A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews, I really appreciate them.
"Everything I can't be
Is everything you should be
And that's why I need you here
So hear this now . . ."
- 'Come Home' by OneRepublic
It's an hour and a half after school ends that Brittany finally finds Santana. When she started off on the search she thought it would be kind of like Hansel and Gretel – minus Hansel – following a trail of breadcrumbs .But it's not because this is much harder and the blonde knows there's no witch waiting at the end of the line for her, just a pretty Cheerio that stole her heart years ago.
Santana's sitting cross-legged on a roundabout that doesn't look like it's ever going to turn, her back pressed up against the bars. She doesn't see Brittany approach, though the blonde likes to think she feels her presence, and she refuses to look up when her best friend takes a seat beside her. Brittany watches the Latina trace circles on the surface of the roundabout, seemingly lost in her own world like the blonde herself is a lot.
"Do you remember when we were little and we used to come out here all the time?" Santana starts softly, still not looking up, and although Brittany can barely see her face there's something wistful and sad about it. It makes her heart do that little squeeze thing again and she bites her lip. "We'd gang up on Puck and push him off the swing," the brunette chuckles, but there's nothing really happy about it. "He'd be so mad at us after, he wouldn't talk to us for a week. But that was OK 'cause we had each other. I had you." Santana finally turns her head up to look at her and Brittany doesn't like what she sees there. "Do I still have you?" she asks in a small voice, the smallest the blonde's ever heard her use, and it's a surprising thought because Brittany's never considered Santana small before. She knows the other Cheerio is shorter than her, way shorter, but she's never seen her as small.
Brittany nods her head. "Of course," though, she doesn't really get why Santana is asking because she'll always have Brittany, no matter how angry or how mean she acts, she'll always have her. The blonde wouldn't have it any other way because Santana's the only person in the world who can make her feel like she's flying even though others say she can't even hover a few measly steps above the ground. "Always," Brittany sighs with a smile, wrapping her arms around her best friend's waist and leaning forward sideways to rest her chin on Santana's shoulder. The brunette lets out her own sigh and leans her head back against the blonde's, closing her eyes.
It's the most intimate position they've ever been in, more intimate than sex or kissing, and even though Brittany sometimes doesn't get things, she gets this.
…
". . . Come home
Come home
Cause I've been waiting for you
For so long
For so long
And right now there's a war between the vanities
But all i see is you and me
The fight for you is all I've ever known
Ever known
So come home
Oh. . ."
- 'Come Home' by OneRepublic
…
"You missed Glee today," she mumbles. The brunette doesn't move a muscle, just stares at the arms wrapped tightly around her waist as though they hold all the secrets to the world. Brittany's almost tempted to tell her that they don't – she would know if they did – but Santana seems content enough just to stare so the blonde remains silent.
"Did I?"
Brittany nods her head. "Did you forget? Sometimes I forget." But Santana's usually there to remind her. She knows her best friend likes Glee just as much as she does, it's the only time she ever smiles so much; the big smile that Brittany remembers so well from elementary school but a smile that disappeared sometime around freshman year. She doesn't understand it but she's not going to question it either because she has a feeling that Santana misses her smile even more than she does.
The brunette shakes her head but doesn't say anything for a long time and when she does speak, it's about something completely different."Can I sleep at your place tonight?" Santana whispers.
"Mm." The blonde nods her head because she's missed the Latina in her bed for the past couple of nights, even though Santana has a habit of hogging the covers and pushing her out on a regular basis; Brittany always makes up for it in kind, wrapping herself tightly around Santana until they both wake up in the morning, overly heated.
They stay like this for a while, just drinking in the feeling of each other, but then the surprise Brittany's got in stall for Santana reappears in the blonde's mind and, after laying a kiss to the brunette's temple, she tugs at the other girl's hand, signalling that it's time for them to go home.
. . .
". . . I get lost in the beauty
Of everything I see
The world ain't as half as bad
As they paint it to be . . ."
- 'Come Home' by OneRepublic
When they reach the house, it's just in time to be sprung upon by Brittany's ragdoll cat, just bounding down from the tree outside her open window upstairs. Santana lurches back in surprise (and just in time to escape the feline's claws) and the blonde glares after its retreating back, certain it's just been reading her diary yet again.
Her cat, like most of the population at McKinley High, doesn't seem to like Santana very much which Brittany just doesn't understand because, as she told Mr. Shu, Santana is a very special person and has always been extremely likable. She concedes that it might be the scowls and dagger-eyes that the Latina always sends the cat's way – Santana's excuse being that she's not a cat person – but she thinks her pet could at least try to get on with her best friend, she might even stop hiding her diary from it as a reward then.
Maybe.
"I hate your cat," Santana mutters after a pause, trying to compose her face into something that doesn't resemble a stunned possum.
Brittany nods her head in understanding. "He reads diaries." She frowns. "I think he knows all my secrets now."
The Latina just smirks and links their pinkies. "I'm the only one who knows all your secrets."
'But I don't know all of yours,' the blonde thinks but doesn't say out loud as Santana tugs her towards the door. She can still sense the tension outlining her friend's actions, kind of like the brunette's trying to be normal and happy but there's something clamping down on her chest, stopping her. Now that Brittany's worked out what was bothering her earlier today she understands what it is and smiles slightly as she remembers what awaits the both of them on the other side of the door.
The moment they step inside there's a big yell of "Surprise!" like in the movies that the blonde loves and the Glee club jump out from their hiding places with big smiles on their faces, some of them forced, though Brittany doesn't notice this one fact. Santana's mouth drops open like a fish, kind of like the first time Brittany asked whether she could kiss her and the blonde's smile grows at the memory.
"Happy birthday," she says and the rest of Glee echoes her words, some with more feeling than others. Kurt and Finn appear the most enthusiastic out of the bunch while Quinn and Mercedes wallow in the background, smiling smiles that don't quite reach their eyes.
For perhaps the first time since Brittany has met her, Santana is speechless. She opens her mouth a couple of times to say something but it always ends up closed again. After a moment she turns to the blonde, eyes wide and confused but there's also a large hint of joy in there, a kind of joy that Brittany hasn't seen for a long time. "I thought you forgot."
The blonde nods her head, eyes apologetic. "I did. But I spent all day trying to remember again."
And a kind of surprised, kind of chocked laugh escapes the Latina's lips and she smiles before pulling Brittany into a hug, holding her tighter than she ever has before."Thankyou," she whispers before pulling back after pause.
Brittany beams and leans forward, placing a chaste kiss on her cheek. She wants to do more but she knows Santana has strange reservations about kissing in public. She doesn't really get that but she'll try to for her.
Puck's the first to step forward out of the throng, smirk in place as he knocks shoulders with Santana. "Happy birthday, Lopez. For one of the most hated people at school, you got quite a turn out for your party," he jocks, earning a smack from the girl. He winces and rubs his arm. "I'm just sayin'." Santana looks around at the Gleeks, who have now fallen into friendly conversation with each other, like she doesn't quite get it either. Brittany does, though, she gets it easy – the Glee club is a family and a family looks out for each other.
"Where's my present, Puckerman?" the brunette demands haughtily.
"You mean I actually had to get you a present?"
"Lame, Puck, lame," Santana responds and Brittany glares at him because she had specifically demanded presents, lots and lots of presents; she even asked Mr. Shu to get the Head Cheerio a pony at one stage but he turned her down for some reason.
"Well, I for one remembered that it's the proper thing to do to bring a gift to somebody's birthday party," Rachael announces, stepping forward with a present in her hand. She's wearing that diva grin that everyone's so used to by now and Brittany beams at her.
Santana looks taken aback, clearly not expecting that someone who's been on the other end of the majority of the Queen B's slushies would even think about giving her a present. "What?"
The diva just shrugs her shoulders and smiles shyly, a totally new look for her. "Everyone deserves a present on their birthday, even you," she explains, handing the gift over to the stunned Latina. After a pause, Santana seems to decide that's it's not a hidden bomb and starts to rip it open. Brittany watches with bated breath. "I know Brittany said that you didn't like toys but it's the unwritten rule that every person has to have at least one stuffed animal. Society just won't function if this isn't the case."
Confused, Santana pulls out a red Care Bear from beneath the wrapping paper. She doesn't seem to know quite what to make of it but after a pause she looks up and nods at Rachael, a small smile in place. "No . . . no, I like it. Thanks, Manh– Rachael."
The Glee star beams at the response and practically skips away. Brittany decides that this is a good enough time to tell her and leans forward to whisper, "You're not allowed to give her a Slushie-facial for a month now."
Santana snorts. "Figures." Despite this there's still a slight smile on her face and Brittany links their pinkies together once more, pleased with herself.
During the next ten minutes, the rest of the Gleeks line up to offer their own congratulations and presents. Given the late notice of the party, not everyone has a present, but Santana doesn't seem to mind as she conversers with each one in turn, always keeping a tight hold of Brittany's pinkie and the Care Bear Rachael had given her. The blonde's never seen her get along with the Gleeks so well before and for the most part she beams at the unusual interaction going on between them, frown only coming into place when Quinn stays by the cake in the centre of the room, refusing to come forward. If the Latina notices this, though, she doesn't say anything and keeps her grin firmly in place the whole time (a new record). And because of that grin, Brittany knows that everything's going to be OK. For now anyway, she's still a little unsure about what the future will bring. Today she saw a side of Santana she's never seen before, a side that, even momentarily, hated Brittany.
And, at one point, she thinks that might just be a fact more horrifying than she can bear.
". . .Well hopefully the hate subsides and the love can begin
It might start now. Yeahh
Well maybe I'm just dreaming out loud. . ."
- 'Come Home' by OneRepublic