AN: Here is the next update. If you haven't already, check out my new story When We Were Young - Brittana Fic inspired by Adele's Album 25!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, X-Factor, or any other copyrighted material mentioned in this fic. Just borrowing for entertainment purposes!
Brittany's POV
You find watching your group perform on stage without you is a bit weird. You also feel like their performance is a bit weird. Stiff is the first thought that comes to your mind when you watch Rachel, Artie, Finn and Puck take on Smooth Criminal. What had the potential to be a haunting, spooky number falls very, very flat. It is utterly missing any theatricality or showmanship. The vocal blending is nice, but it's not overwhelming.
Rachel wanted to do a stripped down version of the song to showcase their voices, but it sound isn't rich or complex enough. Instead, it sounds like four separate voices trying to be one. The singing certainly isn't bad, but it clearly isn't resonating how it was intended. You regret not trying to see them perform before showcasing the piece, at least you would have been able to give them some critiques or help them with some simple choreography to elevate the performance.
Sam stands next to you backstage and you can tell that he is underwhelmed with the rest of the teams performance. "I don't get it, they all seemed so thrilled with their work all week."
You can't do anything but nod your head and wait for the performance to wind down. The stage lights go out and you hurry to join the team in front of the judges. Your eyes meet Rachel's and you can tell she is unsettled. You try to give her a comforting look, but it is obvious that the performance had just fallen short.
The judges notes affirm your suspicions. They compliment the first number's energy, but said it lacked vocal quality, however the dancing made up for it and overall it was a good piece. In terms of the second number they commented that it left them wanting more. The only judge's opinion that truly mattered was the final and you all await his comments,
"Who idea was it to split the group into two different performances?"
You all look up and down the row at each other, almost afraid to speak. All eyes zoom in on Rachel, who looks off stage.
"Well" you speak up when no one else, mainly Rachel, chooses not to "It was ultimately a group decision to split up. But, Rachel and I were team captains for the week, so I guess it was our decision." Tina squeezes your hand, knowing you're about to take a big fall for Rachel who remains silent, gripping onto Finn's arm at the end of the row.
"Then I must say Ms. Pierce, that you neglect to fully comprehend what we have been telling you the past four weeks. Your group isn't individually talented enough to showcase particularly aspects of your craft. You are better together and quite honestly, the fact that none of you could recognize that through a week of rehearsal is disappointing. Did you even watch the other group's performance before tonight?"
"Not in it's entirety. Our rehearsals were separate all week" you answer meekly, regretting the decision to take the proverbial bullet for your team. Your cheeks are on fire, and your quad is shaking uncontrollably. All you can think about is how you wish Santana were standing next to you, you were sure she would stand up for you and not let you take all the heat.
"I find this quite disappointing, I think this group has great potential, but if it's members can't even see that then how can we expect America to. Let's just hope that what you put out is good enough to scrape by another week. Let me be clear, this was week 1 quality." He takes a sip of his water, making it clear that his remarks are over.
The group slowly makes it way off stage, you in the front, essentially stomping your way back to the team room. Artie rolls in last, and the door closes behind him. You are gripping the make up desk and as you turn Rachel begins to speak,
"Lets look at the bright side, we gave one strong performance and one good performance." Before she could continue you could cut her off.
"No, Rachel, we gave two mediocre performances. No one mediocre performance and one bad one. Were you not listening to what they said?" Rachel's eyes widen at your tone, "Yeah our first performance had energy and great presence, but was weak vocally! Our second performance wasn't strong enough in our vocal depth and had no character! How could you not step up and say ANYTHING out there? This whole two group thing was your idea! We are done listening to you." Rachel gasps and her mouth hangs open, "It is your shitty leadership and self inflated ego that put us in the position. Did you SEE the other groups out there? This week is so close to call, and we just put ourselves in the fucking shitter. If by some lucky chance we make it to next week, I am deciding song choice, staging, everything. You've lost your chance at being a good leader. We have been average at best because you refuse to recognize anyone's talent but your own."
Everyone stares at you, rather taken aback by your outburst. Rachel finally summons the courage to speak, "What makes you more qualified than I, Brittany?"
"Because at least the performance I put together had some continuity, some showmanship, some presence. All you had to do was focus on vocals and even that fell short, let alone the overall quality of the piece. If anyone else wants to step up and be leader, that is fine, but my vote is heavily against you."
"Does anyone else have an opinion on this?" Rachel addresses the group, "I think we have been fine up until this point and to rock the boat at the midway point of the competition seems foolish and unnecessary. I heard what the judges said and I think with some more tinkering and some um rearranging of the group, we will be just fine."
"Rearranging?" Artie asks, "What do you mean rearranging?"
Rachel paces to the other side of the room and faces the wall before turning around, "I thought it was clear that judges want us to showcase stronger singers, so I guess that means showcasing me."
"Yeah, I vote for Britt to take over" Artie wheels over to where you are standing. Slowly Sam, Mike and Tina slide towards your side of the room as well. Making it clear that they don't agree with Rachel's interpretation of the judge's comments and she doesn't have the teams best interests in mind.
Before anyone else can make a move, you grab you phone and dance bag and address Rachel directly, "This is about the team, not about you. What you just said makes it so clear that you are completely jaded by your own self-esteem. If and when we continue in this competition, we will do it with or without you. I really hope you can figure out a way to get on board, Rachel. We are stronger with you, but we can be strong without you, too."
You walk out of the team room, not wanting to see anyone in that moment, but as soon as you turn the corner you are met in the embrace of a certain Latina. At first, you tense in her arms, but as her hands stroke up and down your back you melt. Santana doesn't say a word but her presence and physical support calms you. You can't help but break down in the girl's arms, out of frustration and exhaustion. You hear the rest of your team file out around and can only imagine the glares they are receiving from the fiery Latina, but she remains stoic and unyielding in her embrace.
After a few minutes, she starts to pepper your temples and hairline with kisses, "Come on, baby. Lets go back to my townhouse, we can get cleaned up, relax for a bit and then meet your mom and sister for ice cream, okay? Let me take care of you – at least for tonight." She ghosts a kiss over your lips and starts to pull away.
At the honestly and love in her voice you feel your heart pick up. She wants to take care of you because she knows you are hurting. You have never had anyone stand up for what you need, you pull the girl back in by the collar of her jacket and kiss her hard on the lips. At first, Santana is clearly taken aback by your actions, but eventually responds with similar enthusiasm. Her plump lips begin to massage and caress against your thin pink ones. Her tongue slides into your mouth with practiced ease. Eventually she has pushed you up against the wall in the hallway and molds her front to yours. At the feeling of her full breasts pushed against yours and your pelvises touching you moan into her mouth.
"Mm Santana…" you breathe and continue your ferocious attack of your girlfriends mouth. The kissing continues at a heated pace and Santana slowly slinks her hand under the waist band of your jeans and is toying with your belt loops.
All of a sudden you hear a loud cough echo through the hall, "Yo, Lopez, if you don't want to get arrested for assault of Vocal Adrenaline, you probably also don't want to get arrested for public indecency" Dani's voice cuts through heavy sexual tension between you and Santana.
She cackles and walks away, as Santana and yourself are reduced to panting messes. She leans her forehead against yours "I guess we were kind of getting carried away" she presses a kiss to your forehead, your lips, your mouth and then leans and presses one against the shirt covering your beating heart. Butterflies explode in your stomach as she does this. "Let's get you home, Bumble."
She entwines your fingers and picks up your dance bag and puts her over her shoulder. Before she can walk away, you hold her firmly by the hand and meet her dark bourbon eyes, "I am so completely in love with you" you say with conviction.
Santana's face splits into a wide smile, her dimples on full display, "I'm in love with you, too, B." She squeezes your hand and together you slowly walk out to the line of shuttles waiting to take you back to the compound.
As you walk hand in hand with the girl of your dreams, the trouble of the competition becomes a bit trivial. Here you are, getting the opportunity to dance on stage in front of hundreds, while its broadcast to millions. You get to experience a city that you never dreamed you would. And you get to love an amazing woman. Those things are what really matter to you. Plus, in just a short while you get to introduce the most important person in your life to the two other most important people in your life.
"I can't believe you're about to meet my family, Tana" you say happily as she holds the door open for you. You turn your head to watch her and see her visibly gulp.
Santana's POV
Watching as the judges tore down The New Directions took the wind out of your sails. You knew you wanted to Brittany to be successful, but you didn't realize how strongly you tied your successes together until you watched as the judges essentially predicted the New Directions wouldn't be here next week. This made your desire to fight against Vocal Adrenaline even stronger, if maybe getting the attention of America could keep them from voting for Vocal Adrenaline and help save the New Directions, then you had to fight harder. But, would getting in touch with America be enough?
You had to act quickly. You assumed that the New Directions would be meeting briefly, and you probably had ten minutes before Brittany would be looking for you. You rushed down empty hallways until you found the door you were looking for marked Producers Only.
Now, as you wait for Brittany to get out of the shower, and wait to go meet her mom and sister, your nerves from the night, from your talk with the producers, and most of all your nerves about meeting your girlfriend's family take over. Your hands start to shake slightly as you sit on the edge of your bed. You have never had a successful meeting of the parents, even with your friends. When you first met Quinn's mom you inadvertently called her a frigid bitch and called her dad a misogynistic creep. Luckily, both have gotten over your indiscretions, but you're so worried that your lack of filter or really your lack of caring what other people think of you will sabotage the one opportunity you have to make a good impression on Brittany's family. Adding to your stress levels is the fact that you know Brittany is really upset about her team's performance and is worried about their longevity in the competition.
Before you can think anymore about your own stress level, the bathroom door opens and out from the steam steps your girlfriend wrapped in a very skimpy towel. Her blue eyes are a bit duller than usual, and you can tell her beautiful mind is wrapped up in thoughts that didn't shine quite as bright as usual.
You rise slowly from your perch and approach the girl, "All clean baby?" you husk as you plant a kiss below her ear, before peppering more kisses across her jaw and down her neck.
She hums into your embrace, "Yeah, sorry T, I am just a little distracted and don't really feel like doing much."
"Don't apologize, Bumble. Lets try to forget about the performances just for tonight" she chucks softly and gives you a skeptical look, "I know, I know I am one to talk. However, there are two very special people waiting to see a very special lady, and I would hate if I didn't deliver you as promised." Brittany exhales sharply and moves to detract herself from your arms. You pause her movement for a second, "Look at me, B." Her clouded blue eyes meet your brown ones, and you see her slightly soften under your gaze "I swear it will be okay. I took care of everything."
Before Brittany can ask what you are talking about you kiss her nose, "Now get ready pretty lady. I will be waiting downstairs." You throw her a classic Lopez wink, before traipsing out of the room. As the door shuts behind you, a large breath escapes your body and you think to yourself, man, I hope I am right.
You make your way downstairs, hoping you can sneak a quick glass of wine before the impending introduction. You find Quinn sitting at the kitchen counter staring at her phone,
"I hope there is a naked girl on that screen because I have never seen anyone stare at someone so intently" you whisper in your friends ear. Quinn jumps in her sit and immediately turns around and pinches your under arm.
"Fuck, Lucy. I hate when you do that!" you rub your tricep waiting for the pain to distill. "So, what are you looking at?"
"Twitter" she says robotically.
"You'll have to be more specific, Q" you walk behind and peer over her shoulder. You see that Quinn's own timeline is up and you notice what has her attention. "Wow" you breath "15,000 retweets of our Youtube link. That's amazing! You're famous." She light pinches Quinn's cheek in a jokingly infantilizing manner.
Her finger swipes the page over and your Twitter pops up. 60,000 retweets, close to 100,000 favorites, and as you watch the numbers keep climbing. For some reason your stomach clenches at the numbers. Are you actually famous? Do this many people really care about your silly life?
"This is what we wanted, S. People actually follow us and believe in what we are doing. You should see some of the responses – 'Down with Vocal Adrenaline' 'Troubletones INVENTED Amy' 'Santana did it better' It's insane. #VocalAdrenalineCheaters is trending. They are actually supporting us." You watch as your friends hazel eyes light up. Quinn was never in this for the fame, she was in this for the experience of creating something with her friends. Quinn's approach to music and life was different than everyone else's. She always looked at it from a more intellectual and practical perspective – she would continue to do this until she wasn't successful or she didn't want to anymore. She didn't have the same drive as you or Mercedes or even Kitty to be famous, she just wanted to be involved.
You squeeze Quinn's shoulder appreciatively as you take in everything on the screen. The replies are insane, some funny, some a bit creepy. As you and Quinn scroll through, you feel arms wrap around waist, "What are we looking at?" Brittany rests her chin on your shoulder as she tries to see Quinn's phone.
"Just the response to the Troubletone's Twitter war against Vocal Adrenaline" Quinn replies with a smirk, "People are tuned into the Trouble right now."
You melt into Brittany's embrace and continue to read through some of the reponses as Quinn scrolls, "Hey wait, go back" you say and reach over to scroll up to a certain response, "Look at this girls hashtags".
"#HereComesTrouble #VocalAdrenathieves #Brittana" Quinn reads out, "Brittana? What does that even mean?" She clicks on the girls page and quickly scrolls until she sees a picture that was posted 5 days ago. Up pops up the picture you and Brittany had taken with the group of girls at Pink's. Again adored with the Brittana hashtag. "Oh, Brittany and Santana, Brittana. Looks like you guys have your own little following." She touches the trend and quite a few tweets and photos pop up of you and your blonde. Most of them photo shopped, but still.
Your heart starts to race, as Brittany's arms tighten around your waist, she leans in and whispers in your ear "Brittana, hmmm, I like that."
Brittany's POV
After looking through Twitter, you and Santana head out to catch a cab to meet your mom and sister at the hotel the show is housing the families. Santana is quiet in the cab, silently tracing shapes on the palm of your hand and staring out the window. She is humming under her breath, you vaguely catch the notes and can't recognize the song, but Santana is a musical rolodex, so it could be anything. You know Santana only hums when she is excited or nervous, and you can only assume that right now it is both.
The cab rolls up to the hotel and Santana immediately snaps out of her trances, and moves to hop out of the cab. Before she can leave, you lock her hand in yours and pull her to face you.
"Sweet T" you say calmly waiting for her to look at you, "No matter what happens, this certainly isn't going to change how I feel about you. I love you, baby. No one makes my heart flutter while simulatenously calming me down. No one else knows exactly when I need to laugh, smile or cry. Only you can read me before I can read myself." Santana blushes and slowly runs her thumb across your knuckles, "My mom and my sister love me, and the second they see how happy you make me, they will love you, too. Just be the Santana that made me fall in love with her all those months ago on the rooftop of this very same hotel." You lean in to press a kiss on her lips, but she raises her head and kisses your forehead, your nose, your lips and then your heart.
"Everyday you give me another reason to keep being the person you've made me into. I love you so much, Bumble." Santana husks.
You heart stutters at her confession, before you can say anything, Santana is pulling you out of the cab and wrapping her arm around your waist as you walk together into the hotel lobby. Her hand grips into your waist, as if you are anchoring her, keeping her from drifting, keeping her with you.
When you cross the threshold of the hotel doors you hear an ear splitting "BRITTY" and look up to see a 5'6 blonde sprinting her way towards you. Santana has the wherewithal to step away from the scene, as Aubrey launches herself into your arms. "I've missed you so much! It's not the same at home without" the mini version of you says when you place her back on the ground.
"Aw, Bree, I've missed you too! Life is really different in LA than it is in Lima." You look up and see your mom tearing up at the sisterly interaction. She reaches out and pulls you into a bone crushing hug, "Hi, ma" you whisper into her ear.
"I am so incredibly proud of you, Brittany. Getting the chance to watch you up on that stage, chasing your dream. It makes everything worth it. I just wish he could have been here to see this." You solemnly nod at her words. She holds you at arms length and then pulls you in for another hug.
When you finally get enough out of the reunion, you turn to see Santana has taken a step back to let you have this moment with your family. You beckon her over to you with a nod of your head and reach out to grab her hand. The Latina takes a deep breath and inches toward you, when she is by your side you give her a warm smile. "Mom, Bree this is Santana Lopez, you may recognize her as the leading lady of the Troubletones, but more importantly she is my very beautiful, very special girlfriend. Santana this is my mom and my younger sister, Aubrey."
Santana extends her hand out to your mom, "Mrs. Pierce, it is really nice to meet you. Brittany has told me so much about you and we are both so glad that you were able to make it out to see the show." You watch as your mom sizes Santana up and the looks down at your girlfriend's hand.
Without saying a word, your mom pulls Santana in to her own bone-crushing hug. You watch as your girlfriend immediately tenses before relaxing and wrapping her arms around your mom, "The pleasure is certainly all mine, dear. And please, call me Susan. My Britty hasn't stopped talking about you since she first got back from LA. At first, I thought you were yet another beautiful figment of her equally beautiful imagination. She did that quite a bit growing up. Whether it was Marcel the Space Cowboy or Lucy the trapeze artist, Brittany was not without friends."
"Oh my god, Mom! Can you not wait 15 minutes before embarrassing me in front of Tana." Santana grins at you and leans in to plant a kiss on your reddening cheek.
"I think it's cute, Bumble."
"You come off as a real badass on stage, but it's clear that my sister turns you right to puddy" Aubrey chimes in.
"Wow, a mini-Brittany with a little sass!" Santana exclaims before putting an arm around Aubrey's shoulder. Normally Aubrey would be just a touch taller than your girlfriend, but Santana's signature heels give her a bit of a boost, "I think you and I will get along just fine."
You grin widely at your girlfriend's playful banter with Aubrey,
"Speaking of which" the Latina reaches into her purse and pulls out a CD "Britt mentioned you were a fan of the Troubletones, so I brought you a copy of a CD we made last year – it mostly has covers that are on our Youtube page, but we did a few original songs as well. I had the girls' sign it, it isn't worth anything, but um I thought you might like it…" she trails off clearly embarrassed at her gift. Aubrey takes the CD wide eyed and mouth open.
"Santana, that is very kind of you" Brittany's mom says "Aubrey couldn't stop bragging to all her friends that she was going to meet THE Santana Lopez or that her sister was dating THE Santana Lopez. You are quite popular in our household."
"Okayyyy" Brittany jumps in before her mom could say anything else embarrassing in front of Santana, "Let's go get some ice cream, Santana and I need to be back on the compound in about an hour, so let's make the most of it."
The ice cream excursion went really well. Conversation flowed beautifully between the three most important people in your life. Santana impressed your mom with her music knowledge, as well as how much personal producing she has already done. You were able to catch up with Aubrey about school, her friends and the new cute boy who just moved from Dayton. Santana held your hand the entire time and showered you with compliments and displays of affection. The evening could not have gone better. You had briefed your mom about Santana's familial situation and you were glad that she didn't try to approach the topic.
The four of you walked back to the hotel, Santana and Aubrey walking side by side just ahead of you and your mom. Santana was showing a song writing app she uses on her phone and was letting Aubrey in on some her secrets. You can't help but smile at the two of them, while admiring how good your girlfriend looks in her jeans.
"She's pretty amazing, isn't she?" Your mom asks interrupting your daydream about taking your girlfriend out of those jeans.
"Yeah, she is, Mom. I have never met anyone like her. I have never felt like this before. She makes me so happy."
"I can see that. Ever since your father left, you lost a bit of your luster" this is the second time your mom has mentioned your dad this evening and you subconsciously rub your tattoo, "But, I see that luster again. She makes you glow, Brittany."
You link your arm in your moms and rest your head against her shoulder, "I really love her, mom."
"I know, baby. Just be careful. Eventually this competition is going to be over. For one of you sooner than the other. You're going to be off to New York and who knows where Santana will be."
The reality of your mom's words hits you pretty hard. Now the competition is getting stiffer, any team could leave any week. It is so hard to think that one day you will wake up and not be in Santana's realm. Hell, you could be packing your bags tomorrow night. You force the lump that is forming in your throat; leaving the competition is one thing, but leaving Santana is something completely different.
Santana's POV
You watch as your girlfriend has a tearful goodbye with her family. Most of the other competitors families will stay through the next night, but with her work schedule and work necessity, Susan and Aubrey are flying back early tomorrow promises of more phone calls, more Skype's and a special tweet from your account that confirmed that you met Aubrey, you and Brittany grab a cab to head back to the compound. The moment the cab door closes, Brittany pulls you in for a heated kiss. This kiss feels different than most of her kisses, it is full of passion and love as always, but this one also has a level of desperation to it. As if she is worried or scared about something. You return the kiss, but slowly start to pull away. She just grabs your face and pulls you back in. She slides her mouth off yours and starts leaving wet kisses along your jaw and down your neck.
"Mm baby, that feels so good" you whisper out in the cab "But, we really should stop. We are in a cab."
Brittany's hands slide down to your hips and she practically pulls you into her lap "I am sick of stopping. We always have to stop. I don't want to stop, Santana." She kisses your shoulder and then trails kisses across your collarbone, up your neck and finally reaching your ear "I want you so bad" she whispers before nipping at your earlobe.
Wetness pools in your underwear. You thank god you are wearing jeans or you might leave residue on your seat. Brittany is amazingly sexy every day, but right now she is particularly feisty. She continues her journey of wet open mouth kisses all over your neck, before she begins to suck on your pulse point.
"Holy fuck, Britt, baby, please" you whine and slide a hand up to your face and pull her away from your neck. "You are so undeniably sexy and I am beyond turned on right now. However, I really don't want our first time to be in the back of" you look over at the medallion on the headrest in front of you "Reggie's cab."
"I wouldn't mind" came a gruff voice from in front of you.
"Can it, Reggie" you bark back.
You hold Brittany's face in between your hands and kiss her lightly on her lips, "We are almost home…look" Brittany's face whips to the window as she sees the compound come into focus. Her legs start to bounce in excitement, and your heartbeat pulses at the thought of taking the next step with Brittany.
The cab screeches to a halt, and Brittany jumps out pulling you behind her, barely leaving enough time for you to throw some bills to Reggie. Brittany all but carries you into the Troubletones townhouse, ignoring the cat calls from your teammates and rushes you into your room. Before you even recognize that the door is closed, you are shoved up against and Brittany's mouth is on yours, massaging your tongue with her own.
You respond to your girlfriend immediately, running your hands down her backside and gripping at her ass and pulling her pelvis into yours. You thrust your thigh between her legs to put some pressure where you know she needs it most. Brittany moans into your mouth and her hands rush to the buttons of your shirt. You notice her hands shaking uncontrollably as she tries to peel away your shirt. You immediately stop your ministrations on your girlfriend's neck.
"Britt, baby, what's wrong? You're shaking, love."
"Nothing, nothing, I'm fine, I want this, I need this, I can do this, kiss me" she pushes her lips against yours trying to pry your mouth open. You raise your hands up to her shoulders and gently push her away.
"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself." You slide out from between the blonde and the door and head over to your bed. You sit down and pat the seat next to you, "Come talk to me, Bumble. Something is going on in that beautiful mind of yours."
Brittany doesn't say anything instead she rests her head against the door and mumbles something. Her hands rise to her cheeks wiping away at what you assume are tears. You immediately jump up to comfort the girl,
"Shh, I'm right here" you coo in her ear "Come sit with me."
Brittany begrudgingly lets you pull her over to the bed, as soon as she sits down her hands start to shake again and you can see her getting completely overwhelmed.
"What's going to happen when one of us loses, Tana? What if the New Directions get kicked off tomorrow night, and before you know it I am on a flight back to Lima, and you're here. Or what about at the end, when I head to New York City and you go to Chicago or stay here or whatever? What happens to us? I can't imagine not being with you. The idea of not seeing you every day scares the crap out of me. The idea of not being able to kiss you, hold you, love you scares the crap out of me, Santana."
You watch Brittany breakdown in front of you and unveil all her insecurities that must have been brewing underneath her skin. She has such a happy go luck façade, it crushed you to see her on her brink.
You reach out and brush the blonde's hair out of her face, while wiping away some stray tears, "Is that why you wanted to have sex with me because you are afraid of losing me?"
"No, no, fuck, I'm sorry that I threw myself at you. I just wanted to be close to you, as close as possible, and I let my hormones take over. Fuck, I am so sorry." The blonde flops herself back on the bed and covers her face in her arms.
You slowly crawl over the blonde and straddle her thighs. You coax her arms from over her face and lay them gently by her sides. "You know what is going to happen to us?" You ask her as you lean down a place a kiss on her exposed collarbone. "We are going to make everyone jealous with how amazing our love is. No one will believe that we survived not only one separation in our relationship, but two. You will never have to choose between anything else and loving me, because our love is a constant."
You lean over and place a kiss on her other exposed collarbone, "I also know the second we are able to be in the same place we will be, because no matter what I want to be with you. I would move mountains and oceans just to be near you. "
Brittany's blue eyes twinkle and you see a small smile creep on her face, "Brittany, I know it is scary to think about the competition coming to an end for one of us, but we always knew this was an inevitable outcome. We can't allow forces out of our control to dictate our emotions; we just have to take advantage of every moment we have to be together."
You slowly raise the hem of her t-shirt up and place a few wet kisses by her waistband. "I'm sorry for being an emotional mess, Tana. Just the thought of not being with you makes me a sad, sad panda."
You raise your head and lock eyes with her, "It makes me sad too, baby. I am so scared of not being able to wake up to you every day, or kiss you whenever I want, or look into your amazing, amazing eyes. But I know if anyone can make it through it, it's us. We are meant to be, baby. You're my true love. And right now, I just want to make love to my true love…the right way." You lean over and place a kiss on her lips.
The next morning you wake up to your phone quacking at you, Brittany recently reset your ringtone to the duck noise because it made her smile. You unwrap yourself from Brittany's very tight, very naked embrace, but not before planting a small kiss on her temple.
The caller is coming up as unknown, with no area code, which is unusual. You swipe across the bottom of you screen and whisper out a greeting.
"Santana! Hi there this is Barbara, a producer from The X-Factor, are you able to come to small meeting at the main house in about 30 minutes?"
"Um, sure, do I need to bring any of the other Troubletones?"
"Nope, just you. We will see you soon!"
You hang up and stare at your phone, before shrugging and placing it back on your bedside table. You snuggle back down into Brittany's side, when you hear her voice muffled by the pillow, "Who was that baby?"
"Umm, one of the producers. They want me to come to a meeting at the main house in 30 minutes."
Brittany rolls over and sits up, "Before we talk about this there is something I have to do." She leans over and kisses you, "Good morning, love. Last night was amazing. I have never felt so vulnerable but so loved and fulfilled. You make me want to give you the moon."
You blush at Brittany and look down before nuzzling your head into her chest, she slowly begins to stroke your back, "What do you think the meeting is about?"
"I am not really sure" you plant a few small kisses on her exposed chest "Maybe about Vocal Adrenaline stealing our music."
Brittany hums in response, "Well you know what 30 minutes gives us just enough time for?" She flips you on your back before topping you and planting wet kisses on your neck.
30 minutes later you find yourself very frazzled, but very satisfied sitting in a rehearsal room with 3 producers from the show. There is a big contract sitting on the table in front of them.
"So, Santana, we don't want to keep you long, we assume you know why we called you here" the red headed producer who you think is Barbara starts the meeting.
"Well, I guess it's about the issue I brought to your attention yesterday. I assume you had a chance to watch our Youtube videos" you reply as calmly as possible. You realize getting riled up isn't going to make this meeting anymore bearable.
"We did and it is clear that Vocal Adrenaline is in clear violation of our music integrity clause in their contracts."
Another produce stands up, and brings you the contract, which is flipped open to one of the middle pages, "It clearly states" Barbara continues "that while music may be borrowed from other artists, all arrangements and choreography must be original."
You smile. Gotcha, Vocal Adrenaline.
"Now, Santana, we realize you must be very angry at Vocal Adrenaline, we ourselves are very shocked. We are going to be meeting with them after you. We, as a staff, just wanted to let you know that we will be taking care of this and Vocal Adrenaline will be leaving the competition tonight."
"Good, that's great" you say, "Thank you all very much for understanding our frustrations and acting so quickly." You immediately think about how this guarantees one more week with Brittany.
"Of course, Santana, you are clearly a growing star in this business, and unfortunately, this happens quite a bit in this business. Just one more thing, so as to not take away from the integrity of the show, we will be eliminating Vocal Adrenaline as if they just received the lowest amount of votes. We feel it could be a publicity nightmare if we opened up about the fact that they violated their contract."
This actually made sense to you, it probably wouldn't be worth calling into question the shows reputation for one groups misgivings. You start to nod your head, but another question pops in your head, "Wait, does this mean that they would have been safe?"
Red hair producer looks over her notes, which are clearly results from the previous night's voting, "Um, yes they were close, but it looks like they beat out the um" she scans over the sheet "Ah here it is. Yes they beat out the New Directions by 1500 votes. Wow, that is one of the closest margins of the show." She gives out a small laugh, "Looks like the New Directions should thank you for having one more week here on X-Factor."
