"Santana, what's going on?" I hear Brittany ask worriedly from behind.
I don't reply, too focused on getting as far away as possible. I keep wracking my brain on what I should do. Do I call Mike and let him know I spotted Sebastian?
And why is Sebastian even here? And why is he with Blaine? Is Rory here too?
"Santana!" Kurt yells and yanks his hand out of my hold, stopping in his tracks. "Would you please tell us what the hell is wrong?"
"I can't really explain right now, Kurt, but please trust me," I practically beg. "We have to go."
"Go where?" He asks.
"Home? Anywhere except for here." I reach forward for his hand again. "And we're not splitting up, either. We'll go to your hotel room first so you can pack your things, and then we'll go to Britt and I's."
"So, you're not going to explain anything?" He shakes his head in disbelief as I start walking down the sidewalk again.
"Look, Kurt. All I can say is that the dude sitting with Blaine isn't a nice guy…I've had experience with him in the past, and I'm not going to explain how, but he's not someone you want to just see around."
It's quiet until we get to Kurt's hotel, which luckily isn't too far from ours. As we walk up to his room, I start looking up the quickest flights back to Lima.
"Okay, I'll be out in a minute." He says as he unlocks the door.
"Uh-uh, we're coming in with you." I shake my head and hold the door open for Brittany.
"Why? I'll only be a second." His eyebrows are knitted in confusion.
"Because I said so, okay? I said we're not splitting up…for any reason." My tone is firm, leaving no room for arguments.
"Fine." He raises his hands in surrender as he marches over to his suitcase. "You're paying me back for everything I've spent on this trip that I'm not gonna get to do now."
"Not a problem," I say distractedly.
He rolls his eyes and groans, clearly not getting the response he wanted from me.
"Santana?" Brittany whispers and pulls me near the bathroom, out of Kurt's earshot. "What's going on?"
I don't look up from my phone when I reply. "Sebastian's here."
I can feel her staring into my side profile. "And," She drawls out. "Who's that?"
"You don't know who Sebastian is?" I look up in surprise to see her shaking her head. "I thought Mike told you everything?"
"He did…I think? But he never mentioned a Sebastian."
"Did he mention a Rory?" She nods her head. "Okay, he's part of his crew. More like his right-hand man, actually."
Her eyes go wide and a worried look comes across her face. "What does he want?"
"I'm not sure," I shrug and focus my attention back on booking our plane tickets. "That's why we have to get home as soon as we can."
"Okay," She says shakily.
"Hey," I pause what I'm doing at hearing her tone. "It'll be alright. You know I'll do anything to protect you guys." She nods but still doesn't look convinced. "I promise."
"I'm not worried about us," She says quietly. "I'm worried about you."
"Why are you worried about me, Britt?" I ask, looking puzzled.
"Because…what if he's after you again? What if he's just using Blaine as leverage to get to you? What if he t-takes you again?"
"Britt," I turn my whole body to face her. "I'm not going to let that happen, okay? Believe me, I will do anything to keep everything and everybody safe…including me."
She nods and looks down. "Sorry, it's just…I-I just got you, and I can't lose you."
I tilt her chin up to meet my eyes, and my heart stops when I see unshed tears in them. "Honey." I pull her into a tight hug. "I wish there was something I could do to prove that we'll be okay. For right now, though, you'll just have to trust me when I say that I won't let anything happen."
She sniffles and nods into my neck, and I can feel her hot tears dampening my shirt.
"Hey, what's wrong, Britt?" Kurt comes up beside us with his suitcase in hand. He quickly lets go of it when he sees Brittany crying, though. He rushes over and rubs her back.
"Nothing, I'm good," She says as she stands up straight and wipes the tears from her eyes.
"You were crying, Britt. That usually doesn't mean that you're all good."
She looks at me for a second before turning to face Kurt. "I-I'm just sad I won't get to have breakfast with Rachel tomorrow, that's all." She stutters out.
"Way to go, Santana." He turns to look at me with a glare. "Now that's two vacations that you've ruined."
He grabs his suitcase handle and walks towards the door.
"You only had a day left here anyways, Kurt!" I counter back, even though I know it's not going to do any good.
"Yeah, one day that I'm now going to have to spend in Lima…for no good reason!" He throws his arms in the air.
"It's a good reason, alright," I mutter.
"A good reason that you can't tell anybody about?" He questions.
"Whatever." I shake my head. "Let's just get to the airport…we have a flight to catch."
/
I managed to get two seats together on the flight, with only one separated. Brittany and I took the two together, and Kurt sat in the isolated one.
I doubted there would be any danger on the flight back, but I kept my eye on him just in case.
I took the aisle seat, letting Brittany sit by the window this time. It was really late, and we'd had an eventful day, so I figured she'd be able to sleep better if she could rest her head on the window.
That, and the fact that no one could reach her without going through me, was a good enough reason to give up my own comfort.
After the plane took off and everyone seemed to quiet down, I pulled out my emergency card from The Shadow League. I didn't really know how to work it or if this situation was even considered an emergency, but I pressed the red button anyways.
Less than a minute later, Mike's groggy voice rang out over the speaker. "Hello?" He sounds like he was asleep.
"Mike?" I respond.
"Please tell me you didn't accidentally press the button, Santana. You know how hard it is for me to go back to sleep once I'm woken up."
"No, no…something came up." I put the device up to my ear like I'm talking on the phone. "I don't know if this counts as an emergency or not…but I saw Sebastian."
"Sebastian? Like Rory's Sebastian?" He asks, his voice not giving any inclination if anything's wrong or not.
"Yeah."
"Santana, we see him on the street all the time. It's nothing to worry about."
"Okay, but this was in New York. What was he doing there? And more importantly, Blaine was with him."
"Blaine? Our Blaine?"
"Yes! Are you having trouble remembering who people are or something?" I sigh exasperatedly.
"Well, it is one o'clock in the morning." He counters. "But that is a little strange…I don't know what he wants with him."
"Is that something you're worried about?"
"Honestly, no. We have tabs on Rory and the Warblers, so there's really nothing to worry about…unless they start messing with civilization again."
"And how do you know that's not what they're trying to do right now?"
"Because what's the point? You have to stop and think of motives, Santana. Rory and his guys have nothing to go after right now, so why would they start anything?" He sighs. "If anything pops up, I'll let you know, but I think everything's in the clear for now."
I shake my head, not believing what I'm hearing. "You're telling me that we spot a dangerous guy while we're out on vacation, with someone we know, and you're not going to do anything about it?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Trust me, Santana…we've got everything under control. We're monitoring everything daily…we'd know if he was up to something."
"Fine," I bite. "But fair warning, if anything happens to anyone, just know it's all your fault…you had the chance to stop it."
"Okay, Santana." He deadpans. "I'm gonna try to go back to sleep. Goodnight."
I hang up the phone, pissed at how nobody seems to be reacting to this. I can feel something isn't right…I just know it.
"You're really tense," Brittany mutters sleepily, her head resting on my shoulder.
"Yeah, I just spoke to Mike."
"What'd he say?"
"He said he's not going to do anything…that there's nothing to worry about." She lifts her head and looks at me. "He said they have everything monitored and under control."
"You don't believe him?" She asks with a yawn.
Her eyes are only half open, and she looks almost asleep. I doubt she'd even remember any of this conversation tomorrow.
"It's not that I don't believe him…I just don't think it's that easy. He thinks he has Rory right under his gaze, and I don't buy it. I think he can have stuff going on behind the scenes that Mike wouldn't have a chance to know about until it was too late."
"That makes sense." She nods. "But I think you should let the system handle this one, Santana. If he says they've got everything under control, then they probably do. I bet he has ways to do things behind the scenes, just like Rory."
I think over her words and realize she makes a good point…even if she's not entirely awake. I shake my head and laugh.
"What's funny?" Brittany smiles.
"You're just cute when you're half-asleep, is all." I grab her hand and hold it tight in mine.
She smiles shyly and looks down for a moment before leaning her head against my shoulder again.
"We still have an hour and a half left of the flight…you should try to nap, too," She says before kissing the underside of my jaw and relaxing against my side.
I kiss the top of her head and rest my head atop hers. "I'll try, Britt."
I already knew she fell back asleep, so I'm not surprised when the only response I get is even breathing.
/
I dropped Kurt off at his apartment after we landed, much to his appreciation. I would've rathered him stay with us, but it would be kind of suspicious if I held all of my friends in my apartment with no explanation why.
Plus, Mike said there was nothing to be worried about. And, as much as I don't believe him, listening would probably be the best thing for now.
Like hell I'm letting Brittany stay alone, though.
She usually stays over at my place, or vice versa, most of the time anyway, so it wouldn't be that big of a change.
"I'm sorry I cut our vacation short," I say on the ride back to my apartment. It was close to four in the morning, so I got a cab instead of calling Tina to come get us.
"It's okay…you did what you had to do." She pats my knee. "You did what you thought was best for us, so there's no need to apologize for it."
"But you missed breakfast with Rachel tomorrow. I know you miss her and don't get to see her much."
"I'll see her again," She shrugs. "It's not like we're on different planets or anything. Plus, the breakfast was just an added perk to the trip…I really only planned to see her opening night."
'That's true," I mutter.
"Please don't beat yourself up about it." She takes my hand in hers. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"Okay," I relent. She smiles and kisses me on the cheek. "I'm kind of sad we had to end the vacation so soon, though."
"Hey, who said the vacation had to be over?" I look at her with my eyes slightly narrowed in confusion. "We both still have the rest of the week off…we can still spend it together." She shrugs. "We'll be in a different place, but that doesn't really matter to me."
"What about alone time, though? Now that we're home, we'll be reunited with everyone again and won't get much privacy at my place."
"So we'll go to mine," She simply states. "I don't have a roommate, so we'll have the whole place to ourselves…just like a hotel room."
A wide smile takes over my features as I think over what she's saying. It sounds like a good idea. We wouldn't be separated, and we won't have any interruptions either. It'll be just us.
"Okay," I nod excitedly. "I'll still have to call Tina in the morning and tell her that we're back, but yeah…let's go to your place."
"Yay!" She wraps me in a hug before telling the cab driver the address change.
/
I wake up and slowly blink my eyes open, looking around at the still somewhat unfamiliar room. I can't help but notice how it's almost the complete opposite of mine.
The walls are a light shade of purple, like lavender, and different posters and pictures are placed on the wall. My room has gray walls and barely any decorations on the wall.
Weird, I guess opposites do attract.
I stretch out my arms and roll over, expecting to make contact with Brittany, but instead, I'm met with the brutal glow of the sun in my eyes. I shut my eyes tightly with a groan and sit up.
I look down at the bedsheets and notice the space beside me is empty. I place my hand down and feel the cool material of the sheets under my fingertips. It seems like Brittany's been up for a while.
I rub the sleep out of my eyes and get out of bed. I go into the bathroom to brush my teeth, not wanting to have morning breath when I run into Brittany eventually.
After I finish up, I walk out into the hallway and am immediately met with the smell of coffee and bacon. I didn't even know that I was hungry, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel my mouth salivate at the scent.
When I walk into the kitchen, Brittany has her back to me as she flips pancakes on the stove. I approach her quietly and wrap my arms around her waist when I reach her. I lean up on my tiptoes and rest my chin on her shoulder.
"Something smells good," I say as I press a kiss to the exposed skin on her shoulder.
"Thanks…it's just pancakes." She says as she sets the spatula down and turns in my arms. She leans down to capture my lips in hers. "Good morning." She smiles when she pulls away.
"It is now," I say, smitten. "How long have you been up?" I run my hands up and down her arms.
"Mm, maybe an hour? I'm not really sure."
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I was letting you sleep in…plus, I figured I could wake you up with breakfast." She shrugs.
"Thank you." I give her a peck on the lips. "But you didn't have to do all this for me." I gesture to the food holding warm on the stove.
"I wanted to…I like cooking, even if it might not turn out good all the time, and I like making you happy. It was a win-win. Plus, I was up anyways."
"Well, I appreciate it." I pull out of the embrace and go to grab plates out of the cabinet. However, I stop in my tracks when I realize I don't know where anything is. "Where do you keep your plates?" I ask with a shy smile.
She chuckles and opens the door that holds all the plates and bowls. "Mugs and cups are in here," She says as she opens up another cabinet door. "And silverware is in here." She pulls open a drawer.
"Got it," I say with a nod as I reach up to grab two plates.
I get out two mugs and fill them with coffee before setting them down on the table next to the plates and forks I laid out.
Just as I set the second cup down, Brittany enters the room with two plates in her hand. One was filled with a stack of pancakes, the other holding scrambled eggs and bacon.
"Now, how did you know that pancakes are my favorite breakfast food?" I tease as we sit down.
"Took a wild guess," She smirks.
"What do you want to do today?" I ask as we begin eating.
"I hadn't thought about that too much, actually. I did see there was a small festival-type thing in town for a couple days this week if you wanted to go?"
"Yeah, sounds fun. What type of festival is it?"
"I think it's just local vendors and stuff trying to sell their products. They have all these tents and stations set up all downtown." She takes a sip of her coffee. "There's probably not much to do there, so we could go check it out and come back here if you wanted."
"I'm down with whatever, Britt. You decide." I smile and stab a pancake with my fork. "This is really good, by the way."
"Thanks, it's my mom's old recipe. She taught me how to make it when I was like 5." She chuckles.
"She must be a good cook, then."
"She is," She says with a nod. "She's taught me simple things like this, but I wish I had her skill level with the more complicated stuff."
"You like to cook?" She nods. "I know a few recipes my mom taught me growing up…maybe I can teach them to you."
Her face breaks into a wide grin. "Really?" She asks, excited.
"Really," I nod.
"Yay!" She claps. "Maybe we can make one of them for dinner tonight?"
"Sure, Britt," I say with a smile. "Did you want to go to that festival thing today?"
"Sure, why not?" She shrugs. "We might find something cool there."
"Alrighty, we can head out after we finish eating?" I ask.
"Sounds like a plan," She nods.
/
"Santana, look at these!" I hear Brittany exclaim from another booth.
She's bouncing from booth to booth so quickly that I'm having trouble keeping up. She seems like she's having the time of her life, though, so it's worth it.
"It's a tiny bowtie for your cat!" She holds up the small blue and red polka-dotted bowtie for me to see.
"That's really cute, Britt." I laugh.
"Do you think I should get one?" She looks back at the table, viewing all the other patterns and designs available.
"Uh, Britt? You don't have a cat."
"Yes, I do," She says without looking up.
Wow, am I that ignorant? Did she have a cat at her apartment and I just didn't notice?
"Oh…I, uh, I just haven't seen one…sorry," I put my hands in my pocket, feeling a little ashamed that I hadn't noticed.
"He's not at my apartment, silly." She turns to look at me. "He's been staying with my parents until I'm fully situated in my new place."
"Oh," I say with a breath of relief. "What's his name?"
"Lord Tubbington."
"Interesting," I let out a small laugh. "What made you come up with that name?"
"Honestly, I don't remember. My parents got him for me after I had my tonsils taken out and I named him when I was still loopy on the medicine."
"Makes sense," I nod, my smile never dampening.
"Ooo, look at this one! It has smiling ice cream cones!" She picks it up to look at it fully.
"Hello, ladies." I roll my eyes at hearing the irritating voice.
I slowly turn around to find the equally-irritating owner of the voice standing with a coffee in hand.
"Blaine," I grit.
"What a surprise to see you here!" He exclaims with a smile.
Man, how I'd love to smack it right off his face.
"Not really…it's open to the public, so anyone could be here, right?" I cross my arms.
I feel Brittany by my side a moment later, placing a gentle hand on my lower back.
"Hey, Blaine!" She chirps. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I didn't have anything to do, so I came to my favorite coffee place and saw this going on." He gestures to our surroundings. "So I figured I'd stop by and see if they have any bath bombs…Kurt's running low."
"Oh, how kind of you," I deadpan.
"Yeah, I'm sure Kurt'll really appreciate it," He brags. "I've gotten a promotion at work, so I have more time and money to spend on him."
"That's really nice, Blaine," Brittany says with a smile.
When he mentioned his promotion, I couldn't help but think back to that night in New York.
"Speaking of…I heard you had a big job interview. How'd that go?"
"Wonderful, actually! Thank you for asking, Santana…it's nice when others notice my success."
"Mm, I bet…" I narrow my eyes. "You get the job? I hear Sebastian's hard to impress."
Weirdly enough, he didn't look at all taken aback when I brought up Sebastian. Either it went right over his head…or he knows that we know each other.
"Yes, well, he was very impressed with my resume and work ethic." He nods. "He said I would make a great addition to the company."
"And what company is that, exactly?" I take a step forward. "I mean, I doubt such a high-profile job opportunity was found on Indeed, right?"
He visibly gulps and shifts on his feet. "Sebastian works for a company specializing in community work," He says quickly. "And-"
"So what exactly are you and Sebastian then?" I interrupt. "Did you really get the job because you were qualified…or is he another one of your sneaky links?"
"Sebastian is just a…a business partner." He nods. "I'll leave it at that."
"But why? This is such a big opportunity, right?" I take another step forward. "Why don't you want to share it with your friends?"
"I-I can't say too much about it; otherwise, it has the possibility of falling through." He takes a step back. "Well, it was nice catching up with you ladies, but I need to find the bath bombs before they sell out."
"Bye, Blaine," Brittany says quietly with a small wave as he starts walking down the path.
I take a deep breath and shake out my limbs, trying to rid my body of the frustration that just built up.
"Did you buy the bowtie?" I ask with the best smile I can manage as I turn to face Brittany again.
"Yeah," She holds up the small paper bag. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Britt," I sigh. "I just have this gut feeling that something isn't right with this."
"With the market?" She furrows her brows.
"No…with this whole Blaine and Sebastian thing. There's something fishy going on…I know it."
"Well, didn't Mike say he was monitoring it?" She takes a step closer.
"Yeah, I don't know what it is. Something just feels…off." I shake my head. "Anyway, I don't want to ruin our day…again…so why don't we head to the store and get stuff for dinner?"
"Okay," She nods, still looking concerned.
"Great," I say, taking her hand and leading us back to her car.
/
"Okay, so you just pour this chicken stock into the pot once the water and flour become thick," I instruct as I finish cutting up the celery.
"The whole thing?" Brittany asks as she continues to whisk the mixture in the pot.
"The whole thing," I repeat.
It's quiet for a moment until I hear the liquid start splashing in the pot. "What now?" She asks.
"Now, put in about half a cup of that heavy cream."
I set the knife down and walk the cutting board over to the pan holding chicken and carrots. Slowly, I start to put the celery in the pan, letting them cook for a second.
"Done," I hear her say as she sets the pint back on the counter.
"This is almost ready," I say as I continue to mix the ingredients in the pan. "Wanna grab the pie shell?" I point over to the pie shell we laid in the baking dish earlier, and she nods her head in agreement. "Okay, now you pour the chicken and vegetables in first," I say as I lift the pan up to pour them onto the dough.
"And then pour the liquid on top?"
"Exactly," I smile.
She walks over to the stove, grabs the pot, and slowly pours the contents into the pie shell.
"Good," I reach over to grab the remaining piece of dough on the counter. "Now we just place this on top, cut four little slits in it, and let it bake."
"Can I crimp the sides?" She gives me her best puppy dog pout.
"Of course, Britt." I laugh. "You can do it with your hands if you want, but I use a fork most of the time."
"That's smart…I've never thought to use a fork before." She walks over to the drawer and grabs one.
Five minutes later, I place the pie in the oven and set the timer.
"Alright…in about 30 minutes, we'll have homemade chicken pot pie." I smile.
"Yay! Thank you for teaching me how to make it," She pulls me into a hug.
"It's fun, isn't it? Especially getting to put the dough on at the end."
"Definitely." She places a quick kiss on my lips. "Now I'll have to teach you one of the recipes my mom taught me growing up."
"Looking forward to it," I smile. "I'll do these dishes really quick before we eat; that way, there's not much to do afterward."
"Okay…you want me to dry and put away?"
"If you want to," I shrug. "You could go take your shower or something instead if you wanted…I think I can handle doing a few dishes." I tease.
"Yeah, but you shouldn't have to do them all alone. We did this together, right?" She asks as she grabs a dish towel from the cabinet.
"Right." I smile.
/
Turns out, leaving New York early might not have been the worst idea. Brittany and I've just been spending all our time together, enjoying each other's company.
There may be an alternative motive behind my actions, but it's only because I want to keep her safe. I still haven't figured out what exactly is going on with this whole Sebastian debacle, and I'm not letting her out of my sight until I figure it out.
Part of me thinks she might be catching on, but she hasn't said anything or confronted me about it, so everything's a-okay as far as I'm concerned.
We haven't really left the apartment much. We've been out a couple of times to grab something from the store or just to go on a walk, but we stay cuddled up inside for the most part.
"Santana!" I hear Brittany call from the living room. I exit the bedroom, where I was getting dressed after my shower, to see what she needs.
"Yeah, Britt?" I ask, wringing my hair out with a towel.
"I can't get the DVD player to work again…it's not doing anything when I use the remote," She pouts.
I shake my head with a laugh. "Britt, it's your DVD player…how do you not know how to work it?"
"Well, it's not like I bought it. My dad gave it to me when I moved away, and I don't use it much."
I lean down so I'm at eye level with the box and hold the power button to turn it on.
"Can I see the remote?" I hold my hand out and Brittany places it down gently.
I point the remote at the DVD player, but nothing seems to be happening. It's definitely something with the remote, since the machine started up when I manually held down the power button.
"I think the batteries in the remote might be dead. When's the last time you've changed them?" I stand up.
"Um…never?" She winces.
"That explains it, then." I laugh and open the back of the remote up. I pull the batteries out of their slots and walk them over to the trash can. "Do you have any batteries?"
"No," She shakes her head. "I didn't know I'd need them for anything. I can run out and get some really quick, though." She points her thumb at the door.
"Yeah, just let me dry my hair and we can go." I start walking back towards the hall.
"Or you can dry your hair while I go get the batteries…kill one bird with two stones, or whatever the saying is."
"No, I can go with you…I'll just be a minute, okay?"
"Okay," She sighs and plops on the couch.
I kind of feel bad for hovering over her constantly, but when I think about the potential of what could happen if I didn't, I get over it pretty quickly.
"It's just until we figure out what Sebastian wants," I say a few moments later as I walk out of the bathroom.
"I know," She gives me a small smile. "There's a convenience store down the block that should have the batteries, so we can go there."
"Alrighty, let's go then."
/
"I totally thought this movie was gonna suck, but it actually wasn't bad." I say as I sit up from my position on the couch.
"See? If you just give things a chance, sometimes they aren't as bad as they seem," Brittany says as she leans forward to grab the now-empty popcorn bowl.
"Okay, but you have to admit, Legally Blonde isn't really in my preferred movie genre."
"Oh definitely not…I mean, if it's not a rom-com, chances are you're not gonna like it, right?" She teases.
"You know what? I'm not even going to give you the satisfaction of arguing," I say firmly as I stand up, earning a giggle from Brittany.
"So I win then?"
"It's a forfeit, so it doesn't really count," I counter.
"Does too!"
"Whatever," I roll my eyes with a smile. "You up for another movie or do you want to go to bed?"
"Mm, I don't know. What do you want to do?" She asks as she moves to stand beside me.
"Honestly?" I sigh. "I don't care what we do, as long as I get to cuddle with you."
She lets out a hearty laugh and walks towards the kitchen. "And you want people to think you're a badass?"
"I am!" I follow behind her. "But every badass has their soft spots," I shrug. "And mine just happens to be you." I boop her nose on the last word, causing a wide grin to come across her face.
"And apparently you're a kissass too." She raises her eyebrows.
"And I'm not ashamed."
"You're cute." She giggles and moves a strand of hair behind my ear. "We can put on another movie, and cuddle, until we fall asleep. That sound okay?"
"Sounds perfect," I say as I lean up on my tiptoes to place a quick kiss on her lips. "I'll go put the movie on, since someone can't seem to ever figure out the DVD player." I laugh.
"Hey! It has a lot of buttons, okay?" She calls from behind me as I walk out of the kitchen.
/
Thirty minutes later, we're cuddled up on the couch, much to my delight, and watching Dear, John.
"I have a feeling this is gonna get really depressing, really quickly." Brittany says quietly.
"Oh, it will." I assure. "But that's part of why it's so good."
"Well, if I start crying, I'm gonna have to use your hair as a tissue. My range of motion is kinda limited right now," She says as she sticks her arm out and tries to reach for the coffee table.
"You're the one that offered to be the pillow," I counter. "And I'm not switching now."
"Well, I didn't know you were putting on a sad movie," She laughs. "Otherwise I would've made you be the pillow."
"Too late," I smirk. "And if you think I'm not going to be lying on your chest all night, you're sadly mistaken."
"What if I'm uncomfortable?"
"Are you uncomfortable?" I ask, slightly lifting my head up to look at her.
"Well, no…but-"
"No buts then," I grin. "If you get uncomfy, of course I'll move, but right now I'm staying put." I rest my chin on her chest, looking up at her with a cocky expression.
She reaches up to brush my hair behind my ear and I lean into her touch, resting my head in her hands. She smiles and opens her mouth to say something, but shuts it just as quickly.
"What?" I ask with a smile. "You looked like you wanted to say something."
She shakes her head with a small smile on her face. "Another time."
"What do you mean?" I squint my eyes in confusion.
"I'll save it for another time." She continues to stare at my face for a few moments, looking at me with that familiar glint in her eyes.
Suddenly, I think I know what she wants to say. It's something that I've been feeling too, but after what happened with Eliana, I didn't know whether it was ever genuine or not.
But with Brittany, I think it is. I'd do anything to keep her safe…keep her happy. And I've felt that way since I first laid eyes on her.
I know that, in a heartbeat, I'd lay my life on the line to save hers. I'd go through hell and back to make sure she's okay…and not just physically, but emotionally and mentally, too. Hell, I booked a whole trip to New York just because she mentioned being upset about missing Rachel's performance.
She's the most understanding, compassionate, caring person I know. She's been the only person who seems like they really get me on a deeper level. She's been the only person who I know, for a fact, loves me as much as I love her.
I can see it in her eyes whenever we make eye contact. I can feel it in her touch when we hold hands. I can feel it in her kiss when our lips connect. I can feel it in every part of her…that's how I know this is true love.
What I have with Brittany is true love, real love…and it's the most amazing thing I've ever felt in my life.
Looking into the blue eyes I know so well, I gather up the confidence to finally say what I've been feeling for so long.
"I love you."
Her breath hitches and she opens and closes her mouth, seemingly in shock, but a beaming smile takes over her face.
"What'd you say?" She asks.
"I love you," I shrug like it's the simplest thing ever.
The next thing I know, she lets out a squeal and wraps her arms tightly around my body, pulling me into a bone-crushing hug. I can't really wrap my arms around her to return the embrace due to our current position, but I snuggle into the crook of her neck and take a deep breath.
After a moment, she cups my cheeks and passionately kisses me. I can feel the tear tracks on her cheeks, but I know they're from joy.
After she pulls away, she just stares at my facial features with a bright smile. "I was hoping you'd say that," She mutters.
"Well, if I remember correctly, usually when someone tells you they love you, they're supposed to be told something in return," I smirk.
She lets out a laugh. "I love you," She says, the joy in her voice evident. "I really love you, Santana."
"I really love you too, Britt," I reply as I lean in to kiss her.
The kiss isn't as frantic and excited this time, but more slow and caring. All the passion and love is still there, though.
When we break apart after several minutes, I glance over to the TV and let out a playful whine. "Awww, you missed the most important part of the movie!" I pout.
"I'm sorry," She soothes. "Do you want to back it up?"
"No, it's okay. I got better things to do anyways," I say as I reach forward to grab the remote and turn off the TV. I place the control on the ground beside the couch and move forward to capture Brittany's lips in mine again.