Almost 40 minutes had passed since Santana's head had fallen onto Brittany's shoulder, and the brunette hadn't moved an inch. Brittany, on the other hand, had been trying her best not to fidget. She was failing spectacularly, but Santana was completely out, and it never bothered her. Three times, the blonde reached a hand out and hovered it over Santana's arm. She wanted to feel her skin. To stroke it. Three times, she retracted. If Santana woke up, Brittany would have no defense. So she settled for just knowing that this mysterious, distant, independent woman was leaning against her—finally getting sleep that it seemed she desperately needed. That was okay with Brittany.
The movie was almost over, and Brittany was beginning to wonder if she should wake Santana before she woke up on her own and made everything awkward. Just as Brittany made up her mind to rouse her, she experienced for the second time that day flickering lights. The light above their heads flickered feebly, the TV rapidly went from the movie to white noise and back, and then finally all was silent. Here she was, sitting in the dark with Santana—again. The sudden absence of light and sound made no difference to her boss. Well, actually it did, just not in the way Brittany would expect. Unconsciously, Santana turned her body a little further into Brittany's, and she moved her head from the top of her shoulder further in, her nose almost nuzzling Brittany's neck.
Once she'd settled there, she made the slightest humming sound against Brittany's skin.
"Mmmm," she breathed. Brittany could feel the woman's breath travel across her chest and down into the space between her boobs. It sent a shiver down her spine that made her whole body want to shudder. Unable to resist anymore, Brittany reached out into the space where she knew Santana's arm was laying. When her fingertips found smooth skin, she lazily stroked up and down. On her third pass back down, Santana hummed again. That sound, the feel of her breath...it was all delicious.
Knowing she needed to stop, she pulled her hand back and leaned her head as far away from the brunette as possible. Then, she very gently cleared her throat.
"Um, Santana..."
Her boss didn't budge. She tried again.
"Um...Santana...can you wake up?" She reached over and lightly nudged Santana's shoulder. After a few seconds, Santana's weight was gone. She immediately missed it.
"Brittany? What's going on?"
"The power just went out here too. Stay here, I'll get some candles."
Brittany got up from the couch and went back into her bedroom. She grabbed the few candles in there, then scooped up the ones she kept around her bathtub. Returning to the living room, she placed all of them on the coffee table in front of the couch, then quickly went into the kitchen and found a lighter.
When she sat back down, she pulled the candles to her and began lighting them. After they were all ignited, she looked over at Santana. Her boss had now moved as far away on the couch as possible and was looking back at her with an unreadable expression.
"I don't want to keep intruding on you...I should probably go."
"We just lost power...if anything, that means it's worse out right now than it was when we got here. Plus, I don't...I mean...you're not intruding."
Santana looked at the assortment of candles in front of them. Brittany kept her eyes on Santana's face. The dancing light of the candles had half of her face in shadow. Now, she looked just as mysterious as she acted.
"I fell asleep on you," she said. Her gaze hadn't left the table in front of them.
Brittany wasn't quite sure how to respond to that statement. Again, she told the truth.
"You did."
"You let me stay there though. You didn't wake me up. Not until the power went out."
"Yes."
Brittany could hear the wind outside again; it was louder inside her small apartment than it had been in the skyscraper. She didn't say anything else. She had no idea where this conversation was going.
Suddenly, Santana lifted her eyes to Brittany's. She looked like she was actually attempting to read her thoughts.
"Why?" she whispered.
Brittany thought for a moment. This time, she went with a half-truth. "You seemed really exhausted."
Brittany could feel the temperature in the apartment starting to drop. She was sure she'd need more than just a t-shirt soon, but she ignored it. She was far too intrigued.
"Is that...the only reason?" Santana asked, her eyes still boring into Brittany's.
Brittany gulped. There was no half-truth here. She could tell the truth or tell a very big lie. And she had a feeling Santana knew the answer anyway. So, instead of answering, she asked her own question.
"What other reason could I have, Santana? You admitted yourself that you were tired just before you fell asleep."
There. That sounded good.
The brunette's facial expression didn't look as though she was convinced, but she didn't press the matter. Instead, she said another one of those things that threw Brittany off again.
"You know...part of our training in law school involves learning how to read people. The ability to do it well can make someone a really good attorney."
Brittany gulped again. "And do you...do you think you can read people well?"
"Most people, yes. I think in general, most people wear their emotions on their face. Sometimes, it's actually a little boring when they're so easy to figure out. Others, though, are...tricky."
Brittany almost huffed out a laugh at this. Santana was one of the trickiest people to understand Brittany had ever met. "Yeah...tell me about it," she said with just a hint of sarcasm.
"Am I tricky to you?" Santana asked quietly.
"I think that's an understatement."
Santana gave her small smirk at these words. The room was definitely getting colder now. Brittany could feel goose bumps begin to creep up her arms.
"I have to be," she whispered.
"You don't," Brittany immediately retorted. She reached out and took one of the brunette's hands in both of her own. But she immediately dropped it; Santana's hand was like ice.
"My God, Santana. You're freezing."
Without another word, she got up and went back to bedroom again, this time getting the blanket off her bed and bringing it back with her. When she walked back into the living room, Santana was standing. "What are you doing?"
"Getting you this blanket. You should have told me you were so cold."
Brittany marched right up and stood in front of Santana. Then, taking the blanket's corners in one hand, she reached around Santana's right shoulder. With her free hand, she reached around Santana's left shoulder and spread the blanket out behind Santana's back. They were standing incredibly close, and Brittany wasn't breaking eye contact. She let the blanket fall across Santana's shoulders, pulling her an inch closer with the action. The two stared at each other for no more than two seconds, but it felt like much longer. Feeling brave, Brittany let her hands slowly travel up the blanket covering the brunette's arms. She was just past her elbows when Santana broke eye contact, deliberately letting her gaze fall to the blonde's lips. She looked back up, but her eyes looked slightly more hooded than they did before.
Even without the blanket, Brittany was warming up fast. "Is that better?" She asked quietly.
"Mmm," Santana hummed again. God, it was even sexier when she did it on purpose.
Bolder than ever, Brittany took a small step toward Santana. There was hardly any space left between them at all. She had just taken hold of the edges of the blanket at Santana's sides when the lights and TV suddenly came back to life.
The immediate return of full light and whatever new program was on jolted them to reality. Santana blinked once and instantly took a step back, shrugging out from under the blanket and looking away.
"I should go. I mean, I have to go now."
She didn't wait for a response and strode quickly down the hall to retrieve her clothes. Within just a few minutes, she was back in her work attire. Again, she avoided looking at Brittany as she put her shoes on by the door.
"Santana, wait...I won't stop you from leaving if you really want to go...but can you at least text me when you get home? It's still pretty bad outside," Brittany pleaded.
Santana paused but ultimately pulled her phone out and handed it to Brittany, who quickly called her own phone so that Santana would have the number. When the blonde handed the phone back, Santana turned and walked out the door. She was gone without another word.
Almost an hour later, Brittany still hadn't heard from her boss. Really beginning to worry, she was just about ready to call Santana herself and make sure everything was alright. She never should have let the woman leave. When her phone vibrated and announced a new text message, she quickly snatched it up to see it was from Santana, whose number she'd already saved.
Santana Lopez: I'm back.
Brittany Pierce: Glad you made it back. See you tomorrow, Santana.
Her boss never responded.