April 22

06:00 pm

There are always moments in your life when you get that gut feeling that something unexpected is just about to happen. That was exactly how Santana felt during her walk towards Urban Ink.

She was certain of two things, number one she didn't want to be there and number two she really didn't want to be there.

She could always turn around, go back to her car and forget about it but, she simply didn't have the luxury of making her own decisions anymore. Even if that was true, part of her brain was still trying to get her to leave and each step was becoming increasingly more difficult, but unfortunately as unappealing as this tattoo shop and the people she expected to find there seemed, it was still more appealing than having to try to discuss with Ray why she didn't go.

She had never been a submissive person, but Ray had a power over her, she couldn't even explain it to herself but she was constantly living with the fear of not being good enough and disappointing him.

The distance between her designer shoes and the Urban Ink's doormat was shrinking and she was slowing each step as she was hoping for something to happen that would prevent her from going into that place.

But, as she had learnt to accept, life didn't seem to want to do her any favors.

Once she was right in front of the main door she couldn't help but peek inside the shop, to check it out before opening the door and letting herself enter into their weird world.

She quickly roamed her eyes around and noticed how professional and well organized the place was, that was her first thought. Whilst she continued to scan the shop her second thought wasn't as positive, she seriously believed that these people belonged to some kind of circus.

Her entrance immediately drew the attention of the four strange looking people sat on the waiting bench in front of her, they were staring at her probably wondering if she was lost as she stood out like a sore thumb.

A cute good looking guy, who she guessed was probably supposed to be the receptionist, was standing right behind the entrance desk, juggling with what seemed to be two apples. After a couple of seconds the guy finally noticed her, she was standing still waiting for him to do something and with a sudden movement he threw one of the apples at her.

Santana was surprised but still managed to instinctively catch the fruit while offering him a look of surprise in return.

"Hey gorgeous, what can I do for you?" He asked clearly staring at her breasts.

Santana immediately was overcome by a sense of embarrassment and discomfort.

What the hell am I doing here?

"I...I…" she stuttered something before clearing her voice loudly to try to gain some semblance of control. "I'm Santana Lopez, I think I have a meeting with the owner." She said this time hoping to be more convincing but she really wasn't sure if the guy was actually listening to her or still having a staring contest with her boobs. She wanted so badly to snap her fingers in front of his distant face and tell him to look a couple of inches higher but she managed to bite her tongue and remain calm.

She had promised Ray that she would go to the tattoo shop to hold a meeting with the manager and that was it, she was already one hundred percent sure of the fact that this was the last time she would ever be stepping into the Urban Ink.

Surprisingly the guy managed to process her words and nodded, this time looking at her directly in the eyes.

"Oh yes, your fiancé called earlier." He replied affirmatively.

For a moment Santana had the urge to confess to the stranger that Ray wasn't technically her fiancé, yet. But she bit her tongue and offered him a polite smile instead.

"Yes, I came as soon as I could." She added trying to make a positive impression on him but the guy didn't seem to care.

"The boss is actually busy doing something in the private studio." The guy explained.

At that point Santana made a step forward and took notice of how the guy was dressed. He was wearing shorts, flip-flops and a creased tank top and it was like his style perfectly reflected his personality.

"Can you call him please?" Santana asked.

"Oh no, I do not disturb the sleeping dog, you'll have to take yourself I'm afraid."

Those words were able to upset her even more than she already was. Ray had told her that Urban Ink seemed to be a very professional place but he couldn't have been more wrong. The receptionist was a combination of a sleaze and a surfer, she also got the impression he was high and it seemed the boss didn't want to do any work even though there was a queue of customers.

She could have argued with her usual fierceness but she really didn't have the energy, all she wanted was to go home, take a bath and wash away the day. But of course things were never that easy as there was a damn tattooist preventing that from that happening.

"Ok, where do I go?" She questioned.

"Perfect, go right down the hall." The guy directed her pointing at the corridor on his right. "Oh the name's Puck by the way."

Santana didn't respond and started walking down a corridor that seemed to resemble some type of art gallery, there were numerous photographs showing different types of tattoos scattered all over the walls. Each step Santana took had her more surprised and wondering if they were actually original drawings.

Right at the end of the narrow corridor she came to a closed door that was separating her from the man she was so scared to meet, sighing she tried to gather up some courage.

Come on, five minutes and you're out.

She knocked choosing to ignore the sign asking, are you really sure? She waited for a couple of seconds but all she got was silence. She placed the hand on the door handle and with her heart hammering against her ribcage she opened the door.

Her mind was surprised again for the third time in the past fifteen minutes, the private studio wasn't as bad as she expected, well as far as tattoo shops go. Right in front of her, there was a big dark wooden designer desk with a computer with all kinds of technological gadgets surrounding it, while on her left side there was a surgical bed, not the cheap hospital type but the super expensive kind you would expect to find in a top professionals office.

Her brain was still busy processing all the new information that Santana didn't even notice that a blonde girl was sitting at the desk. She froze as soon she realized that the girl was staring at her with a questioning expression.

At least the owner has a secretary.

She thought as her facial muscles began to relax at the sight of what seemed to be a normal human being.

"Hi, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you but I've got a meeting with the owner." She explained hoping for some kind of reaction but all she got was a raised eyebrow waiting for her to continue.

"Can you just call him?"

"Excuse me?" The girl replied narrowing her eyes at her and Santana immediately felt an icy chill run down her back causing an involuntary shiver.

She didn't say anything since the awkwardness of the moment seemed to have reached a new high.

"Do you think I'm his secretary?" The girl asked with a sly grin.

"Oh I'm sorry, are you his girlfriend?" Santana asked even more embarrassed.

"I am the owner." The girl stated bluntly, making Santana's blood rush quickly up to her face.

Wait, was she really the owner of this place? She seemed to be so young, plus she was a girl and a tattooist.

"Oh I'm so sorry." Santana tried not to stutter. "I'm Santana Lopez."

"Oh yes. My deal." The girl commented lowering her gaze.

Deal? What was she talking about?

"I'm actually surprised your boyfriend let you come here all by yourself." The blonde added and in that moment Santana was absolutely certain it won't be a pleasant meeting.

Come on, five more minutes.

"He's very protective." She replied shrugging and taking a seat on the chair in front of the blunt girl even if she hadn't invited her to sit down.

When she lifted her gaze, she managed to get a closer look at the person who was sitting right in front of her.

Despite the fact she already hated the girl, she couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. Not that she cared about that, but it was simply a fact. The angelic features of her face, her blond hair that was reflecting beautifully the artificial light in the room and those wonderful blue eyes so soft and innocent they definitely didn't seem to match the rest of her persona.

Santana silently snorted as she lowered her gaze on the white shirt that the girl was wearing. It had a black writing that said Armageddon was yesterday. Today we have a serious problem. But that wasn't what really surprised Santana, the girl's body seemed to be telling a story with tattoos, she found herself wanting to know how the story would unfold.

"I bet." The girl commented with a sarcastic tone. "Anyways, I don't want to waste your time, I'm Brittany S. Pierce and as I hope you now understand I am the owner of this shop, so let's talk about the reason why you're here." she said almost in one breath looking directly at her. Santana didn't know why but the way that girl was staring at her, made her feel like her icy blue eyes were penetrating right into her soul making her feel exposed.

"Ray told me that you've recently started using a new laser technique for removing tattoos." Santana started hoping for Brittany to step in but all she got was another not interested look. "So I just wanted to know more about it." she added slightly shrugging her shoulders.

Brittany nodded, looking down. "Well, it's simple. It costs a lot, which means that it's a good way of earning money."

Santana's jaw immediately dropped. Was this really her way of selling her product? If that was how professional the girl was, Santana wondered how the place was still open.

"Oh, so..." Santana tried to say something, even though she was completely confused about what was the best way to approach this situation, but Brittany didn't let her. She suddenly rose up from her chair clapping her hands once, to draw her attention. Santana jolted, a little bit worried.

"Ok, listen…" she said looking at her, but after those two first words she stopped frowning. "…what's your name again?"

Santana's first instinct was to jump over the table and punch her, but she took a deep breath quickly counting up to three.

"It's Santana."

"Ok, so Santana listen…" she said again, this time putting particular emphasis in the pronunciation of her name. "I don't want to waste your precious time. I don't want to waste my time either with a scared refined girl whose only aim is to have her tattoo removed so that she can become the perfect trophy wife and be paraded around at pool parties."

Santana couldn't believe what she was hearing. That was without a doubt the first time the owner of a shop, where she wanted to invest money, had actually dared to insult her like that. She immediately felt a knot form in her stomach and her heart accelerate even more along with the previous blush returning full force spreading from her neck to her hairline. She opened her mouth to reply but the other girl was faster and kept on speaking.

"So I'm going to be quick. Am I your best shot to remove your tattoo? Yes without a doubt. Is it going to be painful? Yes, but I've had no deaths yet. Is it going to be expensive? Hell, yes. But from the Audi key ring sticking out of your pocket, I don't think money is going to be a problem."

Santana shook her head unwilling to believe that she was actually allowing a random human being to treat her like that.

"If you excuse me for a sec, I'm going to get a price catalogue so that you can decide if you're interested or not." Brittany said while already walking out of the room leaving her there completely dazed.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Puck asked as he saw Brittany popping out of the corridor.

"Getting the price catalogues." She cut shortly with a blank tone.

"We don't have catalogues."

"I know."

"Is it going that bad?" Puck asked motioning toward the corridor with a slight movement of the head.

At that question Brittany stopped rummaging in the drawer of the desk and rolled her eyes at him.

"You have no idea." She said out loud. "That girl is even worse than I was expecting."

Puck smirked, she has a great ass."

"I haven't had the time to notice it! It's like talking to a living ghost, she is everything I have always hated embodied into one person. You have to see her all dressed up like a business woman and then there is this sad nostalgic shadow in her eyes. I don't know, I thought I could do it but now I'm not sure anymore."

"With a body like that she can't be that bad." Puck added once again.

"Yeah, but I'm already bored and the idea of spending a month or two with a person with zero personality at all makes me sick and…"

She trailed off because in that moment their attention was drawn by the sound that what was coming from Puck's computer where the images of the security camera installed in Brittany's studio were playing.

On the twenty-two inch screen there was Santana Lopez now standing still in the middle of her studio.

Both Brittany and Puck didn't say anything, their eyes glued to the monitor.

"Who the hell does she think she is?" Santana said out loud. "Just because she is all tattooed and badass doesn't give her the right to be a bitch! I knew that coming here was a terrible mistake, damn Ray!" Santana Lopez added while pacing in circles.

Brittany was still staring at those images playing on the computer, with a hint of a smile on her face.

"Hi my name is Brittany S. Pierce and I'm the ultimate bitch. God! I'm the client, she is supposed to do what I want, what I demand and instead what do I get? Her insulting me, she doesn't know anything about me! Good job Santana, really, now is definitely the time to get out of here." She finished.

"Erm, should we tell her that we can see her?" Puck said while he was looking for the speaker button to communicate with Brittany's studio, but the tattooist stopped him.

"Not yet." She said with a smirk and then she started walking again towards her studio, but this time with a different approach.

As the last word was practically shouted out of her mouth Santana froze and rolled her eyes at the door hoping nobody had heard or even worse Brittany. She quickly sat again and cleared her throat trying to calm down.

Come on, resist. You won't see her, ever again.

A couple of seconds later the door of the studio opened again and Santana immediately felt a shiver run down her spine, she didn't even need to turn to check if Brittany had just stepped into the room, she could feel her presence.

"I'm sorry, I forgot that we don't have any catalogues here." She said letting herself fall into her chair again.

"It's okay." Santana replied. "I still have to think about it so, maybe I'll call you later."

Brittany shook her head lowering her gaze. She waited a couple of seconds before speaking again, making Santana feel uncomfortable again.

"Listen, maybe we started out on the wrong foot." The girl said. "So, hello I am Brittany S. Pierce and I'm the owner of this place. How can I help you?"

Santana frowned completely confused on what was really going on. Was she bipolar or something?

"Erm, hello?" she replied back even though all she wanted in that moment was to run away from this weird situation.

Wait is she serious?

"I, I came here because I would like to have my tattoo removed." Santana stuttered. "And, I would like to know more about your new laser therapy technique."

Brittany nodded, still holding her steady gaze. It was incredible how uncomfortable those blue eyes made her.

"Sure, I'll briefly explain to you what this is about. This new technique is called "Fade Away Method" and it uses one of the most modern lasers on the market and it differs from the original one because of its less damaging effects on the skin. This technique consists of the penetration and breakup of the ink that was injected into your skin. The ink and skin is broken up by the laser and the skin eventually peels away taking the tattoo with it. The common laser treatment takes an average of 2 years to remove a tattoo and even then the process is not fully guaranteed to work. However the "Fade Away Method" has excellent results and it usually only needs a few sessions." Brittany finished explaining and for the first time Santana had the feeling that that girl knew what she was talking about.

"I understand."

"But I have to warn you, like every new therapy it has some negative aspects."

"Like what?"

"It is really expensive, as I told you before and it's a little bit painful because it's still laser treatment on your skin after all."

She wanted to answer that money wouldn't be a problem but she thought better of it.

"How many sessions do you think I'd need?" Santana asked.

"For that" she said pointing at her waist, rolling finger in the air. "I need to see the artwork."

Santana nodded awkwardly feeling stupid for having just been caught blushing.

"Ok, sure."

"Ok, show me." Brittany said while stepping right in front of her.

Santana lowered her gaze trying to hide the fact that her blood continued to blush her cheeks.

"It's on my back." She said, trying to communicate to her she that she had no idea how to show it to her, since she was wearing a tight fitting red dress. She was expecting Brittany to step outside of her studio and let her undress herself but again, she was wrong.

"Oh, it's no problem. Stand up and turn."

Santana eyes widened and without thinking she simply obeyed. The palms of her hands started sweating as the situation continued to intimidate her. She stood up and Brittany slowly made a step forward, Santana swallowed thickly as she realized how close the girl was and that was definitely making her feel even more uncomfortable.

She turned quickly in order to be out of Brittany's vision those eyes, were something not to be messed with.

She instinctively leaned forward just a little bit.

"Uh, Puck was right." Brittany commented with what seemed to be a teasing tone.

Santana didn't know what the girl was talking about and she rapidly lifted her left hand to open her dress but Brittany stopped her pulling it down with a soft movement.

"Don't worry, I've got this." She said while gently gripping the zip of her dress.

A shudder ran down her spine following the exact trail Brittany was making with the zip. She suddenly realized that she was in a tattoo studio, in a room, alone with the weirdest person she had met in years and said person was undressing her.

With a gentle movement Brittany opened the two parts of the dress to uncover the tattoo.

Santana held her breath as she felt the hand of the tattooist brushing her inked skin.

"Mmm, wow. " Brittany commented.

"I know it's pretty impressive." Santana commented.

"Yes it is, but I'm not talking about the tattoo." The girl said.

What was that supposed to mean?

"The tattoo is a mess. The ink is faded and the edges are not well defined at all." She commented closing the dress zip and stepping away from her, letting Santana breath again.

"From what I've seen I think that twelve sessions should be enough to remove the tattoo. But it's always better to monitor the situation after each session."

"Oh ok, I guess I have to think about it. It is a big commitment."

"It sure is."

Santana was about to stand up and finally get the hell out of that place but Brittany stopped her with her words.

"Hey, just one more thing" she said catching her attention "before you can make any kind of decision you have to know something about me. First I don't get the reason why a person would want to erase a part of her life, so I'm totally against the fact that you're thinking about having your tattoo removed, second I'm not exactly what the world would define a normal person, I'm always doing or saying what I feel like doing and I won't apologize for that. Plus I'm a lesbian and I know that probably disrupts you and your perfect fantasy world you're living in, but I thought you should know this before you pay me for working on your back for the next three months."

She was absolutely shocked again she had lost track of how many times that had happened to her this past hour. It was incredible, people didn't usually surprise her. Well, the word surprise didn't usually apply to any part of her life. But she had to be honest with herself, nothing this girl was saying or doing was normal, politically correct or expected and she was somehow drawn to that.

"Are you trying to scare me?" Santana asked.

"I'm just being honest. You have to be informed of everything before you buy. It is true that I'm your best choice and you should be aware of the fact that I'm the only one who's performing this new method in California, so once you sign up with me you'll be stuck with me."

"So you're practically saying that the price to pay for needing Brittany S. Pierce is to actually have to spend time with Brittany S. Pierce?" Santana said but this time her tone had changed, there was a teasing hint in it. What was she doing? But what was more concerning was why was she finding all of this exciting?

"Hey, you're the customer. The decision is yours now." She said taking a pen from a skull shaped holder. Santana's eyes instinctively followed Brittany's movements. "I'm just writing some basic information and my personal contact details."

But Santana's mind was already elsewhere trying to understand what the girl had tattooed on her wrist. It seemed to be some kind of writing, but the font was too small to be read from that distance.

"There is no dark side of the moon really, matter of fact it's all dark." Brittany commented almost in a whisper while she was still writing.

"W-what?"

"That's what my tattoo says." Brittany stated making Santana immediately blush for having been caught staring.

"Oh I- I wasn't…" she stuttered. "…cool quote." She mumbled in defeat.

"It's from the song Eclipse." She paused for a second to check her reaction. "Pink Floyd?"

"Sure, love them." Santana quickly replied even though the truth was that she had never listened to any of their songs.

"Wow, Barbie. I thought you were more a Taylor Swift fan." Santana immediately blushed.

What's wrong with Taylor?

"And, w-what does it mean? It's pretty sad." She commented shrugging.

"Are we friends?" Brittany quickly replied snorting.

"Relax, I was just asking." Santana said again this time with an innocent tone.

"Fine." Brittany agreed rolling her eyes up to the ceiling. "The sentence that follows this one is the only thing that makes it look light is the Sun." she paused.

"Well, I'm still waiting for the sun." Brittany added while handing Santana the piece of paper.

That was actually a nice thought.

"Anyway, call me when you've decided something."

April 23

01:00 pm

"Puck, are you really sure?" Brittany asked while she was applying the disinfectant gel to his left pectoral.

"Hell yes!"

"This is the fifth time I've tattooed you in the past two months. Don't you think it's a little bit extreme?" Brittany insisted looking down at him smiling.

He rose up on his elbow to get closer to Brittany who was sitting in the chair next to the tattoo bed.

"Tattoos are cool, girls love them and I happen to work for the best tattooist in town, so."

"You're crazy." She commented while sticking on his naked skin the drawing of a wolf.

"Are you going to pay me this time?" she added with a laugh since she was already aware that the answer was negative, but it was ok since she really didn't need her friend to pay her.

"No as usual." He replied giving her his customary innocent look.

"Ok, let's get it started." Brittany announced clicking on the iPod. She took her precious 'Dragonfly Style Injection Molding Rotary Shader' tattoo machine and dipped its tip in the black ink, then like usual every time she was about to mark a person for the rest of their life, she took a quick look at the drawing she was about to make to try to memorize it and she started.

Puck was an easy customer, he was used to getting a tattoo and so he was not scared, he lies down on the bed humming while she does her job.

After having inked the outline, she lifted her foot from the pedal that was controlling the needle gun, put it down and took a sip of beer from the bottle on the table next to her.

"Hey, you're not supposed to drink. You're on duty."

"Shut up." Brittany replied. Drinking while tattooing wasn't what she usually did, but it was Sunday and the studio was closed. This was just having fun with a friend, not working.

"You know, most of the people go to the beach on Sunday, instead I'm here tattooing you."

"What can I say, you're life is better than other people's!" Puck commented with another smirk.

"Ass."

"So, did Santana Lopez call?" he started while she was starting tattooing him again.

"Nope." She replied.

"Too bad."

"Why? It's one less problem for us."

"Yeah but she is so hot!" Puck commented shaking his head.

"She has a boyfriend."

"I'm not jealous."

"Puck, that girl is currently dating the CEO of the Miller Industries, she wouldn't even take you into account to be her valet." She replied snorting at the thought of that girl.

"I know but she has such a great ass."

Brittany waited for a second before lowering her gaze smiling.

"You are right though."

As they both start laughing at each other.

"I love you Britt, everyone deserves to have a best friend like you. "

She looked at him waiting for him to explain what he had just said.

"What? You gave me a job, you tattoo me for free, we talk about other girls asses and you have amazing boobs." He added still chuckling.

"Stay still or I'll make a mess!" Brittany yelled at him with a friendly tone, but in that moment they were both were distracted by the sound of the door of the shop opening.

"Hey guys, look who I've found." Sugar announced stepping in.

Brittany turned herself to check what that girl was saying and she almost let the tattoo gun fall.

"Hey Barbie, what are you doing here?"

She asked looking directly at Santana Lopez standing still a few steps away from her.

Thank you for the feedbacks so far.

Hope you like it:)