One Year Later:
To say that Santana Lopez was nervous was an understatement. She knew that it was completely cheesy and maybe the opposite of romantic but when she'd originally planned to propose to Brittany four years ago, she'd had it in her head that she was going to do it on New Year's Eve. There was something about Brittany in white lights and candles that made her swoon and she knew that the restaurant she'd planned to take her to had just that. Maybe it was going to cost her a small fortune between dinner and the babysitter she had to pay triple time to get her to work on New Year's Eve but the last year had been amazing with Brittany and considering they were practically married anyway, living in the same house and raising the kids together, she thought it was about time they made it official.
Unlike the last time, when Santana was dead set on secrecy regarding the proposal, she didn't do that again. Back in October, she'd asked Brittany for the ring back that she'd given her for safekeeping and they both knew that it was only a matter of time before she proposed. Santana thought that maybe Brittany was a little disappointed that she didn't do it on Christmas, but Christmas was for the kids and filled with hours of unwrapping toys, putting things together and searching for batteries. Santana really wanted to do it on a night where they didn't have to worry about anything else, where she could just revel in Brittany and the joy that the proposal was bound to bring them both.
"Aunt Santana." Ava whined, standing beside the dresser in the room Santana and Brittany had come to share, leaving John and Cassidy's room as a guest room. "Why can't I come to the restaurant with you and Aunt Brittany?"
"And me! And me!" JJ looked up from where he was playing with his tablet on the bed.
"Kiddos, we're going out way past your bedtime. You're going to have pizza and ice cream with Regina and then tomorrow we're going to go ice skating."
"But I want to put on my fancy dress and come out with you!?
"Ava." Brittany came in the room, still better at saying no to the kids than Santana was. "What have we talked about with the whining?"
"But it's not—"
"Sweetheart, listen to Aunt Brittany." Santana raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes Aunt Brittany and I need to have special time together."
"So you can be all kissy? You're kissy even when you're in the kitchen."
"You're a knucklehead." Santana ruffled her hair. "You're going to have a fun night, I promise."
"You." Brittany smiled, wrapping her arms around Santana's waist where she stood in her shimmery black dress. "Look gorgeous."
"And you look not ready. But still gorgeous anyway."
"I'm going to get in the shower now. You know I take exactly half the time to get ready as you do and we don't have to leave for an hour. You haven't even put your makeup on, that could take just as much time."
"Shh." Santana laughed, picking up her foundation. "Get in the shower."
True to her word, Brittany finished getting ready just as Santana started putting her lipstick on. They brought the kids downstairs and got them settled on the couch with a movie when the doorbell rang and Regina arrived to watch them. Santana checked her purse three times for the ring while Brittany gave Regina the directions for the evening, not that she needed them, she watched the kids at least twice a month and once they kissed the kids goodbye, they were off. They decided to take a Lyft so they could both drink and the driver was waiting outside when they exited the house.
"Do you feel bad about leaving the kids on New Year's Eve?" Brittany asked.
"I thought I would, but it's kind of an adult holiday anyway. There's no way we were going to let Ava and JJ stay up until midnight, tomorrow would have been a disaster. So then what, we sit around the house quietly so we don't wake them up? I think this is fine. Better than fine, sometimes we deserve date night."
"You're definitely gotten better about not giving into Ava's every whim."
"Well someone has taught me a lot about being a mom. I mean it's weird, the idea that we're kind of their moms, isn't it?"
"I guess so. I mean I like that they still call us Aunt Brittany and Aunt Santana. Just makes me feel like Cass and John still have a presence."
"Yeah, I'm glad JJ wants to do everything Ava does, or else who knows what he would have picked up. By the way, I'm really excited you wanted to go to this restaurant."
"Santana, I know nothing about things that are a big deal and I still know that getting into this place, especially on New Year's Eve, is next to impossible. I still don't know how you pulled this off."
"I may or may not have mentioned that my name was Penelope Cruz on the phone. I just lucked out that I actually had the number of the manager to call." Santana bit her lip, holding back a laugh.
"You're cute." Brittany lifted her hand to kiss the back of it. "You know you don't have to wine and dine me, right?"
"Tonight, I have to."
"Tonight, huh?" Brittany had a sense of understanding in her voice and Santana knew that she knew what was coming, something the her of four years ago would have freaked out about but who she was now was happy that this engagement was something they were in mutual agreement on.
"You're going to love this place. I've only been here once with a client, but the salmon is literally orgasmic."
"I don't know how I feel about something besides me giving you an orgasm."
"Babe, we'll both be having orgasms from the food tonight, and then we'll go home and have better ones."
"I honestly can't with you. I don't know if you're suave or if you're the biggest dork in the world." Brittany shook her head.
"Just wait and see, then you won't think I'm so dorky."
Santana did the tip quickly on her phone for the Lyft driver when they arrived so she didn't forget and took Brittany's hand as she led her inside. She murmured to the hostess that her last name was Cruz and she immediately took them to an intimate table in the back of the restaurant. It was absolutely perfect, even though Santana hadn't expected to get such a prime spot, and she looked at her watch, seeing that they still had three hours until the clock struck midnight. Her plan was to get down on one knee at exactly that moment, and though she knew Brittany knew, she was still all kinds of jittery thinking how she wanted it to be just perfect.
For New Years, the restaurant did a nine course dinner, complete with wine pairings and a champagne toast at midnight so neither of them had to look at the menu. They just held hands on the table, toasted with their first glass of wine—an amazing buttery white, said Santana, who was not exactly a wine connoisseur—and then Santana checked for the ring in her bag again. She thought of everything the last year had been, how they'd spend the first week Santana moved back in tentatively relearning each other. How they'd slept in Brittany's room beside each other for those seven days and how finally, after they'd kissed at midnight on New Year's Eve, they slowly undressed each other and made love for the first time in far too long. How they'd still bickered sometimes about the kids, but at the end of it, they loved each other so deeply that both was will to see the other's side. How Ava introduced them as my aunts who are girlfriends and get all kissy. How JJ laughed when they all laid together on the couch at night. How good it felt to be a family with the one person she'd always wanted a family with more than anything.
"You're lost in your head." Brittany gently chided Santana.
"I'm just thinking about what a good year it's been."
"It really has. I'm so glad we're us again, Santana."
"I'm more glad for that than I've ever been about anything in the world." Santana looked at the table, seeing that they were only on their first course and she had planned on waiting until dessert, but everything felt so perfect that she just couldn't hold off on doing it any longer. She'd waited literal years for this moment and she was jittery with anticipation. So she reached into her bag and took out the ring, opening the box so Brittany could see it, even though she'd kept it safe for almost a year. "Brittany, I fell in love with you when I was fourteen years old, even though my mind kept screaming out that I should never be in love with another girl. No matter what has happened between us, I've loved you every day since then. And in this past year, I've learned to love you even more, with this strange adult kind of love that I didn't know how to have. I love you as my person, I love you as the other mother to those two beautiful kids we're raising. Maybe we've never done anything in the right kind of order, we were sleeping together before we could ever express feelings for each other, we were raising kids together when we weren't even a couple, but none of that matters. All that matters is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, to be your partner in everything. I love you, Brittany Pierce. Will you marry me?"
"I don't think I've ever been more excited for someone to ask me a question." Brittany grinned. "Of course I'll marry you, you're everything to me."
"Oh God. Is it weird that I was nervous you were going to say no?"
"A little, yes." Brittany laughed as Santana slipped the ring on her finger and leaned over to kiss her. "We've been basically married since the moment we got back together."
"Ava is going to be beside herself. She was whispering to me the other night about wearing a flower girl dress."
"You want to wake her up when we get home, don't you?"
"A little…"
"I'll allow it, just this once." Brittany put her hands on Santana's cheeks and kissed her over and over again. "God, I love you."
"Cass and John would have been really excited."
"They practically orchestrated this whole thing. I could just picture Cass knowing full well that if she didn't change the will and had us raise those kids together, it would inevitably lead to us getting back together."
"We were always kind of inevitable, weren't we?" Santana cocked her head to the side.
"I always thought so. But I also think we needed time to be Brittany and Santana instead of just BrittanyandSantana."
"Growing up was hard and painful, but I think it made us better."
"We're kind of an epic couple."
While they continued their dinner, the waitstaff in the restaurant came over to congratulate them and they eventually ended up on the dance floor, a little tipsy and swaying to the music that the band played. Santana thought that it was impossible for her to have a better night, that being in this restaurant with her fiancée was basically the greatest thing in the entire world. She loved the way Brittany kept admiring the ring, she loved the way she couldn't help but kiss her, tasting of wine, she loved the way she felt pressed against her on the dance floor. The years they'd spend apart didn't matter anymore, they were starting a brand new year engaged and raising the two kids that the loved so much.
"Let's go home before the countdown." Brittany whispered against Santana's lips after she looked at her watch and saw that it was just before eleven. "Let's wake the kids up and count down the new year with them."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I think I want to. This night was perfect, but I think we should celebrate as a family."
"Just keep giving me reasons to love you."
"I'll spend the rest of my life doing just that."
Santana paid the check while Brittany arranged a Lyft and they went outside, getting into the red Volkswagen that waited for them. They maybe kissed the whole way home and when they were at the house, they wished their driver a happy new year and went inside. Regina was surprised to see them so early but Santana paid her as if they were getting home at two-am like they'd planned and sent her on her way, hoping that maybe she could catch some last minute festivities. Neither Brittany nor Santana bothered to take off their gowns before they went upstairs, Brittany getting JJ and Santana getting Ava from bed to bring the downstairs to watch the ball drop.
"Did Aunt Brittany say yes?" Ava murmured, rubbing her eyes as Santana gently shook her awake.
"You'll have to ask her." Santana smiled, kissing Ava's forehead. "We're going to count down for the new year, come on."
JJ was still half asleep on Brittany's shoulder when Santana and Ava met her in the hallway but Ava excitedly grabbed Brittany's hand and started shouting, seeing the ring on her aunt's finger. Brittany and Santana just laughed and ushered her down the stairs, turning on the television with two minutes left until midnight. JJ snuggled into Brittany's lap and Ava bounced around on the floor, looking as if she'd never been asleep. Santana rested her head on Brittany's shoulder and she felt like she had absolutely everything in the world.
"TEN!" Ava screamed. "NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!"
"Happy New Year!" Brittany and Santana cried out in unison, kissing each other first and then planting kisses on Ava and JJ's heads.
"This the bestest New Years ever!" Ava giggled, though everyone knew she had never stayed up until midnight before. "Happy New Year Aunt Brittany! Happy New Year Aunt Santana! Happy New Year JJ!"
" 'appy new year." JJ lisped, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"I'm glad we did this." Santana whispered to Brittany.
"Me too, baby. Me too."