Santana is not whipped. She is not. It's just that she has a really hard time not giving Brittany what she wants—not because she's whipped, but because she loves her.
Maybe she's a little whipped. Maybe.
This summer, they've agreed on date nights, where they go to the movies once a week, no matter what. The movie theater is at the mall, which, on this particular night, also happens to be housing an ASPCA booth with lots of animals. They're doing an adoption drive, and Brittany absolutely cannot resist stopping to see the animals. It's no secret that she wants one. She and Santana have talked about it, and they both agreed that it is a discussion they should revisit when they are both out of school. It makes sense, so while Brittany definitely still wants a pet, she is okay with not having one right now. That doesn't mean she can't stop to look, though, especially at the cats. Santana doesn't mind too much, since she likes animals too. Cats don't bother her, although she really wants a dog.
They stop at the ASPCA booth, and there aren't that many animals. Most of the crates contain cats or dogs who were adopted but won't be picked up until tomorrow. Then, they see the crate with the little cream-colored fluffball pressed way in the back. "It's so tiny! I bet this one was one of the first to go," Brittany giggles as she presses her fingers into his soft fur. He jumps a little but eventually settles into her gentle touch.
"Actually, he wasn't adopted. We had a bunch of kittens here, and he is the only one left."
Santana watches Brittany's face fall, but the blonde's optimism won't let her believe that this little kitten will spend too much time lonely. "He's so cute though. I bet he'll get adopted really soon."
"I hope so. He's actually been in the shelter already for a few weeks. He's just really small for his age. Kittens usually don't stay a week."
"Then why doesn't anyone want him?" Santana can see Brittany's eyes getting shiny and her hands starting to fidget, all signs that she's starting to get anxious.
Reaching into the crate, the woman pulls the little kitten out and puts him on the table. He wobbles a little before sitting down. "He's only got three legs. He lost one of them due to an injury from a dog attack that, best we can tell, killed his mother and the rest of his litter. He also suffered an eye injury, and now he can only see out of the one. His eyelid is permanently closed on the other, so unfortunately, he's not your typical cute little kitten. He's not as playful as the others, because his balance is still kind of tricky, and it takes him a little while to figure out his surroundings."
Santana feels bad for the little guy. His life hasn't been easy, and it really sucks that he has to sleep in a crate. She looks over at her girlfriend, expecting her to pick the kitten up, but is met with a very anxious and upset-looking Brittany. "So people don't want him because he takes a little more work? He lost his whole family, and now he doesn't even have a home?" Her lip quivers, and she excuses herself and runs to the bathroom.
After quickly apologizing to the woman, Santana turns around and runs after Brittany. As soon as she gets into the bathroom, she finds Brittany crying and instantly takes her into her arms, trying to soothe her. Nothing works immediately, and Santana just lets her cry into her shoulder.
"I just don't understand." Brittany hiccups into Santana's neck. "It breaks my heart that nobody is there to love him. He's probably not as playful, because he watched his mom die." A few seconds later, after her breathing evens out a little, Brittany asks if they can leave.
Later that night, they're laying in bed naked, and Brittany is a little more fidgety than normal. Usually, she's pretty calm and sleepy after sex, but not tonight. "What's wrong, Britt?"
At first, Brittany tells her nothing, trying to play it off, but eventually admits, "I can't stop thinking about how sad that little kitten must be. I didn't even hug him, so he must not feel very worthy right now."
Santana watches Brittany's face fall again, and she wraps her up and holds her close. Then, she gets a thought, which of course turns into a plan. The next afternoon, after doing a bit of research and having a sneaky conversation with Quinn, she tells Brittany that she needs to go to the music building to check on something for her professor and will be back in a bit. Brittany looks like she's about to ask if she can come with her, but then Quinn (who sometimes has amazing timing) comes out of her bedroom and asks if they want to go to the pool with her. Looking torn between wanting to go to the pool and wanting to be a good girlfriend, Brittany asks Santana if she wants help. The brunette just smiles secretly and tells her to go to the pool and that she'll be back soon. Brittany smiles and kisses her goodbye.
The first thing she does after she leaves is stop in one of the parking lots on campus and pull up her list of all ASPCAs in the area. Thankfully, there are not a ton, and the one with the booth at the mall last night is the second one she calls. The kitten is still there. Once she drives to the address, the woman from the booth is the first employee she encounters. The woman does not look surprised at all to see her there, nor does she look surprised when Santana tells her she would like to take the kitten home. They sit down and go through all of the necessary paperwork, which takes a surprisingly short amount of time.
Before she knows it, the woman is handing her a folder with adoption papers and microchip numbers and standing up to go into the back. Santana has no idea why she's nervous, but she is a little. This is the first thing that's really theirs. She even wrote both her and Brittany's names on the adoption forms. However, when the woman brings out the little fluffy kitten, Santana is even more positive about her decision. He needs a home, and they have a very loving one to provide. Brittany is going to be ecstatic.
She goes straight home, although she knows that there are things she needs to buy. The little kitten curled up in her lap doesn't have food or bowls or a litter box. However, she doesn't want to pick those things out for their kitten without Brittany, and she knows the blonde will love shopping for their new pet, so she goes home to surprise her first. As soon as she gets back to the apartment, she can see that Quinn and Brittany are still out by the pool. Not wanting to bring the kitten there, she decides to leave him in her room while she gets Brittany to come upstairs. She is nervous about leaving him on the bed, worried that he might jump off and hurt himself, but the woman at the shelter said he is perfectly capable of jumping on and off furniture. It might not be graceful, but he is fine to go ahead and do it.
Leaving him in the center of her bed, Santana runs to the pool as quickly as she can. She can tell Brittany is alarmed when she comes crashing through the gate into the pool area. "What's wrong?!" Brittany jumps up.
"Nothing." She gasps in a breath. "Nothing. I just wanted to run. Can you come help me with something really quick?" Over Brittany's shoulder, Santana sees Quinn roll her eyes and mouth "smooth." Whatever, she's excited. She reaches out her hand for Brittany to take and pulls her back into the apartment. Once they get into the hallway of her bedroom, she steps back. "Okay. Open the door."
Brittany looks at her like she might have gone a little crazy, but pushes open the door in good faith anyway. Holding her breath, Santana waits for her reaction. "San?" Brittany turns to her.
However, Santana is busy, looking at the center of the bed where she left the kitten. She lost him already, and she starts panicking until she sees him—a little cream-colored, slightly surly-looking kitten curled up between their pillows, almost camouflaged. "Look right there, Britt." Santana points to where the kitten is laying.
Brittany's eyes move to the spot. "What am I looking..." As she spots the kitten, her mouth falls open. She looks back at Santana, then turns her head towards the kitten again. When she turns back to Santana one more time, her eyes are watery. "San?"
"You were so sad last night that you couldn't hug him, and now he's right here."
"He?" Brittany squeaks out. Santana nods and presses into the center of Brittany's back, gently urging her forward. The little push is all Brittany needs before she hurries over to the bed and scoops up the kitten. She cradles him to her chest for a few seconds, kissing his little head. Santana can see her shoulders shaking just a little bit. Before she can ask Brittany why she's crying, she carefully puts the kitten back down on the bed and turns around, throwing herself into Santana's arms.
Santana tightens her arms around her and lets Brittany cry for a few seconds. "Baby," she coos, "why are you crying?"
Brittany tightens her hold on Santana. "I can't help it. He didn't have anybody, and you saved him. Just like me. I didn't have anybody either, and you saved me." She tries to sniff back the sob that is threatening to break her words. "I'm the luckiest person ever." Santana kisses her cheek, but before she can respond, they both hear a tiny meow coming from the bed. Brittany whips around, and they see the little kitten standing shakily on his three legs, looking at them. "That was the cutest thing I've ever heard!" The blonde separates from Santana momentarily in order to pick up the kitten and cuddle him in between them. "What's his name?"
"He doesn't have one yet. The lady at the adoption place just called him Little Cat."
"That's not special enough," Brittany pouts.
"I thought we could name him together."
Brittany's answering smile makes her so happy. Holding the kitten out in front of her, she studies his face. "He's very noble-looking." Santana isn't exactly sure how she came to that conclusion, but she decides to just go with it. "He's kind of chubby too." Now that Santana can definitely see. "I think his name is Lord Tubbington."
"Wait. How did you come up with that?"
"You can just tell. He looks like a Lord Tubbington." Brittany spins him around and holds him up in front of Santana's face. His nose is smushed in, like he ran into a brick wall, and he has a look of constant grumpiness to him. If Brittany says that's what a Lord Tubbington looks like, then that's what a Lord Tubbington looks like.
"Can I call him LT for short?"
"I like LT."
"Lord Tubbington Lopez-Pierce," Santana announces.
"Maybe just Lopez." Brittany suddenly looks bashful.
"Why just Lopez?"
"Well, the Pierce part of my name will go away someday, so it makes sense, right?" Brittany says mostly to Lord Tubbington, even though Santana knows that was directed at her.
Brittany Lopez. Santana wants it so badly. "Genius," she whispers before hugging Brittany and inadvertently LT to her chest. After a second, reality comes back to her. "We have to go to the pet store and get stuff for him. I figured you'd want to help pick it. We can bring Tubbs with us."
"San, I don't know if he likes being called Tubbs." Although Santana thinks it's probably really hard to tell what he likes and dislikes, because he mostly just looks annoyed, she pats his head in apology anyways before grabbing her keys and ushering her girlfriend and their kitten out of the front door.
When they return from the pet store, they have what Santana believes to be way more stuff than any one kitten needs. She couldn't stop Brittany (and maybe added a few things herself), so here she is, trying to set up his water dispenser, while Quinn and Brittany are trying to get LT to play with them, which is half-working. There's some playing and a lot of stumbling. His pouncing skills need some work. Brittany sends pictures to everyone. Santana's mother responds "My first grandson!", which makes Santana happy and embarrassed at the same time.
While Lord Tubbington is cautious at first, he becomes steadily more brave about climbing on things and exploring on his own. Brittany swears he is perfect. Santana would never admit out loud that she agrees. By the end of the day, they learn to be careful, because he has the terrible habit of wanting to stand exactly where people are about to step. It works in his favor, since he prefers to be carried anyways, not to mention he wants to eat almost every hour.
They're sitting on the couch, watching the end of a movie, when Brittany suddenly kisses the kitten on the head, stands up, and positions herself in front of Santana, blocking her view of the TV. "I'm going to shower. Then, you should shower, and then we should go to bed."
The brunette just looks at her with a raised eyebrow. That is an oddly specific plan. "Are you tired?" she asks.
"Not really. I just want to go to bed." That, as well as the glint in Brittany's eye, gives Santana a small idea of what is going on.
"Okay. You go shower. I'll hang out with LT for a bit."
When they're both done showering, Santana wraps a towel around herself and goes into her room, where Brittany is sitting at her computer, still in a robe, with LT purring away on her lap. After pulling a sports bra and boxers on, Santana asks Brittany what she's doing.
"It's a surprise," Brittany simply says before putting LT down outside the room, telling him to have fun exploring, and closing the door. Without a word, she walks back over to the desk and pulls the chair into the center of the room. "Sit, please."
