There was silence in the living room as Santana's family and I sat, avoiding each other's gaze.

It had only been minutes before when they had caught us kissing on their stairs. Kissing that was clearly leading to more, and would have if they hadn't come down the stairs.

I glanced sideways at Santana, who was watching her knees, her cheeks pink.

Mr. Lopez was looking at her with an expression of distaste.

'Would you like to explain, Santana?'

She met his gaze for a second, but looked away, and I couldn't blame her. It was piercing.

'I... I don't know what to say,' she stumbled over her words. 'It just happened – I'm sorry, I don't know... I don't know what I was thinking.'

'Well your mother and I have barely adjusted to the fact you chose to date one girl, and now it turns out you're having secret rendezvous with a different girl? What's happening with you and that Jamie girl?'

That Jamie girl. I heard the scorn in his voice as he spoke her name. And he must think of me as ten times worse.

'I'm sorry,' Santana repeated earnestly. 'It won't happen again.'

He stood up and paced back and forth for a few minutes. Santana's mom stood silently in the doorway, watching the meeting's progress with a blank expression.

'There's only one thing for it,' said Mr. Lopez. 'Santana, it's one thing to be dating a girl. I think I can get used to that idea, with time. But I will not let you cheat on someone. Do you have no shame? This is unfair, and I'm disgusted that my own daughter would stoop so low.'

Santana flinched as his words hit her like bullets.

But she pulled herself together, as she always did.

'I know it's unfair.'

'So,' he continued, ignoring Santana. 'You two are no longer allowed to see each other outside school.'

My jaw dropped.

'What? Mr. Lopez, you can't just –'

'Oh yes, I can,' he said sternly. 'And I will.'

Santana stared at him blankly.

'Why are you doing this?' She practically whispered the words.

'Because I care about you,' he said, unconvincingly. 'But I won't let you continue this. You can't have them both, Santana.'

She hesitated, then nodded, looking down.

'I know.'

'So, who are you going to choose?'

I watched her reaction desperately. She would say me, right? She had to say me. We were soulmates... Right?

She turned and looked at me, then back at her dad.

'Give me time.'

He nodded, and left the room without saying goodnight. Mrs Lopez followed him out.

I stared at her with wide eyes.

'Brittany,' she said, as she saw the hurt in my expression. 'No, it's not like that. I choose you, I do. But... Jamie's having a tough time at home. Her parents are fighting a lot.'

'So...?' I pressed desperately.

'I... I can't just ditch her. She needs me right now.'

'So we can't be together,' I concluded.

Her eyes filled with tears.

'I don't want to hurt you,' she said. 'I love you.'

'I know,' I said, and I meant it. 'But we can't be together just yet. I get it.'

She hesitated, on the verge of speech.

'Maybe...'

I frowned. 'Maybe?'

She shifted uncomfortably.

'Maybe we can.'

'Um, how?' I asked, raising my eyebrows.

'I... I don't know,' she admitted. 'We could just... Keep doing what we want to do. But secretly. Until Jamie's sorted her life out a bit. And then I'll break it to her gently.'

I frowned.

'This sounds like a lot could go wrong.'

'It could,' she said, nodding. Taking my hand, she interlocked our fingers. 'But you... Us. Together, like we're meant to be. It's worth the risk.'

I nodded in agreement. 'It's worth all the risks in the world.'

She grimaced a little, then laughed. She wasn't too keen on the cheesy stuff.

'Okay then,' I agreed. 'I'm up for this. But on one condition.'

She frowned. 'And what's that?'

'That when you and Jamie are done... We're going public.'

She bit her lip nervously.

'I don't know, Brittany.'

I squeezed her hand.

'Hey, don't be afraid. We'll have each other. That's all that matters. It's us against the world, okay?'

She nodded, and took a deep, slightly shaky breath.

'But... Until then... My dad won't let me see you outside school.'

'We still have school time, and glee club,' I reminded her. 'It's not all bad.'

'And I'm sure I'll find a way to sneak out,' she grinned. 'Nothing I haven't done before.'

I smiled, and she moved in closer, trying to kiss me.

But I pushed her back gently.

'Not here,' I explained. 'Let's go upstairs?'

I pulled her to her feet and interlocked our fingers as we ran up the stairs, giggling and trying to keep our voices down.

We fell onto Santana's bed with a soft thud, all the awkwardness of the previous evening, gone.

As we kissed, she reached for my hand and linked our pinkies, and I smiled against her sweet lips.

'I'm tired,' I said.

'Yeah,' she whispered back. 'Me too.'

I kissed her forehead and turned away.

'Goodnight, Santana.'

'Night, B. I love you.'

My next four words came out as a sigh of longing.

'I love you too. So much.'

I awoke to the sound of an alarm, groaning. I opened my eyes to blinding light and hurriedly pressed down on the alarm to stop it.

'Ugh,' I muttered groggily. 'What happened.'

I turned towards my right, and saw the sleeping form of Santana Lopez beside me, legs draped around me protectively.

And the memory of last night came rushing back to me with the force of a speeding train.

I let out an audible gasp, and Santana stirred.

'Mmm, B,' she said, rolling away. 'Why are you here.'

'Um,' I said, raising my eyebrows. 'You invited me. Last night. Remember?'

She stopped mid-turn and gasped louder than I had.

She turned back to me and stared.

'Oh my God,' she said. But she didn't look upset. She looked... Happy.

Then she jumped on me, pinning me beneath her on the bed and staring down at me.

'I did it,' she said, smiling. 'I told you.'

'Um, yeah,' I said. 'If it actually happened...'

'It did.'

'Okay, I was just checking, I mean... I thought it might have been a dream.'

She raised an eyebrow and moved off me so that I could sit up, but kept her face close to mine.

'Do you dream about me often, Brittany?'

'No,' I said, a little too quickly.

She grinned and moved closer.

'Uhm, okay, maybe once or... Once or twice.' It was hard to breathe steadily when she was this close.

'What happened in these dreams?'

She was grinning as she moved even closer, and I struggled to form words.

'K-Kissing you,' I said. Crap, I just said that out loud.

'Kissing me?' she repeated. 'What, like... This?'

She rubbed her nose against mine, an Eskimo kiss. I could feel the heat glowing on my cheeks.

She was too close. But not close enough. I could feel her breath mixing with mine in the small space between us.

'Not exactly,' I said, wanting her too badly.

'Oh... So maybe like this?'

She cupped my face in her hands and pressed her lips softly against mine.

I immediately groaned and deepened the kiss, unable to stop myself.

I pushed her backwards so she was lying on her back and continued kissing her passionately, never wanting to stop.

'I love you,' I whispered as I kissed her neck. 'San, I love you.'

'Brittany,' she whimpered. 'I love you too.'

Then we heard movement from outside Santana's door and I hastily rolled off the bed and onto the floor.

Santana giggled and got off the bed, helping me to my feet, just before Mrs Lopez entered.

'Morning, girls,' she said sternly. 'Get ready for school. Just to let you know that your father and I are off to work.'

'Okay,' Santana replied meekly. 'See you later.'

Her mom left the room., and I frowned.

'They're treating you so badly right now.'

'They always treat me badly,' she said, shrugging. 'I'm used to it.'

After we were dressed and ready, we went downstairs for breakfast, holding hands.

'Looks like we're walking to school again,' she sighed as we ate hurriedly. 'My car's still under repair.'

'I'm okay with that,' I said, moving towards her. 'More time for us.'

I took her hands in mine and kissed her softly, savouring the taste of her lips. Because I knew I'd have to wait for God knows how long, until it could happen again.

She pulled away too quickly.

'Woah, okay, we're going to be late if you keep kissing me like that,' she said breathlessly.

'Sorry,' I said, grinning.

'No you're not,' she replied, pushing me playfully.

'You're right, I'm not,' I laughed.

Just then, Santana's phone rang.

She watched it worriedly for a few seconds before walking over and picking it up.

'Hello? Oh, hi, Jamie...'

My heart sank, settling somewhere around my ankles.

'Uh, no thanks. Mom's taking me in today. Yeah, it's her... Day off. Her other day off. Yeah, she has two. Okay. Bye. I know.'

She hung up, taking a deep breath to pull herself together.

'You feel bad,' I observed as we walked to her door.

'Yes,' she admitted, opening it and leading me out. 'I feel terrible.'

'But?'

I just wanted to hear her say it.

'But I love you. Not her. And it's better this way.'

'What if she finds out?'

'She won't,' she said hurriedly. But she looked anxious.

'Don't worry, we can be careful.'

She smiled at me, locking the door behind her.

We began walking, out of her garden and onto the main street. It was a fairly long walk and although we walked in almost silence, it wasn't the awkward kind. It was like we were thinking the things we wanted to say, but couldn't.

Eventually, I couldn't hold back any longer.

I reached out my hand and touched her's, pulling it into my grasp.

She looked sideways at me, and her expression of fear made me let go.

Then, she pulled herself together. 'No, it's okay,' she said, smiling bravely and taking my hand once more.

By the time we got within a block's distance of the school, we were forced to let go of each other. Students would start appearing around now, and we knew we couldn't risk being seen.

We met Artie and Puck out the front – clearly awaiting the rest of Glee Club so they could find out the winners of the duets competition together.

'Hey,' we greeted them. 'Waiting for the others?'

'Yeah,' they grinned. 'Hey, there's Blaine.'

I looked to where they were pointing and there he was, looking a little somber.

'Hey,' Blaine greeted us. 'Brittany, I was wondering if I could talk to you? Like, privately.'

I nodded, and walked away, looking back at Santana who looked worried.

I mouthed, it's okay, at her, and followed him.

We stopped beside some bins a few metres away – just out of earshot.

'Have you heard about Karofsky yet?'

I frowned.

'No, I haven't really spoken to anyone this weekend. What's happening with him?'

He sighed, looking around before turning back to me.

'He came out,' he explained. 'He came out as gay. Last night.'

I gasped. 'What? Karofsky?'

He nodded.

Everything began to fit into place in my mind.

'Did you know he was gay, before?'

He nodded again.

'He kissed Kurt last year.'

My eyes widened.

'When!'

'Before he threatened to kill him. Before all that stuff.'

I shook my head. Nothing was going in.

'...And you're worried, because he likes Kurt.'

'Exactly,' he said. 'I just knew I could trust you, Brittany. You trusted me about the Santana thing. So I'm trusting you now.'

'Don't worry. Is there anything I can do?'

'If you could convince Kurt to stay with me,' he said, upset. 'But I'm afraid he'll want Karofsky now.'

'He doesn't,' I assured him. 'He told us all that he still loves you, but he doesn't know what to do.'

'I don't know what to do either. I love him, too.'

'Then tell him,' I pushed. 'Seriously, tell him or you'll spend your whole life regretting it. Don't let Karofsky win this one.'

He nodded. 'Thanks, Britt.'

'It's okay,' I smiled. 'Now, let's go see if we won this duet competition.'

He grinned, and we walked off, to find that everyone else had already gone inside.

The list was up outside the choir room and everyone was huddled round it, most looking disappointed. I squinted at the list.

Winners of the duets competition – Rachel&Quinn

I sighed. 'Ugh, we were so much better than them.'

I looked around, wanting to see Quinn and Rachel's reactions, but they weren't there.

'Where are they?'

'Went to the bathroom,' said Artie, looking disappointed. Him and Puck's rendition of Cooler Than Me had been impressive, after all.

I motioned to Santana to follow me.

We walked down the corridor and into the bathroom, only to find Quinn being pushed up against the wall by Rachel.

When they heard the door open they fell apart hurriedly. But not quick enough.

'Guys,' I said, half exasperated, half amused. 'You are the most unsneaky gays I've ever known.'

They stared at me.

'You... You knew?'

'Oh, please,' said Santana. 'We're not stupid. Everyone knows.'

They looked worried.

'Everyone in glee club, anyways,' she mended. 'But word is gonna spread if you don't keep it on the down low.'

Quinn glared at Santana, taking Rachel's hand.

'We'll see you guys.'

They left, and me and Santana started laughing.

'When did you find out about those two?'

'I saw them making out in the car park last week,' she said, rolling her eyes. 'And we all knew Quinn's had a thing for Rachel for a while now.'

'Yeah,' I agreed, smiling. 'Talking about her non-stop all Summer, then saying she hated her. So obvious.'

'We're pretty obvious, too, though,' Santana observed.

'Not anymore,' I said. 'I think two years ago, everyone realised there was something going on. But not so much now.'

'They don't know anything, then,' she said, moving towards me.

I moved forwards too, until our lips touched.

'Hey,' I said as she pulled me in closer, and I was forced to break the kiss. 'We have Spanish now. Let's not be late.'

'Ugh, it's just Mr Schue, who gives?' she argued, trying to recapture my lips, but I pressed a finger to her's.

'Later. Come on.'

We walked to Spanish in silence, sitting in our seats. Only a few weeks ago, Santana had told me she was seeing someone else as we sat here.

I smiled as I felt her foot under the desk, and placed mine on top of her's.

'Britt,' she whispered, 'what are you doing?'

'Nothing,' I said innocently.

I took her hand in mine under the desk, stroking the skin there.

I felt her shudder a little under my touch, and grinned.

'B, you have got to stop touching me like that.'

'Like what?' I said, playing confused. 'I'm not even touching you, Santana.'

She gave me a sideways glare, but let me continue.

After class was over, the rest of the day was just a blur. All I could think of was Santana, and how we were secretly dating, and the excitement of it all. I barely thought about Rachel and Quinn, or Kurt and Blaine. Or Karofsky, although he was the talk of the school right now.

All that mattered was her. Keeping her happy, and well. Making her smile.

It's all I needed.

A/N: Hey, look at that! A chapter with less than 20% angst. What is this. Really hope you enjoyed. Away on holiday for the next week but I'm bringing my laptop, so I'll probably be updating MORE than usual, haha. Review, please? It keeps me motivated.