Chapter 19 – Paris
Santana woke abruptly. A glance at the bedside clock told her it was a little after five a.m.. She'd awoken with an idea; an idea that wasn't going to let her get back to sleep until she brought it to fruition. Carefully untangling herself from Brittany, she slipped from the bed and into the bathroom. She threw on a pair of shorts, a tank top, and one of the hotel bathrobes before exiting to the sitting room, gently closing the bedroom door behind her.
She moved to Brittany's camera bag and looked for her memory cards; thankfully, they were organized by date and she was able to find the one she wanted easily. Calling down to the main desk, the concierge on shift was able to answer her question and provide the assistance she needed. A few moments later, she answered a quiet knock on the door. She told the young man to choose twenty random pictures from the card then handed him twenty Euros and the memory card with a promise of more if he could get it done in less than an hour.
Next, she opened her iPad and sent off three e-mails to people in Lima. She knew getting an answer before she needed the information was a long shot (it was eleven p.m. in Lima) but she was hoping at least one of the three would answer her within the hour.
Forty-three minutes later, another quiet knock on the door alerted her to the return of the young man with the pictures and the memory card. She took the manila envelope from him, checked the photos and the memory card, then handed him another fifty Euros with a very sincere "merci beaucoup". She replaced the memory card in Brittany's camera bag then sat in the middle of the couch, in front of the small coffee table, and sifted through the pictures. Since only between ten and twelve pictures would fit on the table, she chose the ones she liked the best and placed them on the table making sure to leave room for the iPad, just in case.
The iPad pinged letting her know that she had a new email. One of the three people she'd emailed had answered her. Once she'd downloaded the attached video, she cued it up and watched it, marveling at the beauty she was seeing. She reset it back to the beginning and set the iPad up in the middle of the pictures. She checked her phone; seven a.m.. She went back into the bedroom and stripped down; climbing back into bed. Brittany instinctively curled into the brunette as Santana wrapped her arms around her girl.
Xoxoxoxoxo
Santana was next awoken by Brittany stirring in her arms. She opened her eyes to see two beautiful (if slightly red and puffy) ocean-blue eyes looking back at her. She can't help but smile at the beautiful girl in her arms.
"Hey, how did you sleep?"
The answering smile is small. "Okay, I guess. Still a little tired, though."
Santana reached out to stroke Brittany's cheek. Brittany closed her eyes as she leaned into the contact. "Go back to sleep, then, sweetheart."
Brittany opened her eyes again. "Kinda hungry. Kinda thirsty. Kinda gotta pee." She smiled wryly.
"Okay, well, why don't you go take care of that and I'll call down for breakfast."
Brittany nodded, yawned, and stretched before slipping out of the bed and going toward the bathroom.
Santana couldn't help but watch Brittany walk toward the bathroom, still naked from the night before. There was no denying that the blonde was beautiful and it was impossible for Santana not to appreciate it.
"I can feel you watching me," Brittany said, and Santana could hear the smile in her voice.
"You're beautiful." Santana simply responds. "Really can't blame me for watching the woman I love walk away naked."
There was a slight giggle as Brittany closed the bathroom door.
Santana took that as another small victory.
She got up and redressed, went out into the sitting room, and called down to have breakfast brought up.
Brittany came into the sitting room and Santana smiled; she was dressed similarly to Santana in a tank top, shorts, and a hotel bathrobe.
Brittany sat down on the couch next to Santana and leaned her head on Santana's shoulder. A moment later, she lifted her head and looked closer at the coffee table.
"What's this?"
"Just some pictures and a video. I couldn't sleep earlier."
Brittany picked up one of the photos. "This is really good." She looked at the others. "These are all really good. The light, the composition, the framing. The photographer really had a nice grasp of the subject matter."
"I was thinking they were pretty good," Santana said.
Brittany nodded and picked up the iPad and hit play on the paused video. She started to sway slightly to the music. "This sounds familiar. The choreography is really stitched well to the music. The dancers are seamless, so fluid and graceful; the story this dance is telling is really sad but really beautiful."
She kept watching the video as Santana watched her. Santana saw the moment Brittany recognized what she was watching. "I remember this; this was one of the first pieces I choreographed at the studio. It was junior year." She looked at Santana who smiled softly. She then turned back to the pictures.
Picking them up one by one, she frowned. Once again, Santana saw the recognition dawn.
"These are mine," Brittany's voice was soft; almost a whisper.
"Yeah. Before you recognized them as yours, you were pretty impressed. Same with the dance."
Brittany looked up at her.
Santana reached out and softly cupped Brittany's cheek, making sure Brittany was looking at her.
"You are so much more than your physical beauty, Britt," her voice was soft, "don't let one sleazeball take away all that you are and reduce you to your body. The woman who took these photos and choreographed that dance is amazing. Her body is simply the package," she gently stroked Brittany's cheek and placed her free hand over Brittany's heart, "this is the gift."
Tears were spilling freely down Brittany's cheeks. Santana gently pulled Brittany into her body and held her tenderly. "I may be able to appreciate the package but I am completely in love with the gift that is Brittany S. Pierce." She whispered softly in Brittany's ear.
Brittany wrapped her arms tightly around Santana's waist and clung to her.
"All of that," Santana whispered, "and I haven't even mentioned the fact that you're a genius and you speak … how many languages now? Six? Seven? I'm in constant awe of your awesomeness. You're amazing, Britt. You're a unicorn."
Brittany loosened her hold but still hugged Santana close to her. "You're amazing, Santana," she said softly in the brunette's ear.
They sat there, holding each other, until a soft knock on the door demanded their attention.
Santana smiled and kissed the top of Brittany's head as she answered the door and signed for breakfast. She wheeled the cart into the room and looked at Britt.
"How would you feel about eating on the balcony?"
Brittany smiled, a genuine smile, and nodded.
Once they were situated and eating, Brittany cleared her throat.
"I was thinking about something I wanted to try and do," she looked at Santana, who simply nodded her encouragement. "I want to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower once an hour for twenty-four hours. I mean, it doesn't have to be consecutive hours as long as I get a picture for every hour of the day. I want to try and make a kind of time lapse picture … maybe only use nine or twelve of the actual pictures to show the full day of the Eiffel Tower. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah, it does, and it sounds like a really cool idea. We can stay in for the day today and you can take pictures all day … until like, midnight? Then we can go to bed and get up early enough for you to get the early morning hours. Then we can go make use of that four day pass thing we got, come back and take a nap so we can get up and stay up so you can get the late at night hours. I mean, if that sounds good?"
Brittany actually beamed at her. "Yeah, that sounds perfect." She jumped up and ran into the sitting room and grabbed her camera. She considered something. "It's almost nine now. I think it'll make for a long, and boring, day if we sit here for the next fifteen hours. Maybe we can do nine to two today, then go out sight-seeing for a bit and I can take whatever pictures when we get back then I can just fill in the gaps over the next couple of days."
There she was. There was that spark. It may take some more time for Brittany to be one hundred percent but at least Santana could see her again."That sounds great, Britt."