Have been trying to post this chapter for hours! No idea if this will work. It's short but the continuation of the previous. Sorry for the cliffhanger! I wanted to go to bed :P
I've already started writing the next :)
You guys rock!
Dani POV
"Uhhhhh... Sorry.. Thank you for humouring him. " Santana says while standing up looking panicked.
I grab her hand and pull her in to me. "I wasn't humouring him"
"What?" She asks while looking at the floor.
"San, look at me." She lifts her head up, uncertainty in her eyes.
"I love you dumbass"
She bursts in to tears as the words register.
"Hey.." I wrap my arms around her trying to comfort her. "That wasn't supposed to upset you.. maybe the dumbass was unnecessary.."
She's sobbing now and I can tell she's trying to calm herself enough to speak.
"No" She whimpers. "I'm.." hiccup "happy" She looks at me and I wipe her tears away as she manages to calm herself down.
"I love you too" She smiles at me then pulls me in to a deep kiss. Her earlier crying meant that we couldn't kiss for long before she ran out of air.
We lean with our foreheads pressed together.
"Are you gonna tell me what's going on?" I probe.. "I knew yesterday that something wasn't right with you, that's why I'm here" She looks shocked at this
"I'm sorry; you didn't have to come all this way. I didn't tell you because I knew you were busy"
"I told you, I love you, of course I'm going to make sure my girl is okay. Besides, I may have been having slight withdrawals" I say sheepishly
"Let's sit down and I'll tell you. You said you have to go back? When are you leaving?"
"I can probably get away with flying back tomorrow." I say grabbing her hand and sitting down with her on my lap.
"So uhm.. At the start of this week, my boss pulled me in to the office to discuss my position in the company. I figured he wanted to talk about the promotion, you know? Even if he was going to tell me I didn't get it." She says this looking at me to gauge my understanding. I nod my acknowledgement. It's the promotion she's been trying to get since before Christmas.
"So he sits me down and basically told me that I wouldn't 'present' well as a partner and that's he's not sure why I'm interested and wouldn't I be happier continuing where I am. " She's getting herself more upset at this stage so I stroke her arm softly telling her to continue.
"I was so confused, he's the one who put the idea in my head in the first place and had me ensuring I proved myself to the board. But now he's done a complete 180. He even went as far as to say I'm not 'on brand' with the company, whatever the hell that means!" Tears are streaming down her face and she's getting angry. I'm trying to keep myself from fuming while I try to figure out which direction this story is taking.
"At first I thought it was because I'm a woman. I went over it in my head thinking that this entire thing has to do with me being a woman because I haven't changed my 'presentation' or anything about the way I do my job since the first discussions we had. But then yesterday when I came across the article about you and that woman, I put two and two together." What article? I keep quiet, I'll ask her later.
"I think he knows about us. I've never gone out of my way to hide who I am, but, I also haven't dated anyone seriously while I've been working there and there have been articles about us. I think he's homophobic." Okay, now I'm mad.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I yell. She looks at me in shock and I realise I was way too loud with tiny ears in the house.
"Sorry, but what the hell? Are we not living in New York City in the 21st Century? I'm so confused right now." She's the one trying to calm me down now.
"I know, but there's no point being angry about it. There's nothing I can do."
"Of course there is, make a complaint, it's blatant discrimination."
"I know that, but regardless of what I choose to do, I'm screwed. If I do nothing, I have to spend my days at work avoiding him and accept the fact that I'll never be promoted. Or I can lodge a complaint and then be known as a trouble maker and I'll never be promoted anyway. He's not just my boss; he's the chairman of the board. The only thing that will make any bit of difference is if I find a boyfriend and get my straight on."
"Well that's not happening." I say sharply. She looks at me smiling at my reaction and kisses my forehead.
"Of course it's not" I calm down a little realising she wasn't actually considering that option.
"Okay so what are we going to do about this?" I ask
"Well.. to be honest.. I don't know. This week has made me realise that I don't know if being a lawyer is what I want to do anymore. It was all I wanted to do for so long and I've been working so many hours ensuring I was great at it but I just feel lost now. And I'm angry. I'm angry at how I'm being treated and I'm angry that he's made me question everything about what I'm doing" She starts to tear up again so I think it's time for a break in this conversation.
"I'm so sorry baby, you don't deserve this." I hug her against me.
"I'm glad you're here" She says nuzzling in to me.
"Me too" I kiss the top of her head.
About 30 minutes later, the three of us are cuddled up on the lounge watching Frozen. Santana is curled in to my left side and Bailey is on my right. I run my hand through Santana's hair and it takes all of 5 minutes before she's softly snoring. I wish that I could do something to take away the pain she's clearly in as a result of her asshole boss but I know that she needs to be the one to make her own decisions. I remember the article that Santana mentioned earlier and decide to see if I can bring it up on my phone. I mostly avoid looking myself up but I'm curious about what bullshit they're spinning this week. I find the article and read through it rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of it all. Apparently I flew back to LA solely for the purpose of a rendezvous with my secret lover AKA one of my oldest friends who also happens to be the straightest person I've ever met. I laugh to myself and then formulate a plan to stick it to the media. I take a quick photo of Santana sleeping on me and upload it with the caption 'NYC rendezvous with my one and only love'
Let's see how they twist that.