Hearing footsteps approach, as she worked in the gardens, Molly looked up and could barely believe what she saw. Brittany was dressed in the attire of a courtier, her hair twisted and decorated with wildflowers, looking like a vision, as she strode towards her.
Molly let out a strangled cry of joy, as her eyes graced the man who hobbled at her side, "Arnold!" she called out to her husband, throwing down her rake, and setting off at a run, hot tears pouring down her face, as they reached each other, and he pulled her into his arms.
Up inside the manor, Emma heard sobs drifting in from the gardens below, and when she looked out of the window, she could hardly believe her eyes. Mr Figgins was back, standing in his gardens, hugging his wife, who was sobbing uncontrollably. Next to them, Brittany, dressed up to the nines, watched with tears in her eyes.
Setting off at a run, Emma hastily made her way down the spiral staircase, and hurried out into the gardens, unable to contain her cries of happiness and disbelief as she did so. Running up to the Figgins' she was pulled into their embrace, as was Brittany, and for a few moments, the four of them stood, all huddled together, sharing the joy of their reunion.
Santana skulked into the Palace strategy room, her mother and a few members of the guard hot on her heels.
As she entered the room, her father looked up from a meeting with his generals, and seeing her rose from his seat, "You, Miss, are restricted to the grounds!" he ordered.
"You are placing me under house arrest?" Santana questioned indignantly.
"Do not mock me girl, for I am currently of a fowl disposition and I will have my way" the King threatened, glaring angrily at his only daughter.
"Or what?" Santana held the older mans gaze easily, anger burning in her throat.
Feeling the tension in the room, shoot through the roof, the Queen cut in, "Oh Raymond sit down before you have a stroke" she interjected, smirking a little to herself as her husband grumbled but did as he was told.
"Santana, Darling" she addressed her daughter, "You were born to privilege, and with that comes specific obligations" she tried to explain, her voice soft, and her eyes full of pity for the plight of her child.
It took all of the princess's effort not to snort in contempt at the statement. "Forgive me mother, but marriage to a total stranger never made anyone in this room very happy, why should it be any different for me?"
Silence hung thickly around the room. The generals buried their heads in previously uninteresting papers, and the Queen stared out of a large stained glass window sadly. Santana seeing her mothers change in mood, immediately felt guilty for her latest statement, but knew it was too late to take it back, and also refused to revoke it and show weakness before her father.
"You will marry Prince Finn before the next full moon or I will make your life as difficult as I can" the King blurted out, his composure shattering as he shook with rage.
"What's it to be father, how will you make me any more miserable than this sordid marriage plan?" Santana shot back, he voice hard as steel, her façade never wavering as she faced off the older man.
"I will simply deny you the crown…and live forever" the King finished weakly, knowing he was beaten
"Good. Excellent, Agreed. I don't want it" Santana retorted, as she turned on her heel and made a hasty exit.
"She's your daughter!" the King bellowed angrily at Queen Maria, as they watched Santana disappear down the halls.
Brittany hummed happily to herself, as she carried the firewood into the games room at Tubbington Manor, instantly quieting when she noticed Jesse and Lauren playing a board game at the table.
"Someone's in trouble" Jesse sung under his breath tauntingly.
Putting down the firewood, and dusting off her dirty hands on her apron, Brittany turned to face him, "What do you mean?" she enquired nervously.
Before Jesse could reply, a hard shove to her side sent Brittany hurtling onto the floor, pain shooting through her head as it connected with the hard tile. The terrified blonde barely had time to pull herself into a nearby armchair before the Marquis was standing over her, "What have you done?" she hissed outraged.
"I-I, don't know" Brittany replied.
"Well think!" Terry sneered, her face dangerously close to Brittany's.
Scanning the room, desperate for an escape or something to use to defend herself, Brittany noticed Lauren making trotting motions with her hands and mouthing 'the horse'. Thankful for once for her step-sister, Brittany spoke up. "The princess stole our horse?" she offered.
"Yes" Terry confirmed, "That would explain why she came around late this afternoon to return it" she spat angrily, "We were unprepared! How could you do that to me, and to Jesse?" she questioned, her eyes glittering with rage.
"I'm so sorry stepmother" Brittany felt herself shaking with fear, she really didn't know if she could take a lashing, she was exhausted after all the events of the day.
"Luckily, Jesse put on an excellent show, didn't you Darling" she cooed, and Jesse nodded proudly, his eyes full of malice, "He and the Princess had quite the interlude, I shouldn't be surprised if she comes back around here to visit him again soon" the Marquis purred happily.
Brittany felt tears spring into her eyes. The thought of a lashing she could take, but the thought of Santana, beautiful, compassionate, utterly perfect Santana, falling for the tricks of a scheming monstrous pair like Jesse and her stepmother was more than she could handle.
Ignoring Brittany's obvious upset, Terry pushed on, "Now we must all work extra hard to make sure the Manor is spotless, we cannot have a royal bottom sitting on a dirty chaise can we?" she questioned, the hints of a smile pulling at her lips as Brittany quickly wiped away a tear and shook her head.
Before the conversation could go any further, a scuffling at the door interrupted the Marquis, and looking up she saw Emma, Molly and Mr Figgins. "What are you doing here?" she spat at the man she had sold.
"I worked off all of your…" Mr Figgins stopped short, quickly realising his mistake, "my debt" he corrected, "and so they told me I was free to come home."
Brittany held her breath, as she watched her stepmother's face, hoping to see the verdict written there before it was uttered, anxious for the final stage of her plan to be complete and Mr Figgins to be back home once and for all.
After what felt like an eternity to the servants, the Marquis finally muttered, "Very well. Go and…catch a chicken or something."
With that the four of them hurried out of the room, Brittany heading straight out to the barn, to have some time alone to think.
Laying in the hay, she smiled to herself as Lord Tubbington waddled over and curled into her side. She let herself replay the scene from the Castle in her mind over and over, from the moment where she looked up to see Princess Santana astride her horse, looking down at her with big dark chocolate eyes, right to the point where the Princess said she was 'well worth the effort'.
Brittany didn't know why she was so enamoured with the beautiful Latina, or why said person had been the object of her thoughts and daydreams ever since their first, rather unfortunate meeting in the orchard.
There was something about the Princess that drew Brittany in, when the girl smiled at her it made her head feel funny, and when she complemented her, well…that made her tummy twist and turn in a feeling that was somewhere between excitement and fear.
Yet all this, was overshadowed by a twinge of sadness. Princess Santana was…well, a Princess, and Brittany was merely a servant now. Brittany realised this meant they could never be friends. Thinking about that, something deep inside the blonde, told her that perhaps she didn't want the Princess to be her friend.
Molly and Emma were her friends, so was Mike Chang, but she never wondered what it would feel like to run her fingers through their hair, as she did about the princesses thick raven tresses, nor how it would feel to brush a thumb across their cheekbones, or perhaps even press her lips to those glorious full ones…
Letting out an audible sigh, and covering her face with her hands, letting Lord Tubbington's steady purring sooth her, Brittany tried, with little success, to push the thoughts of the Princess out of her mind. She had little experience with love, but she guessed if she over found it, it would feel something like what she felt when Santana looked at her, or told her she was 'worth the effort', yet she knew that kind of love was strictly forbidden within the Kingdom.
A man could not love another man, nor a woman another woman, or they would be severely punished for going against the church, under King Lopez's orders.
Lord Tubbington nudged her arm, eager for more attention, and Brittany was quickly pulled from her thoughts, what was she even thinking anyway? Santana was a Princess, and she a mere peasant, Santana was beautiful for all that she was plain, what place did she have to contemplate the likelihood and consequences of a love between the two, that could never, ever exist.
Santana and her mother were enjoying a late night walk around the gardens, the guard was hanging back to give them some privacy. As her mother chatted easily about suitable young men in the town, Santana's mind was filled with different thoughts entirely, thoughts of Brittany.
The princess has been so glad to learn her name, and the more she thought about it, the more she came to realise she was enamoured with the girl. Her blonde hair and bright blue eyes were bewitching, and when she spoke, Santana had the unexplainable compulsion to sit up and listen, something she had never felt before. When she looked into those blue eyes earlier that day, she wasn't Princess Santana with a world of obligation planted firmly on her shoulders and threatening to overwhelm her, she was just Santana, and that feeling was truly momentous.
"Mother, have you ever heard of a Brittany Susan Von Gent?" she questioned, earning her an intrigued glance from her mother, though the princess did not notice.
"I cannot say that I have" the Queen replied, waiting patiently to see where this unusual conversation would lead, Santana very rarely showed an interest in anyone in the town, let alone enquired about them by full name. The Queen's heart soared with the hopes that her usually guarded daughter had perhaps made a friend, besides that terrible guard boy with the strangely barbered hair.
"I thought you knew all the courtiers" Santana pressed.
"Of course not dear" Maria replied, "There are far too many for that, but why do you ask?"
Santana's head spun. Why did she ask? Why was she suddenly so intrigued by Brittany, and why did that name feel so right and so natural to her, why did it feel like a name she'd be happy to let roll off her tongue everyday for the rest of her life?
The Queen noticed her daughter's silence but did not press her.
Santana was again lost in thoughts of Brittany, of the beautiful blonde who had moved her in ways none of her father's many suitors ever had. If there were such thing as love at first sight, Santana would have thought it was something like what she had experienced earlier that day looking into those clear blue eyes. Yet Brittany was a woman.
Santana knew that kind of love was not unheard of in the Kingdom, but was frowned upon and under her father's rules punished heavily. She'd never really thought much of the issue until now, but somehow she was suddenly interested. She imagined what it would be like to lean in and capture Brittany's perfect pink lips and feel them warm and soft against her own… Before her thoughts could carry her any further away she was interrupted.
"Santana" her father called, trotting down the garden pathway and approaching the two women.
"In honour of Senior Schuester, I have decided to throw a ball, at which point you and I will strike a compromise"
"Compromise?" the princess questioned
"Yes, if love is what you seek I suggest you find it. You have five days in which to find a suitor, and you are to announce your engagement at the ball at midnight, or I will announce it for you" the King finished, rubbing his temples, and hoping that this would be enough to solve his current problems with his daughter.
Santana couldn't help but smile; she was being given a choice. Thinking she was free to marry for love, Santana was surprised when the image of a certain blonde lady popped back into her mind. Seeing her Father heading back to his office, she quickly called out to him, "Wait."
The princess could feel a plan forming inside her, there in that very moment; she was hatching a plot both utterly daring and completely brilliant. In that moment Santana found herself laying the foundation for a happily ever after she had never even known she'd wanted, or thought she'd get. She was risking every thing for someone she'd met just that very day, yet if her instincts were right, that someone could be the one, and so she had to try.
"While that is very generous father, I have but one more request" she raised her gaze to meet her father's eyes, and forced herself to remain stoic and serious as she delivered her next lines. "I wish for my coronation as queen to take place the day before the ball, so that I may announce my engagement and the suitor that will rule alongside me to the people there."
Off to her side, she heard her mother gasp, and fish for a handkerchief to dab at her wet eyes. Her father looked bowled over, before a wide grin spread across his face. He loved his Kingdom and his people, as well as the power that came with his job, but he had more than done his service, and was ready to pass on that duty as soon as the time arose, and until that moment, with the actions of his only daughter, he had never dared to dream that time would come so soon.
"You are wiling to take the thrown?" he almost didn't dare to believe it.
"Yes father, I have thought long and hard and realised I have a duty to fulfil. I am ready" Santana replied, giving the older man, what she hoped to be a convincing smile.
"Very well Santana" he allowed, smiling broadly. "Five days, or you and Prince Finn shall be the new rulers of the Kingdom" and with that he was gone.
"Thank you father" Santana whispered, barely able to believe what she had just done. She had just accepted the throne, the very thing she had spent her whole life fighting against, all on a whim for someone she had met but scarcely twelve hours ago.
She hoped against all hope that it would be worth it, but knew she had to try, before she could even court Brittany publicly, let alone propose marriage, the laws against such activities needed to change, and the only way Santana could see that done, would be to accept her rightful place as Queen, and pass the acts herself.
"Choose wisely my love" the Queen smiled at her daughter through her tears.
Santana gave a small nod. She intended to.