A/N
Rating and disclaimer from the first chapter apply.
Chapter 18.
They left early next morning and Brittany insisted that they would drive up there together, she couldn't bear to drive her own car and have Santana in another. She needed the other woman beside her and she was clutching the brunette's hand tightly as Santana drove.
/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/
When they reached Minocqua, Brittany was really nervous. Santana parked the car outside a cafe, turned off the engine and turned to the blonde who was still holding on to her hand tightly.
"You okay?" she asked tentatively.
"Not really... but... there's no turning back now..." Brittany said and met Santana's eyes.
"I really wish you would let me come with you to the cabin..."
"Santana..." Brittany pleaded.
"I know I know... it's probably not the best idea but I wanna be there for you..." Santana said and brought one hand up to cup the blonde's cheek.
"At least you're here, you're not four hours away. Just knowing that gives me strength to actually do this." Brittany said and looked deep into Santana's eyes.
"Just... just promise that you'll call me if you need me. I'll make it there somehow, but promise me you'll call me." Santana said seriously.
Brittany just looked at her and saw nothing but love reflected in Santana's brown eyes. She slowly leaned forward and kissed her tenderly.
"I promise." she whispered against Santana's lips before she kissed her again.
"Okay... Thank you." Santana said as she pulled back and met Brittany's eyes again.
"What do you say about getting something to eat before you continue?" Santana suggested and played with Brittany's fingers.
"I don't think I can eat to be honest but maybe I'll just have some coffee." the blonde replied.
Santana kissed her softly before she unfastened both of their seat belts and stepped out of the car.
/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/
After a very drawn-out coffee break and an even more drawn-out goodbye, Brittany left Santana behind and started to drive the last few miles to Anita's cabin.
/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/
When she stepped out of her car memories of what happened last time she was at the cabin washed over her. As she walked towards the cabin she glanced at the boat house and remembered the night she spent there with Santana. Thinking about it and everything else that had happened after that she just felt happy. She felt even more certain that she'd made the right decision, as if it was a decision in the first place. Santana had stolen her heart so completely and Brittany had been hers since that first day. Those feelings gave her more courage to face her dad and actually tell him about how her life had taken a completely different and unexpected turn but how she would never ever want to change it back to how it was before.
/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/
Anita came out of the cabin with a laundry basket and instantly spotted the very nervous looking blonde walking slowly towards the cabin. She put the basket down on the porch and walked down to greet the young woman.
"Brittany. Hi sweetheart." Anita said as she embraced the blonde.
"Hi Anita. So good to see you." Brittany replied and hugged the older woman back.
"How are you?" Anita asked.
"Uhm... Honestly, not so good...I'm terrified really..." Brittany answered honestly.
Anita rubbed Brittany's upper arms encouraging.
"No matter what happens I'll always be here okay? You can always come to me." Anita said sincerely.
She didn't really trust her voice to reply to that, she was so incredibly moved by this woman's warmth and by how much she really cared. She just nodded and bit her lower lip, feeling slightly overwhelmed but also nervous beyond words.
"Thank you Anita." She managed to say and gave the older woman a small smile.
Before Anita could say anything else Jack suddenly stepped out of the cabin carrying a bunch of fishing equipment which he instantly put down when he noticed that his daughter had arrived.
With a big smile on his face he joined his soon to be wife on the lawn and gave his daughter a big hug.
"It's so good to see you Brittany." he said still smiling as he pulled back and wrapped his arm around Anita's shoulder.
"It's good to see you too dad." Brittany replied feeling like she was about to have a minor panic attack at any second.
Anita noticed the change in Brittany's appearance the moment Jack joined them and seeing how terrified the younger woman looked, she deiced to return her attention to the laundry.
"I'm gonna let you two talk alone, I have some laundry that wont hang itself." she said and smiled before she excused herself and returned to the cabin to get the laundry basket.
Brittany watched her leave and all she wanted was to ask her to stay, she wanted her support but at the same time she knew she had to do this alone. She swallowed hard and met her father's eyes.
"Shall we go down to the lake?" Jack suggested.
"Yeah..." Brittany replied.
Jack put his arm around Brittany's shoulder and smiled as they walked down to the lake oblivious of how his daughter was struggling to keep it together.
"So, what did you have to tell me?" Jack asked as they reached the lake and walked out on the pier to take a seat at one of the two small benches that were placed there facing the water.
"I... uhm... I don't really know how to start..." Brittany started.
"It's just me Brittany, you know you can tell me anything." Jack said encouraging.
Brittany looked down at her hands trying to find an appropriate way to start this conversation but realized rather quickly that there really is no appropriate way to tell your father you've fallen in love with a woman.
Just thinking about how to even formulate words that would make any sense made her nervousness escalate even more, how that even was possible.
Jack noticed that his daughter didn't really look and act like herself, she seemed very nervous and he started to think that maybe the news he was hoping for wasn't the kind of news he would get. Something felt a little 'off' but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
"Dad... I... I'm... I... I don't know how to tell you this..." she said with a big lump in her throat.
Jack looked at his daughter and met her eyes. He noticed the expression on his daughter's face and how she looked kind of terrified. Whatever 'news' she was going to tell him wouldn't be the good kind of news that much was perfectly clear now.
"What has happened Brittany?" he asked a little worried.
Brittany looked up and met her fathers concerning eyes. God how would she ever be able to tell him this? Tears slowly started to escape her eyes which Jack noticed.
"Honey... What's wrong? You're scaring me here." Jack admitted and took his daughter's hand.
"Uhm... You're going to hate me..." she said and then she couldn't hold back the tears anymore and she started to cry.
Jack was beyond confused. Why was she crying? He didn't understand.
"Hate you? How could you ever think I could hate you? You're my daughter, I love you no matter what." Jack said and Brittany chuckled to herself through her tears.
"I'm... I'm leaving Nathan..." she started not knowing how she would have the confident to tell him the rest.
"What?" Jack said not quite sure he heard right.
Tears wear running down Brittany's cheeks as she watched the look of utter surprise on her father's face.
"You're leaving Nathan? What? How... I-I mean what on earth happened?" Jack asked clearly confused.
"I... God... I just...I...uhm..." Brittany couldn't make one coherent sentence.
"I... I fell in love with someone else..." Brittany cried and thought her heart would jump out of her chest cause it was pounding so hard, she was so nervous.
"You what? How on earth did that happen? And when? Brittany I'm... Have you really thought this thing through? You were about to get married, I thought you were happy. I don't understand... You're in love with someone else?" Jack said not quite believing what he was hearing.
Brittany looked down at her hands and just nodded slowly. She slowly looked up and met her father's puzzled eyes again.
"I... I am... and I have thought this through... I thought I was happy, I really did but now I realize that I haven't been truly happy for a long time. Nathan is an amazing guy and I hate myself for doing this to him but I can't pretend to be someone I'm not. I can't stay with him just because that's what everybody else expects me to do... I can't do that dad... It's not fair to him and it's not fair to me... He's not who I want to spend my life with..." Brittany explained while she wiped her cheeks from the never ending trail of tears.
Jack was shocked to say the least, he loved Nathan. He was like a son to him and to hear that Brittany was leaving him because she was in love with someone else was not an easy thing to take in.
"So... so this new guy you're suddenly in love with? He's who you want to spend your life with?" Jack asked utterly confused by this 'news'.
Brittany just looked at her father. This is it... but before she could open her mouth Jack continued.
"I'm sorry sweetheart I'm just having a hard time taking all this in. It came as a complete shock. I thought you and Nathan were really happy... Who's this new guy? Where did you meet him?" Jack asked.
God how do I tell him this?...
"I understand that this comes as a shock to you and I know how much you care about Nathan and I'm sorry... I really am...I... I just have to do what makes me happy and Nathan... Nathan is not what makes me happy anymore...and you have to know that I didn't plan this okay? I didn't plan to fall head over heels in love with someone else but I have... I have dad, and nothing has ever felt so right in my life..." Brittany said.
"All I ever want is for you to be happy Brittany." Jack said sincerely.
"I am dad... I am so happy but... but there's one more thing I have to tell you and before I do just know that I love you dad and that I never ever want to let you down or make you disappointed...Just please please try not to hate me..." Brittany pleaded as her voice broke.
Jack had no idea what was going on with his daughter and why she was talking like this.
Okay... here we go...
"There's no new guy dad..." she started.
"What? There's not? But you just said... I don't unders-" Brittany interrupted him.
"Please I have to say this without you interrupting me...Please... It's hard enough as it is, just... just let me say this and then... well...Just listen to me okay?
Jack just nodded as he watched his daughter struggle with whatever it was she was about to tell him.
"There's no new guy... I have left Nathan because I am in love with someone else but... but that someone else is... is...God..." she had to take a breath before she could continue.
"That someone else is a... is a woman..."
There, she said it. She told her father and now she would just wait for hell to break loose...
Jack wasn't sure he'd actually heard correct but judging by the look on his daughter's face and the tears streaming down her cheeks, he realized that what he just heard was in fact correct.
Saying that he was shocked was the understatement of the year. He couldn't even come up with anything to reply to that.
"I know I'm letting you down... I know that and I'm not asking you to just accept this but I had to tell you the truth and now I have... I don't know where this came from but I've never felt so strongly for anyone else ever before..." she said crying.
"I... I don't know what to say..." Jack said with a distant look on his face.
Brittany could see that so many thoughts were going through his head right now.
"Who... who is she?..." he asked after a couple of minutes silence.
Brittany looked up and met her father's questioning eyes and though he hadn't really said anything to her, she could see that he was disappointed and that made her hesitate to tell him the rest but she had to do it.
"Well?" Jack asked while his mind was working in overdrive trying to make sense out of something.
"Uhm... it's..." she started, for a second feeling a little hesitant about actually telling her father that it was Santana. She could lie and say it was just someone he doesn't know but the truth would come out sooner rather than later and no matter how much she feared his reaction she had to tell him this last but maybe most important, part.
"It's... it's Santana..."
Jack's eyes widened as he heard the name of Brittany's new love interest.
"Santana? As in Anita's daughter?" he all but shouted.
Brittany only nodded.
"Have you lost your mind completely? You're leaving Nathan, your fiance, for Santana? Whom you've known for what? A week maybe? Are you crazy?" he said getting more and more upset.
"I'm in love with her dad..." she said quietly desperately trying to not completely break down in front of her father.
Jack just snorted and shook his head in disbelief.
"Brittany this is insane you realize that right? How can you stand here and tell me you're in love with Anita's daughter? Don't you hear how completely absurd it sounds?" Jack spat out.
Brittany was crying hard now and though she knew that this was coming she'd really hoped he would have reacted differently.
"You don't have to tell me that it sounds absurd, I'm very much aware of that and yes, it probably is completely fucking crazy but that doesn't change the way I feel about her. I love her. I want to be with her and I can very much picture myself spending the rest of my life with her and I get that you'll never accept that but this is how I feel dad. This is my feelings and they're not gonna change. I'm sorry I'm letting you down but I had to tell you this... I just hope... I just hope that one day you won't hate me as much as you do right now..."