I'm so sorry, a year?! Man what an idiot. I have been on deployment and have recently just gotten back to the states. The last year has been, crazy to say the least. But, being in a area of New Mexico that has no service and some decent WiFi has prompted me to re-read Paradise and remember why I started writing it in the first place. So here we go! Review, Follow, Favorite.. You know the drill :)

After the win against Kohala, the girls secured their slot to go to states. Honoka'a softball hadn't gotten to states in who knows how many years, so it was big around the school. For the 3 years that Rachel and Santana played softball they got close, making it to BIIFs to just not perform how they were during regular season.

And Santana gave all the credit to Brittany. She had been a pinnacle part of the team and the rest of the girls knew it too. She had come in clutch in moments that they needed her the most and they all agreed that they wouldn't have made it this far without her. But Brittany refused to take that as the reason they made it to states.

Now what was up next, was the game against Konawaena for BIIF champions.

"What do you think, mom?" Santana was painting Brittany's face for the championship game. "I think it's pretty nuts if you ask me."

Santana was being kept out of the game, which was extremely hard for her to accept. Her shoulder was not even close to being 50% so Holly had to give her the bad news. Coach Sue made the necessary changes which kept Brittany as catcher. Santana had painted Britt's face like how she always painted hers, it was a tradition she held since freshman year. A token of good luck in a way.

"It's nice baby. Britt are you nervous? I know you don't usually catch. But you did good that last game against Kohala." San's mom sat down on the couch opposite of the girls.

"I'm kinda nervous yeah. But I'm always nervous before a game so it's nothing too different."

Lani smiled. They talked for a few more minutes before she left to her room to get ready for the game as well.

The girls packed up their things and headed to the field. Now that Brittany was going to be catching the entire game, she wanted to go over a few of the little things that Santana did during the game so she could have a easier time. So they asked some of the girls to get there a little early so she could have some extra time to warm up.

"Alright babe. So, when I throw to second? I usually try and pop up first depending on how fast the runner is." Santana squatted in the catching position, and popped up. "Just like that. But if I have to, I'll throw from my knees. Which is more effort."

Brittany had never formally been a catcher, just filled in while their normal catcher in Oklahoma was up for batting practice. It was basically a brain dump of everything Santana knew and Brittany just tried to keep up. It was the BIIF championship game, against Konawaena of all teams and all she wanted was to make sure she didn't let the team down.

The girls went over throwing to second, what spot she should hit, and every possible scenario they could think of. She felt ready.

Slowly the stands started to fill and the teams started to show up. Konawaena sported a new jersey, for who knows what reason. But it was ugly.

Santana had her arm in a sling, and was shagging wiffle balls while the girls were hitting. She felt sort of empty, knowing that it was one of the most important games of her career and she wasn't playing. She looked over at Brittany, who was warming up with Rachel. She looked like a natural. Which didn't surprise her at all, she was good at whatever she set her mind to.

It was the bottom of the 7th inning now. The air was intense, the game was up and up the entire time. When Honoka'a would score, so would Konawaena. The score was now 4-3 in Konawaena's favor and no one was sitting down in the dugout. Brittany was up to bat, with Rachel sitting in a nice position at 2nd base. The count was 3-1, and it was safe to say that Kehau was not having a good game.

"Relax, Britt. You got this." It echoed throughout the dugout, in hopes of keeping Britt's confidence up. She was 0-2 for the game.

Kehau stepped back and Brittany gripped her bat as she stepped forward. The pitch came straight down the plate and she hit a solid line drive that skipped right past Kehau and headed to the outfield.

Rachel rounded third with Coach Sue jumping and pointing towards home. Brittany rounded first and took a little lead while watching run for home.

The crowd was going crazy at this point and the race was on to get the ball from center to home to catch Rachel before she scored. Once the ball passed second base Brittany took off. Rachel slid and made it safely to home. The attention now turned to Brittany who was about to make it to third. The catcher panicked, and over threw. The third baseman tried to jump for it but it was way to high.

"Go go go!" Brittany could barely hear Coach Sue over the roar of the crowd. Her focus was on one thing only. Getting to home plate in time. She had tuned everything out and all she could hear was her breathing in and out. She could faintly see Santana jumping up and down in the back but what she was concentrated on was the catcher's expression. She was nearly there, when the catcher started to reach up. Brittany slid, hoping she made it in time. The dust settled, and with a thunderous yell..

"SAFE!"

Her first home run. Technically. The crowd was going insane.

Santana stood in awe. BIIF champs. It was amazing. Everyone was running onto the field now, piling on top of Brittany. She took her time making her way back onto the field, just taking in every single moment she could. Everything was starting to become full circle. The Konawaena girls were in shambles, it had been maybe 2 years since they lost a BIIF championship game and losing wasn't something they were used to.

"Hey kid." Santana turned to see Holly. "I told you they'd be okay."

Holly gave her a hug and walked over to congratulate Coach Sue.

The teams stared to line up to shake hands. Before lining up, Brittany found Santana and hugged her.

"I'm so proud of you, baby. You did so good."

Brittany smiled, "It's cause I had a great teacher."

Once they all said good game, they went to the pavilion to have their traditional after game meal. The Konawaena team was in the dumps, which was expected because like Honoka'a, they wanted to win the game as well.

"How's your back, babe?" Santana asked as she sat next to Brittany with her plate of food.

"It's good, surprisingly. That's mostly why I tried to stay away from catching."

Brittany was excited about their win. She had made it to post season before, but nothing compared to the feeling that this win gave her. She knew how much it meant to Santana and the rest of the girls and to help them achieve this goal had been amazing. Brittany finished her first plate of food really fast so she got up to get another plate. While she was in line, she felt someone tap her shoulder.

When she turned, she saw Kehau.

"Hey, uh.. Just hear me out. I know that you probably don't really like me. I.. just wanted to apologize. For everything. Especially kissing Santana. It was.. against my better judgement and I know it was wrong." Silence. "Well, yeah. That's what I wanted to tell you. I respect your relationship with Santana."

"Thanks, Kehau. I appreciate that. Yeah, I was upset with you but more so upset with Santana. I don't really trust you with her, but that's because of your history together and not because of who you are as a person."

Brittany knew that she had nothing against Kehau other than the kiss. Yeah, she was mad. But she was also a very forgiving person. If this would come back to bite her in the ass then that would be on her.

"I understand if you don't want me to be friends with Santana. I can respect that."

"I think I'll have to work up to that honestly. I don't know right at this moment in time what I want with that yet. Santana and I are still working on our relationship that's why." Brittany held out her fist. "But I'm sure that maybe one day, we can all hang out. San was telling me about how close you guys were before you got into a relationship. And that I understand."

They bumped fists and continued on with what they were doing.

Once at home, Brittany hopped into the shower. Santana was on her bed, trying to pick something to watch on Netflix. It was a chilly night in Waimea, and the girls were going to get ready to head to the Queen Shop's to hang out with the team and get some ice cream. While Britt was in the shower, San pulled out her resistance bands to start some exercises that Holly recommended to get back on track. She took it slow, being wary to not overdo it and hurt herself more.

Brittany came out of the shower, with a sports bra and her towel wrapped around her waist. "You doing okay babe?"

"Yeah, I am. Do I have to wear my sling tonight?" She shot her girlfriend a pouty face in hopes that she wouldn't have to.

"Yes babe. Sling. And we're gonna put tiger balm."

Santana was stubborn. Especially when it came to injuries. But there was time until states so she knew that to be able to play she'd have to follow the rules, no matter how hard it was for her.

When the girls got down to the Queen Shop's the entire time was already there. They sat in the grassy area near the pavilion and talked story. Some girls had video of the game taken by their parents, and others were talking about what they thought the newspaper was going to say about their win.

Santana sort of sat there, happy yet disappointed because she knew that she wasn't apart of this win as much as she wanted to be. She was proud of the team, and excited to see what was to come. She looked over at Britt, who was talking with Kalei and laughing.

States prep was about to begin, and Santana was prepared to do everything in her power to get on that field when the tournament started.

Filler, mostly because I need to build up to states. A couple more chapters, and the story should be finished! Crazy right? Only took about 4 years LOL