A/N: I know this is a fairly small chapter, but all the alerts I've been getting on the story prompted me and this pretty much wrote itself. Promise I'll update again soon. Also, just after some feedback on the flashback components in a couple of the chapters. Is it too confusing going back and forth like that or should I keep doing them?

Out of Kindness

Chapter Five

Brittany wasn't woken by any alarm this morning. Instead it was the needy kisses of her boyfriend on her neck that pulled her slowly from sleep.

"Morning," she mumbled sleepily.

"Hey, beautiful." Charlie kept kissing down her neck and exploring her body with his hands from behind.

Brittany turned onto her back to face Charlie, who was now hovering above her. The lustful look on his face told her that his affections only meant one thing.

"You're in a good mood this morning." She stated.

"Well, you were asleep when I got home last night. I've missed you." He said as he continued placing kisses wherever he could reach and attempting to undress her.

"Charlie, do we have to this morning?" Brittany asked, making a slight attempt to stop his ministrations.

"C'mon, Britt."

"I just...want to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" He asked in slight annoyance as he pulled his face from her neck to look into her eyes.

"It's about Santana." She said looking back up at him.

"What about her?" Charlie asked, exhaling heavily.

"Can you tell me everything you can about her in the time you've known her? And about high school if you know anything. I want to know everything I've missed out on."

"Ask her yourself, Britt. C'mon, I'm trying to make love to my girlfriend before I have to leave for work. The very last thing I want to be doing right now is talking about someone else." He said in a voice laced with irritation.

"Fine," is all Brittany could say before his lips were on hers.

If anyone asked, Charlie would say he made love to his girlfriend that morning; Brittany would just call it sex. He touched her with hurried hands, barely stimulating her before he drove himself into her in a needy and desperate fashion. She knew what was appropriate. She carried on the moment between them with well placed hands rubbing on his back, subtly grazing him with her fingernails. She knew what noises to make to ensure he really enjoyed himself; breathy moans exhaled directly into his ear, becoming higher in pitch as his pace became more frantic. She moved her hips in the way she knew he liked, a way she knew would get him off faster. And he did. He collapsed in a heap on top of her, still moving slightly inside her and riding out his high as he exhaled heavily.

"I love being in you," he said into her ear and sucked her neck lightly.

Brittany responded by wrapping her arms tightly him and kissing him hard on the mouth. She waited for him to pull out and head for the shower, before she curled herself back into the sheets and pretended to sleep.

After only a few minutes, Charlie came back into the bedroom and dressed himself while Brittany kept her eyes closed. She sensed him moving closer to the bed and felt the side of the bed dip under his hand. He leaned over her placing a feather-light kiss on her cheek.

"Bye, baby." He breathed against her. "I'll see you tonight. Love you." Another kiss was placed on her cheek before he left the bedroom closing the door behind him.

Brittany waited a few moments, ensuring that Charlie had indeed left, before getting out of bed. Once she did, she headed straight to the shower so that she could wash herself clean of this morning's events.

Lately, she couldn't shake the feeling of disgust from herself whenever she had sex with her boyfriend. She wasn't sure if it was the act itself, or the physical lies she told that disgusted her the most. Every desperate kiss, every lingering touch, every moan that passed her lips, were all a fallacy to make him believe beyond a doubt that she was enjoying it as much as he was. Because she couldn't decide what was worse; a lie to tempt a smile, or a truth to draw a tear on a face she'd learned to care about so deeply.

Once she emerged from the shower, shaking her head clear of the thoughts that clouded her, she dressed herself in a fresh pair of pyjamas and headed back to bed. But, not her bead, not the one she had shared with Charlie for the past year. Instead, without any hesitation or second thought, she walked into Santana's room, lowered herself under the covers of the bed and cuddled close to the brunette who lay there sleeping soundly.

XxXx

For the second morning straight, Santana had woken to find a familiar blonde beauty in her bed. This time, she sensed her presence before even opening her eyes. She smelled the familiar scent of sweet oranges and cinnamon that was her shampoo, and the subtle, salty musk of her skin that was so distinctly Brittany. She felt the warmth coming from the body next to her; a warmth that radiated through to her very insides making her feel so at home. Santana lay there with her eyes closed for a few moments, enjoying the sensation that was waking up next to Brittany, until she heard a small giggle escape from the girl next to her.

"What's so funny, Britt-Britt? Am I drooling?" Santana asked, still keeping her eyes closed.

"I didn't know you were awake. Actually you were drooling a little, but that isn't what I'm laughing at." Brittany stated and threw her arm lazily over Santana's waist.

"Well, enlighten me." Santana opened her eyes to look at her friend and shuffled a little closer.

"I was laying here for a little while and I started to get hungry. I kind of have this weird craving for omelettes this morning. So I was thinking about that, and then I remembered when your Mom had her family coming over for breakfast that time. She like two dozen eggs and was planning on making...what is that omelette thingy she always used to make?"

"Huevos montulenos," Santana chuckled, knowing precisely where this conversation was headed.

"That's right!" Brittany continued, "And remember the night before? We hard boiled all of the eggs as a joke and put them back in the refrigerator." Brittany was now laughing as she spoke and Santana was struggling to maintain composure. "Do you remember being woken up by her yelling out from downstairs 'who the hell hard-boiled all of my huevos!'" Brittany called out, raising her hands in the air for emphasis and trying her best to imitate a thick Hispanic accent.

Santana was now laughing uncontrollably at her friend's impression of her mother.

"We got into so much trouble for that. She was so pissed off." Santana said, wiping her eyes.

"God, we were such a handful!"

"I know. We always knew how to have fun though. Consequences were always half the fun."

"How is your Mom, San? I miss your family."

"She's good I think. It's been a long time since I've seen her. I speak to her every so often. Still the same I guess..."

"Oh..." Brittany was unsure of how to continue from here. She wanted to ask, to pry, but wasn't sure if Santana would allow it. "Why has it been so long? The way you were with your Mama Lo', I thought you would have stayed close with her."

"Yeah well, you left a really long time ago, Britt; things change. And I haven't been back home in years." Santana said gently, yet averting her eyes from Brittany's unwavering gaze.

"Does she not like that you're a lesbian?"

"It's not that," Santana chuckled slightly.

"Well? Why haven't you been back home?"

"Please don't ask me, Britts." Santana pleaded.

Brittany took in a small gasp at those familiar words. She was reminded of the last summer they spent together. It was the summer she watched Santana fall apart on the inside and hide behind a thick veil of walls while Brittany waited patiently for her friend to let her in. She never got the chance to find the pieces to Santana's puzzle before she was unceremoniously whisked away by her mother to a far away state.

Brittany lifted her hand to place it on Santana's cheek, all the while searching her eyes for something, anything that would give her answers to the questions she wasn't allowed to ask.

"San, do you have any idea how much I missed this. Laying with you, being near you. It feels just like coming home."

Santana shot her friend a lazy smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Why didn't you ever come back like you promised? Even to visit in the holidays?" She asked nervously.

"My mom wouldn't let me," Brittany answered slowly. "Remember how her and my grandparents kept fighting over the fact that she was trying to take me away. In the end they hated each other and over time my mom convinced me that my grandparents hated me too and wanted nothing to do with me."

"Britty, you know that's not true," Santana said, making sure to look straight into Brittany's eyes. "Your grandparents love you."

"I know that now that I'm older, but at the time I believed it. And I felt abandoned. It hurt too much try to contact you. My Mom took my phone away and gave me a new one but I couldn't even remember your phone number, you know how hopeless I am with numbers and remembering things. The only way I could get hold of you was through my grandparents and I believed they didn't want to know me. Because that's what my mother drilled into my head."

"Where is she now?"

"Who knows? We're kind of estranged now. Even though I speak to her on the odd occasion, she never quite forgave me for jumping ship."

"What do you mean?"

"Senior year, she wanted me to move again. I'd been to five different high schools in three and a half years. I was halfway through my senior year and she wanted me to up and leave yet again. But I was in a really good dance programme, I was a cheerleader; I'd kind of found my niche at this school. I'd turned 18 a couple months before, so I told her that she could follow 'Soldier Tom' all around the country but I was staying where I was. I got a job, a place to live and I finished out my senior year in Arizona before moving out here."

"Britt..." Santana choked out but couldn't continue for the tears she'd started to cry.

"San, it's okay." Brittany pulled her arm tightly around Santana's waist, pulling her closer so that they were practically laying flush against one another.

"I'm so sorry, Britt, I had no idea. That must have been so hard. I resented you a little bit you know..."

"Resented me? Why?"

"Because you got to get out of Lima, left me behind. I was so angry at you for that all through high school. I just thought you'd moved on and were loving life in Florida while I was hating life in Ohio...without you. I'm so sorry..." Santana trailed off, casting her eyes downward to hide the shame that lingered in her words.

"It's alright, San. I just want you to know that I missed you with everything I had." Brittany closed the tiny gap between them, resting her forehead upon Santana's. Being in her presence like this, sharing parts of themselves with each other, sharing physical contact, it made Brittany's heart race and head spin. Without thinking what she was doing, almost like her body was acting of its own accord, she tilted her face inward and captured Santana's lips in her own.

Brittany sucked lovingly on Santana's bottom lip, savouring her taste, as she moved her hand to the back of her neck and tangled her fingers in amongst the brunette locks.

Santana kissed her back, with fervour, resting her hand on Brittany's cheek and squeezing her eyes shut as tight as she could. Their bodies pressed into each other, trying to get closer still, almost as if they were attempting to melt into one another.

By the time they pulled apart, both of them had tears brimming in their eyes. Each of them stared deeply into the other, daring for one of them to break the silence.

"I've missed your sweet lady kisses," Brittany said breathlessly, without attempting a smile.

"Yeah, me too. But we can't do this, Britt."

"Because of Charlie?"

"Yeah..."

"You and I are different though, we're special. I finally have you back, things are going back to normal between us. Making out is normal for us. Can't it be like it used to? Friends talking with their tongues super close?"

"We were so young then, Britt. We acted on our impulses back then, without understand what we were feeling."

Brittany leaned in and kissed her once more; Santana didn't fight it.

"Nothing about this feels wrong though." Brittany mumbled against her lips.

Santana kissed her back and smiled sweetly at her as she peeled her face away.

"C'mon Britt-Britt, I'll make you some eggs. I can practically feel your stomach growling against me."

"No, that's just the rocket in my pocket," Brittany responded, shooting her friend a suggestive wink and a goofy grin.

Santana just laughed as she pulled Brittany up out of bed.

"We'll talk about this after we eat," Santana said, sternly, while she dragged Brittany down the hall towards the kitchen.