santana had winced, and Brittany was going to try and ease her pain as much as she could. Her lips lingered on the warm tan skin for a few moments longer before she pulled away to look up at Santana.
"It's ok" She whispered, her eyes then flickering down to the matching raised flesh of scar tissue marring her otherwise perfect abdomen. "I'm here"
That's all Santana needed to hear. She cupped Brittany's face and pulled her in for a passionate kiss before pushing her back down to the bed. Her arms now braced on both sides of her head she smiled down at her only to get a smile in return.
"What are you smiling at?" Brittany asked, reaching up to brush Santana's inky black hair behind her ear.
There was a brief but not uncomfortable pause between the two of them, Santana's smile growing wider as she took in everything from Brittany's jaw to the way her eyebrows framed her sparkling blue eyes. Coming out of her haze she let out a quiet chuckle. "I'm just thinking about how beautiful you look"
Brittany laughed and pulled her down to her lips. "You're so sweet"
"I try" She whispered back against the soft lips brushing against her own.
This time it was Brittany who let out the chuckle. "Smooth Lopez, smooth. Just shut up and kiss me."
"Gladly"
Their lips reconnecting once more they continued to let it grow deeper until that need arose once more, this time Santana tugging on Brittany's jeans. The taller woman was reluctant to let go of the hold her legs had on Santana's waist but she aversely did it anyway, instead letting Santana do the work. Not that she wasn't glad too either. With a lot more enthusiasm than she'd ever seen before Brittany looked down as tan fingers fumbled with the button and zipper of her jeans and before she knew it they were joining her t-shirt on the floor somewhere behind Santana. Now in just her underwear Brittany made it her goal to strip Santana of her jeans. She accomplished that by reaching down, meeting no resistance as her long slender fingers thumbed at the belt buckle. Looking down Santana was unable to hide just how turned on it got her, Brittany smirking from underneath her at her obvious heated cheeks.
"See something you like Miss Lopez?"
Without thinking Santana nodded, unable to tear her eyes away from Brittany's fingers which were now popping open the button on her jeans, the sound of the zipper being pulled down louder than anything she'd ever heard before. Unluckily desire got the better of her and before Brittany could push down on her jeans for her Santana was already kicking both them and her sneakers onto the carpeted floor at the end of the bed. Now pant-less Santana pressed forward into the space between Brittany's legs and let her boxer-clad center connect with that of Brittany's panty-clad own. She heard a gasp from the blonde as she pressed closer and it didn't come as a surprise to her that long bare and slender legs came back to lock around her waist as she attached her lips to Brittany's pulse once more.
The next items to go were their bras, Brittany going first and Santana following soon after. They were discarded like the rest of their clothes haphazardly across the room but it didn't much matter when their naked torso's met one another for the first time in months. It set their skin alight and sent sparks flying between the two of them despite their close proximity, both women realising just how much they had missed this feeling of being so close to one another through skin to skin taction. And that's when Brittany finally felt the need to slow things down and get something off her chest.
"Santana..."
The Latina pulled away from where she had been generously kissing along her collarbone to look up at her face. "Britt, is everything ok? I'm not doing something wrong am I?"
"No" She replied, both of her hands rubbing up and down the well defined musculature that were Santana's biceps. "It's just that..."
"Britt, you can tell me anything. You know that right?"
"I know, I just don't want it to sound stupid or-"
"Babe, look at me" When she had Brittany's eyes staring back into her own she smiled and reached a calloused hand up to trace the side of her face. "Nothing you could ever say would sound stupid to me. Remember, you're a genius Britt – especially to me."
"I don't know..."
"Britt, just tell me. You can trust me, I promise"
Her eyes seemed to lock back on the chocolate coloured ones so full of emotion staring back at her at the sound of the word. Trust. It was something she'd had to learn the meaning of the hard way and if you asked her she would definitely without question say that it wasn't pretty. In all honesty it was fucking ugly and it nearly tore her apart teaching her it's true meaning. But she was here and she was still breathing. The woman hovering above her was the living proof that trust really did exist and that it could test you more than you ever thought possible in your entire life. It stirred that question within her that she knew she'd been asking herself, she just didn't know for certain exactly what it was. The blur finally became crystal clear and as she looked back up and into Santana's eyes she felt something shift within her before she asked herself that question one last time, hopefully forever.
Do you trust her?
The emotion was clear to see in Brittany's eyes and at the sight of her brilliant blue eyes sparkling with unshed tears Santana knew that Brittany was battling on the inside. It wasn't her place to ask but the only thing she could do was be there for her whilst she worked it out. Despite their current positions and literally being half naked Santana was willing to wait, willing to put everything, including what they had intended to do, on hold if it meant that Brittany was ok. She just wished that the blonde beneath her didn't have to suffer through any more pain because of her. She wanted it to end so badly.
Eventually Brittany realised that Santana had caught on and even in the silence Santana's eyes were telling her everything she needed to know and everything she needed to hear. Santana was there for her and she always would be – now and the distant future. It only made the question more real and looking up into those eyes seeing that reassurance she'd never thought she'd ever feel in her entire life with anyone, she was ready to answer it with a confidence she'd never thought she'd possess. There was an audible gasp of air which she didn't know which one of them it came from before Brittany smiled up at her.
"I trust you Santana"
Everything shifted between them, confirming everything they felt and even beyond 'I love you', considering what had happened between them admitting to trusting her was something that Santana would cherish for a long time to come. She'd come a long way from lying in that hospital bed wondering what on Earth she could ever do to make up for the wrongs she'd done and now here she was resting above the woman she loved being told by her that she trusted her. It meant more to her than anyone would ever know. Before she could reply however, Brittany beat her to the punch.
"I'm sorry. I have so much to apologize for"
Santana then cut her off by reaching up her hand to press a finger over her lips, effectively silencing her. "It's ok" She whispered. "You have nothing to apologize for. Hearing you say you trust me means more than anything in the entire world. I don't want any apologies Brittany S. Pierce. I just want us."
Starting to believe you
All the things you've been through
I don't even want to
"Ok"
The quiet utter of the word was all Santana needed as confirmation to continue, this time taking things a little slower than before, enjoying the way Brittany's lips moved against her own back and forth as if they'd been made just for her own. It was thrilling and she felt those sparks ignite once more but she was determined to make sure Brittany knew just how much she appreciated the verbal admittance of a trust she had once deemed utterly lost and impossible to ever get back.
Knowing what the truth is
Hating what the truth is
Scared of what the truth is
You were right so I'm just gonna say it
I can feel your eyes are on me
Soon enough the last two remaining articles of clothing had been removed and they were completely free against one another, their skin burning pleasurably as they finally connected with one another. Emotions and feelings and a host of other contributing factors all merged into something they couldn't name as they kissed slowly but surely, just letting whatever was now between them take the wheel and drive. They were there for the ride and just beginning it felt pretty damn good.
Santana's lips continued to attack Brittany's neck and by the certain way that she nipped at her throat Brittany could instantly tell that the next morning she would definitely have a very large and very visible hickey. Not that she minded though. After everything she had admitted today and finally coming to the realization that she was definitely in love with Santana Lopez she was happy to let everybody else know that she belonged to her. It had been too damn long and she wasn't going to let other people tell her she was crazy. She loved Santana and she loved her back. As far as she was concerned what was all that mattered.
This is my apology tonight
I don't wanna fight about it
This is my apology and I
I just wanna say I'm sorry
It's so hard, takes too long
When we both stay strong
Tryna keep this pain alive
Oh, can we let it be tonight?
Can we let it be tonight?
Everything came secondary as they moved together as if they'd never been apart. It was as if time had stopped and resumed when they'd finally admitted that they wanted one another. It was like no time had passed at all and all the pain and hurt and lies just dissolved into the heated air around them. Santana's lips met hers once more with a more predominant fervour but the love was still there, it was still taking center stage to anything else and Brittany was overjoyed that this was the case. She didn't want to fuck, as vulgar in the moment as that sounded, she wanted to make love and cupping Santana's face with both hands she made sure they were looking directly at one another as she made this verbally clear.
"I don't want much Santana, nothing other than you. Please, just make love to me"
Santana didn't need to hear it aloud to know that's what Brittany wanted but it did serve to send a racing heat shooting down to her core, the Latina unable to hide the blush that coated her cheeks at the sound of Brittany telling her to make love to her. Even now it sent butterflies to assault her stomach and it almost felt as if it was her first time all over again, just this time it meant so much more. Nevertheless she didn't want to dwell on it. All she wanted to focus on was the woman still beneath her.
Brittany was all that mattered. She would always be the only thing that mattered.
Oh, the truest words are never wasted
I'm letting go just show me how
I'm getting closer I can taste it
This time, our time
This is my apology tonight
I don't wanna fight about it
This is my apology and I
I just wanna say I'm sorry
Song used: Anastacia - 'Apology'
TBC