A/N

Sorry for the delay in updating. hope you guys enjoy it. thanks for all the reviews.

When she picked Brittany up for their drive to the airport, Santana was relieved to see that Brittany was a complete different woman then who she was the previous day. Brittany answered the door dressed in a plain yellow sundress and for once she wasn't wearing her ridiculous hat. the drive to the airport was relatively quiet with Santana stealing glances of the unusually quiet blonde next to her. When they finally boarded the plane Santana was completely curious as to what was wrong with the usually bubbly and talkative blonde. Brittany was siiting next to her with her ankles crossed and her chin down staring down at her hands. When Santana asked her what was wrong, the blonde meekly replied nothing and kept playing with her hands.

When it was time for the takeoff Brittany took the latina's smaller hands in her own. it sent a jolt of electricity through out her body. The latina blushed at the feeling and thought it was a nice gesture till she noticed that the blonde's hands were like ice and her knuckles were white. Brittany held Santana's hand so tightly in hers she was almost cutting off the circulation to her fingers.

"Brittany are you scared?" the latina asked her softly, gently caressing the blonde's hand with her thumb.

Brittany's voice was barely above a she sounded as she was about to cry.

"I hate flying."

"Aw Britt,why didn't you say so before?" She gently squeezed the blonde's fingers.

"One thousand dollars." Brittany replied without noticing the slight hurt expression on the latina's face.

"Well flying is statistically safer than driving, so you can relax." Santana pried her fingers loose.

"So concentrate on the money Brittany. Your rent is paid, by the way. I sent it directly to Schue so he wouldn't evict you while we were gone."

Brittany clenched her hands into tight fists in her lap. "I know you paid it. He called."

Santana winced. "I'm sorry, I should have thought of that. I suppose he thinks I'm keeping you. Did he threaten to evict you for immoral behavior?"

Brittany shook her head a little. "No. I'm not sure, but I think he offered to take over for you if things didn't work out between us."

"What?" the latina could feel the rage coursing through her veins and could barely keep it out of her voice.

"I think he propositioned me. I'm not sure. He hems and haws a lot."

"That fucking creep." Santana took Brittany's hand in hers again and rested both their hands on her lap.

"Do you want me to break his fingers?"

Brittany rolled her eyes trying to ignore the warmth she felt inside due to the latina's protective nature and the way the latina's soft hand felt against hers. "San, he knows you're not my sister from New Jersey."

"Well I'll break his fingers anyway, the old perv." Santana was fuming. Poor Brittany. She was such a nice girl. Then she stopped. Their story was working. Brittany wasn't some innocent kid; she was a hippie from hell. But the blonde had even Santana thinking she was a sweet little thing. The latina looked at her. She did look sort of innocent and childlike, sitting there with one hand curled in her lap, the other crushing her again whenever they hit an air pocket.

"Did he upset you B?"

"Who? Schue?" Brittany shook her head and loosened her grip. "Oh, 's just that I really don't like flying." After a couple of minutes during which no air pockets attacked the plane, she looked at her companion.

"So how about you? Are you nervous about the speech?"

"No. I'm fine." Santana thought about the speech she has to give and the party they have to attend and fidgeted in her seat..

"Well, then, what are you nervous about?"

"What?"

She looked at the blonde, annoyed, but when she met the piercing blue eyes staring back at her calmly, she realized she wasn't breathing once again. She shook her head and drew a deep breath through her nostrils and Brittany scrunched her nose in an adorable way and said,

"I hate it when you do that. I mean if you don't want to talk to me, then don't, but don't flare your nostrils at me like a bull—"

"What? I'm not flaring my nostrils at you—"

"—because that's just rude."

"—I'm breathing."

Brittany didn't look convinced, so the latina continued explaining. "When I get tense, I hold my breath. It's a bad habit, so I concentrate on breathing deliberately through my nose to make sure that I don't pass out."

Brittany blinked at her. "You're kidding right? You forget to breathe?"

Santana turned away to look out the window. "It's a very common reaction to stress."

"I didn't think you even had stress," Brittany said. "It doesn't seem in character."

"It isn't," Santana said shortly. "That's why I breathe. Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure." Brittany cocked her head at her. "So if you're not worried about the speech, why are you stressed?"

"Look Britt," Santana began, planning to tell the blonde to mind her own business, but then she realized she was right. Santana was wound so tight, she was going to be breathing through her hair at any minute.

"I think it's the lying B," she said finally. "I'm not a liar. I've never lied before. And now I not only lied, I dragged you into this whole mess and you're lying too. It's just not right."

"It's not a lie Santana," Brittany said. "It's a story."

Santana looked at her, and sighed. "That's just semantics Britt. It's the same thing."

"No, it's not." Brittany scowled at her, and Santana remembered too late that Brittany told stories for a living; she'd just called her a professional liar.

"B, I didn't mean to insult you—"

"Lies are untrue," Brittany said with all the sureness of Moses laying down the law. "Stories are

unreal, but they're true. They're always true."

Santana shook her head. "I still don't see the difference B. I'm sorry, but—"

"Listen." Brittany leaned forward and gripped her arm to hold her attention. "If you tell a lie, you're deliberately telling an untruth. If you'd told them you'd published six books, or that you'd taught at Yale, or that you'd won the Pulitzer, that would have been a lie. You'd never tell a lie. You're too honest."

"Britt, I told them I was engaged to you. That was a lie."

"No." Brittany shook her head emphatically. "You didn't tell them anything about me. You told them you wanted to get married and settle down in Prescott and raise kids."

"Yeah and that's a lie," Santana said, but she could see where the blonde was going with her explanation.

"I told them what they wanted to hear B."

"Yes, but it was what you wanted to hear too." Brittany let go of her arm and ignored the loss of warmth she felt inside her and settled back in her seat. "Sometimes stories are just previews of coming truths. I bet you really do want that deep down inside your repressed academic soul. I bet your subconscious just wormed its way to the truth and laid it all out when you were too stressed and preoccupied with breathing to keep an eye on it."

"That's very cute B," Santana said. "So now would you like to explain the Alizarin Crimson, the daisy ring fiasco, and my sister from Jersey now?"

Brittany blushed a little and looked down. "Sure. Annie is an original cat, definitely one of a kind, and she's reddish, so telling Schue she was an Alizarin Crimson was true in its own way. And you were treating me like a child bride in the store, not letting me pick out my own ring, so I became one. That one was really your story, not mine. And the sister part…" She looked up again, a little shy. "I think I just wanted somebody to rescue me, you know? Dustin was being such a jerk, and I just wanted somebody to stick up for me, the way a brother would. I get really tired of fighting my own battles. And then you came in, and I knew you'd stick up for me. I just knew you would. And you knew it too. That's how I know it's true, even if it isn't real. You walked right into my story."

They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity. Santana felt lost in the blonde's beautiful blue eyes and she almost leaned in before she realized what she was doing and pulled back.

"I did not know anything." She tried to not look into the blonde's eyes again and tried to ignore the thumping of her heart in her chest.

"Yes, you did." Brittany leaned her head back on the seat feeling a little dissapointed. "You could have denied everything, or told me to shut up, or dragged me from the store, or walked out. Really San, you could have done almost anything." She turned her head again to meet the latina's eyes. "Instead, you were my brother from New Jersey. You knew it was true too."

"I'm still not buying this," Santana told her, but she was irrationally cheered. Maybe she hadn't lied. Maybe it had been a glimpse of the future. Maybe—

The plane hit another air pocket, and Brittany clutched her hand again tightly. "How much longer to Prescott?"

"About fifteen minutes to the Dayton airport. About another forty-five to Prescott by car."

"Are we renting a car?"

"No, Harper said he'd come pick us up."

"The dean? You must be a really valuable asset ."

"Not me. I told him all about you. He can't wait. He calls you 'Little Brittany.' "

Brittany closed her eyes. "Oh, no."

"So this is Little Brittany!" Harper beamed at her. "Even sweeter than I'd pictured her!"

He looked like an anti-Santa Claus, leering at the blonde instead of beaming, and Brittany instantly hated him. So this is who she had to impress. Just her luck. But she knew she had no choice so she ducked her head trying to look bashful and smiled at the man looking at him through her eyelashes. Harper almost fell over backward from the wattage.

"Well well Santana, you are one lucky dog." Harper put his arm around Brittany, who stifled a shudder.

Santana smirked at the man. "Thank you, sir."

Harper's hand slid down over her hip. Santana could feel the rage in her rising again but she knew she can't break Harper's hand dor touching the blonde, so she took Brittany's hand and pulled her closer to could feel the butterflies rising again but she was furious at the way the older man was leering at her. She wanted to kill them both. This is what happens when you let other people tell the story, she told herself. Don't do that again.

Harper led them out to the parking lot in no time. He waved them toward a big maroon Cadillac, and a chubby blonde waved back frantically. "This is my little woman," he said as she disentangled herself from the front seat and got out of the car.

"Julie, honey, this is Santana and Brittany."

Julie leaped on Santana. "Alan didn't tell me how beautiful you were," she said, and hugged the latina tightly, and Brittany smirked thinking, Good, let her get groped for a change. Then Julie turned on Brittany and her bright, vague smile widened.

"And you must be Brittany! I agree, you're a sweetheart!" She threw her arms around Brittany, engulfing her in a cloud of Chanel No. 5 and gin. It smelled a lot like a drink Brittany had thrown up once at a college mixer.

Brittany fought her way free from the overly excited woman. "Well, I'm just so delighted to meet you too, Julie. You're a sweetheart. We'll have to sit down later and have a little girls' talk." Brittany said cheerly with her trademark mega watt smile firmly in place.

Santana closed her eyes and shook her head. Pouring it on too thick, Britt.

"Oooh that sounds great Brittany. We will definitely do that." Julie beamed and hugged Brittany tightly again.

"Ok well, let's go." Harper wasn't having any fun and his leer was getting tired.

"Here allow me." Santana held the front passenger door open for Julie and she was visibly thrilled. Santana smiled at the woman and then she held the backdoor open and smiled sweetly at the blonde. "here you go baby."

Brittany resisted the urge to kick her on the ankle. She smiled gratefully at the latina.

"You're such a darling," she said instead, and batted her eyes at the shorter girl "I just love you Baby."

"Don't push it," Santana said whispered as she closed the door.

"Isn't she just the sweetest?" Julie said to Harper when they were all in the car.

"Yes, she is." Harper leered over the seat at Brittany. "You're a lucky dog, Santana."

By now Santana's smirk was gone and her fake smile was firmly pasted on. "I know sir."

This is going to be the car ride from hell, Brittany thought, and she was right. By the time Harper had driven them to Prescott, helped them drop their things off at the motel, and then driven them out to the college, they'd heard what a lucky dog Santana was a dozen times, and Santana had said, "Yes, sir," another dozen, and Julie had never stopped babbling. Brittany was ready to scream, but she told herself that if she could keep smiling long enough to get into the lecture room, the Harpers would have to shut up so Santana could give her speech. It was the only time in her life that she'd ever looked forward to a speech.

As it turned out, she wasn't destined to hear it.

"You two go ahead," Julie said when they were standing beside the car. "I'm going to give Brittany a tour." She waved them away with her hand."Go on. Just go on."

Harper frowned at her. "The faculty should meet Brittany. Professor Grey should meet her. and I—"

"Well they can all meet her at the party tonight. there's no point her getting bored listening your speech." Julie fished her car keys out of her purse and gently pushed Brittany toward the front seat. "You guys go on."

"I'm sure Brittany would like to hear Santana's speech. She won't get bored with that." Harper said, and the annoyance in his voice was plain.

Julie faltered for a second. "Do you wanna go hear Santana's speech?" she asked, turning to Brittany. Brittany quickly wondered what she wanted to do. Her choices were Harper's leering while listening to some boring speeches about history or a tour around a small town which seemed quite lovely. She looked at Julie and felt instanly sad for the look of uncertainty in Julie's eyes; whatever else Julie was, she was vulnerable.

"Oh, it's ok. I've heard that speech a thousand times," she told Harper sweetly taking Santana's hand in hers and giving her a loving gaze. "San rehearses everything with me."

Julie awwed at them and looked at the couple with a huge smile in her face in admiring wonder. "Isn't that just adorable? Aren't the two of you just darling?"

"I think so." Brittany leaned down and kissed Santana on the cheek sweetly. "Knock them dead, baby."

"Thank you." Santana wrapped her arms around the blonde tightly and pulled her into a hug and whispered in her ear, "Behave, brat."

She smiled at the latina sweetly and got in the front seat, rewarded not only by her look of apprehention but also by Harper's scowl. Good, two with one blow. It was starting to be her story after all. She turned and smiled as Julie slid into the driver's seat. "This was a very good idea Julie," she told her. "You're so thoughtful. Thank you."

Julie patted her knee and then put the key in the ignition. "Not at all Brittany, I'm just selfish. I just wanted to get to know you all by myself."

Brittany smiled at her in return and turned her attention towards Prescott.

The university had made the little town an odd mixture of cosmopolitan and provincial, with interesting combinations like a gourmet grocery next to an old-fashioned hardware store and a diner straight from the fifties. The one theater had a sagging marquee and an improbably chartreuse and hot pink facade, but it was showing the latest Spiderman movie, and the coming attractions posters promised a tarentino revival, and an old Walter Matthau and Elaine May movie called A New Leaf.

"I love that movie!" Brittany told Julie. "Have you ever seen it? He marries her for money even though she's hopelessly disorganized and then he falls for her anyway. It's really sweet."

"I wish you were going to be when it comes on," Julie said with real regret. "We could go together, just like a mother and daughter. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Yes," Brittany said, a little taken aback to find herself in a story Julie had obviously started without her.

"But you probably won't get here before fall since Santana still has to teach at her old job." Julie sighed, and then brightened. "But there'll be other movies we can go to when you get here. Lots of them."

"If Santana gets the job," Brittany reminded her, but Julie just patted her knee gently. Brittany smiled at her in response and looked out her mindow at the town again and noticed a. art gallery.

"Tell me about that," she said, pointing to the wood facade that said gallery in gold lettering, and Julie slowed down and said, "Oh, that's Bill's gallery. He started it over thirty years ago and it's very successful now. He has shows four times a year and all these big art people from New York come out to see his latest discoveries."

All the breath left Brittany's body in one long whoosh. "Discoveries?"

Julie nodded. "He likes showcasing new artists, so two of his shows, the ones in January and July, are always about new people. He's been written up in all the big art magazines. He showed me the articles. They even had color pictures."

This is not your story, Brittany warned herself, but it was too late. It had been too late since she'd seen the gallery. The universe was doing everything but dropping a big sign in front of her that said This is it, this is your next move. Only it wasn't. This is really cruel, she thought, but she couldn't think of anyone outside of fate and the cosmos to blame.

Julie picked up speed once they were past the gallery. "We can go sometime if you like art. I don't understand most of it, but I like Bill, and he doesn't make me feel dumb if I don't understand it."

"Well, of course not," Brittany said, momentarily jerked out of her dream. "Why would he?"

"Some people do," Julie said vaguely, and Brittany thought of overbearing Harper and wondered what living with that kind of disapproving, domineering man would do to a woman. Probably drive her to drink. She sighed to herself and put her hand over Julie's. "Then they're jerks and you shouldn't pay attention to them."

"Oh." Julie blushed with pleasure. "Well, I don't know much, you know. I never went to college. I married just an year after i left high school. I'm just a housewife."

Brittany scowled. "Don't say that Julie. You are not just a wife. You are so much more than that"

Julie patted Brittany's hand. "Well, that's just sweet of you, sugar, but that's pretty much what I am." She waved her hand at the window and said, "Now, this is a nice neighborhood to start out in," and Brittany realized they'd left the downtown and turned into a side street of old houses in various stages of repair. One had a sign in front that said PRESCOTT VETERINARY.

"The houses here are reasonable, and it's walking distance of the campus," Julie told her. And the vet's, Brittany thought. Nice and close for her cats. Except she wasn't going to be living they turned down Tacoma Street, and she saw the house. It was a slightly run down Victorian cottage with diamond panes in the front window and a big front porch with most of the boards missing, and a picket fence that needed to be painted badly, and—best of all—a For Sale sign in front of it. "Oh," she said, and Julie stopped the car.

"That one?" Julie looked doubtful. "Honey, it's in awful shape."

"I could fix it," Brittany said. "If the foundation's good, and it's not loaded with termites, I can fix everything else. I'm an artist. I can fix anything."

Julie perked up. "You're an artist? Well, isn't that interesting? Santana didn't tell us that. Wait until I tell Alan."

"I'd paint it yellow," Brittany went on, half to distract Julie and half because she was starting to love this story. "With blue and white trim. And I'd put the gingerbread back up. See where there's still some left at the side? I could use that as a pattern and cut more. It would be so beautiful."

Julie looked back at the house wearily, squinting to see it through Brittany's eyes.

"But wouldn't you like something new?"

"No," Brittany said with passion. "People throw away too many things because they always want new. But if you look at old things, they have history and personality and spirit. The things that I have that I love best are the old things that I've rescued. They have stories of their own, and then I fix them up and they're part of my story too." She looked back at the house lovingly, seeing the proportions under the peeling grayish paint, and the light that would certainly flood through the long, dingy windows once she'd cleaned them. LT could stretch out and sleep on the hardwood floors Brittany knew were inside, and Annie could climb the porch rail and screech at people and birds. And Julia could come to visit…

"I could make that house a wonderful part of my story."

"I'd really like to see that," Julie said softly, still looking at the house. She sounded wistful, and then she turned to look at Brittany.

"I'd like to watch you fix that house. Would that be all right?"

Brittany felt heart heart tug at the loneliness in Julie's voice. "Sure," she said, hating herself for lying.

"Of course, we don't know if Santana will get the job—"

Julie turned back to the house. "Don't worry Brittany. She'll get the job." Her voice sounded strong with determination, and Brittany had a feeling that even if Santana had just given the worst speech of herife, Julie would make sure that Harper hired her. if only the whole thing hadn't been a lie—no, a story—she'd have felt better.

Only if it had been true. It would've been amazing. Living in this cute little town, in this nice house that she can fix up herself with a vet just a block away and a great movie theater nearby and a gallery that might display her work, and a great wife like Santana to take care of her-

That last thought shook her out of her dream and brought her back to earth. A wife like Santana would take care of her and make her happy but she'd also want her to be something she's not and then she would probably feel guilty if she slipped. It was a great story but it was also a fairy tale that could never be a reality.

"Yellow," Julie said, still staring at the house. "I can just picture it. With lilacs out in front."

"Lilacs would be beautiful," Brittany said, seeing the purple contrasting with the yellow house and blending with the blue trim, and for a moment they both shared the picture and the story. "Actually Lilacs would be perfect Julie."

"It will be perfect," Julie corrected her, and Brittany smiled at her weakly and closed her eyes in regret.

Santana's presentation went the way all her presentations did: smoothly and professionaly. She could see the admiring approval in her audience eyes, especially in the eyes of the blonde that was wearing a sinfully short skirt and was smiling seductively at her from the front row.

Santana returned the smile and then realized that she couldn't flirt with the blonde. not now. not when she's suppose to be engaged to Brittany. But in the fall, if she got the job and when she's not engaged then she can get to know the blonde. she made a mental note to herself to get to know the blonde in the fall trying not to feel guilty since there was no reason for her to feel guilty anyway. But her heart wrenched uncomfortably at the thought.

The Q and A section after the presentation was exhausting but Santana realized that most people weren't opposing or arguing her views. They were all very supportiva and were asking her for more information. Even Dr. Grey seemed warmer towards her and told her she had done an excellent job. She lookeed around at the crowd who was looking at her with approval and admiration and for a moment she wished that Brittany was there to see her. She would've given almost anything at that moment just to look up and see the blonde's dazzling smile directed at her, just wid=shing that their story was true, just for the moment.

Harper shook her out of her thoughts when he shook her hand and said, "That was excellent Santana. I think you will fit right in. and your woman is delightful too. Julie thinks she's simply wonderful. You're a lucky dog."

Santana felt exasperated with him. The man had a university to run, for God's sake, and he was obsessing over faculty wives. "Thank you sir. I think she's amazing too."

"You know, she's just going to love living here in Prescott." Harper winked, and Santana looked at him shocked and then quickly replaced it with a look and a smile of appreciation.

I can't believe Britt did it.I'm in.