A/N: Hey everyone, I'm back! I know it's been awhile, but I kind of moved cross country in June and haven't had computer access until a month ago, and senior year is kicking my ass. Anyway, here's some more Brittana-y goodness for you to enjoy!
This taken place about 2.5 years after the last chapter (that would be June for those of you who don't remember or are too lazy to figure it out) so everyone's 29ish, Liz and Santana have been dating 4.5 years. Let's see what's happening…
...
Chapter 5: Think of You
"Come on, Santana! You simply must join us this evening! It's her first weekend in the city, I told her the whole gang would be there. Liz can come too, she knows the two of you have been-"
"For the last Time, Berry, NO. I'm not going to go out with you and Kurt and Blaine and Liz and Brittany and pretend that everything is normal and hunky-dory, ok? It's great that Britt is in New York and she has a new job at some fancy engineering something-or-other, but that doesn't negate the fact that she's my ex-girlfriend. You don't go out with exes and bring along whoever you're currently dating. It's weird, nobody does that," Santana huffed. Damn Berry and her big mouth, telling Britt I'd go out with them tomorrow. Why would I go?
"Fine, be that way, but you have to realize that now that she's back in the same city with the same friends you're going to run into her eventually."
"Honestly Hobbit, NYC has literally millions of people. I think I can manage to avoid one of them if I try hard enough. Oops, work emergency, gottagobye!" She spits out quickly, cutting off whatever Rachel's retort about running from her problems was going to be. In reality, there actually was someone at the door of her office, so she wasn't really lying.
"Come in!"
Kate, one of the dance teachers from her studio plopped down on the couch that was pushed off to the side of her office and let out a deep sigh. "God children are exhausting. Why would people ever make them on purpose? I mean, don't get me wrong, they're delightful and adorable for the few hours that I have them every day, but I get to give them back. Their parents are stuck with them. All. The. Time," She looked at Santana curiously, "Did I interrupt? It sounded like you were on the phone."
"Saved me actually," Santana replied. "Berry was trying to rope me into one of her crazy schemes. Not important. Did you need something?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Um, one of the mom's that enrolled her daughter in the afternoon class tomorrow called. They're new in town and she's just starting a new job, she didn't realize that work was going to cut so close to when the class gets out at 5. She said the nanny would drop her daughter off, but wouldn't be able to pick her up, and that she wouldn't be able to get to the studio until 5:30 or so. She was wondering if there was someplace her daughter could chill until she got here? I realize that it's a Friday, but I had plans and since you never leave until 6 anyway, I was hoping it'd be cool if she just sat in here and colored or something?"
"Yeah, sure, that's fine. Not a big deal. What age class is it again?"
"Well technically it's the 7-10 year old class, but I think the girl is only four or five. Her mom sent a video of her dancing before they enrolled and the other instructors and I thought she was too advanced for the beginner classes. Anyway, since that's fine, I'm gonna head out. See ya tomorrow, Lopez."
As Kate swept out of the room, Santana began to gather her things as well. Since I'll probably be here late tomorrow anyway, I'll just finish everything up then.
...
(Next Day)
Knock knock. "Santana?"
"Hey Kate, come on in," Santana replied without looking up. It was 5 o' clock on Friday night, and the last dance class of the day had just finished. Santana was filling in some spreadsheets mapping out enrollment and payments for the month, and hoping she could get them done before six so she could go home. Liz was out of town which meant that her Friday night plans consisted of ordering takeout and watching a movie alone, but it still seemed more exciting than work. She heard Kate open the door and start shuffling things around.
"Alright, now here's a coloring book and some crayons and your mom will be here soon. Just stay in here with Miss Santana. Santana?"
"Yeah?" Santana replied, finally looking up. When she did, she couldn't help but freeze.
"This is Amelia Pierce-" "Lia!" the girl interjected. "Right. Lia. Anyway, her mom will be here in like half an hour, so she's just gonna hang out in here until then."
Santana was still staring at Amelia when Kate stopped talking. Same blue eyes, same build, she was going to be tall. Curly blonde hair that was a little longer than it had been in the last picture Santana had seen. "Ok, um, Kate, I'm so sorry I totally forgot that I have a date night planned so I have to go right now-"
"Didn't you say Liz was in Denver for her sister's graduation?"
"Right, appointment, I meant I had an appointment tonight-"
"What is with you?" Kate looked confused. "I asked you yesterday if this was ok and you said it was fine. I told you I had to head out right away tonight. Can you just stick around for another," she checked her phone, "twenty-five minutes until her mom gets here? Then you can go do whatever it is you need to do."
Santana slumped into her chair, mildly ashamed. "Yeah. Sorry. I'll see you on Monday."
"Yeah, ok," Kate walked out, still looking like she wasn't quite sure what Santana's deal was. Santana wasn't exactly sure either, except that she knew she really didn't want to run into a ghost from her past tonight. In fact, she'd lobbied very hard to avoid that exact scenario this evening. The universe was working against her, she was sure of it. Well, she should probably at least try to speak to this child who was staring at her with a disturbingly familiar expression. It was remarkably similar to Brittany's
'something weird just happened but I'm not sure what' expression.
"Hi there."
Amelia, Lia, continued to stare.
"I'm Miss Santana," she tried again.
"I know. I'm Amelia Marie Pierce. But I like to be called Lia, not Amelia or Marie or Pierce because Amelia is too long and Marie is just my middle name but I don't know why but mommy says it's important and Pierce is my last name and nobody uses last names like first names. And not all of them together because that's what mommy calls me when I'm bad. But Lia's just right, so I like being called Lia," It seemed her attempted conversation had opened the floodgates and Lia had decided that it was officially safe to talk to this strange lady.
She continued to talk as she sat down on the couch and opened up her coloring book. It made Santana smile, she was so much like Brittany as a child. That thought brought back the nervousness. Not the full on panic, but definitely the nervousness. Brittany was going to be here in twenty minutes. God. How should she act? She decided on cool and collected. There was nothing weird about this. She was just doing her job, looking after a student until her parent came to pick her up. Nothing more. It didn't have to be a big deal. She realized that Lia was looking at her expectantly, that she must have just asked her a question. She nodded, unsure of what she was agreeing to. This seemed to be the correct answer, because Lia flashed her a blinding smile and turned back to concentrating quietly on her coloring book.
Santana had been working on her spreadsheets for only another few minutes when Lia asked what she normally does on Fridays.
"Nothing usually," Santana answered. "Sometimes me and my-" she paused before remembering that Brittany had probably had at least spoken to Amelia about girlfriends, since she always thought that if kids were taught that love is love, the world would be a better place, so Amelia wouldn't think it was weird "-girlfriend, we go dancing, or to a movie. But mostly we sit at home. Tonight I'll be by myself, she's out of town."
"Oh," Lia seemed to think about that for a moment. "My mommy and me like movies too. We never go anywhere for dancing though, we do that at home. My mommy is a really good dancer. We aren't doing that tonight though, tonight I have a babysitter because my mommy is going to see some friends that she hasn't talked to for a while. But she got kind of happysad about it."
Lia looked rather concerned about this development.
"What do you mean?" Santana found herself asking, curious despite herself.
"You know, happysad. Like when you're excited about something but then you find out that it isn't just like you wanted, so you're a little sad too. Like when I found out that I was gonna get to go to a petting zoo, but they didn't have ducks. I still got to pet all the goats and sheep and stuff, but I really wanted to pet a duck and there weren't any."
Lia went quiet after that, and no more was said about weekend plans or mommies or ducks. About fifteen minutes later Santana heard the bell on the front door chime and she braced herself for an encounter that, in the back of her mind, she'd been waiting five years for. There was a knock on her office door. "Hello?"
She stood up behind her desk. "Yes? I mean, come in." The door opened and Lia jumped up, wrapping her arms around a tall, blonde figure's legs. "Mommy! Miss Kate said I did great at class today! Some of the older girls were gonna be mean but then I showed them how I dance and then they weren't anymore 'cause they saw I was in the right class. And then Miss Kate brought me here and I colored and talked to Miss Santana! This is Miss Santana, we're gonna be friends."
When Brittany finally lifted her gaze and caught Santana's eye, she looked a lot less surprised than she should have. Certainly not as surprised as Santana had been. She smiled warmly at her.
"I'm glad sweetheart," she said to her daughter, "I actually used to know Miss Santana, a long time ago. Waaaaaaay back before I had you. She's a really good friend. She'll always protect you from the mean girls."
"I knew she would mommy," Lia replied very seriously, "She's really nice. She wouldn't ever be mean to me, I think."
Santana just stood uncomfortably and watched this exchange, unsure of whether she was included in the conversation, or merely the subject of it. She was slightly relieved when Lia let go of Brittany and ran over to her, holding a page torn out of her coloring book.
"This is the picture I colored for you! Now when you're doing movie night by yourself you can think about your new friend, me!" Lia grinned, pleased with herself, but Brittany looked at Santana, confused.
"Movie night by yourself?"
"Yeah mommy," Lia answered, "Miss Santana's girlfriend isn't here so she has to be all by herself because she doesn't go do things with friends like you do sometimes like tonight," suddenly Lia looked like a lightbulb flicked on in her head. "I know mommy, Miss Santana should go with you! That way she can be with you and your old friends!"
To her five year old brain, this was a perfect solution to everyone's problem, and Santana didn't have the heart to burst her bubble. She found herself nodding when Brittany asked if she'd like to come, pretending that they both didn't know that those were the exact plans she'd tried desperately to avoid tonight.
"Ok mommy, come on! We gotta go!" Lia called as she dragged her mother out the door.
"See you next week Miss Santana!"
Santana just stood shell-shocked for a moment, then grabbed her keys to go home and get ready for a night out.
...
She arrived at the cute little pub that Berry informed her they'd be at around nine, and shook her head when she realized that it was open mike/karaoke night. Of course. The hobbit would never schedule any kind of Glee clubbers reunion unless there was an opportunity to break into song.
She found her friends rather quickly, and though the conversation was a little stilted at first, especially between her and Brittany, she soon found it flowing much easier than she was expecting (with the addition of a steady stream of alcohol of course). There were performances from everyone at the table except her so far, even Britt got up to sing once with Kurt, and they were all lobbying for a song from her now. "Fine, fine!" she waved them all off and stood up. Maybe a little too quickly. The room wavered for a moment and she realized that she may have drunk a bit more than she initially intended. She was fine though, completely fine.
Making her way over to the man running the karaoke, she asked for a sing she had found on Pandora a few weeks ago, just after she'd been told Brittany was moving to the Big Apple. It stuck with her because it reminded her of Brittany, and with her decision making skills impaired as they were, it seemed like the perfect song to sing for her ex while her girlfriend was out of town and all their friends were present. She closed her eyes, held on to the mike, and opened her mouth to sing.
"It's one hundred and nine degrees in this crowded room,
No room to breathe,
With walls as cold as a gallery,
This is no place for me.
Such hard faces, set in smoke,
The smell lingers in my clothes.
It's a bad night to be alone,
But that's the way it goes.
And I think of you, whenever life gets me down,
I think of you, whenever you're not around,
And you rest your bones,
Somewhere far from my arms,
Yeah, but you still pull me home."
The room was hot and crowded and it reminded her of the parties she'd attended, smoke swirling through the air. The nights she'd drink too much and get emotional and need somebody, need Brittany, to convince her that she wasn't alone and unlovable. They'd come so far since then, but she still found her thoughts drifting to the blonde, especially since she'd seen her last winter. Liz was traveling so much lately, and when she wasn't they fought, so she was often left alone with her thoughts. She wondered if this had been the right choice. She had a great job and girlfriend and lived in the city of her dreams, so why wasn't she happy?
"I thought I had it figured out,
In a brand new life
With a great big house,
And grey initials on the towels.
I should be happy now.
Well, you've got yourself a family,
And you planted roots down by the sea,
I saw you once, on the street.
You didn't notice me."
When Brittany had Amelia and settled in Charleston, she thought she could finally let go, but seeing her in Lima made her question everything she'd been working towards. Since then, she had this little fantasy that kept coming back. She'd tried to stifle it, but to no avail. She and Brittany were happy, together. They had a little townhouse in the city, which they could afford on the money from Broadway stars' kids and rocket science. It was near a school for Amelia. It was stupid, and she knew it, but it kept coming back.
"But I think of you, whenever life gets me down,
I think of you, whenever you're not around,
And you rest your bones,
Somewhere far from my arms,
Yeah, but you still pull me home.
Just to put your mind at ease,
You don't owe me anything,
You paid me well in memories.
And I think of you, whenever life gets me down,
I think of you, whenever you're not around,
And you rest your bones,
Somewhere far from my arms,
Yeah, but you still pull me home.
Yeah, you still pull me home.
You still pull me home."
She took a deep breath at the end of the song and focused on the spot in the crowd that she'd been avoiding throughout the performance. Brittany's seat was empty. Perturbed, she made her way off the stage and followed the direction of her friends' gestures toward the door. There was a tall figure leaning in the entryway, looking suspiciously like she was struggling not to cry.
"Britt-Britt?" She mumbled. Words were harder than they should be, and she felt flushed. There were more empty glasses at her table than she initially thought. "Whatsa matter?"
Shiny blue eyes flicked up and met hers. They were standing closer than they should be, but there wasn't much room without blocking the door.
"I think of you too you know." Brittany answered. She looked surprised at her own boldness. "I never stopped. Never. Amelia's middle name is Marie you know, just like-"
"-mine, yeah. She told me. Well, not that it was mine, but I kind of thought, you know, maybe."
They both went quiet again.
Santana tried again. "Britts what's wrong, why did you run out?"
Instead of answering, Brittany's eyes flicked to her lips (which had somehow drawn even closer) and back up to her eyes. Neither moved for a moment, and then she leaned forward and pressed her lips, ever so gently, against Santana's.
Fireworks.
Sparklers. Lightning.
Every clichéd thing that's ever been said about a kiss. Just like theirs had always been. Santana was shocked to find herself kissing back and gasped as she broke away.
"I have a girlfriend."
Brittany nodded.
"I have to go."
Brittany looked unsurprised.
"I'll see you again. Soon. I have some things, and stuff, to figure out. You know?"
She nodded again.
Santana pushed her way out the door and into the mild June evening. You've gone and done it this time Lopez, She thought.
...
A/N: Song used here is "Think of You" by A Fine Frenzy