A/N

Rating and disclaimer from the first chapter apply.

Chapter 16.

Could she do it? She was standing in front of the man she'd spent most of her adult life with, the man she was supposed to marry in a couple of months, the man whose heart she held in her hands. Could she break it?

"I'm in love with her Nathan..."

There it was, the truth. She couldn't lie to him, she didn't want to lie to him. He deserved the truth and the truth was that she was in love with Santana. No… she wasn't just in love with her, this wasn't just some crush, no…It was so much stronger than that. She was more than just in love with her, she loved her and though it was insane really she knew that that was how she was feeling and she couldn't pretend she didn't.

"What?..." Nathan said defeated.

"You're in love with her?...But you've only just met her Brittany! God! This is not happening..." Nathan dragged his hands through his hair and tried to focus on his breathing that had escalated quite notably.

Brittany was devastated. Nathan was absolutely crushed and it was all because of her.

"So what are you saying here? That you want to be with her, is that it?" Nathan challenged.

Brittany could only nod weakly.

"God! We have five years together Brittany, five! Doesn't that mean anything to you?" he was crying now as well.

"Of course it does." Brittany said meekly.

"And still you wanna throw them away for what? For her?" he said with disgust.

"Yes..." she whispered.

"I... I'm so sorry for hurting you like this..." Brittany said with tears streaming down her face.

He looked at her with disgust. Who was this woman? He didn't know anymore. This wasn't the woman he'd spent five years of his life, loving. That woman would never do this, would she?

"How can you do this... I love you and I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you but you rather have a fling with your step-sister... You disgust me!" Nathan said spiteful.

"I love her Nathan... I know you think I'm crazy and I probably am but that's how I feel and I can't change that... I don't want to change that... The years I've spent with you have been wonderful, you know that and I loved you... but-"

"Loved me?... You loved me Brittany? You don't love me anymore is that what you're saying?" Nathan said getting even more upset.

Brittany just looked at him not knowing how to answer that. It was true though, she didn't love him, well she did love him, she just wasn't in love with him anymore and if she was being honest she hadn't been for a while. Meeting Santana stirred up all kinds of new emotions inside her and then she really knew.

"Of course I love you...I'm just..."

God this is so hard...

"I'm just... I'm just not in love with you anymore..." she finally confessed.

"Get out..." Nathan said through gritted teeth.

Brittany knew it would come to this but it still hurt her beyond words. Seeing Nathan like this killed her but it had been inevitable. Hearing Nathan tell her to get out felt like a slap to the face. She shouldn't be surprised that he reacted like this but a part of her still was. It hurt... It hurt so much but she just nodded and without another word grabbed her purse and walked towards the front door. She stopped by the large mirror in the hallway and didn't recognize her own reflection. Her eyes were swollen and red from all her crying and her cheek's were wet from all the tears. She looked down at her hands and slowly removed the ring that sat on her left ringfinger. She placed it on the small table underneath the mirror and with one last glance at her own reflection, she left their house.

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She had no idea what to do or where to go. For the past hour she'd just driven around with no definite aim. Should she go back to Chicago, to Santana? God how she wanted to be in her arms but she wasn't in a state to drive that far. She pulled off the road and parked her car outside a little bed and breakfast place just outside of town. She decided that maybe it was best to stay there for the night and try to deal with everything else in the morning. She wasn't really hungry but after she'd paid for a room she walked into the diner to get something to eat anyway.

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Santana was restless, she couldn't sit down for more than a minute then she was up and pacing around. The suspense was killing her, she wanted to know what had happened and if Brittany was alright and God how she wanted to be there.

"This is insane! What am I doing here?" she mumbled to herself then grabbed her purse, phone and her bag that was still standing by the door where she left it the day she returned from the cottage.

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She didn't even stop to think if this was such a wise decision. It was too late to turn around now though, she had already driven for three hours. She'd tried to call the blonde several times but she just reached her voice mail. She'd found Brittany address and was now following the GPS instructions.

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As the voice instructed that she'd reached her destination she really started to think that this was not a good idea. What the hell should she say? She drove past Brittany's house and turned around and parked by the side of the road a couple of houses down the street. Her heart was beating so fast. She didn't see the blonde's car on the driveway but the house had a huge garage so it was probably parked inside.

This is crazy, what am I doing here? What the hell was I thinking?

She checked her watch for the time and sighed, 10.53 PM.

So this was not the most well thought-out thing you'd done... Dammit!

She couldn't do it, she couldn't actually walk up to Brittany's door and knock, not at this hour and... just no! This was a very thoughtless action from the brunette who just went with what her heart told her and not her head. So what now? She couldn't drive all the way back to Chicago, that was like four hours and her mother's cottage wasn't that much closer. Without that much hesitation she started her car and drove away from Brittany's street and went back into town to get a hotel room for the night.

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After she'd had something to eat Brittany had headed to her room and once inside she crashed down on the bed and felt how all energy she had left just left her body. She was exhausted and fell asleep within minutes.

Waking up hours later she turned her phone back on and was desperate to talk to Santana, she just needed to hear her voice.

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Santana had just turned out the light in the small, single bed hotel room when her phone started ringing. She bolted up from the bed and answered without even looking at who was calling.

"Brittany?"

"Yeah it's me"

"Are you okay?" Santana asked worried.

"No, not really..."

Santana felt a sting in her heart when she heard the blonde say that.

"Nate knows... he knows everything and he kicked me out..." Brittany said dejected.

"He what? Where are you?" Santana asked already on her way out of bed.

"I'm at a small bed and breakfast a couple of miles outside of town. I didn't know what to do or where to go... and I couldn't drive all the way back to you so I just ended up here and then I fell asleep. I just woke up."

Santana had her phone trapped between her shoulder and ear as she attempted to put on her clothes at the same time.

"I'm here Brittany, I'm in Green Bay. I don't know what I was thinking but I couldn't stay at home. I went by your house but I didn't have the courage to knock on the door."

Brittany sat up quickly when she heard what Santana was saying.

"What? You're... you're here?" Brittany couldn't quite believe it.

"Yes. Send me the address, I'm already on my way." Santana said as she closed the door to the hotel and hurried to the elevators.

"Okay. I'm... I can't wait to see you..." Brittany whispered.

"I'm on my way." Santana said and cursed the elevator for taking so long.

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Brittany couldn't believe that this was happening, was Santana really here? Had she come just for her? She checked the time again. It was twenty minutes since she ended her call with Santana and she should be there any minute now.

A soft knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts and she practically ran to the door and fell into Santana's arms the second the brunette appeared before her. Brittany held her tight as a new set of tears slowly made their way down her cheeks. She moved Santana into the room without separating herself an inch from the other woman.

Santana wrapped her arms even tighter around the blonde's waist when she heard her silent sobs. She kissed the side of her head then whispered into Brittany's ear.

"It's okay... I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere."

They just stood there in the middle of the room, holding each other for several minutes and slowly Brittany's tears stopped falling. She tightened her hold around Santana's neck and buried her face in the crock of the brunette's neck. She couldn't believe Santana was really there, in her arms. She inhaled her scent and was filled with a new wave of emotions. When Santana held her, nothing else really mattered. She didn't think about Nate and the mess she left behind, she didn't think about what her dad would say when he found out about this. She didn't think about anything other than how amazing it felt to be in Santana's arms and how there was nowhere else she'd ever want to be.

"I love you..." was whispered into soft dark hair.

Maybe it was way too soon to say that but it was the truth. She'd already told Santana that she'd fallen in love with her and she realized that actually telling the other woman that she wasn't just in love, that she actually loved her, was pretty big. But she did, she loved her, Santana Lopez, who'd shown up in her life and turned it completely upside down. She loved her and she just had to say it.

Santana thought her heart had stopped beating for a second. She felt paralyzed and wondered briefly if she'd actually heard right. She pulled back slightly to meet the blonde's eyes and when she did she knew for sure.

Brittany's heart was beating so fast.

Did I freak her out? God I shouldn't have said that...it was way too soon... way too soon...

Santana closed the distance between them with the most loving and tender kiss and it took the blonde's breath away.

When they parted Santana rested her forehead against Brittany's who still had her eyes closed. Leaning in again she pressed another tender kiss against the blonde's soft lips then pulled back slightly and looked at her. Brittany slowly opened her eyes and met warm brown ones.

"I love you too..." fell softly from the brunette's lips and the blonde released a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

A small smile appeared on the blonde's lips and then Santana felt warm hands cup her face and the softest of lips connecting with her own. She parted her lips slightly as she felt Brittany's tongue graze over her lips and the blonde wasted no time, she slipped her tongue inside Santana's mouth and moaned softly when Santana's tongue collided with hers. It was a slow, sensual kiss. A kiss where both women wanted to reinforce the words they just said to each other.

When they slowly parted Brittany wrapped Santana up in another hug then moved them slowly over to the bed where she met the brunette's eyes.

"Will you just hold me?..." she asked softly.

Santana nodded and leaned in to kiss her gently before they both crawled up on top of the bed, fully clothed still but neither seemed to care. Santana snuggled up closely behind Brittany's back and put her arm over the blonde's stomach and pulled her closer. Brittany put her hand on Santana's forearm and traced small invisible patterns on the brunette's skin with the tip of her fingers. The events of the day had left her exhausted and though she'd already been asleep for a couple of hours earlier, the blonde fell asleep within minutes with Santana holding her close.

Santana had no idea what would happen tomorrow or the days to come but none of that really mattered. She had the woman she loved in her arms again and the only thing she did know was that she would never leave her side ever again. She loved her so much and the only thing she wanted to do for the rest of her life was to make her happy. They had a tough journey ahead of them no doubt, but she was certain they would get through it together. For the first time Santana felt like she belonged, that she belonged with Brittany. She'd never felt that with anyone ever before and though people would tell them that their relationship was wrong, that they hardly knew each other she would never falter. She would never leave, she would never give up on them and she would never ever stop loving her. Santana kissed Brittany's neck gently and smiled against her skin. She thought back to the moment when Brittany had taken her heart... It was the same evening when they first kissed, when they were playing around in the water and suddenly everything turned serious. When the laughter stopped and their eyes met while their arms was still around each other, Santana had physically felt Brittany taking her heart from her and though it scared her senseless and even though she denied it at first, she realized that she would never want it back...

A/N

To all anonymous reviewers whom I can't reply to personally: Thank you so much for all your kind words!