One Year Ago
"Hi, Cutie. This is Lani." Brittany whispered to her son, introducing him to her newest girlfriend for the first time.
"Are you my mom?" Valentino asked innocently, peering up at the serious woman with dark hair who his mommy had just walked in with and tugging on the hem of her short black skirt. All he saw was her dark hair and he wondered if that meant she was Mami. "Are you my other mom?"
Brittany sighed, laughing awkwardly while her date was completely confused. Valentino asked every single girlfriend Brittany had and… and even some of her boyfriends that same question. Lani frowned, shrinking away from the five year-old when he tried to pull at her again and ignoring his question.
"Brittany, your child is clearly confused," She shook her head and held up her hand warningly when he ran up to her again. "I'm not your mother."
Val began to cry loudly when she said this in such a cold voice, running to Brittany, who pulled him into a comforting hug, rocking him in her arms gently as she spoke sweetly to him. He instantly disliked the woman's mean face and murky dark green eyes that reminded him of a shark's, scowling at her over Mommy's shoulder as ferociously as he could, in between sobs.
"Cuppycake, it's okay. It's true, she's not your Mami but she's my friend. Oh I know, do you want some pink marshmallows? Mommy's just gonna talk to her girlfriend for a little while and you can watch cartoons in my bed, okay? Just for a little while."
Val accepted the pink marshmallows she gave him but pouted, still weeping and glaring in Lani's direction. Maybe he was just imagining it but he swore she had morphed into a creature with sharp, triangular fangs and scales the longer he looked at her.
"No, Mommy! Why do you even needs a girlfriend?! She can't be your girlfriend! She's gonna bite you!" He insisted, refusing to leave and let go of his mom. "She's an evil, mommy stealing shark monster!"
"Aw, Honey."
Brittany sighed and shifted uncomfortably, not knowing how to calm her son down when he got into this state but suppressed a smile at the way he described Lani. Her new girlfriend looked outraged and irritated by her son's words. Sometimes Brittany wanted to have a normal date with someone but Val just couldn't handle it. She couldn't really blame him. She and her son were very close. She knew Val just wanted all her attention to himself because that was what he was accustomed to.
"Sweetie, don't be silly, you know Lani's not a shark monster. Mommy wouldn't let monsters into the house. We check under your bed for them every night."
"No, she's a monster, I'm telling you! I won't let you hurt my mom!" He threw his black cat plushie at an unsuspecting Lani's head with perfect aim as Brittany gasped, covering her mouth with her hands while Lord Tubbington began yowling viciously.
After that tantrum had been dealt with, Brittany sighed, slumping against a wall as she tried to compose herself. She was trying so hard to be the perky, fun blonde and not make this some terrible experience for Lani but she was also trying to be a good mom. Lani came over from the living room, looking for her and began pouring wine for the two of them.
"Brittany, Darling, where did you go? Come join me."
Lani was definitely easy on the eyes with those plump lips and smooth, dark skin. The rich, athletic girl was about average height, a few inches shorter than the blonde. She was very much Brittany's type in so many ways with her egotistical side and bossiness.
Despite that, there was something distinctly Santana that was missing. Whenever she looked into vibrant green eyes, she was disappointed that they weren't those familiar deep, coal black ones she always dreamed about. Lani's lips didn't look or feel like Santana's did. Her skin wasn't warm and didn't have that rich, animal-like scent she loved about Santana. Brittany sighed, trying to force herself to push those thoughts away. She was doing that thing again; trying to find another Santana.
She just needed to admit to herself that she wasn't over Santana. Maybe she'd never be. She could picture Tina, Rachel and Mercedes giving her those judgmental looks they always gave whenever she introduced them to yet another Santana lookalike.
Brittany barely stifled a yawn, spacing out as the dark-haired woman finished her hour-long bragging session about all of the ways she used to win some surfing competition.
"You look tired. Am I boring you?"
"Sorry, I just don't understand anything you're talking about. Surfing is really confusing."
"That's the same thing you say about everything we talk about," Lani chuckled, her eyebrow twitching as a tone of exasperation entered her voice. "Perhaps we should do less talking."
She leaned in and Brittany closed her eyes. She blinked, confused when as soon as Lani's lips touched hers, she pulled back and stood up, screaming and grabbing at the ends of her hair.
"My hair! It's on fire!"
Brittany was bewildered but helped her out the flames quickly by covering her with a thick blanket.
"Your son! He attacked me!" Lani yelled, pointing at the little boy who stood in the corner, holding a candle and giggling as she looked down miserably at the ends of her hair, grunting in annoyance.
"Valentino Santiago Pierce! You know you can't set Mommy's girlfriends on fire!" Brittany took his little hand and pulled him into his bedroom as he started crying again, realizing she was disappointed in him when he saw the look in her pale blue eyes. She didn't have to say anything more as she gave him The Look she always gave him when he was being particularly bad behaved and was completely silent.
"But-but Mommy, I'm not a bad boy! She wasn't on fire that bad! Don't be mad, Mommy, don't go!"
Brittany sighed, narrowing her eyes at him and pressing her lips together. He was so cute and she couldn't stay mad at him.
"I'll be back but you need a little time out, Mister."
"No time out!" He sobbed.
"What is wrong with that boy?" Lani demanded, mortified and clutching the scorched ends of her hair with a furious expression when Brittany returned.
"He's not really bad. I can fix it… see, it's only the ends!"
"That's not the point. He's far too attached to you, Brittany and that's the problem," Lani downed another glass of wine, her eyebrow twitching dangerously, which was a sure sign that she was stressed out. She was normally so good at acting smooth and unbothered. "I can't handle this anymore. Every single date is interrupted so you can go to him and cater to that child's needs. What about me? I'm supposed to be your girlfriend."
"He's my son and I love him."
"Yeah, well he's not mine and maybe I don't want another woman's problem child coming between us. I thought this relationship was supposed to be about us?"
"Don't call him that."
"Brittany, you're the most attractive girl in Lima and that's what makes you on my level, don't you see? I don't understand why you insist on making this so difficult. I'm done."
Brittany wiped tears from her eyes, curling up on her bed as Lani slammed the door, storming off. Later on that night, Valentino seemed to hear her crying and walked into her room, wrapping his arms around her as Brittany instantly hugged him back.
"Sorry for being a bad boy and putting her on fire, Mommy."
"It's okay, Kitten. I forgive you," She could never be mad at her son for anything. He was so loving and sweet… All it took was seeing his soft, dark brown eyes and Brittany would forget about anything he did wrong. "My date turned out to be a shark monster anyway, so you were right."
"Mommy, why are you crying so much?"
"Don't worry about me, Cupcake. I'm just feeling a little blue but I still love you, Sweetie." She pulled him into her lap, kissing his forehead.
Brittany watched Santana from afar the entire time as her girlfriend went over to the buffet with Val while the other guests from the resort filed into the area. She couldn't help but admire Santana's perfectly toned shoulders and back. The Pierces and Mike were also getting food for themselves. The sun was setting in vibrant shades of orange and purple and they were sitting outdoors at tables on the lawn area in the back of the resort for the luau.
Tina eventually tapped her arm, looking at her in confusion. It was just the blonde alone with her short, gossipy friend at their table. Brittany pouted, wanting to enjoy the food but losing interest when she thought of what had happened before and memories floated back to her of the way things had ended with Lani.
"Britt, what is up between you two? Seriously. You've both been acting weird since you went to the beach. I know Santana's moody… like, permanently but she seriously has barely said one word, not even an insult about my clothes and you're not acting like your quirky fun girl self either."
"It's Lani… she's back," Brittany eventually blurted out as she couldn't handle her friend staring at her with suspicious eyes any longer. She knew Tina would probably blab about her romantic life to everyone but she was too sad to care. "Santana's upset and I don't know how to get through to her. It's all so confusing."
"Your Hawaiian pro-surfer hottie ex is back?! Brittany, why didn't you tell me? She just came up to you on the beach like that?"
"Yeah. Pretty much."
"You really have a thing for attracting ridiculously rich, spoiled brat assholes with great hair, don't you, Britt," Tina chuckled. "What's wrong? Did she try to flirt with you?"
"Yeah. I guess," The blonde shrugged, still watching Santana, who was currently looking at everything on the buffet and wrinkling her nose, not wanting to try the different options she saw and closing each lid everytime she opened one. It was so typical of Santana that it almost brought a smile to Brittany's lips. The woman looked adorable holding Valentino's hand the entire time. He was like Santana's little twin sometimes when she saw them together and that always warmed Brittany's heart. "She always flirts."
"Then no wonder Santana's all moody. Lani's not only back in the picture but she's also trying to put the moves on you. Santana's obviously super territorial and possessive," Tina passed one of the platters to her after taking some for herself. "Nothing new about that, though. Have some more of this pig, Girl. It's seriously the best. They make it in this underground oven thing. Finn's gonna be envious when he finds out we had this."
The pork had this smoky, earthy taste to it and was incredibly tender. However, Brittany was more interested in the desserts.
All of the guests were wearing leis that were given to them when they arrived at the luau and Santana thought Brittany looked more adorable than ever in the pink flowers. The blonde's face lit up when the darker girl brought back haupia and hula pie for her. Although she was still confused about what exactly they were.
Brittany couldn't help but feel better when she saw Santana's familiar charming face, dimples showing on her cheeks as she caught Brittany's eye and grinned cheekily.
One of the Samoan fire knife dancers, a tattooed, muscular dude with black hair and dark skin grinned at Brittany, winking as he passed by their table. Santana rolled her eyes, huffing and began to curse him out in a fiery rant of bad Spanish when he blew a kiss in the blonde's direction.
"Whoa, whoa, Girl, calm down. She's all yours, okay. I can't even understand you," He held up his hands defensively. "Are you speaking English or Spanish?"
"What, you think you're so cool with your little fire sticks? I'm from Lima Heights and-"
"Santana, calm down before you cause a scene!" Tina whisper-shouted as the other resort guests were beginning to stare in their direction, shaking their heads.
"Mami's fighting with that guy!" Valentino tapped Brittany on the shoulder and informed her in a concerned voice. "She needs to win."
"I know, Sweetie. Mami likes to fight." Brittany replied breezily, kissing his forehead.
"Hey, I bet I can do a better job at your little knife fire thing than you can." Santana asserted arrogantly.
The guy gave the dark-haired woman a highly skeptical glance, warning her that it probably wasn't a good idea for her to try it out but Santana ignored him, following him onto the stage. The resort staff looked at each other in horror as a fire almost started when the Latina dropped the flaming machete, hastily putting it out as Santana casually strutted back to her table.
Santana made such a show of making a fool of herself with her posturing that everyone began to laugh but she was only paying attention to Brittany, trying to gauge the blonde's reaction.
She just wanted to make the blonde smile at her again and she didn't even care if she made a fool out of herself in front of all those people. She beamed, her face crinkled in laughter when she got the reaction she wanted as Brittany looked over at her adoringly while Valentino erupted into giggles.
Brittany shook her head fondly, knowing that Santana was just putting on an act this time, trying to make her laugh by being a clown and not genuinely getting worked up. The corners of her lips curled involuntarily as she couldn't help but find Santana's mischievous and cocky side so endearing. The Latina sat close to the blonde, scooting in next to her and whispering to her flirtatiously when the others were distracted by the hula dance show on stage.
She pressed kisses to the blonde's neck to get her attention, her hands all over her and feeling her up discreetly as Brittany gasped. She felt Santana's lips that were pressed against her skin turn upwards at her reaction. Eventually Brittany couldn't resist giggling at how playful Santana was being. She knew the darker-haired woman was just doing this to make her feel better.
"Finally made you smile. I missed you." The darker woman admitted with a laugh.
"I missed you too."
They heard Tina groan in the background in her typical, long-suffering way.
"What the hell, you guys? She was gone for like five minutes. Get a room already."
"Britt, I'm sorry about earlier. I don't want you to be sad. These are also for you."
"Oh, Santana. These are so beautiful," Brittany sighed happily when Santana gave her some flowers, slipping one into her hair. The blonde noticed the way Santana still had this distant look in her dark, abyss-like eyes. "Are you okay? I don't want you to be sad either."
Santana just sighed, shrugging her shoulders as she looked away, reminding Brittany of how she had reacted on the beach. She was so tense, her shoulders rigid and her lips pressed together as she took a sip of rum and coke.
"I just… sorry Britt, I can't… I mean, I just don't want to talk about it."
"Okay." Brittany sighed, resisting the urge to ask why. She could feel Tina still watching them and listening in on their conversation.
The freckled girl really wished Santana would be more open about how she felt sometimes but she wasn't going to force her to talk when she clearly felt uncomfortable with sharing anything more. She knew from experience that pushing Santana to talk when she wasn't ready would just make her defensive walls go up even more.
"Mommy, what's this?" Valentino screwed up his face when he looked at his food then hid his face in Brittany's arm as if it was going to attack him.
"It's just pig. You'll like it." Santana told him.
"I don't want to eat that!"
"Don't be a divo about it. Just try it. You like ham and bacon so what's the big deal?" His dark-haired mom pointed out, rolling her eyes. "Someone's a picky eater."
"Santana, you haven't tried much of anything either. You never try stuff like this. Maybe he gets it from you." Tina remarked sassily as the Latina narrowed her eyes at her, grunting in irritation while Brittany smirked, knowing that her friend was completely right about that.
"I swear everything's coconut-flavoured. So not into that crap." The woman complained.
"Aw, really? I think that's the best part." Brittany gushed.
Val's eyes were glued to the stage the entire time as the performances continued and Santana smirked, nudging Brittany when she saw how mesmerized the boy was with the hula dancers.
"What is it, Kitten?" Brittany leaned closer so he could whisper in her ear but he was so loud that the whole table heard him and smiled.
"Mommy, those pretty ladies are naked!"
"They're not naked. Look, see? They're wearing skirts."
"I can see their belly buttons so they're naked!" He argued, his face bright red as the adults couldn't help but laugh. "They're not supposed to be naked!"
"Want me to dance like that for you?" Brittany turned to whisper in Santana's ear, noticing the flush on her cheeks as she looked away from the blonde bashfully, jerking when Brittany's hand landed on her thigh as she leaned in against her.
"Britt… God, that's so hot to imagine." She shivered, her eyes intense and burning black when they met Brittany's again.
Valentino kept clapping and cheering for the dancers, climbing up onto Brittany's lap to watch them. Santana and Brittany met each other's gaze fondly, both thinking the same thing. They loved watching their son having all of these new experiences and enjoying himself.
Valentino was so tired from running around at the beach that he practically passed out the second Brittany put him to bed, much to the relief of his parents.
"It's fine. You take the bed and I can sleep on the couch," Santana suggested when they were in the bedroom. Brittany shook her head as she came out of the shower, smirking as she noticed the way Santana was checking her out when she was wearing just a towel. The dark-haired woman looked like she was about to combust. "I guess I didn't exactly think things through when I booked a room for the three of us with only two beds."
"Huh? No way. You don't have to stay out there all lonely. Just cuddle with me," Brittany leaned in close, closing her eyes as she breathed in that comforting, Santana scent. "It's so cute when you're all awkward and trying to be respectful like this. You're my girlfriend and I want to hold you. Besides, it gets cold at night and you're like my hot water bottle."
"Britt, you know I want that too, more than anything, I just," Santana drew back slightly, looking embarrassed and ashamed. "I don't know if I can control myself… when you're so close to me, touching me like this."
Brittany bit her lip, closing her eyes as she felt heat rush to her face. Before Santana could say another word, she wrapped her arms around the woman and pressed herself up against her completely with only the towel between them.
"B-Britt, that's… dangerous." The Latina sighed but eventually allowed the blonde to kiss her deeply and couldn't help but reciprocate as her girlfriend gently steered them toward the bed. When Brittany moaned into her mouth, Santana drew back slightly, panting heavily.
"Why'd you stop? I love your sexy kisses," Brittany murmured, pressing a small kiss just beside Santana's mouth. "Especially when you kiss me like that… so forcefully. Like you can't help it."
"Whoa, wait, I'm gonna gay - I mean go - I'm just going for a walk."
"Okay. Don't get wet."
Santana tripped over as she said this, glancing over her shoulder at the blonde with her jaw dropped. She was clearly completely flustered. Brittany smirked, a twinkle in her eye.
"Huh?"
"It's supposed to rain tonight," The blonde shrugged, playing innocent but batting her eyelashes, her eyes a darker shade of blue. "Don't want you to catch a cold."
Brittany shook her head fondly, rolling her eyes as Santana stammered and walked away awkwardly, red-faced. Next time, she'd just come out wearing that new lingerie set she brought along with her… or maybe in nothing at all.