"Oh Quinn you look gorgeous!"
Santana pressed her lips together, clenching her jaw and holding her breath to keep from bursting out laughing, as Brittany, who was sitting so close to her their sides were squashed together, turned to practically bury her face in Santana's neck.
"Stop it, stop it." She whispered, as Quinn walked towards them. She tapped Brittany's thigh quickly, getting her to sit forward.
"I so got that." Brittany whispered back, before turning her attention to Quinn.
"Mum you said that about all the other dresses as well."
"Well you look gorgeous in all of them." Judy beamed. To Santana and Brittany's amusement, she looked on the verge of tears.
"I think we're getting the tears again." Santana whispered to Brittany.
Brittany leaned even further into her. "That's obvious though. You don't get any points for that."
"What do you guys think?"
"I think….I mean you look great Q." Santana started. Quinn smiled. "But like your mum said, you looked great in the others too. There's nothing really…different about any of them, you know what I mean?"
"How do you feel?" Brittany asked.
Quinn turned to look at herself in the mirror behind her. "I feel beautiful."
"You are." Her mother said, nodding emphatically.
"But I know what you mean Santana. I don't feel like any of them make me feel the most beautiful I'll ever be you know? Like I look like myself in a pretty dress, not…especially beautiful." She frowned slightly.
"Maybe you're putting too much pressure on the dress honey." Judy stood up, walking to stand behind Quinn so she too could see herself in the mirror. "Remember on the day, you'll have your make-up and hair done, maybe a necklace or tiara."
"Yeah maybe." Quinn turned around to face them. "Britt you found your dress easily enough. How did you do it?"
"I still had to go through many dresses."
"Maybe it's harder for us cause we're all so hot." Santana said. "It's hard to find something to make us look even hotter you know? There's no improving on what's already perfect."
"Okay." Brittany chuckled, quickly pecking Santana's cheek. "Though Santana isn't completely wrong," she stood up and walked to Quinn. "I don't think the dresses were the problem. I think we both had high expectations, which is not necessarily a bad thing." She turned Quinn back to the mirror, placing her hand on her back. "If you're looking at yourself right now, and you're not picturing yourself walking down the aisle, and the look on Theo's face when he sees you, then it's not the one."
Quinn smiled at Brittany through the mirror, both her hands pressed against her stomach.
"I don't think it's the one." She said quietly.
"Alright then." Brittany spun back around and took her seat next to Santana. "On to the next one."
Quinn was helped back to the dressing room. Santana had just finished her second glass of champagne when another was placed on the tray. Grinning, she handed over the empty flute.
"Okay this time, she's going to say, stunning." Santana said quietly, so that Judy didn't hear them.
"Nope." Brittany's hand fell to Santana's thigh. "She's going to say gorgeous again."
"She can't say gorgeous four times in a row." Santana shook her head. "She just can't. Especially since Quinn told her she said that about the other dresses."
Brittany shrugged, stealing Santana's champagne and taking a sip.
"She doesn't realise she's doing it."
"No way." Santana shook her head. "Stunning or lovely or something like that."
"That's what you said last time." Brittany brought her lips close to Santana's ear, shifting her hand higher up her thigh. "But I'm not complaining. The more you lose, the more I gain." She gently nipped Santana's ear. Santana's eyes slipped closed as arousal shot through her.
"I want to thank you two for everything you've done for Quinn."
Santana and Brittany jumped, Brittany snatching her hand away from Santana's upper thigh, Santana snapping her eyes open. Judy was looking right at them with a warm smile.
Santana cleared her throat.
"Sorry?"
"You two have been incredible friends to her. Been there for her all these years, and now, well I can't be here every day to help her plan this wedding the way I always dreamed of, but I know you two are here, as always. I am thankful for that."
"Oh you don't need to thank as for that." Brittany smiled. "Quinn's our family."
"Honestly, Mrs Fabray, she's been there for us as much as we've been there for her."
"We love her."
"And we're just as relieved that she's getting married as you are."
The three women laughed as Quinn walked out again.
"Oh." Judy gasped, before tears sprung instantly to her eyes. "Gorgeous." Santana and Brittany smirked at each other.
"Muuum"
"Sorry…but Quinnie you truly are just…gorgeous." She wiped at her eyes.
"I like this one the best so far." Brittany said. "It's beautiful but also-"
"Sexy." Santana cut in. Brittany nodded.
Blushing slightly, Quinn turned to face the mirror.
"Yeah it's definitely not modest."
"Oh look at the back!" Santana exclaimed. "Loving it."
"Are you sure you want to show off that much skin so soon-"
Santana quickly jabbed Brittany's ribs, Quinn spun around quickly, nearly tripping over the train of the dress.
"Um…" Brittany looked nervously from Santana to Quinn. "Just you know…don't you want to leave some up to the imagination….let Theo have to wait to see that much till you've both said I do."
"Oh dear." Judy giggled. "It's a nice thought, but I'm sure Theo has already seen Quinn's back."
"Mother?!"
"Come now Quinnie. You had a baby at sixteen. Do you really expect me to believe you've not already…shared your bed with Theo?"
"Mum!" Quinn reddened.
"I'm not judging you darling." Judy held her hands up to pacify Quinn. "I'm just saying there's no use pretending certain lines haven't already been crossed."
"I can't believe-"
"Brittany's question," Santana said loudly over Quinn's words. She widened her eyes meaningfully and shook her head. "Was really about whether Quinn felt comfortable showing that much skin." She tilted her head.
"Right." Quinn's hands went to her stomach, but she quickly moved them to her hips and turned around. "We don't need to worry about that."
Santana and Brittany glanced at each other, silently agreeing to talk to Quinn about it properly when her mother wasn't around.
"Okay." Quinn said after a moment of looking herself over in the mirror. "This one is my favourite too. For now."
"Progress!" Santana cheered.
"I just have one more, and then we can go for lunch."
She left for the changing rooms.
"I wish I'd gotten to see you trying on wedding dresses." Santana said, looping her arm through Brittany's and intertwining their fingers. She turned their hands over so that Brittany's was on top, and used her free hand to brush over Brittany's wedding ring.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I'd have loved seeing you in all these goooorgeous dresses." They giggled.
"Me too." Brittany said. "I kept telling Quinn I wanted you to just come with us, because you knew me the best. You'd be perfect at helping me pick the right dress."
"True. Honestly I probably wouldn't have had to search for so long if you'd been there. You always give really solid fashion advice."
"But I can't imagine any of them being better than the one I did get to see."
"Only cause the image is attached to your memory of our wedding."
"Maybe." Brittany turned their hands over, lovingly pressing her thumb on Santana's ring. "But you looked…" She shook her head. "God Santana. That dress was perfect. You looked like an angel."
Santana actually felt herself blushing as Brittany brought their joined hands to her lips and kissed Santana's ring.
"I love you." Brittany said. "As much as the day I bought you this ring."
Santana turned Brittany's head with a finger to her chin, gently kissing her lips.
"I love you as much as the day you put it on my finger."
"Okay ladies." Quinn interrupted them before they could kiss again. "You two already got married and got your happy endings, so can we focus on me now?!"
On the morning of November seventeenth, Santana woke up with butterflies in her stomach. She was excited, even though she hadn't been excited for her birthday at all this year. Right up to last night, she'd been feeling kind of irritated by it actually. She wanted it to come and go as soon as possible. With no explanation as to why this was, she'd had to admit that maybe Mercedes was right, and Santana was just dreading getting older. She wasn't excited about being thirty four, at all, but she couldn't exactly say she was upset about it either. She'd accomplished a lot in her youth, had accomplished every single one of her childhood dreams, yet there was just something off this year. For some reason she hadn't wanted to celebrate her birthday.
Which was why, waking up excited was not a good thing. Santana had told Brittany over and over again, that she didn't want any kind of fuss for her birthday. She'd told her over and over again because Brittany always made a big deal of her birthday. She always went over and above to make the entire day feel special to Santana, so Santana had wanted to make sure she didn't do that this year.
But now she'd woken up excited, which meant she was in for disappointment.
Deciding to get it over with, she opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that there were no balloons. There were always balloons.
"Well." She said, lifting her arms over the duvet and staring at the ceiling. "This is what you asked for Santana."
She lay there for a few minutes, drifting in and out of sleep as her body slowly woke up, and when it finally did, she wasn't feeling as disappointed as when she'd first opened her eyes. This was after all what she'd actually wanted. She hadn't been pretending not to want a fuss but secretly hoping Brittany ignored her. It felt odd not to have the balloons, because they were kind of a tradition. Like a tree on Christmas. So of course Santana had been expecting them, even though she'd told Brittany not to make a big deal on the day. Now that she thought about it, it was better that there were no balloons. No balloons meant Brittany had taken her seriously, and there would be no surprises waiting for her downstairs, or a big party she'd have to pretend to enjoy later in the day.
At that thought, she slowly sat up, yawning wide and stretching her arms over her head. That's when she noticed that Brittany wasn't in bed with her. Confused, Santana checked the alarm clock by her bed for the time.
"What the hell?" She whispered to herself, swinging her legs out of bed and standing up. "Britt?" She called, checking if Brittany was in the bathroom. She wasn't. Santana had no idea why Brittany would be awake at 6:15 on a Sunday morning, but a part of her was glad she was. They could spend the morning together before any of the kids woke up. She smiled to herself, feeling her excitement grow.
After spending a few minutes in the bathroom, Santana made her way out of her room as quietly as possible. She was practically tip toeing to ensure she didn't wake up any of her kids, but then she froze, frowning. Sophia's bedroom door was open. Abandoning her attempt at stealth, she made her way to Sophia's room, to find it empty.
"What?"
She turned, walked across the hall and opened Mateo's door. Also empty. Jesus' and Kyler's room, empty.
Now she was confused, because the house was silent, which it would not be if all her kids were awake. Still, she made her way downstairs, expecting to see all her kids in the kitchen with Brittany making breakfast. There was a feeling of disappointment, much like when she'd woken up to no balloons, at the realization that she wouldn't get to spend an hour or so cuddled under a blanket with Brittany as they drank their coffee and talked about nothing, but spending the morning with her kids wasn't a bad trade off. She'd been busy at the studio all week, so hadn't seen them much outside of dinner and school drop off in the mornings since they came back from Nashville. Taking a breath, Santana rounded the corner into the kitchen.
"Morning-" But she stopped short. The kitchen, like the bedrooms, were empty. So was the living room. "Where is everybody?"
Okay so she didn't want a fuss, but had Brittany taken that to mean, 'leave me alone?'. Santana couldn't even imagine where they could have gone this early in the morning, or why Brittany hadn't told her she would be gone early last night. Now she wasn't just confused, truthfully she was getting annoyed.
To prevent herself from ruining her own mood, Santana decided to make that cup of coffee she'd been thinking about, and simply ask Brittany where she was. So she put on the coffee maker and dashed upstairs for her phone.
She heard the front door close while she was up there. Quickly making her way back down, she nearly collided with Brittany on the stairs.
Brittany was carrying one hot pink helium balloon about the size of two fists pressed together and shaped like a heart.
Santana felt warmth flood her body.
"Oh no! You're awake."
"Yeah." She said, staring at the balloon and feeling her throat was tight. "Where did you go?"
"To drop the kids at Quinn's. I didn't think about it until last night and Quinn said she was working late at the restaurant and Theo is at some animation convention or something in LA and won't be back till Tuesday so she said I can drop them this morning." She kicked the stair gently. "Damn it, I wanted to be back before you woke up."
Santana took her eyes off the balloon for the first time.
"Why did you need to drop them at Quinn's?"
Brittany smirked, climbing the two stairs between them so she was standing right below Santana.
"Because I didn't want either of us to have to be quiet."
Santana immediately understood. Balloons were not the only birthday tradition they had after all.
She barely had time to smirk back before Brittany was gripping her waist and crashing their bodies together, hungrily kissing at Santana's chest and neck.
Santana moaned as Brittany took the last step, making them level with each other and turning Santana so she could press her back against the wall. Santana barely registered her shirt being removed. She only noticed when Brittany's cool hands made contact with her hot skin, slowly pressing against her stomach and making their way to her chest. She threw her head back as Brittany's tongue snaked out against her neck, one of her hands tangled in Brittany's hair. She moaned again, louder than before.
"See what I mean?" Brittany husked into her ear. Santana shuddered violently.
"Yeah." She moaned. "Good thinking."
Her bra was suddenly loose, and then Brittany's mouth was making it's way down her chest, and her hands were making their way up, and Santana found herself fighting hard to breathe. She closed her eyes tight, giving in to the pleasure coursing through her as fingers gently pinched one nipple, and soft, puffy lips encased the other.
"Ohhh fuuuck." She groaned, grinding her hips upwards, searching for some kind of friction, as Brittany tongue pressed against her hard nipple. "Baby fuck…let's go to bed."
She was pulsing everywhere, she needed to feel Brittany everywhere, and standing in the middle of the stairs was not a good place to do that. She knew it wouldn't be long before they were both too far gone to care, and she could picture herself laid out on the steps, with Brittany between her legs, but she also knew that she wouldn't be comfortable, and neither would Brittany, and even more than that, she would not be able to get the image of her juices seeping into the carpet that her kids regularly spent time on. It would drive her mad until she got the carpet professionally cleaned.
Not worth it.
"Baby." She pulled Brittany's hair, groaning as Brittany's teeth grazed her nipple. Brittany's gaze landed on Santana's lips. It made Santana smirk. Turned on Brittany was so much fun. She licked her lips and watched Brittany follow the movement. "Baby." She said slowly, emphasizing the 'B's' to taunt Brittany. Brittany surged forward, capturing Santana's bottom lip in her mouth and sucking it. Her hands moved down, smoothing over Santana's waist and dipping into her pajama pants to cup her ass.
Then Santana felt herself being lifted off the ground. She dutifully wrapped her legs around Brittany's waist. As Brittany began to walk them slowly and carefully to their room, Santana cupped both her cheeks and deepened the kiss. She pushed her tongue into Brittany's mouth, feeling their combined breaths washing over their faces as they panted, and Brittany's hands kneading her ass. Brittany had to stop a few times, nearly losing balance as she hungrily sucked Santana's tongue, but they finally made it to the room.
Santana instantly jumped down from Brittany's arms, dropping her pants quickly and then helping Brittany out of her clothes as she walked them backwards towards the bed. They toppled onto it as Brittany lost her bra. Leaving Brittany lying on her back, Santana slid down her body, kissing her stomach as she undid Brittany's jeans. Brittany propped herself up on her elbows, watching intently. That allowed Santana to reach her boobs as she slowly brought down the zip. She flicked her tongue out, catching Brittany's nipple. The reaction was instant. Goosebumps erupted along Brittany's arms, and her hips jumped up, into Santana. Santana did it again.
"Fuck Santana stop teasing me!" Brittany cried, sitting up properly and reaching for her own pants. Santana moved quickly, gripping Brittany's hand and pinning them above her head. She straddled Brittany's hips so she was leaning over her.
"Patience, Britt-Britt."
With Brittany unable to move, Santana leaned down, placing slow, sensual kisses along her neck. She sucked her skin into her mouth, biting just hard enough to leave a hickie on Brittany's pulse point. Brittany's moan had Santana grinding her hips down into her. She moved to the opposite side of Brittany's neck and did it again. This time Brittany's hips lifted to meet hers. Her hands struggled to get free, but Santana's grip was firm.
"Baby," Brittany moaned. "I want to touch you, let me go."
"No," Santana licked up to her ear, feeling Brittany shiver.
"But it's your birthday. I should be-"
"It's my birthday, so I get to do what I want. And what I want to do…" she sucked Brittany's earlobe into her mouth and nibbled it gently.
"Fuuuuuck" Brittany cried, her hips moving more urgently under Santana.
"Is you."
"Santana"
"Are you going to be a good girl and do what I say?" She sat up, having to flip her hair over her shoulder so it didn't fall over Brittany's face.
Brittany was breathing heavily through her mouth as she stared up at Santana, first at her boobs, then slowly lifting her eyes to Santana's.
"You're so sexy." She breathed. Santana smirked.
"Did you hear what I said?"
Brittany took a deep breath and nodded. "Am I going to be a good girl…"
"Are you?"
Santana watched Brittany lick her lips, then bite her bottom lip, letting her eyes wander back down to Santana's boobs. She canted her hips up, lifting Santana with her.
"Fuck. Yeah." She said. Santana leaned down, capturing Brittany's lips in a hard kiss.
"Good. There's only one rule. No touching." She waited for Brittany to nod before letting her hands go. When Brittany didn't move, she slowly made her way down Brittany's body like she had the first time, kissing and sucking as she went along and loving how worked up Brittany was getting. Finally, she reached Brittany's waist. She kissed along the top of the jeans, then down the space given by the open zip, feeling how warm Brittany was over her underwear and smelling how turned on she was. She looked up through her lashes to see Brittany watching her like a hawk, chest heaving.
"Are you turned on baby?" She asked playfully, as she hooked her thumbs into Brittany's jeans. Brittany nodded. "Are you ready for me?"
"So ready." Brittany moaned. "You know what you do to me Santana."
Santana pulled the jeans and underwear down, Brittany had to lift her hips so they could come off all the way, and she dropped them to the floor.
"Spread your legs."
Brittany let her legs fall open and Santana felt her stomach tighten. She wasn't sure Brittany even realised how sexy she was. She ran her hands up Brittany's thighs, over her hips where the bones stuck out, up her stomach and cupped her boobs.
"Fuck baby." She said, massaging them both. Brittany moaned, lifting her hips. It drew Santana's attention. She looked down, taking in the moisture that had collected on the inside of Brittany's thighs. Santana's clit pulsed. "Fuck."
She let go of Brittany's breasts and moved down again, settling between her legs and spreading her even wider.
"Fuck Santana…" Brittany's back arched. She was desperate, Santana could tell. Desperate to touch Santana, and desperate for Santana to touch her. Santana watched her struggle for a moment, with her hands gripping the sheets at her side and her back arching as she tried to grind down into the bed.
"Please Santana….fuck…." Brittany ran her hand through her hair. "Please…"
Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. The sight of Brittany's naked body writhing beneath her, the sound of her desperate moans, was more than Santana's fragile control could take.
She lowered her head to Brittany's now dripping pussy, using her tongue to part her lips.
Brittany moaned loudly.
Santana did it again, this time licking a long strip up to Brittany's clit, which she allowed her tongue just to brush against before pulling back.
The third time she did it, she circled her tongue once around Brittany's clit, making her hips shoot up, and then she sucked it into her mouth and licked it over and over and over again.
"FUCK!" Brittany cried loudly, her legs closing around Santana's head and hips moving frantically. Santana didn't stop. She sucked hard, pulling a long groan from Brittany's throat, and for a second she was sure she felt Brittany's fingers in her hair, but then they were gone, and Brittany's voice was filling the room.
"Holy shit Santana you're going to make me cum so fast."
Santana sucked hard again.
"Fuck….your tongue feels so good on me baby don't stop."
Santana could feel how wet Brittany was getting on her chin. All she could smell was Brittany's sex, and she had a perfect view of Brittany pulling sexily at her breasts as she climbed higher and higher.
It was so hot.
"Fuck Santana!" Brittany shouted. Her leg moved from the bed to Santana's back, giving Santana a bit more space. Santana's stomach tightened even further. She felt her own clit pulse powerfully as she watched Brittany. Her hair was falling wildly around her, and her mouth was hanging open, letting out the most delicious sounds Santana had ever heard. As she moved her tongue down to circle Brittany's entrance, Santana moved her other hand between her own legs and rubbed her clit.
She was panting against Brittany, loving how wet they were both getting, and how hard Brittany was trying to keep her hands to herself.
"Oh my god I'm going to cum." Brittany groaned, her voice sounding strained. Santana knew she was going to cum hard. "I'm going to cum Santana….fuck…."
Santana moved back to her clit, gently grazing her teeth against it, and then she felt Brittany cumming. She flicked it repeatedly with her tongue, as Brittany shook and moaned loudly and cried out Santana's name. She rubbed her own clit furiously.
"Fuck baby watching you is gonna make me cum too." She dropped her head onto Brittany's stomach, focusing on her clit and how hard it was throbbing and the tight coil in her stomach, winding and winding. She felt like she was going to explode.
"Let me touch you." Brittany groaned. Santana looked up to see Brittany watching her, begging her with her eyes. "Let me touch you baby please. I want to feel you cum on my fingers."
Santana couldn't refuse. She'd barely nodded before Brittany had flipped them. She attacked Santana's breasts, sucking her nipples hard as her hand quickly made it's way to her center. Santana felt the air sucked out of her lungs as Brittany's fingers entered her. She was wet, and so, so ready, but Brittany had gone straight to three fingers, and the way Santana felt herself stretch to accommodate them was so hot she could barely stand it.
"You're so wet baby." Brittany breathed, looking up at Santana. "Just from watching me?"
"You're so hot Britt."
"Fuck…you drive me mad." Brittany increased the strength behind her fingers. Santana moaned, throwing her head back and feeling her back arch. "Not letting me touch you…that was torture."
"But you came so hard." Santana managed to say, as her eyes rolled back. "So fucking hard. So sexy." Pleasure shot through her as she remembered, tasting Brittany on her tongue. "Fuck I can still taste you."
Brittany's fingers moved faster.
"I wanna feel you cum." Brittany had moved right up to Santana's ear. Her body was pressed to Santana's their boobs rubbing together, her fingers moving steadily in and out.
"Fuck." Santana cried, her hands clawing at Brittany's back. She was sure they'd find some marks later on.
"I wanna feel you cum Santana." She breathed into Santana ear. Santana pressed her eyes shut, moving her hips up frantically to meet Brittany's fingers. She could feel her orgasm building, feel the pressure build in her lower stomach, feel her clit pulse and throb. "Fuck I love being inside you."
The explosion hit Santana out of nowhere. One minute she was breathing, the next her lungs had forgotten how to take in air. All she felt was pleasure, all she could think about was staying in this feeling forever. She felt her spine tingle and her toes curl, and knew she was moaning loudly from the way Brittany was groaning in her ear.
"I can feel you cumming baby…..fuck you're so sexy…"
Her fingers hadn't stopped moving, though they'd slowed down. Maybe that was why Santana felt like she was still cumming. Brittany was still on top of her, she could feel her moving her hips down into Santana's.
"Fuck…you turned me on again my love." Brittany lifted her head and kissed Santana. When she pulled back she looked into Santana's eyes. "I want to cum with you this time." She took Santana's hand and moved it between their bodies, spreading her legs enough to give Santana's hand space to reach her pussy. Santana groaned.
She wasn't sure her orgasm had stopped, because the pleasure she was feeling was still so intense, but as she slipped her fingers into Brittany's tight, warm, dripping pussy, she knew she was about to feel even better. Brittany moaned into her mouth, kissing her hungrily as they both ground into each other's fingers. It wasn't as rushed as before. Their hips moved slowly and since their bodies were pressed together, their hands didn't have that much space to work with, so they weren't pounding into each other. Instead it was slow and sensual. Santana could feel every one of Brittany's muscles move as she grinded down. Her abs contracting and her thighs and her arm, which was holding her up by Santana's head. She let her free hand move down t Brittany's ass, gripping it and letting her nails dig in slightly. All the while they kept kissing.
"Ah god." Brittany breathed into Santana's mouth, not fully separating their lips. "God I'm going to cum again."
Santana nodded, capturing Brittany's lips again as she too felt herself approaching the edge.
Brittany was tightening around her fingers. She couldn't move her hand enough to use her thumb to rub her clit so instead she pressed her palm against it and let Brittany grind into it.
"I want to feeling you cumming around my fingers first." Brittany said, her hips picking up speed.
Santana wanted to feel Brittany cumming before she came, which meant they were both fighting their orgasms, waiting for the other to fall first. She kneaded Brittany's ass, pulling her down hard against her palm so it rubbed her clit harder, but then Brittany brushed her fingers along Santana's walls and she froze. She curled them, hitting a new spot, once, twice. She couldn't hold back. Smacking Brittany's ass, Santana's hips rose up, pushing against Brittany as she came.
Brittany was cumming too, moaning loudly and gripping the sheets near Santana's head so tightly Santana could hear them protesting, but they never stopped kissing. Santana was convinced she could taste Brittany's orgasm on her tongue.
It felt like it took an hour for them to both calm down. Brittany didn't move off Santana, only turning to bury her face in her neck. Santana wrapped her arms around Brittany's waist and held her, feeling so content.
"Happy birthday to you." Brittany sang quietly, her lips ticking Santana's neck. Santana smiled and tightened her arms around Brittany. "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Santanaaaaa" Santana giggled as Brittany held the note for way too long. She poked her rib, which made her gasp and forced her to stop. "Happy birthday to you." She finished, kissing Santana's neck.
"Thanks baby." Then Santana remembered the balloon. "For the balloon too."
"I know you said you didn't want to make a big deal about it…but…I always get you a balloon."
"True."
"I've gotten you a balloon every year for twenty years."
"That's right."
"So I figured, the balloon wouldn't count as making a big deal."
"It doesn't" Santana kissed Brittany's head. "I actually missed it when I woke up, so I'm really glad you got it."
"And the sex?"
"No." Santana giggled. "The sex doesn't count either. Those are traditions."
"And traditions are important." Brittany lifted herself up, hovering over Santana. "Should we honour that tradition again?"
"Hell yes." Santana said, pulling Brittany down into a kiss.
Several hours later, Brittany and Santana dragged themselves out of bed, in desperate need of food. They showered, not so quickly and not so innocently, and made their way downstairs.
"Are you sure you don't want to go out for lunch?" Brittany asked, pulling her hair out of the oversized shirt she'd just put on and following Santana out of the room.
"Yes. It's just…like I'm sure it would be nice, but I just…" She shook her head and sighed. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm so off." She glanced at Brittany quickly before descending the stairs. "Did you make plans? We can go."
Brittany smiled as Santana glanced behind again. When they got to the bottom of the stairs she took Santana's hand and kissed it.
"Don't be sorry. It's your birthday. We can do whatever you want."
"Okay." Santana said. "So what are we going to cook that's quick and easy? Because I'm too hungry to wait."
"Maybe we should order in."
"Like Chinese? That'll take forty…" Santana trailed off as she walked into the kitchen, seeing the island covered with containers of food. She turned to Brittany.
"How did you do this?"
Brittany grinned.
"Seriously. I met you as soon as you walked in. You didn't have time to do this."
"I have my ways." Brittany pecked Santana quickly and bounced into the kitchen. "I thought you said you were hungry."
Santana watched Brittany unpacking all the food with a lopsided smile on her face. Even without a fancy party with elaborate decoration and dozens of people, Brittany managed to make Santana feel special on her birthday.
"I know you like the burrito, so don't worry I got it, but Quinn said they're trying this new Teriyaki chicken um…" Brittany took a bite of something she'd partially unwrapped, "wrap thingy I think, that she says you will absolutely love so…" She chewed slowly, one hand holding the wrap and the other digging into a bag. "It's really nice actually, kind of sweet. Taste?" Finally she looked away from the food, first turning to her side where she assumed Santana was, but not seeing her, turned to Santana. "Oh, why are you still over there?"
"I love you."
Both Brittany's hands dropped, her confused expression falling away to a warm smile.
"C'mere" she took her hand out of the bag and held it out. Santana walked forward, taking it and letting Brittany pull her close. "I love you too."
"You're…you're the best you know that? I didn't knw what I wanted today, but somehow you've given it to me. It's only lunch time and already I've had the perfect birthday."
"Good." Brittany kissed her cheek. "That's all I ever want."
"You do that every day. You make every day perfect."
Brittany blushed slightly. "Shush. Today's supposed to be about you not me."
"Okay." Santana giggled.
"Taste this." She shoved the wrap in Santana's face. All Santana could do was open wide.
The day ended as perfectly as it had started. At around four Santana felt ready to spend time with more people, so Brittany called Quinn. By five the kids had been brought home, Quinn, Theo, Puck Mercedes and to Santana's surprise, Jade joined them.
"I invited her." Brittany whispered to Santana, noticing her panicked expression.
"And she came?"
Brittany chuckled. "Clearly."
"What am I supposed to say to her?"
"The truth?" Brittany rubbed Santana's back soothingly. "She's your friend Santana, she'll understand if you just tell her what happened."
Taking a deep breath, Santana put down her glass of wine and walked to Jade.
"Hey, happy birthday." Jade said slightly awkwardly.
"Thanks. Um…can you…uh…come with me?"
Jade stood up without a word and followed Santana out of the living room into the back patio. Santana shut the door so they couldn't be overheard.
"Thanks for coming."
Jade shrugged. "Of course."
Sighing, Santana sat on one of the chairs, crossed one leg over the other and stared the table.
"I'll be honest." She started. "I don't even know what to say."
Jade sat opposite her. "How about an apology."
Santana fought back a glare, bit her lip and nodded.
"You know I'm sorry."
"I'd love to hear it."
Santana looked up, anger flaring despite herself.
"You said it yourself, I have a sharp tongue."
"First of all, that doesn't give you permission to talk to me the way you did, and second," she softened her tone and her expression. "Santana we both know that was different."
Santana looked away.
"Well I am sorry. I was sorry as soon I said…everything."
"Why did you?"
"I get defensive when I'm vulnerable. I was stressed out and embarrassed and…" she shook her head. "It's an old habit."
"That's a shit habit."
Santana cracked a smile and nodded. "Yeah I thought I'd kicked it."
"You didn't need to be embarrassed though."
Santana shrugged. "I don't usually let people see me so emotional. Only Brittany. I don't like being judged."
"Yeah well I wasn't judging you. You're one of my best friends you tosser. I was worried about you."
"Tosser?" Santana sniggered.
"Don't start!" Jade warned. Santana held up her hands. "Are you okay now?"
"Yeah. Malek's helping me channel it into my songs."
"Excellent." Jade moved from the seat opposite Santana to the one beside her. "Good to know I didn't lie to Brittany."
Santana frowned. "When?"
"We had lunch last week, when she came back from Nashville."
"And? What did you lie to her about?"
"I didn't lie. Didn't I just say that?"
"Jade."
"She was asking why I wasn't in the studio with you anymore."
"And you said…"
"That this album was really hard on you for some reason, it was making you really emotional, and I figured it was easier for you to get it out with a stranger."
"Hmm." Santana cocked her head. "I guess it is."
"She had a lot of questions about Malek. I told her he was just really good at his job and you were lucky to have him. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was jealous."
Santana grimaced, turning her body to face Jade.
"Jealous?" She scoffed. "Of what?"
Jade shrugged. "I didn't say she was, but the kind of questions she was asking, it's like she was worried about him and all the time you spend together."
"Like she thinks I'm cheating?" Santana asked alarmed.
"No, no, no." Jade gripped her arm, shaking her head quickly. "No of course not."
Santana exhaled sharply. "Than what?"
"I don't know Santana. Like maybe she just doesn't know what's going on and is curious what you do all day with a stranger she knows nothing about."
"I've told her what we do. I mean, I talk about my day…but she's never asked me anything about him."
"I don't know." Jade repeated. "I'm just telling you the vibe I got."
Santana looked into the house, where Brittany and Theo were bringing bowls of snacks into the living room, and frowned. If Brittany was curious about Malek, why didn't she just tell her?
There seemed to be no time to rest since the start of November. Brittany felt like they were always planning for something. First Sophia's birthday, then Nashville, Santana's birthday, now Thanksgiving was a week away and then they were heading to Tampa. Brittany felt like she needed a holiday.
Luckily, today was a light day. She only had a jazz class to teach, which she'd already done, so now she had the rest of the day off. She had paperwork, because there was always paperwork, but she could get to that later. Instead, she decided to give herself a break and watch a movie. So she went to lounge with a stack of papers so she could at least pretend to be working if Syth or one of the directors walked in, opened Netflix and began her search.
She was halfway through Ocean's eight when one of her students came running in.
"Hey." She said happily.
"Hi Brittany. You're needed at reception."
She ran back out.
Brittany stared after her. "Okay?" She sat up and stretched. She felt so gloriously lazy, she half considered just packing up for the day and going home. She could take Mateo to his Tae Kwando class and get to watch him throwing kicks and punches in the most adorable way possible. As she thought about it, she walked into the kitchen and got two energy bars. Yes, she decided, she would finish her movie and leave. She'd just sat down to press play again when she remembered she'd been called to reception.
Santana was waiting for her when she got there.
"Santana." She called, jogging over. Santana turned, smiling at her.
"Hey." Santana kissed her.
"What're you doing here?"
"I remembered you said today was a light day…"
"Yeah?"
"So I thought I'd come pick you up."
"To go where?"
"Just…come hang out at the studio with me."
Brittany's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"
"Yeah."
"But won't I distract you?"
"Maybe?" Santana smirked. "So what?"
Brittany grinned. "Okay. Let me go get my stuff."
Brittany was nervous. As Santana led her through the familiar building, holding her hand securely, Brittany realized that she was nervous. Not excited, not scared, more like anxious. She wanted to like Malek. She wanted to meet him and think he was as awesome as Jesus thought he was. Maybe that way the strange feeling she got every time she thought about Santana in the studio would him would go away.
"Are you okay?" Santana asked, squeezing her hand. Brittany nodded.
"Yeah." She smiled. "I can't wait to see you in the studio again. It's been a while."
"Yeah and the process is really…" she pursed her lips, thinking. "Different." She finally said.
Brittany was intrigued. She knew Malek had Santana exercising to help with breath control, but she wondered what else he had her doing. He seemed to be pretty unconventional, because Brittany had never heard of any musician that sang while they exercised as a form of vocal training, so she couldn't imagine what other out of the box things he came up with.
"This is the one we spend most of our time in."
"One of the old ones." Brittany noted.
"Yeah."
"Does it have better sound or something?"
"No…not really. I mean when it comes to actually recording I don't think I'll do it in here. It's small...too small for what we're trying to do I think . But for now, for writing, it just makes me feel more comfortable. "
Brittany cocked her head. "A safe space."
"Exactly." Santana grinned. "Come on, I left Malek in there."
For a split second after Santana opened the door, Brittany thought something had exploded, but then the door swung open completely and she realised it was just the drums. A man was seated behind the drum set, drumming so fast Brittany could barely keep up with his hands. His hair was tied in a low bun, but some of the hair had fallen out and was matted to the side of his face and forehead by the sweat building there. He was in a muscle shirt a size too big for him, so it hung loosely on his frame, and showed off all the tattoos along his arms.
"He's good right?" Santana asked.
"That's Malek?"
"Yup."
"I see why Jesus is in love."
Santana laughed, pulling Brittany into the room and shutting the door.
"Malek." Santana called loudly, but he didn't stop. She walked right up to him and tapped the symbol. He looked up sharply.
"Ah you're back."
"Yup. I brought someone with me." She stepped aside so Malek could see Brittany.
When his eyes landed on her, Brittany felt weirdly awkward. She shifted her feet, smiled, and gave a small wave.
"Hi."
"This is Brittany, my wife." Santana said. "B, this is Malek, my music director and new drummer."
Malek transferred both sticks to his right hand, pushing the stray hairs off his face with his left.
He looked back at Santana. "For now."
"Oh shut up." Santana rolled her eyes. "As long as you keep playing like that I'm not going to fire you."
"Who says I won't quit?"
"As if." Santana walked back to Brittany's side, causing him to look at her again.
"So uh…" he smacked his lips. "What's the plan here?"
Brittany looked at Santana, who was frowning.
"What do you mean?" Santana asked.
"Well…" He brandished his hand at Brittany and raised his eyebrows. Santana looked at Brittany, still frowning, then back at Malek.
"She's just going to hang out and we're going to do our thing."
"Okay cool." He stood up and walked round the drums. Brittany noted that he was at least a foot and a half taller than her. "Nice to meet you by the way." He smiled for the first time. Brittany smiled back, but it felt forced.
"You too. I hear a lot about you."
"Oh yeah?" He glanced at Santana.
"Yeah. Jesus, my son, is obsessed with you."
"Oh." Malek chuckled. "Yeah he's a cool little dude."
Brittany pressed her lips together and nodded. The longer she talked to Malek the more awkward she was feeling.
"Thanks, we think so too."
"Talented too." Malek said, pocketing his drum sticks.
"Yup." Brittany replied.
"So…" He put both hands under his armpits, crossing his arms over his chest. "You had the day off today?"
Brittany shrugged. "You could say that."
"And you just…" he glanced at Santana. "Wanted to come watch Santana work?"
"I actually-"
"Santana surprised me." Brittany said, taking Santana's hand and smiling at her. "Cause she knew I had a light day."
"Yeah I kind of wanted to show her what we do in here all day."
Malek cocked his head. "She doesn't know what you do?"
"Of course-"
"Obviously, you're doing something different, since she felt the need to show me." Brittany couldn't bring herself to force another smile. She wasn't sure this introduction was going quite how she hoped.
"Right." Malek grinned, which confused Brittany. "I'm sure Santana's been complaining about all the work outs I make her do." He gently nudged Santana's arm. "You'll thank me when you have a rocking body to pull of the scandalously tiny stage outfits they'll make you wear on tour."
Brittany narrowed her eyes.
"Excuse you." Santana held up her hand. "My body is already rocking."
"You're welcome." He smirked, then he looked down at his watch. "Okay if we're doing this, let's get started."
"I'm ready to go."
"Uh…" He pointed at Brittany. "I hope you won't get bored back there."
"Back where?" Santana asked.
"The office…?" He asked, sounding confused.
"No, Brittany's staying in here with us."
Malek frowned. He took a step towards Santana.
"Santana I don-"
"Babe" Santana turned to Brittany. "Just give us one second okay?"
When Brittany nodded, she took Malek's hand and pulled him into the office. Brittany watched them from the other side of the glass, wondering if they knew she could hear everything they were saying.
"She's going to distract you."
"How exactly? You think I won't be able to run on the spot if Brittany is watching?"
"No, you won't be able to really let go and feel what you need to feel."
Santana laughed. "Are you kidding?"
"No, I'm serious. You'll be guarded."
"She's my wife." Santana said incredulously. "Do you really think she doesn't already know how I feel about my grandmother? You think she hasn't seen me cry?"
"I just don't want you trying to put on some kind of show for her, because that won't get us anywhere and we might as well just take the day off."
"Get a grip Malek." Santana shook her head. "We're talking about Brittany." She chuckled. "If anything, her being here is going to help me."
"Santana-"
"She stays."
Brittany had to bite her bottom lip to keep from smiling as Santana walked back into the recording booth. She didn't know how she felt about Malek, whether she liked him or not was still up in the air, but in that moment she felt like she'd won some kind of victory against him.
"Fine." He said under his breath, just loud enough for them to hear him. He sighed and walked back into the booth. "We'll start with jumping jacks. Santana get ready."
Santana quickly pecked Brittany's cheek and pointed at the couch against the wall.
"You can sit there."
"Okay."
"Try not to check me out too much."
Brittany settled onto the couch, grinning. She decided not to think too hard about Malek rolling his eyes.
"You know you want me to."
Santana stripped her shirt, revealing the sports bra underneath.
"Maybe a little."
Malek scoffed quietly. "Can we start?"
With a wink at Brittany, Santana walked to the center of the room and spread her legs. Music filled the room seconds later. Brittany relaxed into the cushions, choosing to enjoy the free show.
Two hours laters Brittany was feeling a lot more comfortable with the idea of Santana spending all day in the studio with Malek. For one, it was clear to her that her biggest issue had simply been that she didn't know what they were doing. Maybe that made her controlling like Quinn said, but she didn't like having blind spots when it came to Santana. She always knew what was going on in Santana's life, even when it didn't involve her, so just being able to see for herself what Santana did all day helped with her discomfort.
She now also understood why everyone else like Jade had been kicked out. It wasn't because Santana wanted Malek all to herself, or because Malek was the most awesome person she'd ever met like Jesus thought. It was because what they were doing was actually quite intimate. Santana was making herself vulnerable and wanted as few people to witness it as possible.
Most importantly, watching them over the last couple of hours had quelled Brittany's fear that Malek was helping Santana in a way she couldn't. She'd imagined Santana baring her soul to him, and him somehow councelling her through her feelings, helping her heal. That wasn't the case at all. Yes, Santana got emotional, and Brittany had been shocked when she actually told Malek what she was feeling, but Brittany had quickly realised that Santana wasn't confiding in Malek. He wasn't giving her emotional support. Hwas just very good at helping her channel what she was feeling into her songs.
Brittany was okay with that.
Did she like Malek though? She couldn't say that she did. She got a weird feeling from him, like he didn't like her or something. She could certainly see how fun he could be, and she'd seen for herself how talented he was on the drums, but he seemed to be put off by her presence. Though Brittany had sat silently on the couch, trying not to interfere in their process as much as possible, he kept glancing at her, like he couldn't really relax while she was there. She wasn't sure what to make of that.
"Babe."
Santana looked up from the notebook she was hunched over, resting her arm on the guitar in her lap.
"Sorry, I'm just gonna head out."
"Oh." Santana put down the guitar and stood up. "Already?"
"Yeah. I wanted to go pick Nicki."
"He'll love that." Santana grinned. "Okay I'll walk you out."
"No you don't need to." Brittany stood up with her purse. "Don't want to pull you out of the zone."
"Too late." Malek said.
Santana rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. He thinks taking more than one bathroom break a day is a waste of time."
"Okay." Brittany giggled. "So I'll se you at home?"
"Yep." Santana placed a soft kiss against her lips.
"Do you want me to bring Jesus?"
Santana shrugged. "If you want. He might want to hang out with you though."
"Okay. I'll let you know." Brittany kissed her again. "Bye."
"Bye."
"Bye Malek."
"See you." He waved at her from his seat.
"Oh babe, don't forget to tell Eve whether she's booking the flight for the 27th or 28th."
"We said 27th right?" Santana asked, picking her phone from the table.
"You said you'd look at your schedule and decide. I'm okay with either."
"Okay. Let me text her now so I don't forget."
"Okay. See you later." Brittany blew her a kiss and left.
"You're booking a flight?"
"Yeah." Santana typed away on her phone.
"A year in advance?"
"What?" Santana laughed. "No, next week."
She heard Malek sigh. "Were you going to tell me?"
"Why would I need to tell you?" She glanced up quickly to see Malek frowning at her.
"Oh I don't know." He threw his hands up. "Maybe because we're on a tight schedule?"
"I'm just going to be gone for like…four days." Santana shrugged, putting her phone back down.
"Yeah." Malek smacked his lips. "And you're taking two days off for thanksgiving, and then you're leaving again on the fifteenth and won't be back till after the New Year, when you'll be starting your month long tour."
Santana felt her stomach drop. She hadn't realised how little time she had left.
"I can write on the road." She offered feebly.
Malek scoffed. "Right. Like your kids are not going to distract you at all."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying, that we don't have time for you to be taking spontaneous trips. Even if it is only for four days. Once the New Year starts Santana we need to be done. You can't write on tour, and when you get back we need to start recording if we're going to be done in time for the promotional campaign in March."
"It's not a spontaneous trip. We planned it months ago. Before I even came back to work. We're taking Kyler to the Rams game and he's been so excited about it. I can't just cancel because I chose to get back into the business."
"You don't need to cancel. I'm sure he'll have just as good of a time with Brittany."
Santana's heart sunk.
"You're saying I shouldn't go?"
Malek shrugged. "I know it's hard, but we're racing the clock already as it is. Think about how much we got done while your family was in Nashville. When you could stay late without feeling guilty about missing dinner and homework and bedtime. We could do that again and maybe even finish the last song of the album."
Santana crossed her arms over her chest, staring hard at the floor. She didn't like what Malek was saying. She didn't like the idea of not going with her family to Tampa, and not getting to see Kyler's face during the game. But she hated the idea of being so behind schedule that the album wasn't ready on time. It made her feel so anxious she could throw up just at the thought. She'd signed a contract saying the album would be ready for release in April, and she couldn't violate the contract. She didn't want to be touring, while also worrying about finishing her new songs, and she definitely didn't want to spend the whole of February recording and writing at the same time. That would make her even more busy than she was now.
Malek was right. They needed all the time they could get.
"Just think about it." Malek said. "You can take all the family trips you want in eight months."
Sighing, Santana retook her seat, picking up her guitar. She was beginning to wonder if getting back into music had been the right decision.