Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been pretty uninspired lately and haven't really been in the head space for writing but I'm slowly working through it. Here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 16

Brittany whistles to herself as she changes out of her uniform in the station locker room. It had been a relatively quiet day and she was looking forward to spending some time in the studio with Santana. Over the last two weeks she had been spending nearly all of her spare time there. At first she had been reluctant to go, just in case Santana wasn't comfortable with sharing her creative process and work space. However, after her first day in the studio Santana had told her how much she loved her being there watching her work and now it's her favourite place to chill and unwind.

She can't help but smile to herself as she puts on her leather jacket. She puts her foot up on the bench to lace up her boots when she hears a knock on the door.

"Hey, are you decent?" a voice calls out.

Brittany is pretty sure she is the only person in there but she quickly checks the showers just to make sure.

"Yeah, you're good," she calls back.

Brittany goes back to tying her laces and doesn't look up as the door opens.

"Hey, Britt," Sebastian says cheerfully from the doorway. Brittany looks up from her task and gives him a small smile. She didn't quite think they were at the 'Britt' stage of their friendship but she just shrugs her shoulders and lets it go.

"Um, hi Sebastian," she greets him, "what's up?"

"Are you doing anything tonight?" he asks with a wide smile.

Brittany pauses her actions and looks up at him with a blank expression.

"Eh…this couldn't have waited until I wasn't in the locker room?" Brittany questions with a laugh.

Sebastian scratches the back of his neck and laughs along with her.

"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't know if you had left already and I wanted to make sure that I caught you," he explains.

"Well, you've got me but could you make it quick? I'm going to see Santana," Brittany says as she tidies her locker up a bit so that's it's ready for her next shift.

"Of course," he says with a jolt and stands up straighter, "I wanted to know if you wanted to go to a club tonight?"

"With you? You know I'm with Santana right?" Brittany asks curiously. She doesn't want to assume that he is asking her out, she just wants to make her situation perfectly clear. Not that it wasn't already clear, practically everyone in the station knew that she was seeing Santana. It wasn't like they all knew Santana personally but those that she actually hadn't said it to had definitely seen it on the news.

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you out," he says smoothly, "my brother's club is premiering tonight so I was just wondering if you'd like to go."

"Oh," Brittany says in relief, "well thanks so much for the offer but I was planning on just hanging out with Santana tonight."

"Hey, that's totally cool," he says with a wave of his hands, "but if you change your mind just give them your name at the door and tell them you know me and you and Santana and whoever else you might like to bring can get in for free."

Brittany simply nods her head in acknowledgement as she shuts her locker door and swings her backpack over her shoulder.

Brittany makes her way over to the door to walk out. As she passes him he holds out what appears to be a flyer for the place in front of her. She stops and looks down at it, then back to him.

"Just in case," he says with a smirk and a shrug of his shoulders.

"Thanks," Brittany says trying to muster up some enthusiasm as she takes the flyer from his hand and walks away. As soon as she is out of sight she crumples it up and puts it in her back pocket without even looking at it.

She dumps her bag in the back of the car and hastily drives away.

….

"Hey Quinn," Brittany greets as she walks into the studio. She had been visiting so frequently lately that they gave her a pass so that the secretary wouldn't have to call up to Quinn every time she wanted to go up to their floor.

Quinn looks over her shoulder from the sound board and gives her a bright smile, gesturing at her headphones to explain that she's busy and will say hi when she gets the chance. Brittany is surprised to see her working actually. Normally, Quinn lets the other sound technicians work with Rachel and Santana. The two of them usually sit and chat while they work and wait for them to be done. Today though, there's no one else but Quinn, Rachel and Santana.

Brittany steps up beside Quinn and looks through the glass. Santana and Rachel are standing across from one another, passionately singing words she can't hear. Brittany smiles at how much Santana has lost herself in the music. Even though Brittany can't hear anything she thinks that they are working well together. She sees them making good eye contact as they play off each others cues.

Wordlessly, Quinn lifts a pair of headphones that are on the board next to her. She taps them against Brittany's hip and she knows to put them on. Brittany places them over her head and watches as Quinn turns a dial and the volume is turned on.

It's the same song that she's heard them working on for two weeks now but today it sounds different. They had always sounded good but the backing track had always suited one of their voices over the other. Today it was different and flowed seamlessly through their voices, complimenting both of them.

Santana stops singing as they come up to Rachel's solo. She continues to nod along with the beat and looks up at Quinn to make sure that everything sounds good. She smiles when she sees Brittany and waves. Brittany waves back a little goofily and bounces on the balls of her feet.

Santana joins back in and they finish out the song together.

Quinn presses a button and leans over to her mic.

"Ok, that's a wrap for today, I'm just going to play it back to you two so let me know if you hear anything that you want to work on," Quinn tells them. They both nod and smile at each other as they hear their song start from the top.

Quinn takes off her headphones and leans back in her chair. Brittany removes her own and sits down too.

"That sounded amazing," Brittany says with excitement.

Quinn smiles and nods in agreement.

"Yeah, the sound guys told me the problems they were having with getting the backing track to suit both of them so I thought I would take a look at it myself today. I only had to tweak a couple things but I think we've reached perfection!"

"That's great! Does that mean you'll be releasing it soon?"

"We'll drop it in the next couple of weeks I imagine," Quinn states. "Apart from this Rachel's album is finished and this is going to be the first track we release and now is the perfect time for it."

"Santana is so excited," Brittany tells her.

"She should be," Quinn says happily, "this will put in her a perfect position for launching her new album."

"How is it going?" Brittany asks. "Santana hasn't let me hear any of it yet, she wants it to be a surprise."

"Honestly, it's astounding," Quinn says reverently. "I don't know why Sue was having people write for her and suppressing all her talent. I let her completely take the reins and the sound she is going for is so authentic."

A proud smile pulls at Brittany's lips as she looks back through the glass at Santana.

"If all goes to plan it should be released early December," Quinn elaborates. "If things don't go to plan then I'm holding it off until the New Year. It isn't a Christmas album and it will get lost in the seasonal haze if we release it too close to the 25th."

"That makes sense," Brittany agrees.

"Either way, I see it being very successful," Quinn says honestly.

"Aaaaand how is your personal life going?" Brittany asks hesitantly.

Quinn tilts her head good naturedly and looks at her reproachfully.

"Alright, alright it was just a question!" Brittany jokes as she holds her hands up in defence.

"What was just a question?!" Rachel enquires as she joins them, Santana casually walking in behind her.

"Nothing, nothing," Quinn says dismissively.

"You sounded amazing, San," Brittany says warmly as Santana walks over to her and sits sideways on her lap.

"You always say that, Britt," Santana points out as she puts her arm around Brittany's shoulders to keep herself stable.

"That's because it's always true," Brittany coos up at her.

Santana smiles and swats Brittany's face away playfully.

Rachel pointedly walks by Quinn, brushing against her shoulder and places herself down on the couch. She glowers at the happy couple wrapped up in each other. Quinn looks over and catches her. She glares and Rachel rolls her eyes. Rachel quickly grew to love the couple but it was hard to watch them be so happy together when what they had was exactly what she wanted for her and Quinn.

"You sounded great too, Rachel," Brittany assures her.

"Thank you, Brittany, though I am fully aware of that," Rachel says proudly.

"Of course," Brittany says with a gracious nod.

"So, what do you two think?" Quinn asks.

Rachel and Santana smile at each other.

"We think it's done," Santana tells her.

Quinn raises her eyebrows in surprise and quirks one in Rachel's direction.

"Is this a shared opinion?" Quinn asks.

"Of course it is, Quinn! Didn't you just hear what Santana said?" Rachel asks in mock surprise.

"I heard what she said, I'm just having a hard time believing that you have nothing you want to contribute at this point," Quinn says smugly.

"I'll have you know that I think that this song will be the best one on the album," Rachel admits.

Santana looks at her, mouth agape.

"Rachel, you have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that," Santana says breathlessly.

"Well, it's the truth," she says genuinely.

"Wait, so does that mean you're done for the day?" Brittany asks.

Santana and Rachel nod as Quinn shakes her head.

"They're done, I have more work to do," Quinn says remorsefully.

"Quinn, come on, you know you can put it off," Rachel complains.

Quinn just continues to shake her head resolutely.

"Yeah, come on Quinn, we should all go out for dinner to celebrate," Santana teases.

Quinn rubs above her left eye as she thinks. She honestly wants nothing more than to go out to dinner with them but she doesn't think it's smart to be seen outside of work with Rachel.

"I'm really not in the mood to get all dressed up to go to dinner," Quinn says making excuses.

"It doesn't have to be anywhere fancy. We can just go to my mom's diner!" Brittany suggests eagerly.

"Brittany, are you sure that's wise?" Quinn asks. "Would your mom be ok with me being there?"

"Honestly Quinn, I think it would make her day," Brittany says truthfully.

Quinn sighs and brushes her hair back off her face as she considers her options and realises that she doesn't actually want to come up with more excuses.

"Let's do it," she gives in.

The other three cheer and laugh as they grab Quinn up out of her seat before she can change her mind.

…

The four of them sit down in a large booth at The Jolly Rancher. Rachel immediately flips open the menu and peruses it furiously. Brittany and Santana look at each other in confusion.

"She's a vegan," Quinn explains, "she's just checking to see if there's anything she can eat here."

"Oh," Brittany says in realisation, "well if there isn't anything I'll just tell one of the chefs and I'm sure they'll be able to whip something up."

"Oh I don't want to inconvenience anyone," Rachel says modestly.

"She doesn't want to but she will," Quinn jokes.

"Hey!" Rachel exclaims as she hits Quinn's shoulder with the menu. Quinn ducks out of the way cheekily and laughs.

Brittany bites her lip to hide the grin that attempts to spread across her face. Santana puts her hand on Brittany's knee warning her to keep her mouth shut.

I know she mouths at her dramatically.

Quinn quickly drops her antics when the waitress comes over.

"Hey Brittany, hi Santana," she says cheerfully.

"Hey Marley," they say back.

Marley turns to greet the others when her eyes land on Rachel. She wants to say something but no words come out. Brittany watches her struggle and decides to help out.

"Marley, this is Quinn, Santana's boss and I feel like you might have heard of…"

"Rachel Berry," she gets out.

"Gah, don't introduce me as her boss, we're friends," Quinn urges.

"It looks like Quinn has completely thrown professionalism out the window," Rachel mumbles under her breath but Quinn still hears her.

"I'm allowed to change my mind," Quinn mutters at her.

"But not about everything," Rachel points out.

Quinn looks away from her and smiles awkwardly at Marley, effectively ending their conversation.

Marley senses the mood and quickly moves along.

"So, drinks first?" she asks.

"Black coffee for me," Santana says immediately.

"I'll get a chocolate milkshake," Brittany adds.

"Sparkling water for me, thank you," Rachel says.

"Ummm, I'll get the same as Brittany," Quinn chimes in.

"Great, they'll be right out," Marley says before she turns and walks away.

Even though Marley is gone Quinn doesn't want to bring up Rachel's remarks. She isn't comfortable talking about the feelings she doesn't want to acknowledge in front of Brittany and Santana who are doing their best to pretend like they didn't hear every word that Rachel said.

"Britt, could you let me out? I need to go to the bathroom."

Brittany gets up and Santana slides out. She sits back down and twiddles her thumbs, not quite sure what to say to distract the two women across from her from their thoughts.

"So, Rachel, is there anything on the menu for you?" Brittany asks, glad that she managed to come up with something.

"The salad looks perfect, thank you Brittany," Rachel says stiffly but Brittany takes no offence, she knows that Rachel's bristly attitude isn't being directed at her.

Quinn rolls her eyes and stands up.

"You know I actually need to use the restroom as well," she sighs as she moves away from the table without glancing back.

Rachel groans in frustration and grabs at the roots of her hair.

"You two really need to talk this out," Brittany says.

"You don't think that I've tried every approach in the book?" Rachel asks incredulously.

"You're right, I'm sorry, I'm sure you have," Brittany concedes.

"It's just so upsetting to be so ready for something you know would work out when the other person is so obstinate that it won't!"

"Can I ask you something, Rachel?"

Rachel nods feebly.

"You may not want to answer and that's fine," Brittany warns her. "It's just, how long have you been like this around each other? You know, both aware of your feelings for each other but Quinn making it clear that nothing can happen between the two of you?"

"Well, I mean, ever since I met Quinn there has been something between us but it was only a few months ago that I finally got up the courage to confront her about it," Rachel explains sadly.

"And Quinn has held out for those few months?" Brittany questions.

"She is unyielding," Rachel says with a slight pout.

"Then, and I know this isn't what you want to hear," Brittany says delicately, "but have you maybe thought about respecting what Quinn wants? From what I can see she has made it clear that she isn't willing to start a relationship with you."

Rachel's lip trembles slightly and she tucks her hair behind her ear.

"Yes, I had thought of that, Brittany," Rachel says resolutely. "I always just thought that it was a matter of time though and that Quinn was just being her usual stubborn self."

"I don't mean to sound insensitive, Rach," Brittany says gently reaching her hand out to take Rachel's in hers. "But, it's been months and you deserve a chance at happiness. How long are you willing to put yourself through this? It's tearing you apart."

Rachel squeezes Brittany's hand to let her know that she isn't mad at her for giving her some tough love. She sniffs and grabs a napkin to dab at her eyes.

"You're right," she says lifting her head proudly, "I'm not going to spill anymore tears over Quinn Fabray. I want to…I want to get her out of my head completely! We…we should go dancing!"

Brittany's eyes widen at Rachel's sudden enthusiasm and wonders if what she has done is a good thing.

…..

Meanwhile, Quinn storms into the restroom and tries not to scream in annoyance. Santana exits a stall and looks curiously at an angrily pacing Quinn. She walks over to the sinks to wash her hands, keeping an eye on Quinn's movements in the mirror.

"What's up, Fabgay?" Santana asks when she gets no sign that Quinn is going to let up on the pacing.

"Why does she have to do that?" Quinn practically yells at her, gesturing wildly in Rachel's direction through the walls of the diner.

"I'm not following," Santana says confused.

"I've told her time and again that nothing can happen between us but she keeps on bringing it up in snide little ways! This is why I'm so reluctant to spend time with her outside of the studio."

"Tell me again, just to clarify because it still makes no sense to me, why can't you be with her?" Santana asks seriously as she moves to dry her hands.

"It's unprofessional!" Quinn exclaims.

"Bullshit," Santana deadpans. "Try again."

"It's too risky for the company!" Quinn shouts.

"Not convinced," Santana says with a shake of the head. "Risk is like your middle name."

"I calculate my risk, Santana, and there has been too much of it lately," Quinn retorts.

Santana throws the paper towel she used to dry her hands in the bin and turns abruptly to face Quinn.

"Oh cut the crap, Quinn! You're not fooling me and you're definitely not fooling Berry, otherwise she would have let this go a long time ago. She isn't stupid give her some credit. Now, tell me what the hell is keeping you from jumping that little dwarf's bones!"

"I'm scared, alright?!" Quinn yells.

"Scared? Scared of what, Quinn, she's tiny, like literally the least threatening person I have ever met."

Quinn sighs and leans on the bathroom counter.

"I've never needed anyone like I need her, Santana," Quinn confesses. "I've been keeping her out because if I let her in every part of me is going to cling to her and never let go. All my life I've been so used to operating alone even within relationships. Yet, with her, we're not even together yet and I can already feel myself depending on her. And, what if I let her in and she doesn't like what's there?"

"You said yet," Santana states smugly.

"What?" Quinn asks turning to look at her.

"You said that you and Rachel aren't together…yet."

"It was just a slip of the tongue don't go reading too much into it," Quinn says defensively.

"Oh no," Santana says crossing her arms, "I'm gonna psycho analyse the shit outta this, Quinn. You've thought about it. You want to give in and I'm telling you to do it. You say that you're afraid that she won't like the real you? Quinn, she knows the real you. So just let yourself be freaking happy!"

Quinn looks at Santana hard in the eye and for a second Santana is afraid that she pushed it a little too far but she realises the change she sees in Quinn's eyes isn't anger at what she said but determination and hope.

Quinn nods her agreement perhaps not quite able to verbalise what she just agreed to yet.

"Yes!" Santana cheers. "Now go get your girl!"

…

Rachel is listing places that they could go dancing when Santana and Quinn return to the table.

"Oh Quinn, Santana! Brittany and I are going to go dancing tonight, are you two in?" Rachel practically squeals in excitement.

Santana looks over at Brittany in confusion.

"Britt, I thought you and I were having a quiet night in?"

Brittany looks at her and gapes helplessly.

"I hadn't actually really agreed to anything but…" Brittany tries to explain.

"Oh no, Brittany, you really must come! You're the one that has put me into a much better mood," Rachel begs.

"Yeah, Rach I dunno," Brittany starts but is interrupted as Marley arrives with their drinks.

"Sorry for the delay, we ran out of ice cream for the milkshakes," she explains flustered. "Are you all ready to order?"

"Yes," Santana answers quickly so that Berry can't launch into a speech about why they should go out tonight. "I will have the blueberry pancakes and Britt, babe what are you gonna get?"

"Ohh, I didn't consider pancakes, now I don't know what I want," she mumbles. "Ask Quinn first, I need to rethink things."

"I thought this was supposed to be dinner and you're getting pancakes?" Quinn asks confused.

"We serve the breakfast menu all day," Marley explains.

"And breakfast for dinner is like my favourite," Brittany chips in.

"In that case," Quinn says sounding like she has made a decision. "I'll have the scrambled eggs with extra bacon, please."

"And for you, Rachel?" Marley asks still a little star struck.

"The garden salad," she tells her politely.

"Great, I'll be back shortly with your meals."

"Now, as I was saying," Rachel continues. "We should all go out tonight."

"Why the urgent need to go out?" Santana asks.

"Brittany was just saying that I should put myself out there more, you know, meet some new people!" Rachel exclaims excitedly.

"What?!" both Quinn and Santana almost yell at the same time.

"I didn't really put it like that," Brittany tries to defend herself.

"It doesn't matter what way she put it, the point is I want to go out now are all of you ladies going to join me or not?"

"Yes, we'll join you," Santana relents. Both Quinn and Brittany look at her in surprise. "So, where are we going?" she asks ignoring their looks.

"It has to be somewhere amazing!" Rachel demands. "I'm not getting caught seen at some back alley club. Now, it's quite late notice so we're not on the list anywhere not that that should be too much of a problem, Quinn can you make some calls?"

"Ehhh yeah," she reluctantly agrees as she takes her phone out of her pocket.

"I'm on a list somewhere," Brittany suddenly chips in around sipping her milkshake.

All three women look at her with mixed expressions of shock.

"Britt, what do you mean you're on the list for a club?" Santana asks.

Brittany shuffles in her seat and takes the crumpled up flyer out of her back pocket. She had been reluctant to show it Rachel before because she didn't think Santana would want to go out but now that she seemed so eager she was happy to be able to contribute to a conversation that she normally would have been a bystander in.

Rachel dives for the flyer before Quinn or Santana can get to it. She unfurls it and lets out a high-pitched shriek.

"I've heard about this place! I didn't think it was opening for another few weeks! Brittany, this place is super exclusive and this is the grand opening, how could you be on the list for this place?" Rachel asks in shock.

"A guy on my squad, Sebastian, his brother owns the place," Brittany explains nonchalantly. "He told me that I was on the list and that I could bring whoever I wanted."

"I can't believe we're going to this," Rachel gasps excitedly whipping out her phone. "I have to tweet about it."

Quinn narrows her eyes and takes the flyer from Rachel.

"What did you same your friend's name was?" Quinn asks curiously.

"I wouldn't really call him a friend," Brittany states. "But his name is Sebastian Smythe."

"Smythe, why does that ring a bell?" Quinn ponders.

"What does it matter?" Rachel asks dismissively. "We are going to have such a great time!"

Quinn shrugs her shoulders but doesn't seem too convinced.

"Why didn't you show this to me earlier?" Santana asks.

"We had plans to stay in," Brittany explains with a shrug of the shoulder. "And if I'm honest something about Sebastian gives me the heebie jeebies so I wasn't too pushed to spend time with him outside work."

"So he doesn't think that you're attending?"

"I told him no, but maybe he's still hopeful," Brittany suggests.

"Well if he's not, I'd say his brother is," Santana points out.

"What do you mean?" Brittany asks.

"Brittany, everyone knows that you are dating Santana. If you attend this event then it's nearly a sure fire thing that she will attend too," Quinn highlights.

"Don't you think that he could just be inviting me because I'm a friend?"

"You just said that he wasn't really a friend," Quinn remarks.

"Well maybe he isn't as calculating as the rest of you," Brittany snaps.

Santana looks at her in shock. Quinn doesn't bat an eyelid and takes a sip of her drink. This kind of thing is part and parcel of her work and she is aware that Brittany isn't used to this sort of thing. She knows better than to be offended by what Brittany said but she isn't so sure that Santana does.

"Brittany, how could you say that about me?" Santana asks clearly hurt.

"You can never be spontaneous, you have to think of the reasons behind everything. Why can't you just look at this as a nice gesture from a co-worker?" Brittany implores.

"Brittany, I know you like to see the best in everyone but being analytical is just the smart thing to do in this business," Santana defends herself.

"I guess," Brittany relents. "I just don't like when that crosses over with my sphere, you know? I want to still believe the best of people."

"Aw babe, I know," Santana says sympathetically as she shuffles closer to Brittany to put an arm around her back and place a kiss on her cheek. She uses her right hand to caress the far side of Brittany's face and turn it slightly to look at her. "That's one of the things I love most about you but our worlds are all mushed together now and 99% of the time that's amazing but there are gonna be a few little things that you might not like so much. Is that ok?"

Brittany sighs and nods her head glad that Santana could put a little perspective on it for her.

"I'm sorry about what I said," Brittany whispers into her neck as she turns to her for a hug.

"Think nothing of it, babe," Santana coos as she strokes Brittany's hair. "I'm sorry I assumed the worst about Sebastian."

Rachel finally pulls her head out of her phone and looks around the table in surprise at the change in mood.

"So, what are you all wearing?!"

….

I'm gonna try my hardest to keep updating this as steadily as possible. I'm feeling a lot more positive now than I have in a while so here's hoping.

-Aisling x