Just Listen

A frustrated Santana walks out of the wedding planning

A/N: This is AU … a random blip that showed up in my brain (along with a secondary one) and I decided, since I was having writer's block on Chasing the Dream, I might as well write it. Might write the other one but probably not because it's kind of annoying. :)

I'm not sure it's particularly good … It's a one-shot … with the potential for more if inspiration strikes.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Santana sat in a booth at the far end of the twenty-four hour diner. She had no idea how long she'd been there, only that the light outside had changed from the colors of dusk to early twilight to night to deep night to dawn. It was past dawn now; maybe seven-thirty or so? Santana didn't know. She was tired; it had been almost twenty-four hours since she'd slept. She was tired, cold, and miserable.

She sighed and looked into her coffee cup. She felt terrible. How could she have just walked away like that? Just leave Brittany. And she couldn't even call her; she'd left her phone, her wallet, her keys … everything … in her purse, in the trunk of the car, when she started walking. She just kept walking until she found herself in this diner with about fifty dollars in her pocket and nothing else. She shivered; it was January in Northeast Indiana so, of course, it was cold and she'd left without her jacket. She signaled the waitress over and asked for a refill on coffee and a cup of soup.

"Chicken noodle or Italian wedding?" The older woman asked.

"Chicken noodle, please," Santana answered, her voice scratchy with unshed tears.

She had just finished her soup when someone sat across from her.

"What's her name?"

Santana looked up, her forehead scrunched in confusion.

"Whose name?"

"The woman that's got you looking like your dog just died and you're the one that killed him."

"Who says there's a woman?"

"Honey, your face, right now, isn't about a man treating you wrong or lost love; it's the face of someone who's broken and feels like she's the one who did the breaking. Only another woman makes a woman feel like that."

"Brittany. Her name is Brittany."

"What'd you do?"

"I walked away from her while we were talking about our wedding."

"So, you don't want to get married?"

Santana shook her head. "I do. More than anything. We were in this barn with her mother, my mother, and our wedding coordinator. And I was trying to tell them what Britt and I wanted and … they weren't listening. Just kept talking like I hadn't said anything. Britt's a peacekeeper so she was trying to keep everyone happy. Something just … snapped. I figured, no one was listening so I didn't really need to be there and I started walking. Seemed like none of them noticed. I ended up here; it was the first place I came across."

"Call her?"

Santana huffed a laugh. "I left my phone, keys, wallet … everything … in the trunk of the car."

"So you're stuck here until … someone finds you? You remember a phone number and borrow a phone?"

"Pretty much." Santana swiped at a renegade tear that slipped down her face.

Santana looked up into those ocean blue eyes she loved so much. "I'm so sorry, Britt," she whispered hoarsely.

"Baby," a soft smile graced those perfect lips, "I'm the one who's sorry. I should have listened and I definitely should have noticed when you left." She reached across the table and took one of Santana's hands. "You're freezing!" Brittany sighed. "Wait here." She got up and exited the diner, coming back a few moments later with a hoodie and Santana's purse. "Here."

Santana smiled gratefully as she pulled on the sweatshirt. She pulled her phone out of her purse; fifteen missed text messages, five missed calls. Most from Brittany but three texts and one call from her mother.

"I didn't realize you didn't have your phone," Brittany said sheepishly.

"How mad is my mother?" Santana gave a wry grin.

Brittany laughed. "She went from angry to worried to pissed to frantic. She's asleep at the inn right now."

"How'd you even find me?"

"I started last night and picked a direction, drove for about ten miles before turning around and trying another direction. Of course, you were in the last direction I checked. I sent your mom a text telling her I found you so she'll get it when she wakes up.

"So. What do you wanna do?"

"I wanna marry you … if you'll still have me."

Brittany smiled softly. "Of course I will, silly. I have an idea."

"Okay."

"Let's go get married. Right now. Today. You, me, a justice of the peace, and it's done. We can do the big wedding they want as a celebration of our marriage. But today? We have the wedding we want. Maybe not exactly but … honestly, I kind of felt over-whelmed and over-looked, too. You're right. They weren't listening."

Santana smiled, the first real smile since she'd walked out of that barn. "Really? You'd do that?"

"Santana, all I care about is being married. I really don't care HOW we get there. I just wanna be your wife and have you be mine. All this planning and back and forth about colors and who to invite and who not to invite and everything is pointless to me. A wedding isn't a marriage. Like, yeah, I wanna celebrate with all our friends and family but we wanted simple. They decided to turn a simple barn wedding into this 'affair'" Brittany rolled her eyes, "so … let's just go and get married. We get what we want; a simple ceremony tying us together and then, in a couple of weeks, they get the big to-do they want."

"Have I told you lately that I love you?"

Brittany smiled. "Tell me again."

A grin split Santana's face. "I love you, Brittany S. Pierce. Let's go get married."

Brittany stood up and offered Santana her hand. Santana dropped a twenty on the table, took Brittany's hand, and they left the diner.