a/n: they're falling in love

Chapter 3: More than a Holiday Zing

Every night, Santana stayed in Brittany's room, her suitcase moving across the hall before the third night. Her parents weren't surprised in the least- they were once young and fresh off their zing too. They hadn't had such luxuries of being at the hotel, but that was no reason to stop their daughter from taking advantage of her situation. As long as she was safe, they had no issue.

Brittany honestly couldn't believe her luck. The Lopezes and extended Stein family has been incredibly accepting of her. And Santana, well Santana was just the most gorgeous girl she'd ever met. She'd even had the opportunity to meet some of her friends a few days ago, and today they were meeting up again. Mavis had put together a bit of a party for the young adults of the hotel. Even a few of the older Werewolf pups would be there. Brittany was thrilled about that, but they'd been kinder to her recently. Perhaps seeing her outside of the maternal role helped. Whatever it was, she would take the win.

"I have nothing to wear." Santana groaned flopping back dramatically on their bed, her suitcase flung open and her clothes strewn haphazardly around the room.

"That can't possibly be true." Brittany said, flipping through her own small selection of clothes "But I certainly don't."

"Yeah, but you look hot in a tank top and jean shorts." Santana crossed her arms "All your muscles on display."

"And you don't?" Brittany raised an eyebrow "Because I recall them looking pretty amazing on you that first night."

"Of course you thought so, we're zinged. It's impossible for me to not look hot to you." Santana insisted.

"And why does it matter what anyone else thinks, hmm?" Brittany pulled the smaller girl to her.

"Uh, I 'spose it doesn't. I just want them to be jealous of how hot we are." Santana admits shyly.

"Good point. Maybe your mom has something?" Brittany asks.

"Probably, but there is a Stein who definitely does. Do you mind if I run and get something real quick?" Santana says excitedly.

"Yes." Brittany huffed "But go. I'll figure something out."

"Like I said, tank top, babe." Santana kisses her softly and runs off.

"Tank top…hmm…" Brittany scratches behind her ear and then it hits her. She zips through the hotel until she gets to Wayne and Wanda's room. She knocks and Wanda opens it, and Brittany is glad to see she's only with the youngest who are all napping.

"Brittany, dear, what brings you here? Isn't Mavis having that little party soon?" Wanda asks.

"Yeah, I just wanted to ask Wayne if I could borrow- well to be honest I might have to keep it- one of his shirts. And ties. He can have the tie back. Just not the shirt." Brittany bounces nervously on her toes.

"Wayne dear?" Wanda calls through the bathroom door "Just a second Brittany, I'll go ask." Wanda goes into the bathroom and returns in a moment. "He says you can take the pink one."

"He knows that's my favorite, huh?" Brittany says as Wanda hands her the shirt.

"Yes, he does. And as for a tie" Wanda pulls out a black bow tie "This is for you. No need to return it."

"Really?" Brittany asks, and Wanda nods. "I um…I'm not sure how to tie one though."

"Santana's father can help you, don't you think?" Wanda says.

"Well…yeah I suppose I didn't consider asking." Brittany shrugs nervously.

"Francisco is a very kind man. Don't worry. He'll do it. Now go on." Wanda waves her off and Brittany returns back to her room. Santana was still gone- after all Brittany had super speed and Santana didn't really run at all. She grabs a pair of scissors and very carefully jumps the sleeves off the shirt. They wouldn't fit her muscles anyway. She buttons the shirt up, glad it fits well and puts on some black jeans. She's looking at the bow tie confused when Santana returns with a red dress in hand.

"Wow." Santana says, looking Brittany over, "You look fantastic Britt. What are you holding?"

"It's a bow tie." Brittany says, turning the silky fabric over in her hands "I haven't a clue how to tie it. Wanda said to ask your dad."

"Well, my dad does know how to do these, but luckily for you, so do I." Santana said, gently taking the fabric from Brittany.

"Really?" Brittany says, sitting down so Santana can more easily reach to tie it for her "I mean, why'd you learn to do it?"

"Some of my guy friends needed help before prom. Not all of them have a dad around." Santana shrugged. She carefully ties the bow tie around Brittany's neck and then helps her button down her shirt collar. Once she'd done that, she quickly slipped into her dress, and Brittany returned the favor by zipping it up. It was a short black dress, and it nearly had Brittany drooling.

"Close your mouth, you look ridiculous." Santana chastised "Let's get to our party." They made their way down to the ballroom which had been made to look more like a club. Most everyone else was already there, so they made the rounds to say hi to all of Santana's friends.

"Quinn!" Santana said, offering the witch a hug "How are you?"

"Just great, and might I say, you and Brittany look absolutely wonderful." Quinn smiled.

"Where's Rachel?" Brittany asked. Santana had told Brittany that at one time, Rachel had zinged with someone else, but he'd been in an unfortunate accident. Quinn had been there to comfort her, and at some point they zinged.

"She didn't want to come." Quinn says sadly "It's been a year since the accident tomorrow."

"I can't believe I forgot." Santana shakes her head "You're holding up okay?"

"Yeah, she insisted I come down. She'll be alright. I think she wanted to be alone." Quinn said "Don't fret too much. Go see everyone else."

The next people they ran into were Mike Fang and Tina Cohen-Fang. They weren't married, as Brittany had to be told, just distant cousins. The two vampires were probably the only couple close to being as cute as herself and Santana. Still, Mike's bowtie was untied, and much to Brittany's frustration, Santana had agreed to fix it.

"Why'd you do that?" Brittany asked as they stopped at the punch bowl.

"Because Mike is a good friend. And his dad isn't around." Santana stated simply. Brittany tried to push down her frustration, she knew what it was like to not have your parents around. "Stop pouting." Santana said as she handed her a cup.

"I am NOT pouting." Brittany huffed. She knew that was a complete lie, but give her a break. They saw Kitty Wilde, a werelion, and Artie Abrams, a zombie, next. Brittany didn't particularly like either of them, and Santna assured her they were only friends by proximity. After a brief hello, they ran into Sam Evans, an Atlantian. He was someone who they'd only just met the other day. He'd zinged with Mercedes, a gorgon, one of Santana's friends. He was very funny and did all sort of impressions. Brittany had made fast friends with him, especially because much like herself he was a bit of an outcast even among his own time. That's why he was at the hotel in the first place. Atlantians rarely left Atlantis, but Sam had. Santana wasn't thrilled that Brittany enjoyed spending time with anyone other than her, but she tried to be understanding. After all, Brittany and Sam were both new to everyone, so they were bound to bond. Still, Santana didn't like it, and so she dragged Brittany away from laughing at Sam's terrible impression.

"Hey" Brittany said, tugging her wrist away from Santana's grasp, gently so as to not split the girls stitches, "What was that for, I was having fun."

"You like him?" Santana asked, crossing her arms.

"What do you mean? Of course I" Brittany watched Santana's face morph to show betrayal "No, no, not like that. I only like you like that." Brittany promised.

"You don't ever laugh like that with me." Santana accused.

"Tana, when in the world have you tried to be funny that I haven't laughed?" Brittany asked. She wanted to ask when Santana had ever tried to be funny at all, but decided this was a more delicate way to phrase her question.

"Well I haven't, but" Santana started but Brittany just shook her head "What?" Santana grimaced.

"You're jealous." Brittany tapped her nose lightly, and Santana's nose twitched in annoyance.

"Am not."

"Are too"

"Am NOT." Santana huffed angrily, stomping away towards Quinn, speaking in exaggerated gestures. Quinn looked at her, and Brittany was afraid her next drink might be switched with a poisonous concoction if she didn't fix things. Getting over her own pride, she comes over to Santana before she can run away, ears back and tail tucked.

"Can we talk?" Brittany asks and Santana glares at her with red, teary eyes. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Well you did." Santana snaps.

"Santana." Quinn chastises "Give her a chance."

"Please?" Brittany is pouting this time.

"Why?" Santana sighs, and looks at Brittany "what could you possibly need to say?"

"I just want to apologize…can't I do that?" Brittany questions.

"Go on." Quinn insists "Go talk." Santana shoots the witch a glare before complying. Even though she's mad, she still takes Brittany's hand as she leads her out of the ballroom and into the garden.

"Why are we out here?" Santana shivers "it's cold."

"Sorry, I um, I just thought you'd like the moon and stars and it's such a pretty garden and…" Brittany realizes she's rambling and fall's silent.

"It is pretty." Santana says quietly.

"I didn't realize it would be cold. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for saying you were jealous. I guess maybe I was projecting a little." Brittany sighs.

"You were?" Santana asks.

"Yeah, I was jealous of you helping Mike out." Brittany looks at Santana "I guess seeing you jealous made me feel…right?"

"I was jealous. I just didn't like you pointing it out. In the past, when I've been jealous, I've been ruthlessly teased." Santana admits.

"I wasn't trying to tease you, not in a mean way anyway." Brittany assures. "Did you want to tell me about being teased?"

"It's stupid really…" Santana says "It sounds so minimal compared to how you grew up."

"I don't mind. Problems aren't to be compared to see who had it worse." Brittany promises "I honestly just want to know so I don't mess up again."

"Well, I used to be a bit of a klutz, in fact I was the dorkiest kid in school. And my jealousy of others was obvious. I was jealous of who had friends, who danced, who played sports, who was pretty- I felt like there was nothing I wasn't envious of. People caught on pretty quick and it kind of spiraled. Eventually, I grew up, I got less clumsy, and I learned about style." Santana shrugs. "See, pretty stupid."

"No, it's not. I'm glad you told me. I'm not sure I believe there was a time before you were drop dead gorgeous though." Brittany smirks.

"If you get close enough to Quinn, she uses pictures as blackmail." Santana plays with Brittany's paw quietly, leaning into her as the chill of the night really starts to her.

"Should we go back inside? You seem really cold." Brittany nuzzles Santana's chin.

"I don't really want to go back to the party, but we can't get back in without walking past. We're guaranteed to get sucked back in." Santana groans.

"There are other ways to warm up." Brittany wiggles her eyebrows.

"Outside?" Santana shakes her head "We can't, what if someone catches us?"

"It was only a joke" Brittany says "But you need to get inside. You're shivering."

"Are you not cold?" Santana asks, and the curses herself. What a silly question to ask a werewolf. "Sorry, silly question."

"I wish I could share my fur with you. But I can't. So how are we getting inside?" Brittany asked.

"Are you any good at climbing?" Santana asks.

"By werewolf standards, yes. By actual standards, no." Brittany admits. "I can get a pretty good leap though."

"You think you'd be able to jump up to the balcony? Where we hung out that first night?" Santana asks.

"I could try, if I get enough of a running start. But what about you?" Brittany asks.

"Well, there's two options. You lower a rope, or I ride on your back." Santana explains.

"Seeing as I don't know where in the hell I'll find a rope, looks like you're getting a piggyback ride." Brittany sighs. Santana hops on as Brittany makes quick work of scoping out a perfect runway for her takeoff. "Hold on tight." Brittany says as she lowers herself onto all fours. And like that she's a lighting bolt flashing through the air, leaping, leaping, and BAM! They land on the balcony, along with the remnants of the railing they'd just smashed through.

"Holy shit." Santana says "That was amazing."

"You're not…hurt…are…you?" Brittany asks, panting, laying on her back in a pile of wooden rubble.

"No, are - holy shit, Britt!" Santana rushes over to her. Her shirt was shredded and there were scratches and gashes all along her front. "We need to get you some help."

"No, no, I'll be fine." Brittany assures, even as she struggles to get up "See" she groans "Totally fine."

"No, not totally fine. My dad can help." Santana starts to usher Brittany insisted.

"What happened to my balcony!?" Dracula asks incredulously.

"Oh, not you two…" Dracula sighs dramatically "running around all in love and now you're damaging hotel property?"

"I'll pay for it Drac, I promise" Santana assures "But right now, I have a more pressing matter."

"Stay." He freezes them and sees the wounds. He had smelled blood. But werewolf blood was, luckily, incredibly unappetizing. It was less pure than human. He flicks his wrist to fix the damage to the railing and unfreezes "It's not a problem. I'm used to cleaning up werewolf messes."

"I'm…sorry." Brittany coughs miserably.

"Don't strain yourself. I'll figure out why you were leaping through the air later. Are you sure you don't want the hotel doctor?" Dracula asked.

"No!" Brittany says seriously.

"Very well. Do let Mavis know if you need anything." Dracula goes off down the hall and Santana helps Brittany to her room and then goes across the hall. Her parents aren't back from their date night, so she grabs her dad's first aid kit and tries to figure out what to do while the phone rings.

"Santana, what's wrong? Did your arm come loose?" Francisco answers.

"No Papi, it's Brittany." Santana says.

"What's wrong my little doll?" Francisco asks.

"It's a lot to explain but she has some pretty deep cuts on her stomach." Santana explains.

"And you have no idea how?" Francisco asks.

"Well I do, she broke the railing on the balcony. Look, it doesn't matter how, just how do I fix it?" Santana asks quickly.

"Just stop any bleeding for now. Your mother and I will be back soon." Francisco hangs up and Santana does what little she can. Ten minutes later, her father comes through the door and she steps aside. It's a time intensive process, Santana relaizes, as all three of them are put on splinter removal duty. Shortly after his arrival, Francisco temporarily tranquilized her so she wouldn't have to feel everything.

Once Brittany was all stitched up, Santana's parents left.

"Am I all better?" Brittany asked as she woke up. Obviously, anesthesia was the preference when it came to being put under for medical treatment, but a tranquilizer dart was all they had on hand.

"Yeah, how do you feel?" Santana asked.

"Loads better, to be honest. I think those splitters hurt more than the gashes. Plus the gashes would've fixed themselves up a bit eventually, werewolf healing and all." Brittany says "The splinters though, man they just bug and bug."

"I bet. So, you're feeling alright then?" Santana asked.

"Yeah. I guess it was a bit reckless to jump up to the balcony. I'm just glad you didn't get hurt." Brittany nuzzles against Santana.

"We should've just tried our hand at sneaking past the party." Santana sighed "Now your fur's all bloody and your outfit is ruined."

"We wouldn't have made it." Brittany insists "And I really didn't want to talk to anyone. Besides you."

"Me neither. Dad did those dissolvable stitches since you're a werewolf. Didn't want your skin healing over them. He suggested you take a bath before bed tonight and if any of the wounds aren't healed enough I can bandage them." Santana explained.

"Are you trying to get me naked, Santana Lopez?" Brittany raised a curious eyebrow.

"What, no, I" Santana blushed as she became flustered "I am just trying to take care of you."

"That generally requires the removal of clothing." Brittnay smirked and Santana flicked her ear "Ouch."

"Don't be a perv." Santana said "Come on, you should really take that bath. I can't imagine it's easy to get blood out of fur."

"Fine…" Brittany sighed and let Santana help her to the bathroom. After they got her out of her outfit Santana helped her into the tub, keeping her eyes as averted as possible. "Santana, you've already seen me naked. You don't have to look away."

"Brittany, it's not right for me to eye fuck you while you're hurt." Santana shook her head.

"I wouldn't mind." Brittany assured "I wouldn't mind if you joined this bath either."

"Who's trying to get who naked now?" Santana crossed her arms looking back at Brittany. They'd used a bath bomb, so there wasn't much to see below the colorful water anyway.

"I am proud to be trying, for starters, secondly, I was hoping you'd help make sure my fur was blood-free." Brittany pouted "Please?"

"Damn puppy-dog eyes, alright!" Santana quickly got out of her dress and joined Brittany in the tub, settling behind her. "Relax." She insisted as she started to brush through the stained fur on her back "You have super healing or whatever, but there's no reason to be reckless."

"Thanks Santana." Brittany said softly "Not just for this, but for introducing me to your friends and being with me and all that."

"It's my pleasure." Santana insisted. "And please don't make another dirty joke."

"Alright, alright. So, um, hey, I guess tomorrow is the day that um, your friend, he you know…" Brittany trails off.

"Yeah. Finn." Santana says "Quinn and Rachel will probably go out to where it all went down. Then visit his grave."

"Did you…are you…" Brittany isn't sure what she wants to ask.

"I don't need to do anything. Finn and I, we weren't exactly close. And what happened, it's dark Britt. He was in a dark place. It was too much for him to handle." Santana sighed.

"He…?" Brittany can't say the words, despite the fact that, before Wayne and Wanda, they could've applied to her.

"Yeah. A lot of shit went down, and I honestly don't really know all the details, but I just can't imagine it getting to that point. Especially when he had so many people who loved him. So you can't play football anymore? There's more to life." Santana sighed.

"I thought about it." Brittany said quietly.

"Huh? What? Playing football?" Santana asked.

"Well, yes, but no. That's not what I'm talking about. I grew up with nothing and no one. Sure when I was younger I was lucky enough to stumble across some nicer humans, a few wolf packs, but I never fit in. There was always someone who didn't like me being around, and eventually that was the line in the sand. I was completely on my own for three years before Wayne and Wanda found me. I was really ready to just give up." Brittany shook her head "I mean, now, after meeting you and them, I'd never, but…"

"I'm so sorry Britt…" Santana gently kisses the back of her head "But you made it. I'm so glad you made it."

"Me too." Brittany said "Me too. So you don't want to visit his grave or anything?"

"No. I'm at peace with Finn. He's at peace. There'll be a little memorial in the lobby tomorrow evening, and I'll see Rachel and Quinn there, but honestly, culturally it's best if it's just them and Kurt. That's just the way it is sometimes." Santana explained.

And so they wished Quinn and Rachel the best when they returned the following evening. But otherwise, they spent the day letting Brittany fully heal so the fun they'd been searching for the previous night could be found soon.

a/n: Chapter 4 is a WIP and I see no reason that I won't have all 5 Chapters out come Halloween.