Thank you :) I tried but I'm incapable of making short chapters. X.
*Santana and Brittany are 28 years of age. Quinn is 29.
-Santana's POV –
2 years and 9 months ago
Dammit. I need a glass of wine. Maybe a whole goddamn bottle.
We've been working as my mother's associates for three months now and for the first time since we started our jobs at the firm, we actually have the energy and time to prepare dinner and eat them with our neighbors aka Quinn and Rachel who are equally semi-tired and sleepy as we are. Just young adults ready to sleep for a whole damn day during the weekend. Or actually sleep for the whole actual weekend.
We've gone through the tedious process of preparing roast chicken while the other couple is in charge of the sides and a bunch more others that Britt and I are too lazy to take care of. We're actually having a good time, just kicking back, enjoying the company and food, and well, let's just say this 'night off' is pretty much worth all those late nights for the past week.
After an hour or two or three, I've no fucking idea since I'm quite hammered, we open our fifth bottle of wine for the night while we're all seated in Quinn's living room and just laughing our asses off at something I'm not sure of.
"So, after we went for a mid-day coffee run before the deposition, we got back in the office and everyone was panicking because apparently, they were so afraid of Maribel to give her the case briefs for the class suit. Hudson was literally peeing his pants when he handed it over to her." Quinn exclaims and we all drunkenly laugh again for no apparent reason other than the effect of alcohol.
"I don't get why they're so afraid of Maribel. She's so nice!" Rachel chimes in.
"You can say that because you don't actually work for her. But when you're at the firm, even your bones will assume a salute pose when she walks by." Britt voices out and we all raises our glasses to that.
I was about to add something but a sudden knocking is heard from the front door. "I got it." I declare and try to stand up straight but not before momentarily losing balance, something we all laugh at. I walk the few steps to the door and don't even bother to check up who it is before opening it to see Grams.
"Grams!" I blurt out while I hold the door wide open for her. "I haven't seen you not use your key before. You usually just enter both our apartments without prior notice and barge in when-" I cut myself off when I notice that she hasn't really said anything. No comment. No witty retort. Nor any insult at all. Upon closer inspection, I notice that she's awfully quiet and even a little tired looking, something I'm pretty sure is a first since I've met her.
"Santana, where's Brittany?" Grams asks, eyes a little puffy.
I suddenly feel a little sober now, standing straight as I measure up next to the tall woman. "I-Is everything okay, Grams? You never use my name unless it's something important or an emergen-"
"Baby, who's there?" Brittany happily exclaims and hugs me by the waist from behind. "Hey Grams! This is new, you usually just barge in-" She cuts herself off and positions herself beside me and assumes a confused expression like the one I'm sporting. "What's wrong? I-Is everything okay?"
Grams breathes deeply through her mouth and glances down at the floor before turning her attention back on us. On Brittany. "Brittany, it's your father." She almost whispers and I could swear that our hearts suddenly and collectively stop beating.
"Santana?" A voice calls out and I'm suddenly snapped out of my thoughts.
I look up from where I'm sitting on the couch to see George, seemingly dressed for work and standing by the kitchen with coffee in hand while giving me a curious look. It's Sunday morning and I've been staying here in her place since last night, trying to spend some quality time after being so caught up with work for the past week.
"Is everything alright? You've been so lost in thought since last night." She utters with concern as she makes her way towards the couch still clutching her coffee then scoots beside me.
"Y-Yeah. I guess I'm still sleepy." I try to sound convincing, forcing a small smile in the process.
"I wouldn't blame you. I mean, last night was…" She trails off suggestively with a smirk and wiggling both eyebrows. I just chuckle while she turns her whole body towards me before speaking again. "Anyway, Quinn and Rachel are coming back today, right?"
"Yeah. I think they'll be in before dinner."
"And you're going to fetch them later?"
"Nope. I think Rachel's chauffeur will." I pop the word without looking at her.
From my peripheral vision, I see her stare at me inquisitively as if she's trying to be careful. "Santana, I'm all for you staying here in my flat. I'm actually fond of seeing you around here but don't you have to go home and see your best friends? I know you miss them."
"I don't." I say with a huge fake grin. "And come on, don't you want me staying here and spending time with you?"
"I do. But-" She cuts herself off, hesitant in continuing with the thought as she puts down her cup on the coffee table.
"But what?" I raise an eyebrow, turning to face her now.
"Nothing. It's just that, ever since the wedding you've been kind of, I don't know, different and preoccupied. Like, distant." She bites her lip and I contemplate on whether I should go deeper into this or just let it go. I mean, I don't know how to deal with this 'feelings' shit. I'm not really the best person when it comes to opening it up and dealing with emotions. Goddamn it.
"What? That's not true. I-It's just work and stuff, you know. Quinn hasn't been around since the wedding so the stress has been kind of through the roof with all the clients and cases. That's about it."
"Are you sure?" She voices in concern with her eyes squinting.
"Yeah, of course." I just shrug indifferently, trying to avoid eye contact as I quickly look anywhere but her.
She glances down for a second before looking me in the eyes again. "Are you s-sure this has nothing to do with your ex?"
My eyebrows shoot up. I don't know how to answer these kinds of questions. I could either be honest and just go to hell with it by saying yes, Brittany had something to do with it. Actually, Brittany has everything to do with it. Or I could just ignore all these dramatics and push it away, compartmentalize every little freaking thing like I did for the past two years.
"No, George. It has nothing to do with Brittany. That's all in the past. And come on, I invited you to the wedding. I think that means something." I smile as sweetly as I can and squeeze her hand which seems to convince her of my words when she breaks out into a smile as well.
"By the way, I meant to ask you something." I trail off as I see George sipping her coffee as she just motions for me to continue. "How did you meet Brittany? I've always wondered about that since you two got friendly at the wedding."
"Oh." George gets up from the couch and fixes herself in front of the full body mirror by the door. "I ran into her outside of the reception. She was, let's just say, wasn't feeling very good prior to getting in."
"I see." I nod in understanding, a little bit enlightened but nevertheless still curious. And before we go deeper into this whole thing, I veer the topic away as far from the Brittany topic as possible. "Do you really have to go to work? I thought you had the day off today." I add with a faux pout which elicits a cute smile from her.
"I have to, Santana." She says with a sad tone before walking over to give me a quick kiss. "But I promised Sara, the one you met a month before, that I'll cover her shift today since it's her wedding anniversary."
"I was really looking forward to spending time with you." I sigh.
"Me too." She pauses. "But maybe I could visit you at work or we could have dinner or breakfast this week if our crazy schedule allows for it? Or you could always stay here, whenever you want." She voices out with a smirk and I smile at her effort to make the conversation lighter.
In a minute, she grabs her things and prepares to leave the apartment. "Maybe we could have dinner with the newlyweds and Brittany." She comments nonchalantly.
"You want to have dinner with my ex?" I exclaim with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.
"Why not?" She shrugs. "Unless there's something wrong with that?"
"W-Wha-"
Before I get the chance to answer, she walks over to me and looks me in the eye. "Santana, I want you to answer this as honestly as you can, okay? I won't even hold it against you." She sighs and sits upright on the side of the red couch. "The thing with you and Brittany is over, right? I mean, it was over before I came into the scene? Because I'd hate to be that person who drives away two people with unfinished business together. I love happy endings and if it makes me be that person who prevents that then I'm-"
I stop her rambling with a kiss to her lips. Just anything to stop her from saying anything else. "Y-Yeah. It was over." I swallow the lump in my throat and she looks at me as if she's scrutinizing my words with unrelenting precision.
"Cool. I still stand by what I said about inviting your ex." She exclaims with a happy tone. "It's just dinner. We're adults, we'll be fine. Besides, she just moved back here so maybe she could use the company. That can get lonely, you know. I should know."
I squint my eyes and actually ponder on whether or not this stuff is too good to be true. Or whether this girl is freaking real. I mean, I don't even know if this shit is like legit because as far as I've known her, she's been really nice and sweet. And this. What the-
"Uhmm… Yeah, sure. We can do that." I say with a little hesitation. So much freaking hesitation.
"Cool." She mutters with a smile. "Now, the Doctor needs to go and take care of business. Will you be okay here on your own?"
"Of course. Have fun." I tell her with a grin and she gives me another quick kiss before grabbing her white coat just hanging by the door and finally leaving her apartment.
-Brittany's POV –
My father had a heart attack.
He was alone in his home office when it happened. It almost killed him were it not for my mother finding him in due time and rushing him as fast as they could to the nearby hospital. Thankfully, they got to him just in time.
My father prides himself for being fit and healthy for his age. In fact, most people mistake my parents for being younger than a decade for what their actual ages are and at the same time, they're also regarded for their looks and how they manage to keep a healthy lifestyle despite being extremely busy running the company and the main office in Chicago as well as overseeing most divisions around the world. So, it was a bit of a shock when he had a heart attack because it was the least thing anyone would ever expect.
I guess that's why I didn't understand it at first when Grams told us to jump on the first flight back to Chicago with her and Richard, Santana's dad. The whole thing only completely set in when I saw my mother and sister, both troubled and out of their wits just outside of the emergency room. I was practically numb the whole time and thankfully, Santana stayed with me throughout the entire period and was literally by my side to comfort me until Maribel called her back to New York to take care of business.
And it was only when she got back to Manhattan that we found out a part of the puzzle.
Apparently, my father found out that his best friend since childhood and business colleague for more than two decades now, had been embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from the company for the past decade. To add to that, he also found out that the London division of the company which his best friend had been running, is also about to go under because of negligence partnered with the embezzlement. To drive it home, the London division, which at times acts as an independent sector of the company, is on the verge of filing a bankruptcy claim with how bad it's become.
It could have been the shock, betrayal, or whatnot but it was more than enough to trigger a heart attack. The whole thing also left a hole as regards to the company position in London and since it's the main division in Europe, it would mean a huge loss for the company as a whole if we were to lose that sector and could probably mean the start of a potential downfall of the business.
It was a whirlwind of emotions for my family and everyone around us this past week. In legal matters, Maribel is dutifully leading all the legal proceedings to indict my father's ex best friend and make him pay for all his crimes. I guess the best thing to come out of it for the past few days was the fact that my dad is finally able to recover enough to speak normally. Thankfully, nothing was badly and permanently damaged. Although Richard said that it would take a few months for him to fully recover from the ordeal.
Temporarily, Grams assumed full control of the New York sector and also overseeing a few other ones in Europe while my mother took care of the main office in Chicago until my dad completely recovers. Seeing that no one's running the London office at the moment and is in definite need of all the help it can get, the Board decided to hire an Interim Managing Director for that sector to turn the whole thing around. Someone they could trust.
After a week or so of trying to find one with the help of a headhunter, Grams and my mother are still in doubt of hiring someone they barely know after the big betrayal. I mean, who wouldn't? We lost a little over a quarter of a billion dollars in losses and all the stolen money. Out of all the people they could think of, only two people seem to be a good fit for the job. There was Mrs. Jones, who's my dad's trusted adviser and longtime colleague, someone the family trusts wholeheartedly. But sadly, she's overseeing all the company sectors in Asia. It took them a while to come around to a certain conclusion but when they did, it almost didn't come as a surprise. They were hesitant on telling me who the other one is because apparently, it's me.
They want me to take over the position in London.
"Get out of the way!" Grams exclaims a little too loud as the chauffeur drops us in the emergency area of the hospital while dragging me inside.
It's late Sunday afternoon and the whole reason why Grams is panicking is because of the blood coming out of the wound in my hand.
Basically, I was preparing dinner with Brianna before Grams comes home from her weekly Sunday afternoon tea session with her friends when we noticed that we're missing a few ingredients for our Pork something-I'm-not-sure. I'm not sure since Brianna was the one who's actually cooking and I was just cutting up whatever it was she was telling me to but anyway, that's not the point here.
So, I volunteered to go to the nearest grocery store to get whatever it was needed and just about to exit the front door when an idea struck my mind. Something to get my mind off of things. Particularly, the idea of using my yellow bicycle. I mean, why not? It has a basket so it can help with the carrying and of course, I'll get to my destination faster. And so, I did. I locked the door behind me and rode the bicycle to the grocery. I guess the one thing that didn't occur to me was how much of a battle it was to ride a bicycle in New York.
Like seriously, it was like a maze trying to avoid cars and cars trying to avoid me. Add the people who seem to want to be bumped by me and it's hella crazy. But as relieved as I was, I got to my destination and finished my mission in one piece with getting everything I needed. I got back to Grams' house in one piece and even successfully got the groceries upstairs to see that Grams was home already and going on about something.
"For the love of God, Brittany dear, I told you to stop using that bicycle. It's going to get you killed!" Grams exclaimed in exasperation.
I chuckled at her as I placed the groceries on the kitchen counter and proceeded to take them out one by one. "It was actually exhilarating to ride a bike here. It's like a race track or something."
"Honey, that's what you say before you die and get run off by a speeding car."
Brianna snickered from the side. "Grams, she got back in one piece. Besides, she's already driven to and from work everyday. Let her live a little." She stopped chopping a carrot and handed me the knife. "Britt, can you continue this? I'll just check how the pork's doing."
"Sure." I said and grabbed it from her then started chopping the carrot. "You know, the little girl is right, Grams. Besides, I got a little bit of exercise."
"That would be fine if you actually let the driver take you to work instead of walking every single day."
I laughed and turned my attention to Grams. "Oh, come on. New York traffic is terrible and I told you, it's a nice exercise to walk and-"
Stupid me cut my left pointing finger.
"Ow!" I exclaimed in shock and pain as I saw it spew out blood. Quite a few, I might add with how the red liquid made its way to my wrist. And it hurt like a bitch.
"Oh shit." Brianna voiced out with wide eyes while she made my way towards me.
"Language." I say with a raised eyebrow. I grabbed a generous bundle of table napkin from the side and covered the wound but to no avail since the cut might be a little too deep than I anticipated.
The thing is, I forgot that Grams is afraid of blood which in turn, made her panic a little too much and overacted by forcing me to go have this wound stitched, cut off, or whatever seems necessary. So, here I am, rushed to the hospital seven minutes later and a little embarrassed with how my grandmother is acting like she's the one being rushed into the emergency room.
"Grams, calm down. It's just a little wound that probably needs cleaning or stuff." I dismiss her with a hand wave. In all honesty though, it does hurt and it's still bleeding so maybe the worrying thing is legit. Oh fudge, am I going to die?
Soon enough, the nurse gets all the necessary details from me and leads me into a room of some kind that's divided by green curtains then gives me a gauze to momentarily stop the bleeding. For some reason, Grams disappears to go catch up with one of her pals somewhere I have no idea. If you ask me, she just wants to get out of the sight of blood and basically anything that would make her literally throw up. So again, here I am, sitting on the hospital bed, waiting for the doctor to come and fix my bleeding finger while I stare at the curtains absentmindedly.
After a minute or two, a woman with a mousy nose, pale, lightly tanned skin, and dark mahogany hair wearing a doctor's coat welcomes herself in. It takes me at least a few seconds and for her to speak in that familiar English accent before I get to recognize her.
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry for making you wait! I went on my half hour break and I just had to finish my coffee-" She looks genuinely apologetic but as soon as she looks up to see me, she cuts herself off immediately. She squints her eyes before breaking out into a small smile. "Pierce, Brittany Pierce." She adds in surprise.
"Georgina." I almost whisper back. "Uhmm… Hi."
"Hello." She replies courteously and it might just be me but it's a little awkward being stuck in a small space with her. It doesn't seem to faze her though since she just grabs the clipboard by the table and reads through it. "You know, maybe I should get a job as your private physician. First, the panic attack then this." She comments, amused with her own joke and I smile at her attempt of humor.
"U-Uh… Recreational hazard?" I nervously joke which she returns with a light chuckle. Instead of following it, she walks in front of me and takes out a small flashlight while holding up a finger in her left hand.
"Can you look here?" She utters with a soft tone and I do as she says. And look at that, she has blue eyes like me too. "It's quite a surprise to see you here out of all places. How have you been..." She trails off with an unsure tone and finishes her thing with the flashlight.
"You can just call me Brittany." I fill in the blanks and she shyly smiles at me. "I've been g-good. I just moved back here again so you know, still trying to get back on my feet. How about you? Still saving people from panic attacks?"
"Not really. You're a special case." She comments and I return the statement with a snort that was just plain awkward. "And George is just fine." She adds. "So, can I?" She motions to my hand. I nod frantically and raise my left hand for her to check.
We settle in silence for a few seconds before she speaks out again. "That's a big hand." She mutters nonchalantly.
My eyes widen at the statement. However, she must have sensed my reaction and in a bid to save herself, she turns her attention to me with a little shock on her face.
"Oh gosh. No! Not like that, I wasn't i-insulting you or anything! I-It's just that I'm used to dealing with kids and I'm just taking over a shift from a friend." She rambles on while I smile in undertanding the logic she's trying to reach. "We'll have to stitch it to prevent infection." She adds, pointing to my hand and I just nod.
"Okay." I say. She smiles shyly and goes on to the side where this medical cart of some sort is situated to do something.
"Can I be honest with you, Brittany?"
"Uhmm… Sure."
"This is pretty awkward, isn't it?" She chuckles with her back towards me and the frankness takes me aback. I can't deny that it is the best approach in this situation though.
"Yeah, you're right." I whisper. I contemplate on whether or not I should bring it up but seeing that it's out there, might as well do it. "She told you, right? A-About, you know…" I trail off just in time for her to come back in the spot in front of me, dragging the cart and wearing surgical gloves. She nods at my statement and proceeds to seemingly clean the wound in my finger.
"Yeah. She told me about two weeks ago. You met in law school and dated for three years, right?"
"Yep." I look at her quizzically and squint my eyes a little. "I-Is that all she said?"
She looks up and thinks about it for a second. "I think so. Santana said you broke up because of the London thing and that's about it. Why? Is there something else to that story?"
My eyes widen and since it's not really my place to tell her that we didn't just 'date' and it was more like 'engaged to be married' or that there's so much more to that story, I just shut up. I mean, I want to tell her but it's not my business. "N-No. T-That's about it." I nervously utter then clear my throat. "How about you? How did you meet?"
"Oh, we met here in the hospital, actually. I ran into her on my first day here when she was dropping by something for Dr. Lopez." She grins from ear to ear.
My eyebrows raise and ears perk up. "Here. Really? But the accent?"
"Ah, that. I'm originally from Surrey, if that's what you're asking. I met Santana shortly after I moved here from my two-year assignment in Africa."
I think about what that assignment means and only one thing popped in my mind. I realized that she means, "As in Doctors without Borders?"
She nods with a smile. "Anyway, this is going to hurt a little, okay? It's a pretty deep cut. What happened?"
I try to breathe a little normally because wow, this girl is like a modern day Mother Teresa. No wonder Santana's smitten by her. "Oh. Well, I was cooking with my sister and chopping up a carrot then I just turned my attention to my grandmother one second and-" I cut myself off with a sigh before I wince a little in pain when she starts stitching up the wound.
"Well, next time be careful. Otherwise, you won't just be getting a stitch."
I nod while pursing my lips. Trying to gauge what to do next but Georgina beats me to it. "Has she always been like that?"
My forehead creases a little at the question, not knowing the goal. "With what?"
"You know… She's not really the most emotionally available person around with opening up her feelings."
"Oh." I ponder to myself on whether or not this stuff is for real. Like we're actually talking about my ex. Her current girlfriend. The ex and the girlfriend talking amicably about Santana. I bite my lip and sigh deeply. "I g-guess she can be like that sometimes. It takes time."
She smiles at me and nods. We fall into a comfortable silence while she fixes the wound in my finger. After a few minutes of small talk regarding the hospital and how I'm doing so far with work, random stuff about the UK and New York, she's finally finished treating my finger as well as throwing a few guidelines on how to care for it.
"Thank you, doctor." I say with a smile, getting off the bed and basically unsure how to end this encounter.
"You're welcome, Brittany." She purses her lips and breaks out into a small smile. "And please take care of yourself. Look where you're chopping or else it's going to be your finger you'll be cooking." She adds and we both lightly laugh at the statement. I turn my back and slowly walk away from her but not before stopping in my tracks just as I open a side of the curtain.
"For what it's worth, I'm glad Santana met you. You're really nice, Georgina." I say with a heavy heart for some reason even though I meant every word.
"Likewise." She utters with a grin. "See you around, Brittany."
-Santana's POV –
I hate seeing Brittany like this.
She's been a rock for her family. Trying to be strong for everyone even though I know she's scared as hell deep inside. She's been crying every time she thinks no one's around. She's always staring at somewhere far and beyond. She's trying not to show it but with that look she's been sporting for the last few days since she got back in Manhattan, I know she's suffering and feeling torn more than ever.
Brittany told me a few days ago about the whole London thing.
I listened intently as she explained how Grams and Susan told her about the situation and how they offered her the job seeing that they seemed to be distrustful of the people the headhunter recruited for them. People who only seemed to be interested on the publicity of it all and the connections it would give them. And so, they asked Brittany because aside from wanting to keep the business within the company, she's also knowledgeable and qualified to take the position. At the same time, she'd be mentored by that Mrs. Jones who's also relocating to London to assist in the turnover of the sector's control seeing that they need all the help they can get until the London division gets back on its feet.
It worries me a lot that Brittany's suddenly so closed off and I'm sincerely hoping that she lets herself go or cry for just a bit. Just anything at all that would at least show a bit of the Brittany we know. I know she's heavily contemplating on taking the position for her family. Or like how she said, to sacrifice for her family. By the looks of it, I know she's not going to take it either because, even without her saying it, she doesn't want to be away from me. She just doesn't want to put us aside but I know she's thinking seriously about it. It's after all, for her family.
It's been a hard, stressful past two weeks at work with how everything's been going with the case against the fucking embezzler asshole. Everyone who's anyone at the firm are all employing a hands-on approach on the case and as Mami's associates, it's all that we've been taking care of. Even Quinn and I have had at least five nights of pulling an all nighter for the past two weeks just to catch up with work deadlines and shit. I even saw Mami crack a little under pressure for a legit minute which is like a freaking rare moment, I don't think I've ever seen her like that in my life but I can't blame her since this is all emotional for us since the Pierces are basically family.
In those times, I've contemplated it. I thought about it far too long. With how everything is, it's got to be the right way to go. I love Brittany so darn much. Probably more than someone is legally and emotionally allowed to and to see her so broken and frail, torn between choosing me and the right thing to do, it literally breaks my heart. And so, as we try to relax on the couch, cuddling and watching whatever's on HBO during a night in on a Friday night, I decide to bring up the subject. Something we haven't really talked about ever since she told me about it the other day.
"Hey, Britt?" I trail off and she just hums while motioning for me to continue. "Have you reached a decision about the whole London thing?"
She doesn't answer right away. "I'm not going to do it, San."
My forehead creases at the statement. "Why not?"
"Because my life is here. With you. I'm sure the headhunter can find someone else and everything will be just fine. Besides, they might need me just in case Grams needs assistance."
I sigh and bite my lip, trying to hold back on the words that I could very well regret even though I know it's the right thing to do. "You should go."
She sits upright and gives me a hard look with those tired blue eyes. "What?"
I sit up straight and face her completely, a little surprised at her tone. "Baby, Grams doesn't need assistance and we both know that. There's a reason why they offered you that job in the UK. You know how the business operates and they need someone from your family to represent there in this time of need. You're perfect for it."
"San, do you hear yourself?" She counters with a biting tone. "It's in London. It's in another continent away from you and my life is here. We're engaged, I can't just do anything I want, I have to think about our future too."
"I know, B. But they need you. We could put off the wedding-"
"San, are you trying to push me away?" She snarls with an icy and bitter tone that sends shivers down my spine.
"W-What? No, I'm not trying to push you away, babe. I-I just-" I cut myself off and try to find the right words for this situation. "I just think this is the right thing to do. It's for your family. Your family needs you right now more than ever."
"You think I don't know that? I can't just uproot my life and move there. My life is here with you! We're getting married and we haven't even started planning it- I know nothing about living in the UK or doing whatever Grams does! What if I don't get to come back? What if lose you o-or just I don't k-know-" She rambles on nervously and finally, after holding on to her feelings all this time, she breaks down.
I breathe deeply and scoot closer, hugging and trying to comfort her. "Britt, that's not true. You won't ever lose me, okay? I'm always here."
After a moment, she stops crying and looks at me with confusion and sadness in her eyes. "If I go there, I don't know when I'll be coming back or if I'll ever come back. I-I can't."
"Britt, I'm moving there with you, okay? I'm sure Mami will unders-"
"No, you can't do that! Your life's here. Maribel's counting on you and Quinn more than ever and there's still so much to do with the cases and everything else. You've done so much. I can't make you sacrifice what you have here for me."
"B-But-"
"No, San. Please don't do that. I won't ever forgive myself if you do that and we end up resenting each other because of it. Just, please."
I can literally feel my heart breaking at her request. I glance down and think of something to say, just anything. "O-Okay. It's just for a while, baby. We'll visit each other all the time. I'm sure that you'll get to fix everything there and before we know it, you're here again with me. We don't have to be apart for too long."
"But the wedding-"
"Britt, I love you." I say with so much emotion and cup her cheeks, giving her the best smile I could without actually breaking into pieces. "I promise you that as soon as you come back here, the first thing we'll do is get married then we'll have those cute blue-eyed Latina babies and we can even have a duck pond built in our soon to be house's backyard like you've always wanted. You can even take our coffeemaker that you hate so much to London." I ramble on and for the first time in a long while, she genuinely smiles and chuckles throughout the tears.
"I love you, Santana." She almost chokes at the words. "Thank you. I promise I'll come home to you as soon as I can." She adds in a whisper.
I nod frantically and give her a quick kiss. "I'll just be here, baby. I'll wait for the day you come back and when we get married, it will be the best day of our lives." I swallow the huge lump in my throat trying to hold back the tears.
"You have to do this for your family, Britt. We'll be okay." I utter with a heavy heart and embrace her as tight as I possibly can. "We'll be okay."
Someone's finally coming back next chapter ;) It's going to be lighter from here on out, don't worry :)