A/N: Hello everybody! I was really happy to see all the positive responses to last chapter. I was kind of uncertain about it so really glad that everyone enjoyed it. I feel like I owe everyone some fluff after all that patch of angst so be prepared for some super fluffy Brittana in this chapter as they get back on track even more.
There's not a ton of action and I'm not too sure how I feel about it overall but it's definitely helping to move the story in the direction I want it to go, so hopefully it holds up. This story is definitely not going to be rushed and I've got a bunch of plot points so I'm trying to ease into all of them so they actually make sense. :-) I'll definitely be back with more soon, I have the next chapter outlined so if my crazy work schedule allows maybe I'll get it up a bit sooner. Hope you all enjoy and thanks again for all the feedback!
Brittany woke comfortably entangled with Santana the next morning and couldn't help the smile that spread across her face when she groggily replayed the previous night in her head. She just lay for a while and thought about everything that had gone on in the past week and how draining fighting and being apart had been. She allowed the relief of their reconciliation to wash over her once more as she placed small, soft kisses on her girlfriend's face.
"Ughhh...no getting up...sleep." Santana grumbled and she had to giggle.
"It's already 10:30 baby." Brittany said, looking over her shoulder at the clock. "Time to get up." Santana shook her head profusely and buried her face further into Brittany's neck.
"Uh-uh. It's Saturday. We can sleep in. And we went to bed at like..." she stopped to try and think but couldn't be bothered, "ridiculous o'clock in the morning." Brittany laughed.
"Yeah, but it's a nice day and we have the whole day free." Brittany said kissing her head and nudging her a bit. Santana sighed and pulled back just enough to look at her. She couldn't help but smile.
"I'm really glad you took off last night and we have all this time together." Santana admitted softly and Brittany smiled warmly in return.
"I'm glad that you're glad. And I am too. Even if it does mean a double shift tomorrow." she said with a sigh. She stared up at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at her seriously. "San, I've been thinking a lot this morning about everything, this past week and everything that led up to it, and I just want you to know I'm really, really sorry." Santana squinted her eyes in confusion, waking a little more with the serious shift in conversation.
"I know Britt," she said gently, "and like I told you last night, so am I." Brittany shook her head.
"No, Santana." She said firmly, propping herself up on an elbow to look down directly at her confused girlfriend. "I'm even more sorry. I know we both did things wrong but I was really selfish and I just let myself get wrapped up in everything that was going on. I wasn't even thinking about it but I put other things ahead of you and us and I'm sorry." she said. "I'm not going to do that again. I'll never let us be the thing that gets pushed aside." Santana smiled gently and reached up to stroke her cheek.
"It's okay Brittany. Things like this happen, it's human nature to get wrapped up in new things. It happens all the time." she reassured. "And the way I react to things doesn't make anything easier." Brittany opened her mouth to protest but Santana just put a finger over her lips. "I know, I know...and I'm really glad you understand. Let's be realistic, we're going into a really busy, crazy period of our lives and every once and a while other things might take over. We just have to make sure it's the tiny minority of the time."
"I promise you that you are my priority. And I'll never let that happen again if I can help it." Santana smiled and pulled her down for a kiss.
"What do you wanna do today?" Brittany asked against her lips and Santana smiled broadly.
"This." she said, letting her hands fall to her girlfriend's hips but Brittany giggled lightly and pulled back.
"San, come on, we have the whole day. What do you want to do?"
"I told you." she deadpanned. "I see no reason why it should involve anything besides this bed and a couple trips outside for food and drinks." Brittany continued to laugh.
"Come on, in another couple months it's going to be freezing and I'm going to agree with you but it's nice and we should take advantage." Santana sighed, dropping her head further back into the pillow with a pout.
"I cannot wait until the novelty of being in a new city wears off."
"Let me take you on a date!" Brittany said with excitement as the idea popped into her head.
"A date?"
"Yeah, you know, we'll get up and dressed and take showers and put on nice clothes. Then I'll take you to get something to eat and we'll go do something fun." she grinned. "I've been doing well with money at the bar, let me spend some of it on you." Brittany's grin was infectious and she couldn't help returning it.
"I guess that sounds like fun." she agreed with a sigh, grabbing playfully at her girlfriend's waist, causing her to fall to the bed in laughter. She took the opportunity to gain the upper hand, switching their positions. "Where are we gonna go?" she asked, placing soft kisses along her neckline.
"I'll figure it out." Brittany said, "I'll work out the plan, all you have to do is show up."
"Well that's easy." she said, placing another kiss behind her ear. "Does that mean we don't have to leave the bed till dinner?" she whispered and Brittany laughed.
"No, because I'm starving." she said, turning to capture Santana's lips for an unhurried kiss but jumping up before it could go much further. Santana groaned in frustration pulling a pillow over her head. "San, come on!" she whined, pulling at her arm.
"You suck!" she said, as she got up and got dressed to follow Brittany outside.
"We can come back after breakfast, I promise." she said.
"This was an awesome idea." Santana said with a smiled, as they walked through the street fair with their hands entwined.
"I'm glad you liked it. I thought it would be different. Dinner and a movie is so boring sometimes." Brittany shrugged. "I mean dinner is great and then you spend two hours that you're supposed to be enjoying someone else's company sitting in a room where you can't talk and focusing on something else. I mean it's great sometimes, but I felt like this was better for this particular date night."
"Well, I wholeheartedly agree." Santana said as they hit the end. "You wanna walk back?" She asked Brittany as they stopped on the corner.
"Sure." Brittany said, moving to link arms with her as they headed back towards the apartment. "It's been such a great day today and yesterday that I am actually dreading the thought of work tomorrow." Brittany said with a sigh and Santana couldn't help the small victorious smirk that crept up. "Speaking of that, you're going to come with me right?" she said, sticking out her lip.
"Ugh, Brittany I don't know." Santana said with a groan.
"San, stop being ridiculous."
"I just don't know if I'm ready to do that again. Plus, I'm sure they're not going to be ecstatic to see me back. Rick was really pissed."
"Santana, it's not a huge deal, I told you. I talked to him a lot about it and he gets it. He really does, it was just annoying at the time. And he knows it was you're first time dealing with something like that. Really, I mean apologize and then it's done."
"What about your boss?"
"I told you a million times, we took care of it. He doesn't know what went down, just that some guys were being really inappropriate with me and Rick broke it up." she said. "Anyway, Rachel and Finn said they'd come have lunch at the bar. Finn wants to watch football. Sundays is just a bunch of crazy football fans anyway." Santana released a breath and rolled her eyes.
"Fine, might as well get it over with." She squeezed her arm closer.
"You have to eventually. Besides, I just got you back and I'm not ready to be away from you for an entire day just yet."
"Well, I guess when you put it like that, how can I even say no?" Santana said, shaking her head. "How the hell did I get so damn whipped?" she muttered, causing Brittany to giggle. They walked in a comfortable silence for a while, each occupied in their own thoughts until Brittany spoke up again.
"San?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to live here...like forever?" she asked.
"In New York?"
"Yeah." Santana shrugged.
"I mean it's been great so far. I guess I like it, but I don't know. It's definitely one of the places I'd want to be for my career. I mean, being an agent or a publicist in Lima, Ohio is pretty useless." she looked over at Brittany. "What about you?"
"I really like it here. Like, I love it here." she said happily. "I guess I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do with dancing yet but I think I might want to live here." she said, thoughtfully.
"Well, we don't have to decide yet. I'm sure in a few years we'll know more. I'm definitely happy going to school here...and living here with you." She frowned. "Although one day we're going to have to get our own place. I walked in on Hudson and Berry making out the other day and it was repulsing. I still can't get the image to leave, it's like burned in my skull forever." she said with disgust.
"Really?" Brittany asked with a snicker. "I figured Rachel would be careful about stuff like that."
"My class got cancelled so I wasn't really supposed to be there." she said. "I mean they were just kissing, but still. It was more than I ever needed to see."
"It hasn't been so bad. It's been kinda fun. Plus, right now this is the best option."
"I know, I know. And I know it will be for at least a couple years. But I'd like to at least try living here on our own at some point before we're done with school."
"What if we have different opinions on where we want to go after school?" Brittany said, with a furrowed brow. "What if when we figure out jobs they're in different places?"
"Britt, don't worry about that stuff. Seriously. We'll figure out something that works for both of us." she said, looking her in the eyes. "This isn't some silly teenaged relationship Brittany, it's the real deal. Whatever else happens, I want to be with you - marry you and have a house and spend our lives together. So, don't worry, because I'm not going anywhere without you." she spit out before she really processed what she said.
"Yeah?" Brittany said with a shy smile.
"Yeah." Santana said, her own smile turning a little bashful as she realized the implications of what she said.
"Good, because I don't want to go anywhere without you either." she said, as they kept walking quietly for another block. "So, you wanna marry me, huh?" she said, bumping into Santana's hip and causing her to blush more. "You have some plans I don't know about?" she teased.
"No." she said, rolling her eyes. "Not yet anyway. Don't worry, one day when I decide to propose, it'll be perfect."
"When you decide? Who said you had to be the proposer?" Santana laughed.
"Why are you going to do it?"
"Maybe." Brittany said with a playful shrug.
"No way. It may not be happening soon, but this is going to be my gig. I've already got ideas."
"I guess we'll just have to see who gets to it first." she teased.
"Is that some kind of challenge?" Santana scoffed.
"I guess it's going to have to be." Brittany said with a giggle. "I think it's a positive end result either way."
"True." Santana said. "But I'm still going to win." she said, holding the door to the building open and letting Brittany in.
"So predictable." Brittany responded, shaking her head and hitting the button to the elevator. "Everything's always gotta be on your terms." she joked.
"Oh please, you win all the time and you know it." she said as they got in and made their way up to their apartment. She stopped and turned around at the door with a smile that Brittany returned as she leaned in to meet their lips. "Thanks for coming up with the night out. Dinner was great and I had a really good time with you." Brittany smiled into the second kiss.
"Thanks for coming with me." she said and nodded towards the apartment with a smirk. "But, the night's not even close to over yet. Let's go inside." Santana smiled and opened the door to where Finn and Rachel were cuddled on the couch watching TV in the dark.
"Hey guys." Finn said with a smile. "How was your night?"
"Awesome!" Brittany said.
"Yeah, it was great." Santana agreed, helping Brittany out of her coat before giving her a peck on the lips and hanging both coats up.
"Do you guys want to watch a movie? We were going to order something from on demand." Finn offered.
"Yeah, I want to hear about your night too." Rachel said with a smile.
"Thanks guys, but I think we're just going to head inside for the night and spend some more time together." Brittany said, exchanging a glance with Santana to confirm that was what she wanted even though she was positive it was.
"Yeah, its been a long week." Santana nodded.
"But, we'll catch up tomorrow and tell you all about it for sure." Brittany said, feeling a little bad she'd been kind of neglecting her roommates as well. "Are you still coming to have lunch and watch the game tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah, absolutely." Finn smiled. "It's cool we understand."
"Cool, Santana is coming too so, we'll just see you in the morning."
"Have a good night." Rachel said. As long as things were this peaceful she certainly wasn't one to protest.
"Oh don't worry Berry, we will." Santana teased with a wink as Brittany just shook her head and dragged her towards their room.
"Night guys." she called and they heard the door shut and lock after a minute. Rachel sighed.
"She can't resist rubbing it in." Rachel shook her head. "I'm going to buy earplugs. The asinine noises that have been coming out of that room since last night are going to traumatize me for life. Thank god our room is at the other end of the apartment." she said and Finn chuckled.
"Come on Rach, it's not that bad. Besides, it's just a relief that they're back to normal."
"Yeah, I wonder how long this mushy all over each other phase will last." she said, chewing her lip.
"It's Brittany and Santana, they're kind of always all over each other."
"True." she said. "Well, I'm just glad they worked everything out. Hopefully we can resume some kind of normalcy soon."
"We can't forget to ask them about the karaoke thing next weekend with Jeff and the guys from the band."
"Oh yeah, we'll ask them tomorrow. That should be fun. It'll be nice to sing in front of an audience again." Rachel said dreamily.
"Yeah." Finn smiled. "The guys were talking about some songs that would sound better with a female singer. Maybe you could sing with us some time or something." he said.
"I'd love to!" Rachel said. "I miss the feeling of a crowd rising to their feet to applaud my work."
"Yeah..." he said. "Well I mean, you know, we'll see how it goes once we get going." he smiled. "Anyway, let's find a movie."
The next morning Santana woke up before Brittany and untangled herself from her girlfriend's embrace before putting a robe on and sleepily making her way out towards the kitchen in desperate need of coffee only to run into Rachel.
"Good morning Santana!" she chirped brightly. "I just got back form my run, it's absolutely beautiful out. It's really starting to seem like fall!" Santana just held up a hand and blinked.
"Stop! Too many words."
"Oh, you haven't had your coffee yet, have you?" she asked. "I hate to be the bearer of unpleasant news, but we're actually out of coffee. I was just looking and-"
"Wait, back up hobbit. What?" Santana snapped.
"We're out of-"
"I heard you." she grumbled.
"I was going to take a walk to the bagel store and pick up a light breakfast and coffee, do you want to come?" she offered and Santana scowled.
"Fine. Give me two minute to get my clothes on." she grumbled with aggravation and walked away muttering something unintelligible under her breath. A few minutes later she reappeared, pulling a hoodie across her shoulders and nodding towards the door as she slid on her sunglasses.
"So-"
Rachel began, but Santana held up a hand once more.
"Not yet Berry. No talking yet." Rachel just nodded, remembering how grumpy Santana could be in the mornings. They walked to the bagel store in silence and Santana groaned at the long line that meant her dose of caffeine would be delayed further and she sighed. After a few moments she turned to Rachel and sighed in defeat.
"I'm sure it won't be too long." Rachel said, trying to avoid any sort of outburst.
"No, not that." she said. "I just.." she glanced around before looking back to Rachel, "Brittany told me the other night about what you did." Rachel tilted her head in confusion.
"What I...did?" she asked cautiously.
"How you went to see her and stuff." she said. "She told me how you convinced her to talk to me and apologize and everything so just...you know, thanks." she shrugged and Rachel fought back a smirk that she knew would not be well received.
"You're welcome Santana." she said honestly. "I'm glad if I did anything that could help."
Santana rolled her eyes at her own inability to have conversations like this and swallowed her pride for a second time to continue.
"You did. Look Rachel, you and I both know that no matter what attempts you or Hudson made with me I never would have never been the one to talk to Britt first. I'm really shitty at that. I'm trying to get better, but I'm just..." she shook her head, "not there yet. So thank you for trying to help us get our heads out of our asses, because we needed that. I needed Brittany back. So you know...I appreciate it." Rachel blinked and smiled genuinely.
"Well, again, you're welcome. I'm really glad that I could help." she smiled brightly. "We really do care about you and it was awful to see you both so miserable. I'm glad my efforts seem to have made a difference."
"Yeah." Santana shrugged. "Whatever I mean, you know, like I said, thanks."
"You know, we really are a team here Santana. The four of us I mean. We all support each other and-"
"Listen Berry, I apologized, but please, do not push it." she said and Rachel just smirked.
"I'm proud of you Santana. You've shown some great maturity recently. Even if you couldn't apply it to all aspects of your arguement Brittany, you've definitely shown it in other ways."
"Yeah, whatever. It's no big deal." she said quickly. "Could this line move any fucking slower?" she growled, signaling to Rachel that the topic was officially closed for discussion. It might be a slow ride, but she smiled knowing that she was gradually learning how the complex emotions of Santana operated and what cues she needed to take to stay closer to the positive side of them.
Meanwhile back at the apartment Finn studied the note Rachel had left on the counter and sighed, sitting down to wait for them to returned so he could have coffee himself.
"Hey." Brittany said sleepily, looking around. "Where's Santana?" He held up the note.
"We were out of coffee. Her and Rachel went to get coffe and bagels." he said.
"Together?" Brittany asked with confusion.
"Yeah, I guess." he said. "Weird, right?"
"Oh!" she said with a smile. "I bet she's going to try and thank Rachel for talking to me. I told her she should."
"What do you mean try?" he asked.
"Have you ever seen Santana thank someone? It's like super awkward." she said factually. "Imagine how hard it would be if it was Rachel she tried to thank." Finn smiled at the thought.
"That is pretty amusing." he said, tossing the note on the table.
"Wait!" she said, holding up a finger. "While I've got you alone, I have something for you." she said leaving him to sit in curiosity as she ran inside. She returned a few seconds later with an envelope and handed it to him as she plopped herself down next to him on the couch. "It came from the FDNY for you when I got the mail Thursday. I kind of figured you might not want Rachel to see it yet." she said.
"Oh." he said, staring at it for a moment before looking back at her gratefully. "Thank you Brittany."
"I thought you were going to tell her?"
"I was! I mean, I am!" he said quickly. "I just haven't found the right moment."
"Well, what's that?" she asked motioning towards the envelope. "Do they want you to start?"
"It's probably the results. I heard they're calling in a few months if you did well."
"Don't you want to see how you did? You know, before she comes back?"
"I guess."
"Come on Finn, open it." she encouraged and he sighed.
"Okay," he said, opening the letter. He scanned over it quickly and processed what he read as a grin broke across his face.
"Well?" Brittany asked, slapping his arm. "How'd you do?"
"I did really well." he said quietly, sounding quite surprised. "Like way better than I expected. I could get called in the first round with a number like this from what I've heard."
"That's great" she said, holding out a hand that he slapped in celebration. "Congratulations."
"Thanks." he smiled but it soon fell as he started to think about what this meant. "I guess I really have to decide if this is something I want...and tell Rachel if it is."
"Do you really think she's going to care that much? I mean if you're happy? I mean, Santana is not a fan of me bartending, but you know, she's working through it."
"I guess, but...you know Rachel. She has a lot of plans and she's really focused on making them happen. I mean, she really wants me to go to school." he shook his head. "I have a feeling she's going to hate the danger aspect too. I mean, she thought I was going to get put into a coma playing high school football. This is like, way more hardcore."
"Listen Finn, I...am not the best person to give relationship advice right now, but if I've learned anything it's that if you're relationship is a priority in your life, you have to make sure you treat it like one. I think if this is really what you want, you should definitely go for it, but I think you better talk to Rachel about it first." she smiled as he fiddled his thumbs. "You know you're secret is safe with me. It's not my secret to tell. But, I really think you need to talk to her about it soon if it's what you want. And from talking to you and seeing the way you look when you talk about it, I think you kind f already know it is." He swallowed and took a deep breath, processing the advice.
"Yeah. Thanks Britt." he said, giving her an appreciative smile.
"Anytime." she said with a smile, whipping her head to the side as the locks clicked.
"Shit!" he said, jumping up and looking around for someplace to put the letter. She grabbed it from his hands and ran off before the door opened.
"Good morning!" Rachel greeted as she walked in, hands full with bag and a tray of drinks.
"Is Britt up?" Santana asked, sipping her coffee.
"Yeah, she's...she..." Santana looked at him like he was insane.
"She what? Spit it out Lurch."
"Went to the bathroom." Brittany said coming back and running over to give Santana a quick peck in hopes she'd ignore Finn's nervous stuttering.
"Morning baby." she smiled, just as Brittany had hoped. "Rachel has coffee for you."
"Awesome." she said. "Thanks Rachel!"
"Thank Santana, she bought. I just carried." she said cheerfully.
"Thanks" Brittany said, wrapping her arms around Santana's waist.
"She is just so much cheer and noise in the morning." Santana shook her head and Brittany chuckled, detaching so she could make her way over to the table and have breakfast as they all discussed their plan for the day.
"Well, I must admit that was a lovely choice for dinner Santana. I was glad to see there were multiple options for me on the menu." Rachel said with a smile.
"I'm not out to make anyone's life miserable on a date night, unlike you Berry." Santana said with a smirk. "I'm just out to prove that Britts and I should be in charge of planning all the date nights."
"Clearly you know that would be extremely unfair."
"Clearly you know I'm aware that it would never happen." Santana said, rolling her eyes.
"I'm not to sure about this second phase of the evening. I mean, I don't see why we all need to 'get wasted' on a school night."
"I never said we were going to 'get wasted'. I just said we were going to go to a bar and have some drinks and loosen up a little. God, do you ever stop being so uptight?" she asked, opening the door, as they all filed inside. "I even caved to your requests to do more than drink and found a place where we could play pool. Relax and attempt to enjoy yourself."
"I love pool." Finn smiled.
"See." Santana smiled as she snatched her ID back from the bouncer and headed towards the bar.
"Don't worry Rach, we'll kick their asses." Finn smirked.
"Um," Santana said, putting a finter in the air and pretending to be deep in thought. "let me think about that. Yeah, Britts and I are going to crush you." she said with a proud grin. "I'll take care of drinks and meet you guys. Go get a table."
"I don't want to drink too much Santana, so something you know, not too alcoholic." Santana rolled her eyes.
"I didn't tell you how to run your date night Rachel. Just let me handle it." she said, turning to the bartender. "I need 4 long island iced teas and a double shot of vodka." she smiled, handing over her credit card. A few minutes later she had four drinks in front of her and signed her tab. She carefully sipped one of the drinks before dumping the shot into it and mixing it up, reaching across the bar to grab a second straw to add.
"Perfect." she said. "Hey Frankenteen." she yelled, motioning Finn over. "Come help."
"Thanks Santana." He moved to grab two of the glasses.
"Oh wait, the one with two straws is for Rachel." She said with a smile. "I asked him to take it a little light on hers."
"Oh..." he said grabbing the drink she pointed to and smiling, "thanks."
Two hours, three games of pool, and many more drinks later and everyone was starting to loosen up a bit, especially Rachel. Santana had made sure to discreetly slip another extra double shot into Rachel's drink since she was insisting that she take it easy. Of course, being that Rachel probably had the lowest tolerance, she was also showing signs of intoxication quicker.
"I just played like 10 more songs! I love this place!" Rachel said with enthusiasm and Santana giggled a little to herself.
"No more Barbara. Seriously, this is not the atmosphere and the bartender will just skip it again." Santana said.
"No, no. Don't worry I found some much more...partyish music this time!" she smiled, sipping her drink. "This is the best drink I've ever had."
"I bet." Santana said with a sigh as she pocketed the 4 ball.
"I love this song!" Brittany said, leaving her drink on the table and dancing to some Beyonce song or another. Santana grinned appreciatively and noted that she was getting a bit drunk herself as she messed up her shot and turned the table back over to Finn.
"Shit." she muttered, picking up her drink and adjusting her eyes to focus once more on her girlfriend who was now dancing with Rachel a few feet away. "Britt, you're gonna be next after Hudson messes up this shot." she sighed.
"When do I get to go again?" Rachel said with a pout.
"We've been over this a million times midget, you're after Brittany."
"Right!" Rachel said, laughing. "But for some reason I just keep forgetting." she said, doubling over in laughter and knocking into Brittany who just started laughing along with her.
"Having fun Berry?" Santana asked.
"This is a blast." Rachel said with a giggle and a hiccup. "We should totally come here more often. I had no idea someplace that looked so incredibly tacky on the outside could actually be so much fun!" she said, spinning around and singing along with the track.
"See, don't doubt me Berry." Santana slurred as she tried to point at Rachel, swaying unsteadily.
"Damnit." Finn said. "I'm totally like losing my ability to do this."
"You talk as if you had it in the first place." Santana snickered.
"I go!" Brittany said, jumping up and down, grabbing the cue from Santana as she kissed her quickly and headed to the table, where she impressively sunk 4 balls before missing one.
"It's like the more she drinks the better she gets. How the hell does that happen?" Santana just shrugged.
"Cause she's the shit." she said, before yelling over to Rachel. "You're up hobbit."
"Finally!" Rachel said, grabbing the cue. "Watch how it's done!" she said, quirking an eyebrow comically before turning around to line up her shot. She reared back and they were all alarmed at the large smack they heard as the cue ball went flying off the table and down the length of the bar, nearly hitting someone at the next table.
"Shit." Santana said, wincing and following the path of the white ball with wide eyes as Brittany, forgetting about the pool cue still in her hands, quickly twisted her whole body to do the same. Suddenly there was another crash, this one of glass, and Santana's head snapped back to see that with one swift motion Brittany had 3 glasses on the table they'd been using. "Oh no."
"Oops." Brittany said, looking up at Santana nervously as Finn bent to pick up the glass.
"No, wait!" Shouted one of the employees as they ran over with a broom and dustpan. "Please, don't touch it, you'll cut yourself."
"Sorry about the...mess." Santana said, looking around. "I, um, I think we better take this party back to the house guys." she said, gathering up herself and Brittany.
"What?" Rachel said horrified at the thought of leaving early. "No way! I just played a ton of songs."
"We can play them all at home Rachel."
"But that was like 5 bucks!"
"I'll give you the five dollars Berry, but it's time to get going." she said, grabbing Rachel's arm and pulling her out. "Sorry again." she said to the bartender, hoping they didn't make too big of a scene at one of the places she'd found that she'd really liked.
"But Santana-" Rachel continued to protest as Santana dragged her to the street.
"Berry, listen to me." she said in a quiet yet forceful tone as they headed up the block. "We are all under age and as great as our IDs might be, I don't want to risk never being let back into that place. I happen to like it there. So it's time to go home. Don't worry, I've got enough booze to keep you happy there."
They headed back to the apartment, which was only a short block and a half away, but hitting the air admittedly made Santana feel quite a bit more drunk than she did when she left and they stumbled into the living room in a fit of giggles about something no one could even remember...which only served to make it funnier. All four of them hit the apartment like a tornado, everyone having different ideas about what to do next and proceeding to try and make them happen.
Rachel was dragging out a microphone s and attempting to hook it up to the stereo for karaoke purposes, while Brittany dug out games to play. Santana was in the kitchen trying to find out what their next poison would be as she looked through her limited liquor supplies and Finn was just trying to make it across the house to find a pizza menu without tripping or crashing into something.
"This has been like the most fun night ever! Maybe Santana is right and this is the college life." Rachel said and Brittany just laughed. "Oh my god, I just had the best idea! We should all go on vacation together!" Rachel yelled as she popped up from the stereo and grabbed her laptop. "We can do Spring Break in Mexico and it will be the best thing...ever." she said.
"You gonna pay for that Berry?" Santana asked, lining up shot glasses and filling them with tequila as Rachel fell back deep in thought.
"I have a job now. I can totally pay for us." Brittany slurred, as she struggled with the box to Taboo. "Open!" she yelled at it in frustration.
"I know!" Rachel said, popping up. "I can sell my collection of rare Barbara items!" she said running into the bedroom as Santana watched her with a mixture of confusion and amusement.
"A couple drinks at a college bar and she's ready to sell her soul to get to spring break." she said, falling to the side. Rachel emerged from her bedroom with a box and pulled out a copy of a magazine. "I knew you'd be more entertaining drunk Berry. "
"I'm going to put all this stuff on eBay." she said determinedly.
"Babe." Finn said, shaking his head with nerlaugher. "I think you should wait till tomorrow." he said, crawling over to where she was and looking over her shoulder. "You can't even spell eBay right." he said falling backwards in laughter.
"I have no idea how I got this intoxicated soooo quickly." she slurred out, scrunching up her face in confusion and looking at Santana questioningly. "I mean I only had like..." she paused as she mouthed numbers and tried to count on her fingers, "three drinks all night!" she said holding up 4 fingers and Santana just giggled.
"I just can't understand any of these cards." Brittany pouted, falling back on the couch as Santana downed another shot and sighed.
"Let me see." Finn said grabbing the card from her.
"Oh right! Karaoke!" Rachel said, quickly abandoning her mission to sell her most prized possessions and turning to the stereo once more, causing ear shattering feedback as the mic lay next to a speaker. "Sorry." she said with a giggle.
"Sta- statin – statin..." Finn squinted. "This is too hard to read." Santana squinted and leaned forward.
"Stationary." she said, shaking her head. "Baby, I think it's not a good time for that game" she said.
"But I'm bored." Brittany pouted. "It's boring here."
"We can play a drinking game." Santana offered.
"Yeay!" Brittany clapped.
Close to an hour later, after a hardcore game of quarters, they were significantly more drunk and their short attention spans had moved on. Rachel had finally figured out the microphone and sang her own renditions of wildly inappropriate songs to Finn, who watched with rapt attention. Brittany, as could be expected, was inspired to dance, which gradually evolved into her dancing for Santana.
Buckle up , I'mma give it to you stronger
Hands up, We can go a little longer
Tonight I'mma get a little crazy
Get a little crazy, baby
Santana swallowed hard as Brittany's shrugged off her shirt and tossed it aside as she leaned forward, placing a kiss to her neck before turning around and hovering just above her lap and continuing her movements as the music carried on. Suddenly Santana started to feel something take over. It was the one thing that she had hoped she could escape all night, but here she was, far too many drinks later and she lost her will to fight. She felt her eyes filled up and a sniffle escaped her and then, as Brittany ground into her lap, she burst into an uncontrollable sob.
"I'm so sorry." she whimpered and Brittany snapped her head around, eyes widening when she saw her girlfriend's sudden disoriented state.
"Baby, what's wrong?" she asked, turning around to sit across Santana's lap and wipe the now free falling tears.
"I'm so sorry Brittany." she sobbed. "You're so pretty and perfect and you do everything for me and I'm just taking advantage of you." Brittany swallowed and thought hard, trying to process what she was talking about in her own drunken state. "You're such a good dancer and you're so special and I'm just objectifying you and treating you like some silly stripper." she said collapsing into Brittany's neck, who instinctively wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and rubbed her back soothingly.
"No, Santana...come on, it's okay." she cooed.
Meanwhile across the floor Rachel was alternating singing and making out with Finn until he got up and stumbled his way to the bathroom. As he made his way into the room he tripped over his own feet once more and his arms flailed, reaching for the first thing he could find. His hand caught hold of the shower curtain and he cursed as he spun and realized what was coming next when he ended up wrapped in the curtain in the tub in a fit of laughter, unable to lift himself back up.
"Ra...Rach...Rachel!" he yelled and giggled. "Oh man, the tub is comfy." he said, with a smile re-adjusting, as his eyes suddenly felt incredibly heavy.
Rachel, completely oblivious to Finn's calling her, eventually did realize he didn't return. She went off to look for him but only managed to make it to the bed, before flopping herself onto it and passing out, leaving a hysterical Santana and half dressed Brittany in the living room on their own.
"I'm an awful person!" Santana cried. "Why do you even love me? I'm so sorry. I just love your body so much." she continued to whimper.
"It's okay Santana. It was my idea." she said with a smile and kissed her. "Come on, I think we better head to bed." she said, suddenly feeling a little more sober as she wiped Santana's tears and kissed her softly. "There's nothing to be sad about, it was a great night. Let's go to bed and I'm sure you'll forget all about this." she said, standing wobbly and moving to hit the button on the stereo.
"Okay." Santana sniffled, suddenly not so sure why she was crying in the first place. Brittany led her through the glasses and mess as they made their way into their bedroom.
The blare of the alarm at 6:30 AM sounded like a bomb went off in Rachel's skull as she reached out slapping her hand on the clock.
"No!" she yelled. After re-setting the clock to 8:00 and hitting the snooze several times, she finally groaned with the realization that she had to get up. She lifted her head up and looked around to take in her surroundings and was relieved to see she was in her own bedroom, but confused as not only was she fully dressed with even her socks and shoes, but Finn didn't appear to be anywhere in sight.
"Finn?" She called as she stood, stumbling backwards slightly and clasping her pounding head. She made her way towards their bathroom groggily to find some aspirin and jumped when she was met with the sight of long legs sticking out of her bathtub. "Finn?" she yelled and he popped his head up from where he lay, fully wrapped in the shower curtain, the rod laying loosely across the tub.
"Huh?" He jumped up. "What happened?" he asked looking around confused.
"What on the hell are you doing in the shower?" she asked.
"Please Rachel, stop screaming." he said, wincing as he grabbed his head. "I think I kind of stumbled...and grabbed the shower curtain for support." he looked down embarrassedly. "I guess I kind of fell asleep."
"I don't even remember going to sleep." she said, as she helped him untangle from the shower curtain and stand up.
"Thanks." he said with a lopsided smile and made his way over to the medicine cabinet where they both took aspirin to soothe their aching heads.
"Oh god, I knew this was an awful idea. I have a class at 10:30." she groaned.
"I have work at 11." he said and they made their way into the living room which looked like a bomb hit it. There were glasses, a few bottles, the contents of the taboo box, various CDs, some of Brittany's clothing and Rachel's box of Barbara, amongst other things scattered throughout the room.
"Why on earth is my Barbara box out?" she said in horror, as she put the contents back inside safely and put the lid back. Finn just chuckled.
"You were going to sell the contents so we could all go to Mexico for spring break." Rachel groaned and threw her head into her hands.
"This is why I knew this date night would be a disaster."
"That's not what you were saying last night." Santana rasped as she strolled into the kitchen and made a bee line for the coffee pot.
"Yeah, you were having a blast last night Rach." Finn agreed.
"I was trying not to drink that much. I have no idea how this happened." she said shaking her head in defeat and Santana chuckled lightly.
"I may or may not have snuck a few extra shots into your drinks to loosen you up." she said with a shrug as she grabbed down mugs from the cabinet.
"You what?" Rachel said.
"No yelling." Brittany whined, covering her ears with a pout as she shuffled over and latched herself onto Santana's back where she stood waiting for coffee.
"Why would you do that?" Rachel asked, sitting at the kitchen table and laying her head down.
"You kept saying you weren't going to drink." Santana shrugged and gripped at Brittany's hands around her as she turned to face Rachel. "I just wanted to help you get to the point where you were willing."
"Well thank you for that Santana. I feel as if I've been involved in a war and I have a class in two hours." Santana snickered.
"Welcome to college hobbit." she said, kissing Brittany softly. "How are you?"
"I feel horrible. I'm glad I don't have dance class till the afternoon. Just the thought of working in the bar tonight makes me want to vomit." she said with a sigh and Santana kissed her forehead before turning and setting up the coffee.
"Don't say vomit." Finn said, shaking his head as he sat down.
"Oh god, you didn't throw up in the bathtub too did you?" Rachel asked horrified.
"No." he said.
"Bathtub?" Brittany asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Finn slept their last night." Rachel said with a smirk as she recounted the story of how she found him wrapped up in the shower curtain. Santana couldn't contain her laughter.
"It was the closest thing I could reach. It made sense at the time." he defended weekly.
"Maybe living here won't be so dull after all." Santana said with a smirk as she brought coffee over to the table. "So we're all booked on that trip to Mexico right Berry?"
"What?" Rachel asked, eyes glancing to Finn who looked uncertain.
"You know. You said you sold that autographed Streisand playbill last night for a lot of cash. You told us you booked the trip."
"I...but...I...wha..." Rachel said, mouth opening and closing as she went into what was surely a form of shock.
"Santana!" Brittany warned, as she elbowed her and shook her head with a laugh. "Don't worry Rach, she's just teasing you." she said kindly. "But you totally were ready to sell everything you owned last night."
"You are pure evil." she said looking at Santana, who just shrugged.
"I'm just keeping things lively." she said with wink and Rachel just groaned.