Summary: Brittany isn't your typical fairytale princess but then again Santana is more of a beast than a Prince Charming. What would happen if New Directions tried to bring these two unconventional lovebirds together? Set sometime after 2x20 Prom Queen
A.k.a. The crack episode of Glee where New Directions have a Disney week and Santana pretends to hate it, accidentally hits her head in Cheerios practice and has no memory of who Brittany is so the Glee Club convince themselves that true love's kiss will snap her out of it.
A/N: This story started as a little crack-tastic idea about what it would be like if Glee had a Disney episode. I really wish they had one! This is a mostly canon compliant-ish story set sometime after Prom Queen but before New York, so a sort of fill in the blanks fic for that time period.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or anything associated with Disney. This story is for entertainment only.
"Once upon a time, in a far away land in Ohio, a young girl lived in her luxurious mansion - the most heavily guarded home in the dangerous little part of town known as Lima Heights Adjacent. Although she had everything her heart could desire - expensive shoes, a boob job at sixteen, access to her rich daddy's credit card - the girl was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. Rumour has it that when the girl was born, she even told the nurse she was fat.
The truth was that this girl's parents were too busy to pay any attention to her and her Abuela was always insulting her. So she grew up to be angry and she lashed out at everyone because she was insecure. What made things even worse for her was that Santana had a big secret - she was deeply in love with someone she thought she shouldn't be and that just made her even angrier at the world. The truth was, Santana Lopez was a monstrous beast. Or so everyone thought. Everyone except that special girl Santana loved so much. Who knows, maybe there was another side to this seemingly vicious girl. I personally think she's mangy, feral, and-"
"Whatcha writing there, Lord Tubbington?" Brittany cooed softly, bouncing onto the bed, looking over his shoulder and interrupting her cat's train of thought as he quickly exited out of the document he was writing that was titled "The Bimbo and The Beast" and closed the laptop with his paws. Lord Tubbington groaned mentally in his deep, gruff, Danny Devito-esque voice, raspy because of all the cigars he smoked as Brittany beamed at him, kicking her legs back and forth as she lay on her stomach, watching him. He rolled his eyes skyward and reminded himself to finish writing his movie script based on Santana Lopez - the pesky friend of Brittany, who was the cat's ultimate arch nemesis and yet his creative muse - later.
Lord Tubbington was concerned that perhaps he had spent too much time re-watching Disney films with his girl, Brittany and it was influencing his writing style. For now, he would entertain the bubbly blonde, who was his coworker and roommate.
The Lord suspected that Santana was slowly attempting to kill his precious little girl Brittany, as he had heard frightening moans and mewls coming from Brittany's bedroom late at night whenever the wild, bad-mannered girl was staying over, though the rude hussy always made a point of pushing him out of Brittany's bedroom before whatever happened between the two occurred. Lord Tubbington just hoped she wouldn't be bringing home any kittens she had with that feral wildcat Santana for him to take care of. They'd probably be big crybabies just like their wildcat mother and Lord Tubbington wasn't about that life.
Predictably, his airheaded Brittany didn't realize what Lord Tubbington was doing on the laptop and fawned over his majestic handsomeness instead. As she should, he thought. He was such a chick magnet. Lord Tubbington would allow her to cuddle him and yes, her head scratches did make him purr. He would reluctantly admit that he had grown attached to this girl over the years. Lord Tubbington was getting sleepy, so he soon curled up against Brittany's side and slipped into a pleasant dreamworld, in which he had all the filets o' fish he could ever want.
Santana Lopez was not having a good day. In fact, in the history of no good, terrible, very bad days, there had never been a day this bad. It was even worse than the day just before Valentine's Day when Santana had been bodily slammed into lockers by the massive wrestler rhino bitch and had to endure the agony of watching Brittany being all over the four-eyed loser bitch boy.
It all started as soon as she woke up. Well more accurately, even before she woke up. Even her dreams were out to get her.
Santana was having dreams about women who all seemed to be leggy, blue-eyed, blondes who looked mysteriously similar to Brittany in Cheerios uniforms that were somehow skimpier and sluttier than normal. Come to think of it, they were all Brittany. It was as if the gorgeous blonde had been cloned. What could be better?
They kept beckoning for her to come closer, now posing seductively in powder blue lingerie.
"You're so sexy, Santana…" One of them whispered in a sultry voice, cat-like eyes oozing seduction. Santana's eyes darted from her lips to her chest then to her legs, not sure which part of her was the safest for her to look at. "We want you so much… we need you… you're so hot when your bitch face is on..."
Santana swallowed hard, conscious of the persistent throbbing pressure between her legs now and wondering if Brittany could tell she was so hot and bothered. One Brittany was already overwhelming enough as it was and now there were three? Oh, I'm in trouble, she thought to herself lustfully.
The dream version of Santana could hardly believe her luck as the setting of the dream changed to the three Brittanys in a steamy shower, now completely naked and still calling out to her to join them. Of course, who was she to refuse? Yet as soon as she got into the shower with them and reached for the pair of buoyant breasts in front of her the scene changed again.
This time, Artie Abrams was smirking at Santana as Brittany wheeled him down a McKinley High hallway by the lockers but she was decked out in a full, hideous looking wedding dress and Artie was wearing a ridiculously over-the-top looking tuxedo. He was in a giant baby stroller instead of his wheelchair.
Dream Santana wanted to scream in horror and ran towards them in a panic. "What are you doing?!"
"Didn't you hear?" Artie asked, with that same annoyingly arrogant smirk, "We're married now! Say hello to my beautiful bride!"
"And we've got a bun in the oven!" Brittany squealed, twirling happily around Artie in her white dress and now Santana saw that she was extremely pregnant. She was beautiful when pregnant, just like Santana always knew she would be. "I'm twelve months along. The baby's due in two weeks!"
"What?!" Santana felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. She had never heard anything more horrifying than someone else being with Brittany that way and she fought back tears, thinking about it all. It was all her fault she had lost Brittany. "Wait twelve months? Britt… are you sure? This can't be happening! No - no this is so wrong! I'm supposed to be the one who you-"
The doughy-faced, curly-haired Warbler gay with the triangular eyebrows suddenly appeared before them in his preppy uniform, grinning broadly and Santana resisted the urge to punch him on sight; he always had that effect on her.
"Guess love didn't come at all for you, Missy! That's too bad!" He taunted.
"What the fuck?!" Santana cried out in fury, clenching her fists threateningly as he dashed away with a high-pitched shriek.
"Bye, Bitch!" Artie yelled at her from a distance and Brittany giggled beside him, skipping along and waving at Santana as if she hadn't a care in the world.
"Brittany?! Come back!" She shouted in desperation, only to be ignored by the two of them.
Oh God...no no no…Dream!Santana turned and ran away, falling to her knees. No this was too horrible...make it stop…make it stop...
Santana woke up, gasping, a cold sweat covering her entire body. She trembled, feeling her heart race as she remembered her dream. Thank God it was only a nightmare. It's not real, it's not real, she told herself.
Then she realized she was wet. As in, lying in an entire pool of water instead of the usual kind of wet she was when she had Brittany-centric dreams.
"Oh fuck!" Santana sat up, realizing that the waterbed Brittany had given her as a birthday gift had sprung a leak. Then she looked at the digital clock on her nightstand. "10:30?! I overslept by three fucking hours?!"
Then she realized why. It was because the alarm on her phone hadn't gone off. Ugh. Santana wanted to scream. She hurriedly stepped through puddles on the carpet, making a mental note to deal with the mess when she got home. Her mom was gonna kill her. She rushed through a shower and quickly threw on whatever clothes she could find, knowing that her hair and makeup looked a mess but it would have to work. She decided that breakfast was out of the question because she was already extremely late.
"Of course, no one could be bothered to wake me up!" Santana scowled, punching the wall as she yelled into the deserted house. It was clear that her parents had left hours ago without bothering to say anything to her. At least there was one person she could count on to wake her up. She checked her phone again and noticed that Brittany had sent her fifteen texts asking where she was but she hadn't heard the notifications. She had even called her five times.
"Fuck my life!" Santana groaned. She nearly tripped over her feet putting on her shoes as she remembered that she had Cheerios practice in a few hours. So now she was gonna have to rush to change into her Cheerios uniform.
"Hey Santana, are you okay? You look a little… not yourself?"
Santana looked up, hearing a soft, familiar female voice and groaned. "Watch it, Goth!"
She ignored her question rudely and practically shoved Tina out of the way as she pushed her way through the corridor, rushing towards the choir room. The shorter girl, who was wearing a dress that looked like something out of a Dracula movie from the 80s, simply shook her head, frowning at Santana but knowing better than to comment further and incur the wrath of the school's ultimate mean girl. Mercedes and Rachel watched warily, with narrowed eyes beside Tina, grabbing the girl's arms to support her so that she didn't slam back into the wall from the force of Santana's shove.
Santana just ignored their judgmental stares, taking her usual seat at the back of the class. Who cared what those losers thought of her? She really hoped Glee Club would go by quickly that day as she wasn't in the mood for all the happy singing and dancing. She probably should have just skipped.
Mr. Schue practically ran up to face the class when he got there, his excitement radiating off of him with that cheesy smile he always had when he was about to announce something big. Santana just prayed that they weren't doing another Journey cover.
"Guess what, Guys? I have a big surprise for you! By popular demand we're having the first ever Glee Disney Week!"
Oh great! Just what I need! Santana scowled and cursed under her breath. Tina, Kurt and Rachel all cheered loudly. Mercedes looked up in interest. The boys with the exception of Kurt all groaned in annoyance or maintained a stoic expression. Beside Santana, Quinn pursed her lips at this childish theme and crossed her arms.
"That's right! All week long we'll be covering the most beautiful love ballads, sinister villain songs and inspirational heroic anthems from all of your childhood classics!"
"I for one, think this is the stupidest thing ever," Santana spoke up, all eyes turning to her as she continued in her most bitchy, disapproving tone. "These songs are for six year olds and I for one don't believe in lame fairytales where some pathetic prince and princess fall in love and live happily ever after. As if that would ever happen."
As she said the last part, her gaze automatically and involuntarily drifted over to Brittany, who was sitting a few seats away from her. She caught the blonde's gaze and quickly turned away, flustered. It was embarrassing how Brittany was the ideal princess she imagined in all of her secret fantasies. Whatever, no one needed to know that ever.
There was an uproar of grumbling and outrage among most of the girls in the class as Santana said this and Kurt sent her a nasty look, shaking his head. Even some of the guys groaned at Santana's rant.
"Well, Santana, I'm sorry but it seems you've been outvoted," Mr. Schue said evenly, frowning at the Latina who was frequently rebellious and moody, like he expected his future teenaged daughter one day might be. He shuddered at the thought. He didn't pay much attention to her outburst as it was expected of Santana and instead began passing out the printed out lyrics to the songs to each student. "Who's ready to pick a partner and get started?"
Santana had no idea who she would even choose as a partner. There was no one she would even want to work with… well, no one except one girl who would probably be unavailable. Her mood darkened and a scowl came to her lips at the thought of Brittany pairing up to sing love songs with a certain bespectacled nerd or some other boy. There was no way Santana would be able to even stomach watching that.
She was surprised when Brittany moved closer to sit beside her after the rest of the room had all divided up into different teams. While they had remained friends, she wasn't expecting the blonde to be so open to them partnering up again especially after Santana had recently blown her Fondue For Two prom proposal off with just a text. Maybe some part of her didn't think she even deserved Brittany to be friendly to her after that incident. Her stomach churned with guilt.
"I thought you liked Disney movies," Brittany whispered so softly that only she would be able to hear her. "Remember we used to watch them all the time when we were little? You loved The Little Mermaid and The Lion King. You really, really liked Ariel and Aurora too… Come to think of it, you never liked any of the princes."
Santana flushed, sinking into her chair and crossing her arms defensively. Maybe Ariel's quirky personality reminded her just a little of a certain girl.
"Yeah, well that was a really long time ago." She muttered glumly, avoiding laser eyes of blue that always seemed to see right through her.
The dark-haired girl noticed Artie glancing over at the two of them again, evidently still sore about the blonde breaking up with him. Santana stared back at him challengingly, her fists clenched at her sides as the scene from her nightmare played out repeatedly in her thoughts, making her feel insecure around the girl beside her. She popped her neck and gave Artie a death glare until he finally gave up and looked away nervously. If ole Four Eyes thought he was gonna be getting a shotgun wedding with Brittany, far less a teen pregnancy, he had another thing coming.
Santana was so distracted by her anger about Artie and everything else that she was withdrawn for the rest of the class, barely saying more than a few words to Brittany even when the blonde tried to suggest a few songs they could try out. Finally Brittany sighed, giving up, glancing over her shoulder sadly at Santana as the bell rang and walked off to Cheerios practice, as if realizing that she wasn't going to get anything more out of the girl.
Santana, frustrated with herself now even more for making Brittany feel bad, was ready to throw hands with the next person who pissed her off. That person happened to be Tina Cohen-Chang, flanked by Lauren Zizes, who was for some reason also dressed like she just walked out of a horror movie and a group of plain girls Santana didn't recognize, wearing all black.
Santana raised an eyebrow.
"What do you weirdo bitches think you're doing? Get out of my way a-fores I ends you all."
"Funny, I remember you saying something like that before I nearly broke your bones last time," Zizes chuckled darkly. "You wanna have another go at me, Lima Heights?"
Santana gulped, shivering slightly but maintained her composure and decided to ignore that challenge.
"Why are you dressed like a goth too now? Just when I thought Asian Number Two over here was enough of an eyesore," Santana spat. "Is this the weekly meet up for fat, unpopular witches with no lives?"
Zizes took off her glasses slowly, looking like she was about to lunge at Santana but Tina stepped in before she could.
"Why are you always so mean to everyone, Santana?" Tina asked, her eyes hardening. Her voice was firm and louder instead of her usual cheerful, soft tone. "It's like Finn said, you always have something horrible to say to everyone. You had to ruin Disney week for everyone today because you can't let anyone else enjoy anything. I guess it's because deep down, you're just miserable so you want everyone else to be unhappy and lonely like you are. You're just a selfish bitch."
"Oh yeah? Why don't you just shut the fuck up, Morticia?" Santana sneered, trying to act disaffected even though Tina's words stung her deeply. "You don't know the first thing about me."
She shoved Tina hard, causing her to accidentally knock over the heated pot of... whatever it was they were brewing all over the girls before she left, causing them all to shriek in disgust.
"You'll regret being such an asshole all the time, Lopez." Lauren warned her. "Mark my words."
"Why, you'll put a curse on me?!" Santana laughed over her shoulder, not bothering to stop. Lauren's words had caused a shiver to run up her spine but she wasn't about to let them see that.
"You'll just see what happens," Lauren told her, "There are powerful forces at work here and karma is an even bigger bitch than you are."
Santana laughed loudly and mockingly, flipping off the girls as she exited. They were ridiculous. As if she would believe that garbage. There was no such thing as fairytale endings and there sure as hell was no such thing as curses either.
Or maybe, curses did exist.
As if things could get no worse, Santana was now barely holding on at the top of the pyramid as Sue screamed at the sloppy freshmen who were struggling to stay in position at the base. Santana squinted, her leg muscles straining as she tried to keep balance. She noticed a familiar, bright blonde head in the distance, momentarily brightening at the thought of Brittany but what she saw made her jaw actually drop as she scrunched up her face.
Brittany was supposed to be running laps on the other side of the field as a punishment from Sue along with some of the other girls who had shown up late but instead Santana spied her slowing down to talk to a certain figure in a wheelchair wearing glasses on the other side of the fence. The events of her nightmare played out again in her mind.
"Oh fuck no!" She hissed, a little louder than she intended.
The audacity! Why the hell was Artie all over Brittany after they had broken up? Had the little wheelchair nerd decided he wanted to win her over again? Did he plan to get her pregnant?
Santana bristled, clenching her fists and the girl who was directly beneath her grunted as she jabbed her in the back with her knee by accident in her fury.
"Ouch!" The girl cried out.
"Hey! Brittany!" Santana yelled without thinking with her hands cupped over her mouth, trying her best to get the girl's attention. The blonde girl didn't seem to have heard her.
Coach Sylvester looked at her like she was crazy. No one except for Sue was allowed to yell in her practices.
"What the hell are you shouting about up there, Sandbags? Hold your horses!"
Santana paid no attention to her, completely distracted by Brittany smiling and giggling at something Artie was saying.
"Hey!" She shouted again without thinking and gritted her teeth as the blonde continued to ignore her. A second ago it felt like Brittany was crying in her arms about how Artie called her stupid and now she was flirting with him? Santana didn't even care who heard her, lost in rage and hurt as the words tumbled out before she could stop them. "Why is she looking at him like that for?"
It happened all at once, in a catastrophic sequence of events. Brittany turned to finally look at Santana, Artie grabbed Brittany's hand, then Santana seeing this felt her temper flare and shouted at him threateningly, curses flying from her lips. She heard the garbled sounds of Sue yelling at the one freshman again for not having proper form and then before Santana knew it she was tumbling to the ground, falling straight back with nothing to cushion her fall.
Unbeknownst to Santana, Tina and Zizes were sitting alone on the bleachers watching this all happen and gasped, horrified as the Cheerios began to crowd around Santana screaming while Sue ordered someone to call 911.
The two girls covered their mouths and felt the blood drain from their faces, sickened. They began to panic.
"Oh my God!" Tina gasped. "The curse really did work! It's all our fault!"
Zizes, who was usually unfazed by anything, was suddenly pale-faced and terrified as she turned to Tina.
"I really didn't think anything would happen!"
"I didn't think anything would happen either!"
"So what do we do now?"
"We can't let anyone know it's our fault. We have to find a way to reverse it!"
"Oh I feel so terrible!" Tina started to sob, big tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm an awful person! She just made me so mad!"
"I know how you feel," Zizes sighed, rapidly flipping through the big witch's grimoire in her lap. "Lopez really is a bitch but even she doesn't actually deserve anything this bad. We gotta undo the curse before anything worse happens."
The two girls watched as Santana quickly got carried away on a stretcher, minutes later.
"So, how exactly do we do that?"
Brittany's heart hammered against her chest, feeling breathless with fear as she watched helplessly while her best friend - and if she was being honest, the actual love of her life - fell from about fifteen feet. The worst part of it was she couldn't do anything about it.
It was weird. One minute Brittany was just having fun chatting with Artie about random things like Glee Club and then Santana was yelling at her and Artie for some reason with this murderous look on her face, like she was about to come over and beat Artie's ass.
The Latina was being ridiculously jealous as usual, shouting all cutely at them like an angry cat and it made Brittany smile a little because hello, Santana was so cute especially when she was jealous of boys that liked Brittany. It was a total turn on too so she went back to talking to Artie, knowing the reaction she'd get.
Then the next thing she knew, something terrible was happening. Brittany rushed over to Santana's side as quickly as she could, barely registering the sounds of panicking Cheerios around her. Brittany felt so guilty for distracting Santana but she hadn't expected this would happen to the girl.
"San?!" She put her hand on Santana's cheek as the other girls moved away to allow her to get closer. "Are you okay?"
Santana finally looked up at her with unfocused, dull eyes like she wasn't sure what planet she was on. Come to think of it, many days Brittany wasn't entirely sure of that either herself but Santana always seemed to know. It terrified Brittany because this confused looking girl wasn't her Santana.
"Where am I?" The dark-haired girl asked in a dazed voice. Brittany felt tears come to her eyes. She threw her arms around her friend…friend with lots of benefits? Sort of girlfriend? Girl she had amazing, super passionate sex with? Love of her life? Then she sobbed against her chest as Santana tensed up beneath her as if Brittany were a stranger, which only made Brittany cry more.
"What do you know about breaking curses?"
The woman who looked to be in her forties with purple hair and several piercings with a bored look on her face narrowed her eyes at the two of them as she put away the glass jars of various concoctions that were on the table. She huffed, becoming quickly offended.
"Hey, I know it's the stereotype but just because I run the only occult shop in Lima and I'm all about embracing the powers of the natural world doesn't mean I'm just going around hexing kids for the fun of it. I'm not evil."
"I know," Tina sighed heavily. "Sorry, we didn't mean to offend you. It's just that we really do need your help with this curse…"
"Oh right because the girl who works in this shop has to know everything about curses, right? You do realize that's just a myth right. All the superstitions about how my group just go around cursing everyone."
Tina and Zizes groaned, sharing a look as they both realized that consulting the local magic shop - the only one in the entire town - wasn't exactly working out the way they expected it to.
"She's useless to us. Looks like we're on our own here, Goth Girl. This sucks."
"Maybe our friends can help." Tina suggested, getting an idea.
It broke Brittany's heart to watch Santana staring vacantly at her surroundings when she awakened after a few hours. The blonde had remained by her friend's side at the hospital the entire time as Santana just lay in bed, Maribel Lopez hovering nearby. Santana's mother was too upset to be around other people at the moment but she had allowed Brittany to be the only other person to stay with her daughter.
The doctors told them Santana probably wasn't going to remember too much and they weren't sure how long it would take for her memories to return.
"Santana? How are you feeling?"
The dark-haired girl blinked at her in confusion before frowning deeply and growling as she threw back the sheets, jumping out of the bed. She watched Brittany with suspicion when the blonde drew closer, touching her forehead gently. The blonde whimpered, drawing back when Santana growled, gritting her teeth and wondered why her friend was being so aggressive toward her, in a way she never had before. Her friend had a temper but she usually was never on the receiving end of it. Her dark eyes were full of fear.
"Where am I?!"
"It's okay, Honey. You fell and hit your head really bad, so you're in hospital," Brittany leaned in closer again, touching the girl's arm gently. "You don't have to be scared. I won't hurt you. I would never hurt you."
"Who are you? Why are you keeping me here?!"
Brittany tilted her head to the side, perplexed.
"Santana? It's me, Brittany. I'm your best friend in the universe… and we have really incredible sex like all the time, don't you remember?"
The girl stared at her in confusion, a flustered expression on her face when Brittany mentioned the last part.
"Santana?" She repeated her own name with that same vacant look in her eyes.
Santana was still watching everything fearfully, striking out in anger when a doctor tried to move closer to her. They explained that her head injury had likely caused her to become more aggressive than normal. Brittany shook her head sadly when Santana continued to act so unlike herself. She fought viciously, to the point where two nurses had to hold her down and by the end of it all, the girl still had no memory of her previous life.
Disney Week had gone off pretty splendidly for the Glee Club. Quinn sang "I Won't Say I'm In Love" with backup vocals from Tina, Mercedes, Brittany and Zizes. Mr. Schuester and Miss Pillsbury performed "A Whole New World" with stars in their eyes as they really hammed up the romance. Half of the class groaned, feeling awkward while the other half wolf-whistled. Even Sue Sylvester had submitted a very sinister version of "Be Prepared" from The Lion King with backup dancing from the cheerleaders for some reason. The club sang "Can You Feel The Love Tonight." Brittany couldn't help but fantasize about her and Santana singing to Nala and Simba's parts in that song, as they reminded the blonde girl so much of her own dynamic with the fearful girl.
He's holding back, he's hiding
But what, I can't decide
Why won't he be the king I know he is
The king I see inside?
There was no doubt that this week had been a great success... except for the fact that Santana was more aggressive than she ever had been, which was saying a lot. Convincing her that she was a member of the Glee Club, who she thought were a bunch of complete losers, took a lot of effort and she had been skipping all of their sessions lately.
"Guys… emergency meeting. We kind of have a major problem here and we need your help." Tina announced to the Glee Club members who had just filed into the room, looking around at each other curiously as none of them had any idea what the sudden, random meeting was about. Mr. Schue, Quinn and Brittany were noticeably absent.
"Major problem? You're telling me. Santana just totally walloped Quinn. Sent that girl flying over a cafeteria table. She's gone all She-Hulk," Mike noted, though there was a glint of amusement in his eyes. "It's pretty entertaining.
Tina arched an eyebrow, making a mental note to ask her boyfriend for all the details on that drama later.
"Santana called me about fifty different swear words just for asking her how she felt after her fall," Rachel chimed in. "Well excuse me for caring about other people's wellbeing, even if I'm not their biggest fan. She's downright… scary and now apparently she's more physically aggressive than ever."
"She threw a carton of milk at me for asking if she'd be coming to the next Glee Club meeting." Mercedes deadpanned.
"Can't say I'm surprised," Artie muttered darkly. "It was only a matter of time before she showed her true colours."
"Wait, Guys," Tina held up her hand, raising her voice to get their attention as everyone began to talk over each other. "That's exactly what I called this meeting about. Don't you see, Santana is like one thousand times harsher than she normally is?"
"How can you tell the difference?" Kurt sneered as the rest of the room chuckled.
"Glitter Boy does make a good point." Zizes murmured.
"She's beyond harsh, it's like she doesn't even remember her own last name or anything about us," Mercedes added. "If I didn't know better, I'd say she has amnesia from that fall."
Tina reached into her backpack, pulling out her black grimoire and showing it to the group.
"The truth is, we have a secret and this cannot leave this room, no matter what. Zizes and I kind of well… you know how she fell and hit her head yesterday? Please don't think we're evil for this but she was getting on our nerves and we… kind of put this curse on her from a book we found and now she's all… different."
The room erupted in a combination of nervous whispers and laughter as the club members were unsure how they should react to this announcement.
"Wait a minute, is this some kind of huge joke? You two are saying you put some kind of magic spell on Santana?" Rachel spoke up, the skepticism dripping off of her. "Last time I checked, that isn't possible outside of fantasy movies."
"Hm, I don't know Rachel. Anything's possible," Mercedes whispered, getting out her crucifix. "I really don't like the sound of this."
Zizes sighed heavily, nodding at Tina.
"Jones is right and you should listen to her. I know it sounds totally bogus but Tina's telling the truth. We really fucked up and now Lopez is acting out. It's like she got a personality transplant and not in a good way, unfortunately. We've got to do something before even worse things start happening to her, or to us because of her."
"Hey, since when do you guys want to help Santana?" Artie rolled his eyes, still bitter when he thought of the way his now ex-girlfriend had been all over the bad girl, hooking up with her the whole time and lying to him. "We all admitted we pretty much can't stand her and she'd never lift a finger to help any of us. If you ask me, maybe she deserves to be left to suffer."
There was a collective hum of agreement from most of the room.
"While I do admit, she can be a total and complete bastard, maybe even deserving of this karma, I don't feel right about just leaving her to suffer." Tina shrugged.
"I suppose Tina is right and the faster we turn her back to normal, the less we have to endure her savagery." Rachel agreed.
"Oh, I got it!" Tina gasped, whirling around to face the rest of the group. "True love's first kiss! That's what can break the spell."
"That isn't exactly how things work. This isn't Beauty and the Beast, Tina." Artie muttered disdainfully.
"You might be thinking of Sleeping Beauty, or Snow White." The Broadway-loving brunette corrected him as the rest of the room except for Tina and Zizes groaned, muttering something that sounded like "know it all" under their breaths.
"So here's the plan…" Tina moved closer, beginning to whisper it to them as everyone fell quiet, listening closely.
"Whoa, wait… you want to use Brittany to be the sacrificial lamb here?" One of the boys piped up. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're saying Brittany is her true love. They're like… together like that?"
There was a moment of awkward silence as Mercedes, Kurt, Rachel and Tina shared a look that spoke volumes but didn't say anything more. Tina cleared her throat.
"I knew your obsession with Disney renaissance movies would come in handy one day," Mercedes remarked and Tina looked at her proudly. "But Girl, are you seriously asking us to play matchmakers for Santana and Brittany because I so did not sign up for this."
"You know… this is crazy but it just might work," Rachel acknowledged. Finn shook his head at her fondly, knowing that she just wanted an excuse to sing. "It does make sense. All the signs have been there all along. Brittany is her weak spot, so it only makes sense."
"I guess this is fine and she does seem to be into Brittany but I don't know about all this, you guys. Santana isn't exactly our biggest fan right now… well she never was but it's like she's bitch mode Santana on steroids," Finn muttered. "How are you going to convince her to do anything without getting punched?"
"Besides, Tina, you seem to be missing the point that the boat thing didn't even help Ariel in The Little Mermaid. So why do you think it's going to work now?" Artie grumbled.
"You do make a good point but this time it'll be different. Just trust me on this, Guys," Tina whispered. "Meet us tomorrow by that lake - I'll text you the address. Whatever you do, don't let Brittany or Santana find out about the real reason behind this."
"You're actually taking part in this?" Mercedes raised an eyebrow, surprised to see the excited look on the short brunette's face as she began helping them arrange the performance. Rachel just shrugged her shoulders and smiled brightly.
"I don't miss an opportunity to sing a classic Disney song, Mercedes. This will just be another life experience to boost my songwriting skills."
"What are you doing here?" Santana growled as ferociously as she could at whoever was coming toward her but her growl turned into a squeak as she noticed Brittany standing before her in a cute, bright sundress, carrying a picnic basket. She had driven all the way out to what felt like the middle of nowhere, miles out into the countryside and now there was no one there aside from Brittany. Santana had been waiting there for half an hour and there was no sign that anyone else was coming.
"For the impromptu Glee Club picnic, Silly," Brittany explained casually with a giggle. Santana continued to huff and glared at nothing in particular but Brittany wasn't very fazed by her attitude. "It's just me, you don't have to be all aggressive."
Despite her outer cheeriness, Brittany was saddened by how distant her friend had been with her since her fall. She missed their talks and being able to confide in the girl or hang out at their houses but Santana had been so ferocious lately and didn't even remember who Brittany was. It was like she had lost her best friend and the one she loved the most right when things seemed to be getting better for them finally. She had no idea how to fix things.
"What? That Quinn bitch told me they were gonna have some Cheerios meetup here," Santana grumbled, bewildered by all of it as she paced back and forth. She had even dressed up all fancy for this, thinking that Sue was going to give her some special award based on what Quinn told her. "Those bastards duped us?"
"Hm, I guess so," Brittany shrugged and as usual, Santana was amazed at how unfazed the ditzy girl was by everything. "Why don't we just have a picnic here anyway. I mean, since we're here already, it took a super long time to get here and I'm kinda hungry. Plus, the weather's really nice today."
Brittany made a good point. It was a bright and sunny spring day with no clouds in sight, flowers blooming all over the open fields around them. Santana shrugged, flushing when her stomach growled immediately and Brittany giggled. She hated when people made such a fool out of her and she was annoyed that they had deceived her so easily so she could feel her inner rage building. What was the big idea behind this whole thing anyway? She wanted to forget this whole thing and go find Quinn or the Glee Club to tell them off but Brittany was well… cute and strangely, she was having a good time being out there alone with just the girl. She hadn't ever enjoyed another human's company this much.
Oh shit. She was all alone with Brittany. That thought alone made her nerves go crazy at the implications. Brittany laid out her picnic blanket and sat cross-legged on it, gesturing to Santana to sit facing her on the other side.
"This kind of feels like, um… a date." Santana blurted without thinking, as her nerves got the best of her. Her eyebrows shot up when Brittany began taking out white bread sandwiches cut into various shapes like little hearts with what looked like just marshmallow fluff in them. Everything else was extremely sugary, from mini chocolate bars to jelly beans. Santana wouldn't exactly call this a proper meal but Brittany seemed very happy with it all.
"Yeah, isn't it great? So romantic." Brittany smiled, offering her a sandwich and Santana didn't have the heart to refuse her because she couldn't make Brittany sad ever at this point. Her anger seemed to fizzle out the more she spent time in the girl's presence. When they finished some light snacks, Santana was unsure about what she was supposed to do or say next. Santana yelped when Brittany leaned in close, wiping some chocolate from the side of her lips. Her whole body felt hot when sapphire eyes met hers. Brittany was just so gorgeous, especially in that dress. She nervously took a sip from something, apologizing when she realized it was Brittany's strawberry milk. It was way too sweet.
"That's okay. We can share it. It's like if we kissed." Brittany giggled breezily while Santana nearly combusted at the mental image.
"Huh? K-kissed?"
"It's like an indirect kiss when we drink from the same bottle."
"I… I guess." Santana stuttered. Now that Brittany said that, all she could think about was kissing her and that was going to be a problem.
"Why don't we go out there?" Brittany suggested with a shrug when they had finished their meal, if you could call it that and Santana couldn't really argue with that as they got into the small rowboat together and paddled out.
Percussion
Strings
Winds
Words
"Shh, do you hear that?" Santana asked, wondering if she was going crazy and imagining things. She could hear muffled voices and an instrumental playing in the distance.
"Hm, I do hear something. It sounds kind of familiar but it could be just the voices in my head singing again." Brittany tilted her head to the side, frowning as she tried to make sense of the pleasant tune.
There you see her
Sitting there across the way
She don't got a lot to say
But there's something about her
And you don't know why
But you're dying to try
You wanna kiss the girl
Just Santana's luck that this voice was putting thoughts of kisses and Brittany into her head again.
I can't! Santana shouted in her head at the singer, embarrassed and so flustered about what the song was asking her to do even though a growing part of her really wanted to try it… Brittany did look soft and very, very kissable.
Could she really kiss some really quirky blonde girl she knew nothing about? Brittany had apparently meant something to her in her past life. Something pretty major as far as she could tell and Santana was secretly longing to ask exactly what their relationship had been really but she was so afraid to.
Santana felt heat rise to her face as she watched Brittany on the other side of the small rowboat and thought about how what she was hearing in the song described her feelings for the girl so well. It was as if the singers could read her mind. She really wanted to be angry at this girl but her eyes were so blue and they drew her right in. The sun was hitting her face just right, making her eyes glimmer and her hair look so gold. She could spot each freckle on her face and the rosy flush on her pale cheeks. She was exactly how Santana imagined her dream girl being.
"What's wrong, Santana? You've got your serious frown on again and you look all confused."
The dark-haired girl squirmed, looking away nervously.
"It's strange but... even though I barely remember who you are, I have this urge to well, kiss you."
Brittany's heart hammered in her chest and she inhaled softly, her blue eyes widening at Santana's words. Without either of them realizing it, they began to drift closer to each other subconsciously. Santana's gaze lowered to Brittany's soft-looking lips. Brittany took the girl's hand, threading their fingers together and Santana glanced at their joined hands with a confused frown. Somehow her touch felt so familiar, as if they had done it a million times before. Brittany's hand was so soft. Meanwhile, Brittany was awestruck by how gorgeous Santana looked in the bright sunlight wearing a white button down shirt, her skin practically glowing and her long dark brown hair that was out of its usual high, tight ponytail now tousled from the gentle wind. Her gaze lingered on Santana's full lips.
Sing with me now
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
My oh my
Look like the boy too shy
Ain't gonna kiss the girl
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Ain't that sad?
Ain't it a shame?
Too bad, he gonna miss the girl
Santana looked away nervously, feeling like the song or whatever voice she was hearing in her head was calling her out her for not revealing her true feelings. She glanced down at her hands timidly. At least Brittany's presence was comforting as she just watched Santana patiently with that same cute smile on her face as they drifted further out into the water.
Now's your moment (ya, ya, ya)
Floating in a blue lagoon (ya, ya, ya)
Boy, you better do it soon
No time will be better (ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya)
She don't say a word
And she won't say a word
Until you kiss the girl
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Don't be scared (sha-la, sha-la-la ya, ya, ya)
You got the mood prepared (woah, woah)
Go on and kiss the girl
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Don't stop now (sha-la, sha-la-la ya, ya, ya)
Don't try to hide it how
You want to kiss the girl (woah, woah)
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
Float along (sha-la, sha-la-la)
And listen to the song
The song say kiss the girl (woah, woah)
Sha-la-la-la-la-la
The music play (ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya)
Do what the music say
You got to kiss the girl
Santana kept listening to the words and it was as if something inside of her compelled her to move even closer, finally leaning in to do what she had been wanting to do ever since she woke up in that hospital and saw the bubbly blonde.
She closed her eyes, pressing her lips against Brittany's and hearing a soft intake of breath from the girl as she reciprocated right away, cupping the darker-haired girl's cheek and deepening the kiss. As their lips moved together, Santana lost track of time and it was like all the anger was drained from her, replaced by a much lighter, happier feeling. Kissing Brittany was the easiest thing in the world and they moved together in perfect sync.
She loved her. All it took was one perfect kiss to make that so clear for her. The realization hit her like a lightning bolt and everything changed as she looked at the girl in a new light.
"Brittany?" Santana blinked at the girl when they finally pulled apart, flashes of memories drifting back to her of kissing Brittany so many times before just like this and feeling those same fireworks ignite everytime. She finally remembered who she was and she remembered all about her previous life including everything that had happened leading up to her falling from the Cheerios' pyramid and then after that up until that point. "I… I remember everything now. I remember who I am and I remember our life together."
"Oh Santana, you're back!" Brittany felt tears come to her eyes as she threw her arms around the girl's neck. "I missed you so much. I mean, I missed the real you that I remember before everything happened."
"I'm so sorry for worrying you, Britt."
They heard cheers erupting in the background as they kissed again, pulling apart when the entire Glee Club emerged from the forest area nearby. Rachel was beaming and clapping, Tina and the other girls were squealing and the boys, apart from Artie, who looked pretty downtrodden - ha, take that, Nerd Boy, Santana mused to herself - were grinning at them.
"It worked! True love's kiss broke the curse!" Tina declared, giving Zizes a high five as Brittany and Santana walked came back to the shore. Santana marched up to the group, scowling at them as the heat never left her face while Brittany still felt lost in a daze as she followed beside her.
"What the hell are you on about, Goth?" Santana snarled, she was suddenly petrified knowing that they had all seen her lock lips with Brittany at least twice and there was no real way to explain that. "Were you creeps watching us the entire time? What the hell are you doing here?"
"We were trying to help you… it's a long story. We're just glad that you're all back to normal and sort of… together with Brittany again."
"Wait, you guys were trying to get us together?" Brittany asked, delighted. "Aw, that's so cute."
"What the hell? You assholes had no right to meddle with my love life with Brittany!" Santana shouted, then realized her mistake and rushed to correct herself, "Um, I mean you had no right to get involved in my personal business. I can't believe you freaks sang some lame Disney song to us. That was you, wasn't it?"
"Oh she's definitely back to normal. Kinda demonic but not pure chaotic evil anymore." Mercedes noted as the others just smiled. Santana continued to squirm, worrying about what all of this could mean.
"Relax, Santana. I can assure you, the Glee Club won't say a word about your secret romance with Brittany to anyone. Most of us suspected it or were well-aware of it for a long time anyway." Rachel told her calmly and there was a murmur of agreement from the group.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kick all of your asses right here!" Santana shouted, marching up to the club as she began to curse them out in violent Spanglish.
"Santana, they're not worth it. Come on, wouldn't you rather be doing other things with me?" Brittany whispered to her and Santana was instantly distracted, forgetting about murdering the bunch of them. Brittany was too enticing for her to think about anything else so she decided she'd get her revenge on the club another day maybe.
Santana ended up dropping the girl home, as the blonde had no way of getting back to her house. She was silent for a while, bashful as Brittany kept sneaking glances at her and vice versa. Now that she was back to herself, she knew the way to Brittany's house so well and instinctually drove in that direction.
"I kissed you… in front of all of them." Santana was still in shock as she processed it all.
"See, you kissed me in public and the world didn't end?" The blonde whispered, her arm brushing up against hers.
Brittany was actually right that somehow other people seeing Santana kiss a girl she was in love with hadn't resulted in the nightmarish scenario she had always envisioned… In fact, the Glee Club members seemed happy for them. Just like they would have been for any other couple they liked. Thinking of her and Brittany as an actual couple made butterflies erupt for her. Still, she had so much to worry about.
"Britt, I… I'm just so scared," Santana admitted. "They said they won't tell anyone but suppose they lied? Suppose… they don't really accept us anymore after this. Suppose my family finds out?"
The last part was something that terrified her the most.
"I know you're scared. It's okay. I think we can trust the Glee Club," Brittany squeezed her arm gently and her voice was comforting. "They're all kind of outsiders in their own way too about other things. Mr. Schue cares about us like he's our dad in his own way. Kurt knows what it's like and Rachel knows from her dads how things can be. The others wouldn't want to hurt us like that."
Santana sighed, thinking over Brittany's words as she tried desperately to calm down. The Glee Club members weren't really much of a threat, as scary as it was to think about them knowing her secrets. Between Brittany's slip up on the party line call back in sophomore year, Brittany's other slip up about her playing for the other team on Fondue For Two and their performance of Landslide, Santana suspected most of the club had already figured out what was going on. At least they hadn't told anyone outside of the club or made a big deal out of it, so maybe they really were more trustworthy than she thought.
She watched the girl beside her, thinking about how much she had hurt her everytime she wasn't brave enough to date her the way Brittany deserved and all of the other things she had done or said to the girl that were so bad when she was caught up in her hurt feelings. Due to her own stupid fears, she had been forced to endure the torture of watching Brittany dance the night away with everyone except herself.
"I should have told you this a long time ago but I really am sorry I stood you up for prom," Santana whispered and turned to face the blonde when they finally were parked in Brittany's driveway. "I was such a fool. Even after all of that, after the way I spoiled the dance for you, you were still there for me when I lost prom queen. Britt, how are you so good to me?"
"I told you, I love you," Brittany replied sweetly, cupping her cheek as the girl sighed, leaning into her touch and closing her eyes. "I don't know if you believe me when I say that. I care about you more than anything in the universe."
"You really… You love me? What about Artie? Britt, I saw you talking to him that day before I fell. I had this freaking nightmare that you married him and were having his kid."
Brittany began to laugh, shaking her head as if this was totally absurd.
"Oh Silly, is that what you're scared of? No way. Artie was okay for a while but… he's just… he's not the one I want to marry and have babies with."
The blonde's soft blue eyes met hers after she said this, tightening her hold on her hand and Santana trembled as the realization of what Brittany actually meant by that hit her, even if the blonde wasn't saying it out loud. Santana didn't know how to respond to this, other than to kiss the girl deeply until they were both breathless. She kissed the girl the way she felt she should have after Brittany's speech to her at prom, when Brittany had watched her with those loving, soft blue eyes.
They didn't have to be careful about Brittany's parents seeing them as the Pierce house was empty - not to mention Brittany's parents were so accepting of her sexuality as it was - but Santana found that for the first time ever, she didn't care who was watching her being romantic with the girl she loved. It was so freeing not having to care as much.
Santana's gaze drifted to Brittany's hand held in hers, feeling dizzy with emotion as she trembled.
"Britt, I really, really want to be with you, like I said before, the way you deserve. You mean everything to me and I want to show you that… I just wish society was different. I wish all the fears would go away."
"Hey, one day at a time. Don't worry so much right now. Maybe we can figure that out together," Brittany kissed her cheek gently, taking her hand and leading her into her house, skipping happily along the way. "I'm really proud of you."
Santana smiled to herself, feeling lucky that she had a girl who was so patient and kind to her. She felt a lot lighter now that she and Brittany were more open about how they felt instead of everything feeling like a struggle the way it had before. She didn't know what she had done to deserve Brittany. She was starting to know now, more than ever that her love for Brittany mattered to her more than her reputation, her fears, her pride, what other people thought about her or anything else.
"I promise, I'll keep trying to be brave for us." Santana told her, leaning close to the angelic blonde as they settled onto the couch and Brittany cuddled close to her. Maybe one day, they could be a real couple the way they deserved to be in every sense. She laughed when Brittany began to play The Little Mermaid for them and the blonde just winked at her with a mischievous look in her blue eyes, hugging her close as Santana pulled her into her lap.