"One of the greatest journeys in life is overcoming insecurity and learning to truly not give a shit." - J.A. Konrath

Over the next month, Brittany and Santana had been spending a significant amount of time with each other outside of work. They enjoyed brunches and dinners together and even occasionally spent the night at each other's houses. They cuddled, held hands, and shared kisses on the cheek, but that was the extent of their physical relationship. They enjoyed long, deep conversations, but neither one of them dared to bring up what this closeness meant or tried to further define it... especially not Santana.

For Santana, she was just enjoying getting to know the blonde on a more intimate and personal level than ever before... even though it was subsequently driving her crazy.

But for the time being, the Latina couldn't focus on that when it was time to put her game face on. It was Monday, after all.

"What up, Lopez?" Puckerman says as he arrives in the bullpen, taking his seat across from his partner.

"Hey Puck," she replies back nonchalantly.

The profiler takes in his partner's tone and then begins looking around, assessing the situation. "How was your weekend?"

"Fine," Santana replies back in the same manner.

"You sure about that cuz you don't sound fine," Puck questions. "Did something happen with Brittany?"

"Sorry... I'm just a little cranky cuz I haven't been getting much sleep lately. Plus, I haven't had my morning coffee yet either," Santana says apologetically. "And to answer your question, no... absolutely nothing has happened with Britt."

"Oh, c'mon... that can't be true. I know you guys have been spending all of your off days together," Noah knowingly states. "Do you really expect me to believe that 2 smokin' hot girls hanging out all alone on the weekend have not done anything?"

All Santana can do is shrug her shoulders. "Don't get me wrong, it's been great getting to spend so much time with Britt but..," she pauses.

"But what?"

"It's also been like my very own personal hell," Santana continues. "Mostly, I've just been helping her prepare for the profiler's assessment. But... every time she touches me or is just near me, I start to lose it that much more. She's like the most beautiful torturer ever."

"Damn, San... you definitely got it bad," Puck comments. "But, you guys have always been touchy-feely. What's different now?"

"Everything's different now..." Santana replies like it's the most obvious thing. When she sees the blank look on her partner's face, she elaborates. "It's different now because she knows." Again, there is no change on the man's face. "She knows... about my feelings?"

Once the look of recognition passes Puckerman's face, the Latina just shakes her head. For someone so smart when it comes to catching the sickest human beings, sometimes the Jewish man could be a little slow when it came to romantic entanglements.

"Anyways... because she knows how I feel now, all those simple touches and glances between us aren't just friendly anymore," the female profiler continues. "They mean something now... I just don't know what."

"Why don't you just make the move then?" Puck suggests.

"Because... I can't," Santana sighs dejectedly. "I already took a huge risk by telling her how I felt in the first place. I'm not gonna be stupid by forcing myself on her or putting any additional pressure on her, especially when our jobs are at stake."

"You know that Sylvester would never fire you guys, right?" Noah asks. "At most, you might get suspended or put on another team."

"Exactly... and that's one thing that I don't want to happen," Santana replies sternly. "If Brittany wants something to happen between us, then it's up to her to make the next move… I've already made mine. I refuse to jeopardize our careers or separate this team just because of my stupid feelings."

"Okay, okay... relax Santana," Puck pleads, trying to calm the fiery Latina down. "I'm just worried about you, that's all. I know how much you care about Brittany; I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I know... and I appreciate it," Santana says more softly. "I'm just trying my best not to lose my sanity, but it's so hard sometimes."

"I can only imagine," Puck sympathizes. "How've you been managing that anyways?"

"Like I do everything else... compartmentalization," the Latina says while pointing at her head.

"Of course," Noah says knowingly with a smile. "Just don't overload your brain too much, okay?"

"Yes, dear..." Santana sarcastically replies.

Puck playfully rolls his eyes in return. "Why don't you go get some coffee before you accidentally scratch someone's eyes out."

"By someone, do you mean you?" The Latina cattily questions.

"Well, duh... you know I only look out for número uno," Puckerman cockily retorts.

"Of course..." Santana says back as she shakes her head. "Your Spanish is horrendous, by the way," she adds in as she gets up and walks towards the kitchen area. Puck just smiles at her fleeting figure.

As Santana selects her coffee flavor from the multiple options, she places it into the Keurig machine. Once she adds the appropriate amount of water to the machine and picks out her favorite coffee mug - a gift from Brittany, of course - that reads "The Price is Wrong, B*tch!"

While Santana waits her allotted minute for her coffee to brew, she doesn't notice the other person enter the kitchen.

"Hey..." the angelic voice of Brittany says from behind the profiler.

"Hi..." Santana responds back as she turns around to find bright blue eyes already staring at her. Like usual, the Latina's heart rate picks up as she tries her best to maintain her composure. "Can I make you a coffee?"

"Sure, thanks..." the blond says as she steps closer to the profiler.

Brittany then selects the flavor of coffee she wants and hands it to Santana, making sure that her hand lingers against the tan-skinned woman's for as long as possible. The Latina then disposes her used flavor refill and places Brittany's into the machine whilst grabbing another mug out of the pantry.

"So... you ready for the big assessment at the end of the week?" Santana asks. She knew that the liaison had been concerned about whether or not she had the chops to become a profiler, but Santana never doubted her for a second.

"I guess..." Brittany answers nervously as she breaks eye contact, in favor of looking at the ceramic tiles on the floor. "I just don't wanna end up looking like a complete fool if I don't get it."

"Hey..." Santana coos as she lifts the blonde's chin back up to look at her. "You're going to do great. Everyone on this team believes in you; I believe in you."

Brittany's eyes briefly flicker down to the profiler's lips, causing the blonde to lightly bite her own bottom lip. "You should really stop saying things like that."

"Things like what... the truth?" Santana questions.

"No... things that make me wanna kiss you," the blonde replies without batting an eye.

The Latina momentarily loses her grip on the coffee mug, causing it to slip from her hand and crash into the ground. The sound of the impact slightly startles both agents and causes them to quickly create distance between them.

"Oh, shit... sorry," Santana apologizes as she bends down to pick up the broken pieces of the ceramic mug. "I'm such a klutz."

Before Brittany has a chance to respond, another voice floats into the room.

"Good morning to two of the hottest bitches in the building," Quinn happily - and inappropriately - chirps. "Whoa, what happened here?"

"I had butterfingers for a split second," the brunette casually replies. "How ya doing, Q?"

"I'm fabulous, as always," the tech analyst simply replies. "How bout you lovely ladies? How was your weekend?"

"Fine," both agents reply in unison, quickly looking away from each other.

"Riiight..." the other blonde says curiously. "Well then... Santana, if you don't mind, I need to borrow your bestie for a few minutes.

"Yeah, sure..." Santana nonchalantly replies as she stands up and discards the broken coffee mug. "Here Britt… take this," she says as she hands the blonde her full cup of coffee.

"Thanks San... I'll see you later?" The liaison says questionably.

"Of course," the Latina replies with a small smile. "See ya Q."

As the eccentric blonde waves at the Latina, she and the liaison walk back to her lair.

"So... what's up Quinn?" Brittany asks once she takes a seat inside of the tech analyst's domain.

"I should be asking you that, missy..." Fabray cheekily retorts. When she receives a look of confusion from the blonde, she continues. "I may or may not have heard a part of your conversation with that fine piece of ass that is Ms. Santana Lopez."

Brittany's eyebrows scrunch up further at how the other blonde refers to her best friend. "Why do you have to talk about her like that?" The blonde mumbles.

"Like what, Brittany?" Quinn challenges, trying to see how far she can push the liaison.

"Like she's a piece of meat..." Brittany responds. "You've been more vulgar with your adjectives lately, especially when it comes to San."

"What... you're a hot piece of ass too!" Fabray adds in before getting a pointed look from the blonde. "Look Britt, you know I don't mean anything by it, right?"

"I know... but it still bothers me," the blonde mumbles once again.

"And that's exactly the emotion I was hoping to elicit from you," Quinn says knowingly. A look of confusion is still plastered on Brittany's face. "You're really weird about receiving compliments, vulgar and non-vulgar."

"Yeah... San pointed that out recently as well."

"So, what's the problem?" Quinn asks curiously. "I mean... you're a very attractive and smart woman with a killer personality. Why is it that you feel so - for a lack of better word - insecure about yourself?"

Brittany shrugs, taking a moment to ponder over her response. "I don't know... maybe because I was a late bloomer?" When she doesn't receive anything but an enthusiastic nod from the other blonde, she continues. "I was picked on a lot in high school and never got invited on any dates. Hell... I didn't lose my virginity until after I graduated college."

"Dayum Britt... are you serious?!" Quinn asks incredulously.

"Unfortunately, yes..." Brittany sadly replies. "Anyways, once I finally did grow into my looks, I started to concentrate more on my career since my love life was practically non-existent. Studying Communications helped me to be more confident about how I presented myself and made me less anxious about talking to other people. Inadvertently, I started attracting some attention."

"So, what happened after that?"

"Nothing really... I dated a few guys, but nothing ever serious; nothing ever lasted more than a month or so," the liaison picks back up. "Even though I finally had guys that were interested in me, I still felt like that insecure ugly duckling who nobody really wants except for the occasional one night stand. I guess I still occasionally feel like that nowadays."

"So... what about this thing with Santana?" Quinn questions.

"She's the first person that makes me feel like I'm worth something," Brittany candidly replies. "That's why this whole situation sucks."

"How so?"

"Santana makes me feel things that I've never felt before... and we haven't even done anything yet," she continues. "She makes me want to cross the line so badly, but..." She trails off.

"You can't... because of the rules and stuff?"

"Exactly."

"So… what's the end game here?"

"I don't know..." Brittany says as she begins to lightly tap her head against a desk.

"Okay... let's stop doing that," Quinn says, effectively halting the blonde's movements. "There's a lot of expensive computer crap in here."

"Sorry."

"That's okay, sweetie," Fabray states sympathetically. "Anyways... if you're so conflicted about what the next step is with Santana then why have you been spending more time with her? I mean... isn't that just making it harder?"

"Yes and no..." Brittany cryptically replies. "It's hard to be around her because there's all of this sexual tension that we can't do anything about..."

"Well... technically you can do something about it, but both of you are way too stubborn and by-the-book to actually do anything about it," the tech analyst chimes in until she receives a pointed look from the liaison. "I'm sorry... you we're saying?"

"Anyways..." Brittany says with an eye roll, "even though it's tough being around her with all of this tension, it feels even worse when I'm not around her. It is literally driving me insane."

"Wow... that's pretty rough Britt," Quinn says, giving the other blonde a pat on the leg. "Just know that I love you both and whatever you decide to do with your pending relationship, I'll be here if you need someone to talk to."

"Thanks Quinn."

"Now see... don't you feel a little better now that you've lifted that huge boulder off your chest?" Fabray inquires.

"Yeah, I guess so," Brittany agrees. "Moving along though... what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Oh, right! I almost forgot," Quinn responds. "Schue just wanted me to touch bases with you in reference to cross-training for the liaison position."

"Oh, okay..."

"Don't worry... we can focus more on that after you kick ass on that assessment and become an official profiler," Quinn says with a wink. Brittany smiles back in return.

Knock... knock... knock...

"Excuse me ladies," Puck says as he enters the lair. "Hola mamacita," he directs towards the tech analyst, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Hey there, Sweet Cheeks!" Quinn gleefully responds back. "What brings you down here to my cornucopia of knowledge?"

"Other than getting my daily dose of you," Noah flirts back, "I come bearing news; we have a case."

"Well, I guess we should head upstairs then," Brittany says as she stands up from her chair and makes her way to exit the room. "Sorry to break it to ya, but... your Spanish sucks. Stick to what you know," the liaison says as she pats the profiler's shoulder with a look of pity.

"Geez... you and Santana are some real ball busters," Puck pouts. "Just bash the guy that's trying to bring a little more Latin flavor to the group."

"Trust me... San's got plenty of that," Brittany cheekily responds as she gets further away from the man.

"Yeah... you would know!" Noah retorts, yelling down the hallway. If he was unclear before of whether the blonde had heard his comeback, the bright shade of red her face turned as she disappeared from sight was a clear indicator. "I think I won that one."

"Yeah, I think you did," Quinn replies once she has the profiler's attention again. "So... any new updates from our resident Latina?"

"Pretty much the same as last week," Noah answers. "She did tell me that she wasn't gonna be the one to initiate anything physical between them. She wants to, but she's so worried about how that will affect the team."

"Yeah, I basically got the same story from Brittany," Quinn adds in. "I totally get their reservations, but I just can't help thinking how amazing they would be together. They both deserve it."

"I hear ya, but what can we do?" Puck poses the question. "Anyways, we have a case to get to. After you, milady…" he says in a terrible English accent whilst extending his arm for the blonde.

"Oh thank you, kind sir," Quinn plays along, looping her arm around the muscular profiler's as they exit her lair.

"There have been 4 murders over the past 2 months in Lima, OH," Schue begins as everyone gets situated inside of the conference room.

"The bodies of Kurt Hummel, Elliott Gilbert, Sebastian Smythe, and Blaine Anderson were all found in local parks throughout the Lima area; Anderson's being found earlier this morning by a jogger," Fabray fills in as she works the projection screen.

"This looks like a scene from Dexter," Santana says, commenting on how the lifeless bodies were wrapped in high quality plastic.

"Yes... each body was thoroughly cleaned with bleach before being wrapped with plastic and being transported to each individual dump site," Schue picks back up.

"You know what's interesting?" Dr. Abrams rhetorically states. "Lima has an unusually high crime rate for a city of its size, which is approximately 38,000 in population."

Everyone immediately stops scrolling through their iPads and just look at the boy genius.

"What?"

"Playing it a little fast and loose with the word interesting, don't ya think Artie?" Santana playfully states.

Artie just looks back at the Latina skeptically while the rest of the team tries to suppress their laughter.

"Anyways... moving on," Puckerman cuts in. "What was the cause of death?"

"The autopsy reports on the first 3 victims show asphyxiation by drowning," Schue answers. "We won't have the results of the latest victim until later on today, but based on the crime scene, it will most likely be the same."

"What do we know about the victims?" Brittany inquires.

"All of the victims except for the Gilbert subject were seniors at Dalton Academy, an all-boys school," Fabray begins. "Mr. Gilbert was only a few years older than the other 3 vics and worked as the assistant music director at the same school for their Glee club, The Warblers. Apparently the other vics were all members of the club as well."

"Okay... so all of the males have a connection to the school and obviously knew each other. Anything else significant?" Hudson questions.

"It says here that Hummel and Anderson - victims 1 and 4 - were an item up until a few weeks before Hummel's death 2 months ago," Santana says as she scrolls through the digital case file of the most recent victim on her iPad. "Quinn... do we know if the other 2 victims were gay?"

"Let's see..." the tech analyst says as she quickly works her magic on her laptop. "Yes, it appears that all of the victims were fans of the male anatomy."

"Perhaps the bleach on the body is a part of a cleansing ritual for the UnSub?" Artie suggests.

"Boy Wonder might be onto something here," Puck states. "Judging by how the bodies were positioned with the arms crossed over their chests before being wrapped in plastic could be suggesting a religious motive for the killings."

"Yeah… and maybe the significance of the drowning is to mimic a baptism," Brittany adds in, hesitantly.

"I think Brittany's right; the very definition of a baptism is to signify the cleansing of the body and the soul of sins," Santana says confidentially, shooting the blonde a subtle wink. Now it's everyone else's turn to stop and look at the Latina with a peculiar stare, Artie in particular. "That's right, Abrams... I know some stuff too."

The boy genius just smiles back at Santana, glad to know that his fun facts were starting to rub off on the group. The Latina smiles back at the young doctor as she scans the room and finds tiny smiles on the rest of the team's faces.

"Alright guys... once we arrive in Ohio, we're gonna hit the ground running. It will be best if we split up to cover more ground," Schue says, getting his team back on track at the task at hand. "Abrams... you'll meet up with the M.E. to get the autopsy report on our latest victim. Compare it to our others vics to make sure we don't have a copycat on our hands. Puckerman... you'll re-interview the first victim's family while Hudson does the same with our newest victim. Because they used to date, maybe we'll catch an early break and find someone that links to both of them. Brittany... you'll shadow Lopez and visit the most recent crime scene. I'll head to the station and set up the command post. Wheels up in 30."

Their fearless leader misses the priceless expressions plastered on the faces of Brittany, Santana, Puck, and Quinn as he walks towards the door.

"Um, Will... are you sure about this?" The liaison questions, appealing to the man beneath the profiler.

"Brittany... if you want to be a profiler then you're gonna have to spend more time out in the field. Santana - or any other person you might be paired with - has to be able to depend on you as a reliable partner," Schue quickly explains. "You're ready, Agent Pierce," he finishes with a rare smile.

"Yes, sir!"

As the rest of the team gathers up their belongings and makes their way to the parking garage to remove their go-bags from their respective vehicles, Puck hangs back and walks Quinn back to her lair of knowledge.

"You think Schue knows about Brittany and Santana?" Noah curiously inquires.

"I'm not sure. But really, what is there to tell? It's not like they've even done anything," Quinn responds.

"That's true. Still... that's gonna be like total torture for both of them," Puck comments.

"Yeah, probably. But who knows... maybe they'll finally get that push they need to cross that line and have their way with each other," Fabray seductively states, knowing that's what her hunky profiler arm candy was thinking as well.

"See... this is why you're my best friend; you totally get me!" Puckerman exclaims as he brings the blonde into a tight side hug.

Meanwhile, back in the parking garage...

As the rest of the team makes their way towards the SUVs that will transport them to the airfield where their private jet awaits, Brittany and Santana fall a few steps behind.

"Sorry you got stuck babysitting me," Brittany says apologetically.

"I'm not," Santana simply replies, causing the blonde's cheeks to heat up. "Schue's right... you gotta get used to being out in the field more."

"Oh, yeah... of course," the liaison says dejectedly, hoping there was another reason for the Latina's response.

Almost as if the brunette could hear her thoughts, she lightly grabs Brittany's wrist to halt her movements. "Besides, I don't mind being stuck with you... ever; even though being this close to you has been driving me slightly crazy lately," Santana honestly states.

"Really? Me too..." Brittany replies back. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore, San. I know the smart thing to do would be to put some distance between us to remove this temptation, but... I just can't bring myself to do it."

"This is all my fault… I should've just kept my mouth shut," Santana sighs, starting to beat herself up again.

"No, San... that's not what I'm saying," Brittany interjects. "Like I said before, I'm glad you told me. You're the most honest person I know. I just didn't think all of this would be so difficult."

"Okay, let's do this then..." Santana starts off, trying to calm the blonde down. "All of these feelings and whatnot... let's just put them on pause for the time being and focus on this case. After that, we can have an in-depth conversation about what to do next, whether it's to move forward and see what this could be," she says as she gestures between their bodies, "or if we should just act like nothing's changed and go back to how we used to be."

"You could really do that... pretend like you haven't told me all of these wonderful things and be content on just being friends/co-workers?" Brittany questions.

"Well… I've been doing it for the past few years so I think I can manage it," Santana quietly responds.

"You would do that for me? You would put your own feelings aside if I decided that I didn't want to pursue this?" The liaison asks more seriously, looking Santana directly in the eyes.

"Britt... I don't know if you've noticed, but..." the Latina pauses as she takes a step forward and tilts her head so that her lips lightly brush Brittany's ear lobe, "... I'd do anything for you," she says barely above a whisper.

As Santana leans back and puts a little bit of space between them, Brittany finally lets out the breath that she didn't know she was holding. All she can really think about at the moment is how the left side of her body is tingling from feeling Santana's hot breath on her ear.

Don't get her wrong; Brittany definitely appreciated how considerate the Latina was being to put her own feelings aside to accommodate her, but damn... Santana sure had a way of making her insides jump and turn her brain into mush when she was being all sincere and crap.

"We should catch up to the others," Santana casually states as she resumes her steps again.

Brittany, on the other hand, took an extra moment to gather herself before catching up to the Latina. By taking that extra time though, she definitely missed the subtle smirk that appeared on Santana's face as she walked away, knowing that she must've struck a nerve from the blonde's lack of response. Although she always seemed to become this vulnerable mess when it came to Brittany, the Latina still knew how to use her God-given sex appeal to make the other girl squirm.

Perhaps this was just payback from how Brittany had left her all hot and bothered the last time they were left alone in the parking garage. Either way, this next case was sure to be interesting as both women tried to suppress their personal feelings and focus solely on the case.

Author's Note:

Hey guys! Here is the next installment. I tried to give you guys a little more insight on Brittany's character and why she's been kinda reserved and a little confused about what she should do in terms of her relationship with Santana. Thanks to everyone who is still reading this story and have been very patient with the development of the Brittana relationship. I know it's a bit slower than in how it normally is in my other stories, but it's for the sake of trying to develop the plot of the storyline as they work these cases whilst trying to incorporate the other characters and the crime element. It's a lot harder than I originally thought, trying to write a love story inside of a crime drama. Again, thanks for baring with me. You guys are truly awesome and inspire me to keep writing.

Until next time,
- Kris

Disclaimer: I still don't own CBS, Fox, or any of the characters from Criminal Minds or Glee (otherwise Prentiss would still be a part of the team and Brittany and Santana would have their very own show).

That is all.