Santana lay on her bed, thoroughly chewing her pen and trying to focus on the math text book in front of her. At her desk sat Brittany loudly popping her gum and trying to study as well. Final exams were coming up faster than Santana ever thought they could. She was stressing enough over passing exams for herself but she was also trying to tutor Britt so she could graduate too. She knew Brittany was smart, just in a different way. It was so hard trying to get her to grasp harder topics like geometry and calculus. So far the only subjects Britts would be passing were gym and Spanish and Spanish only because she thought it was sexy when Santana spoke it to her. If only she could find Shakespearean English sexy.

"Britty?" Santana said sounding far off, "would you mind chewing your gum a little quieter, baby? I'm trying to concentrate."

Britt's face fell a little, "sorry, San." She turned back to her text book with a frown on her face. Santana looked up and it felt like her girlfriend's frown tugged at her heart. The Latina sighed and got up to make her way over to Britt.

"You okay?" She said softly, gently resting her hand on the blonde's shoulder. Brittany looked up with that adorable pout of hers.

"It's like all we do is study anymore Sanny and I just don't get any of this. What does pie have to do with a circle?" She sounded frustrated and defeated and Santana couldn't help the smile she gave her girl.

"Oh baby, here let me help you," she crouched down beside her girl and tried to explain. A few minutes later after trying again and again to help her solve the question, Santana could see the frustration glowing brightly in Britt's eyes.

"Do you get it?" San asked gently.

"No!" Brittany cried before swiping the heavy text book off the desk so hard it hit the adjacent wall. The dancer groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"Britt," Santana whispered as she tugged gently at the blonde's hands trying to gain access to her face. Brittany pulled her hands out of the brunette's grasp, stood up and stormed out of the room.

What the hell? Where did that come from? By the time Santana had snapped out of her initial shock and had gone to follow Britt she heard the blonde's car start up and pull out of the drive-way. San immediately pulled out her phone and tapped in Britt's phone number that she had memorized years ago.

The phone rung out and Santana got Britt's voice mail.

"Brittany? What the hell was that? Are you okay? Call me."

…

Two days earlier

Brittany sat awkwardly in the arm chair across from Dave in the lounge room. Santana was upstairs in the shower getting ready for their date that night so Britt was waiting for her. Brittany looked a bit glum which Dave found really weird. She was usually so chipper and talkative that he was really shocked that she wasn't going on about how awesome her cat was or something.

"Umm, Brittany, are you okay?" He asked hesitantly.

Britt shrugged and continued to look down at the ground with a frown on her face.

"Britt, what's wrong? D-do you want me to go get Santana or something?" This whole talking to girls about their feelings thing was a bit weird for him.

Brittany looked up and shook her head somewhat violently. She sighed. "I'm not going to graduate, Karofsky," she saw his mouth open to reply so she cut him off, "don't try to convince me that I am. We both it's not going to happen. San tries so hard to explain this stuff to me but I just don't get it!"

She paused and looked down at her folded hands. "What if she meets someone?"

Dave was so confused. "What do you mean, Brittany? What does this have to do with you not graduating?"

She rolled her eyes and leant back into the couch. "I don't care if I don't graduate. But what if, when San goes to college next year, she doesn't want to date a high schooler anymore?"

Worry shone in the blonde's blue eyes and she continued, "what if she meets someone at college, someone prettier than me, someone… smarter than me?" She finished in a voice that was barely audible.

"Oh, Brittany…" Dave was about to assure her that Santana loved her and he didn't think that she would ever leave the blonde when the Latina herself walked into the room dressed to kill. Her black dress was stunning and she grinned at Brittany who had a goofy smile on her face at the gorgeousness that was her girlfriend.

They both said their goodbyes to Dave and left for their Breadstix date hand in hand.

…

Santana stormed down the stairs and flopped down on the couch with a loud and frustrated groan. She buried her face in a pillow and let her hand, holding her phone, fall down beside her. Dave stared at her for a moment. Why did girls have so many problems? And why was it that he always managed to be around when they needed to vent? He sighed.

"You okay, San?" He asked gently from his position in one of the room's armchairs. He muted the TV and turned to face his friend. Santana grunted some words Dave couldn't make out into the cushion her face was pressed into. She then threw her hands into the air and groaned again.

"Yeah, I didn't catch any of that," he told her with an eye roll.

Santana rolled over so she was facing the ceiling and she threw up her hands again. "Bloody women!" She let out a little growl before sliding her phone open to see if she had any messages. "I've been calling Britts for an hour and she won't answer her damn phone!"

"Oh… did you guys have, like, a fight or something?" He asked awkwardly. Santana put her hands over her hands and moaned;

"I don't even know what just happened Karofsky. One minute I'm helping her with her maths, the next, she's yelling about how she doesn't get it and she storms out!"

Dave sighed; he was wondering when he'd have to come clean about what Brittany told him a couple days earlier. "San, Britt's worried that you're going to grow out of her when you graduate."

"What?" Santana asked shocked.

"She told me the other day that she's worried that you're going to get bored with her or something because… well… because she's not smart enough."

Santana was about to tear him a new one for calling Britt dumb but Dave interrupted by throwing his hands up in defence, "I didn't mean it like that. That's what she thinks."

The Latina slumped back into the couch confused. "She never said anything to me about this. She's never been worried about stuff like that before."

"Come on San, we're about to graduate. The reality of the fact that she isn't going to be spending almost all her day with you anymore has probably hit her really hard," he reasoned. "Just talk to her. Explain that you would never hurt her like that. You love her."

Santana stared at him for a moment then flopped back down on the couch. She slid her phone open again and dialled Britt. Once again she was sent to voice-mail.

"Britty," she said softly, "It's Santana… again. Dave told me what you said to him the other night. I know you probably don't want to talk tonight so just let me pick you up in the morning so we can talk. Britts, I love you and nothing is ever going to change that. Bye." She hung up.

David gave her a sympathetic look before asking, "You wanna watch a totally gay, rom-com to take your mind off things?"

Santana stared at him for a moment. She sighed, "'The Proposal'?"

Dave grinned, he knew her so well. He nodded and got up to rummage through the DVD rack to find the movie.

Apart from checking her phone every couple minutes and feeling disappointed when she had no messages from Britt, Santana had a decent night. Her and Dave ordered pizza and watched comedies until they both decided to go to bed so they actually had the ability to get up in the morning.

…

Santana rushed around getting ready the next morning, she threw on the first outfit she found, luckily for her she could even rock the jeans and tank top look. She bounded down the stairs and out the door before Karofsky could even ask for a lift.

"I guess I'm walking then," he murmured under his breath.

Santana drove at what could only be called a ridiculous pace until she slowed down at Brittany's street so it didn't look like she was rushing. She slowly pulled into the drive after waiting for Britt's dad to reverse out. He waved happily at her; she returned the greeting with a smile.

Brittany was sitting on the stairs staring at the car. She had her school bag beside her and as soon as San's car stopped moving she stood up and made her way over. When the blonde had settled into the car she was surprised when instead of driving away, Santana turned the key in the ignition and switched of the engine. The Latina turned to her girlfriend. She took the dancer's hand in hers and dipped her head to catch her eye. When Britt finally let herself make eye contact Santana took her chin and tilted it up so she could look the other girl full in the face.

"I love you," she whispered. "College isn't going to change that, Britt, I promise. I could never find anyone as special and incredible as you. I won't ever stop loving you."

A few tears had leaked from the corners of Brittany's eyes. "I'm sorry Sanny," she breathed into Santana's hair as she pulled her into an embrace.

"No," Santana pulled away to look at her girl again, "I'm sorry. I should be telling you every day how much I love you. You shouldn't ever feel insecure about us, Britty."

They hugged again, each revelling in the other's feel and smell. It was so familiar and they both knew that they would never get sick of being wrapped up in each other.

…

Santana and Britt had their math exam first up. They paused outside the door to the classroom. They kissed each other quickly before heading inside and taking their seats. As her test was placed in front of her by their teacher, Britt turned around and gave Santana a nervous look. San just smiled, winked confidently and blew her a kiss. Brittany smiled and opened her exam with a steely determination. She hadn't been nervous for herself. She knew there was no way she was going to graduate this year but Santana had to pass all of her exams and get good marks if she was going to get into the business administration course she had applied for.

Santana's wink had been enough to convince her that the Latina was pretty confident in her mathematical abilities. Contrary to some people's beliefs (Berry's), Britt knew that Santana was super smart.

She finished her exam pretty quickly, not knowing most of the answers. She was surprised that when she put up her hand for her paper to be collected she glanced backward and Santana, too, had her hand up. Her test paper was closed and she had a satisfied smile on her perfect lips.

Santana did awesomely in her math exam. There's just nothing else to say. She kicked its ass. When she asked Britt afterward how she went the blonde shrugged and said not well but she didn't seem sad about it at all. She was just happy that her girlfriend had done so well. It went like that for the rest of the day. In each period Santana had another test and she absolutely dominated every single one. One would look at the former cheerleader and not think her to be the most dedicated and intelligent student. But hey, she had Brittany to look after. She wanted to be independent after high school. She wanted an awesome job and she didn't want to rely on her parent's money after she graduated.

Her plan was to go all Lima Height's on high school's ass, get a full ride to the college of her choosing, get a part-time job, graduate from college with more kick-ass results, get an even more awesome job, provide for both her and Britt until the blonde got an epic job teaching dance (this was Britt's dream) and in about five or so years, when they had enough money, they would move out of San's parents' house and buy a house of their own. And finally, live happily ever after. Okay the last one might be a bit far-fetched but the rest San knew she could achieve if she tried hard enough. She wanted a good life for her and Britt and after doing so well on all of these exams she had a burst of hope that her dreams might actually come true!

When Santana told Britt of this plan the blonde had been a bit sceptical about living with San's parents until they were like in their 20's but San reminded her that her mom and dad basically lived at the lake house and would never be there. This satisfied Britt. Besides, she liked Dr Lopez and Mrs Lopez was a kick ass cook when she was around.

Santana really wanted Britt to go back to her place and stay there that night but the blonde just chuckled, shook her head and told her girlfriend that if she as there she knew they would just end up getting distracted and San wouldn't end up studying for the next round of exams the next day.

So Santana grudgingly drove her girl home and kissed her goodbye on her doorstep. The kiss went for a while seeing as Santana would just pull Brittany back into her arms every time the blonde would turn to go inside. It ended in Britts having a giggling fit and pushing San away so she could make her escape into the house before the Latina could kiss away more time that she could be using to study.

When San got home she was greeted with an eerie silence. Dave was usually home by the time she got home from dropping Britts off on the days the blonde didn't come over. One of the guys from Glee club usually gave him a lift when Santana didn't. She would usually hear him making himself something to eat, watching an action movie way too loud or talking on the phone with Blaine and Kurt. It was really cool to see how well he had started to get along with those two boys.

Santana quietly dropped her school bag next to the door and made her way into the lounge room where her jaw dropped in surprise.

"Mikael?" She breathed. The man beamed at her from the couch before standing to envelope her in a huge hug.

"Hello, my baby cousin," he said into her hair as he spun her around once before setting her back on the ground.

Santana snorted and rolled her eyes, "You're only a year older than me Mikael, and I'm hardly a baby. What are you doing here?"

"That's what I wanna know," said a gruff voice from one of the armchairs. Santana looked over to see Karofsky scowling at them with an ice pack pressed to his jaw.

"Holy shit, Karofsky what the hell happened to you?" Santana asked.

Dave just death glared Mikael. The tall boy threw up his hands in defence. "Hey I just came inside and saw a random guy chilling in your spare room, I thought he was like a robber or something!"

"So you hit him?" Santana asked, shocked at her cousin's rash behaviour. "Jesus, Dave are you okay?"

Dave shrugged, "I've had worse."

"Mikael what the hell, man?" She rounded on her older cousin with anger in her eyes. The Latino man had a look of guilt written on his tanned face. His deep brown eyes conveyed how sorry he was.

"I didn't mean to, it was an instinctual reaction, I swear," he said. "Listen – Dave is it? – I'm sorry for hitting you, really, I was just startled."

Dave grunted softy before shrugging again, "Lucky you hit like a girl."

Mikael cracked a grin at this and ran a hand through his short black hair. Santana thought that Dave would have been way more pissed off at being punched in the jaw than he was. Weird. Oh well, first things first.

"You didn't answer my question, Mikael," she said, "what are you doing here?" After seeing the expression on his face she quickly added, "Not that I'm not happy you are here."

Mikael smiled again, he really was a happy guy. "There's no way I would miss my own cousin's graduation!" He pulled her into another bone crushing hug.

…

After getting Mikael set up on the couch, Santana left him and Dave to watch TV while she went upstairs to study. They seemed to really be hitting it off, even though Mikael had just punched Dave in the face. Her dad really should have told her that he was coming so she could have given Dave a proper heads up.

She pulled her heavy ancient history text book out from under her bed and cursed herself for being stupid enough to choose that course. She had only just finished and handed in a 3000 word essay on the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen and now she had to study for the unseen essay exam the next day. She would occasionally hear an exceptionally loud crash coming from whatever movie the boys had put on.

She spent the rest of the night hard at work, sometimes taking a quick break to send a text message full of kisses and hugs to Britt. She refrained from sending anything more… hmm 'interesting' to her girlfriend for fear that she would get too distracted from her goal of learning everything she could about the Mayans. Eventually she was satisfied with the effort she had put in and that she would get a good mark on the exam tomorrow. She slid the text book that she was so happy to be seeing the last of, back under her bed where, hopefully it would stay for ever. She then retired to bed, sending one last good night text to Britts.

…

Dave laughed as a car in the movie they were watching did a very unrealistic flip into a big brick wall. The car exploded into a fireball and he heard Mikael's laughter join his. He looked over to the other boy who was sitting sideways on the other armchair with his legs draped over the arm rest. He had a soda in one hand and the other was resting on his stomach as he laughed.

Dave had to admit that he was pretty cute with his soulful brown eyes, tanned skin, dark, soft-looking hair and his lean and muscular physique. Dave was shocked when he found himself staring into those deep chocolate eyes. Mikael had one eyebrow raised and a small smile on his lips watching Dave watch him.

"You okay, bro?" He asked with mirth in his eyes.

Dave flushed and looked back to the TV. He shrugged, "fine, man."

…

Mikael offered to drive them all to school the next morning. Santana asked him to stop by Britt's place to pick her up and he was happy to oblige. He and Britts had always gotten along when he came over for visits on school holidays when they were younger. Santana was a bit nervous though, about what he would think when he found out what the true nature of hers and Brittany's relationship was. She wouldn't hide it, of course. After realizing that in order to keep Britt happy and, well, to be happy herself she had to come out of the closet, there was no way in hell she was going back into that dark, cramped, shameful place. Brittany deserved better and if telling Mikael that she was dating the blonde meant that she would be judged by him, then so be it. Britt came first.

They pulled up at Britt's house and she bounded down to the car. She leaned in the window and gave Mikael a huge kiss on the cheek and a dazzling grin before pulling the back door open and sliding in next to Santana. She smiled at Dave before leaning over to kiss Santana softly on the lips. When they pulled away, San chanced a look at her cousin. He was staring at her with wide eyes in the rear view mirror. After a second a slow smile spread over his lips and a look of… relief? He grinned and started up the car again before pulling out of the drive-way and driving at reckless speeds to the school. Driving like a lunatic was apparently a family trait they shared.

After he skidded to a halt outside of the school, drawing a few eyes, Dave and Brittany hopped out of the car saying goodbye to Mikael, San was about the follow suit when he grabbed her arm gently. He gestured with his head to Britts who was waiting for Santana at the foot of the stairs leading up to the front entrance of McKinley.

"I'm happy for you, cousin," he said with a smile. His face then clouded over and it looked like his mind was far away. He was looking in the direction of Dave and Britt as he said, "I just hope you will be happy for me." Santana was about to ask him what he meant when his focus snapped back into place, along with his winning smile. "I'll see you this afternoon?"

Obviously being dismissed, Santana frowned and got out of the car. Her attention was immediately horded by Brittany wrapping her arms around her neck and pulling her close for a searing kiss. Santana could faintly hear Dave's gagging noises in the back ground but she was pretty wrapped up in her own little world.

At the end of the day Santana was feeling pretty amazing. She was pretty sure she had just aced all of her exams and was pretty keen grab her sexy girlfriend and kiss her senseless. They were going to be graduating in a week. Well Santana and Dave were. They were still unsure about Britts.

…

Graduation Day

Santana was holding Brittany's hands and looking into her beautifully bright blue eyes. The blonde was ecstatic. She had just passed enough of her final exams to be allowed to graduate. She was so excited and she owed it all to Santana who had been so patient with teaching her. Blaine, Kurt and Quinn had also helped but San had just been incredible.

Santana looked over to where Dave was standing beside Mikael. They had really bonded over the past week and the Latina was glad to see that they had become really good friends. Mikael had a hand on Dave's shoulder and it looked like he was telling some terrible joke, as he usually did.

She looked back at Britts and smiled at her. She leant in and kissed her softly on her wonderful lips. They were told to take their seats after that. Half of the seniors were called up one by one in to receive their graduation certificates. There was a brief space in between the first group getting their certificates and the second group getting theirs, in which people would perform. Sue's Cheerios did an amazing routine with fire and other things that weren't exactly safe. Santana felt a pang of something, maybe jealousy; while she watched the girls perform. Although it was so much better being in Glee club than Cheerios, she still missed performing up there. After the Cheerios Rachel got up in her sparkly dress and sang a show stopping ballad that even pulled at Santana's heart strings. When the dwarf made her way back down the hall to her seat Santana whispered to her; "Nice singing, Yentl." She made eye contact with the other girl and made sure she understood that she was being sincere.

When it was finally Santana's turn to go up on stage and get her graduation certificate she looked out at the crowd and her eyes immediately found Brittany's. They grinned at each other before Santana saw her mom waving excitedly at her from beside her dad, who was beaming proudly, and Mikael who gave her a little smile and then turned away. It looked like he was looking for something. Or Someone. Directly after Santana was Dave. Obviously whoever made the order for them to go in hadn't properly learnt their alphabet. San stopped to watch him cross the stage. When he spotted he smiled nervously and she gave him thumbs up. He then looked out into the crowd and, after spotting something, his grin widened and all of his nervousness disappeared. Santana frowned and looked out at the audience. She spotted her cousin grinning broadly at her Dave. They staring directly at each other, grinning like fools. Her eyes widened. No. Her cousin wasn't gay was he? Surely he would have told her. Well, she hadn't told him about her until just last week so she guessed it wasn't too far-fetched.

Holy crap, her cousin and her best friend were totally going to hook up. That's totally trippy. Santana took her seat with a dazed expression she was only shocked out of when Britt skipped across the stage to accept her certificate. She shook Principal Figgins's hand, took the piece of paper from him, and turned to face the crowd, beamed at her parents and sister before locking eyes with Santana. The Latina hadn't thought it was even possible for the blonde's smile to get broader but it managed to do just that when she looked at her girlfriend. Brittany then turned and skipped off the stage.

…

The whole glee club met up after the graduation ceremony and Dave made his way immediately to Mikael who was standing to the side with San's parents. This didn't go unnoticed by Santana who was still shocked at her revelation. She had other things on her mind though. Things like the beautiful blonde that was running toward her at that exact moment. Brittany was squealing with delight shouting, "I did it! I did it!" Santana didn't have time to tell Britts to slow down so she had to brace herself for the glomp of the century. The force of Britt's hug sent them back a couple steps but Santana managed to remain standing. Asphyxiation had never been so lovely. Britt's cuddle was cutting off Santana's air supply but she was so proud of her girl that she just didn't care. They held each other for a while until Britt loosened her hug, letting Santana take in much wanted air, and pulled away to kiss her Latina girlfriend firmly on the lips.

"We did it San," she said softly, "we survived high school, and nothing brought us down. We did that, and now we can do anything."

Santana smiled back. "We can do anything because we have each other, Britt-Britt… I love you."

Brittany rested her forehead against Santana's and breathed, "I love you too."

Second last chapter guys. Next chap will be sort of an epilogue/future chap. Hope you enjoyed! Sorry about mistakes this is just way too long for me to be bothered checking over :P BYE FOR NOW!