AN: Hello everyone. Sorry again for the delay but, yay update!
Enjoy!
Santana woke up, got ready, saw Brittany in the living room, made coffee and drank it. It was another normal morning except that Brittany was actually asleep.
The brunette sipped her coffee and looked over at the sleeping blonde who appeared far from peaceful. She had a pained look on her face that made Santana's heart break into a million tiny pieces; her wife was hurt and she didn't know how to help.
She sighed and unconsciously brought her left hand to her neck, wrapping her fingers securely around the pendant that only ever left her neck if truly necessary. It was an infinity heart necklace that Brittany had bought for her, similar to the one she had bought for Brittany. Santana moved the pendant gently around in her fingers. She missed how Brittany used to smile and light up the whole room, she missed people looking at them in envy because they were so happy together, she missed taking on the world with the woman she loved.
Santana paused and brought her hand up in front of her face. There on her ring finger was the band that represented a promise she made, and a promise she planned on keeping.
Brittany was broken, they were broken, so it was time to make another promise.
She looked over at the troubled blonde and whispered, "I promise I'll fix this."
Brittany woke up to the sound of clanging dishes and the smell of home cooked food. "Santana?" She called out into the apartment.
"One sec," Santana answered from the kitchen, accompanied by more clanging.
The blonde got up and walked towards the kitchen. "What are you doing?" She asked but stopped dead in her tracks when she entered the room. The table was decorated with their nicest tableware and lit beautifully with candles. She looked over at Santana who was holding two plates of shrimp pasta.
The brunette set the plates on the table and sighed. "You weren't supposed to wake up yet."
Brittany walked over to the table, looked down at the food and slid her hand gently along the side of the table. "San..."
"I know, it's not exactly like the one from the diner, but not many stores were open when I went out so I just tried to get it as close as I could and I meant to get flowers for the table, but I ran out of time and..."
"It's perfect." Brittany cut off her wife's rant.
Santana smiled and gestured for Brittany to sit down. After the blonde was sitting, Santana cleared her throat and tried to mentally prepare herself. "Britt," she tried to begin but her words got caught in her throat.
Brittany was quick to grab her wife by the hand and pull her towards her until they were both sitting together on the small kitchen chair.
Santana gathered her thoughts and backed away slightly so she could look Brittany in the eye. "I love you so much and what happened to us," she paused slightly when Brittany looked away, "it's something that's going to be so incredibly hard to get through, but I'm ok with that."
Brittany looked back at her wife, clearly confused. "What?"
Santana took her wife's left hand in her own and lightly rubbed the wedding ring. "Even before we made those vows, before you proposed, and before I proposed too," Brittany let out a tiny laugh through tears and Santana smiled at the sound of the laugh she missed so much, "before all of that, I knew you were the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. We've dealt with so much pain, hate, disapproval, and craziness together, and that's not about to change. I'm not ok with what happened, but I am ok with having to get through it as long as I have you by my side. I'm not giving up until we both make it through this mess."
Brittany nodded and leaned her forehead against Santana's. "I won't give up either."
Before Santana could think about what she was doing, she shifted until her lips met Brittany's for the first time since that night. The kiss didn't last long before both women backed away.
The blonde opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself.
Santana instantly felt her stomach drop. "I'm sorr-" she started, but was cut off again.
"Thank you."
The women spent some time basking in each other's smiles before Santana spoke up. "So, are you hungry?"
"Starving."
The brunette moved to the other side of the table so she was sitting across from her wife. "Good, because there's plenty of food and none of it has mushrooms."
Brittany walked slowly into Spotlight Diner and looked around for familiar faces.
"Over here, Britt!" Rachel called from the other side of the diner.
The blonde swiftly made her way to the table where her friends were waiting for her.
Rachel shoved Kurt slightly, forcing him over to make room for Brittany beside her. The blonde took her spot beside Rachel and smiled gratefully.
"Where's Santana?" Quinn asked from the other side of the table.
Brittany looked up at her and quickly analyzed the man beside her before answering, "she has a meeting for her new album, so..."
"So she chose work over this?" Rachel asked and let out a short, loud sigh.
"Rach..." Quinn warned.
"I'm just saying, it's her wife's first time really coming out to be with friends since," she paused slightly and glanced sideways at Brittany, "you know, and it would be nice if she were here."
Brittany shook her head. "No, she was about to cancel her meeting when I told her it was fine. I wanted to see you guys." She smiled around the table at her friends and settled her eyes on the new man across from Kurt. "You must be Sebastian."
"The one and only." Sebastian assured her, while holding out his arms, as if putting himself on display.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Don't be so cocky, Bas." He turned to Brittany. "I swear he's actually a nice guy."
"That depends..." Sebastian added and then shrugged, "I guess I have my moments." He smiled at Brittany. "It's nice to finally meet you."
The blonde narrowed her eyes at the man. After a few seconds her glare softened and she smiled back. "You make Kurt happy, so I like you."
Sebastian let out a breath, like he had been holing it the whole time. "Oh, good! I was really worried about getting your approval." He winked at her and received a harsh nudge in the rib from Quinn.
Brittany laughed at the exchange. She wasn't sure when Sebastian was joking or not but she was enjoying trying to figure it out. Plus, he really did make Kurt happier than she had ever seen him.
The visit amongst friends went without a hitch; everyone seemed to get along, Brittany continued to talk and didn't close herself off, and most of all there was no more mention of Santana. That is, until Rachel, Kurt, and Sebastian went to pay and left Brittany alone with Quinn.
The taller blonde felt her friend's stare burning a hole into her as she stared down at her hands. Finally she gave in and sighed, "what, Quinn?"
"Are things any better with Santana?" Quinn asked.
Brittany watched as Quinn straightened her back and folded her hands on the table, a clear sign that this was serious time. She smiled and nodded. "It's getting there."
"Have you actually talked about losing the baby, or are you still dancing around the subject?"
Brittany's mouth fell agape and Quinn cocked her eyebrow, only she could get away with being so blunt.
"I, uh, sort of... Santana talked about it at one point."
The smaller blonde sighed, "look, B, you say things are getting better, but reading between the lines doesn't get you all the information, it only gets you what you want to see."
Brittany leaned back in the seat and frowned slightly. "We couldn't have just one afternoon where you don't try to fix me?"
"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"
"A normal one," Brittany replied and watched for Quinn's reaction, but there wasn't one, "but then you wouldn't be you."
The two blondes smiled at each other.
"Alright, babe, ready?"
Quinn looked up to see Rachel standing beside her, offering her hand. "Always." She said with a smile as she grabbed her girlfriend's hand.
Brittany followed the couple out of the diner and watched as Rachel talked Quinn's ear off, while Quinn just nodded and smiled at her girlfriend. As they met up with Kurt and Sebastian, Brittany couldn't help but think that she was truly blessed by such a strange assortment of friends that all cared so much about her.
Santana walked slowly up the stairs to her apartment. One by one she felt the pressure of the day getting heavier and harder to carry. Her manager had shared some unsavoury news with her today and she may have exchanged less than professional language with a representative from her label.
She reached the door to her apartment and rummaged through her purse, sighing when she realized she didn't have her keys.
She cursed under her breath and started knocking heavily on the door. With little regard for her neighbours she started yelling, "please be home, Britt!"
Within seconds the door flew open and she was met with Brittany's smile. Santana stared at her wife, completely forgetting the issues of the day. There was a time when coming home to Brittany was her escape from everything bad in the world. They had created their own bubble of perfection for each other, a place where the outside world couldn't touch them. That place had long disappeared until now.
"Coming in? I don't think my parents will be home for a few hours." Brittany joked and waggled her eyebrows.
Santana shook herself from the trance that her beautiful wife had her in and furrowed her brow in confusion. "What?"
Brittany took the brunette by her wrist and pulled her in close, closing the door behind them, while simultaneously pushing Santana back again and against the closed door. "I said, I think we have a few hours before my parents get home from their trip."
It didn't take long before Santana caught up to what was happening. She smirked at her wife and teased, "well, we better get started then."
"I was hoping you'd say that, because I just rented The Notebook for us!" Brittany exclaimed and waited for Santana's expression to change back to confused. "Wait, what did you think was going to happen?" She waited a few seconds before smiling at the brunette.
Santana shook her head. "You are such a tease, Mrs. Lopez-Pierce."
The women laughed while Brittany still had Santana pinned to the door. Eventually the laughing faded to smiles and they stared into each others eyes until the playfulness dissipated.
Brittany glanced down at her wife's lips and tried to fight the temptation. She had every intention of talking to Santana and doing what Quinn suggested, but before she knew it she had pulled the brunette into a passionate kiss. Santana's breath hitched as she felt Brittany's hand wrap around the side of her neck and her thumb brush lightly over her ear.
It was like their first kiss all over again, and suddenly they were both floating. They had been wandering through life, going through the motions, lost in a world they didn't know how to handle alone, but in this moment they found each other again; they weren't alone.
The women parted lips, but stayed close, taking each other in breath by breath and embracing the feeling that they never wanted to lose again.
Santana felt hot tears start to sting her eyes and quickly shut them, hoping Brittany wouldn't notice, but when she spoke her words were a broken whisper, "it's not your fault."