"Mrs. Pierce, that was delicious," Santana said happily, wiping her mouth on a napkin as she finished eating her breakfast.
Brittany's mom smiled and took her empty plate. "I'm so glad you enjoyed it, dear. And please, call me Elizabeth."
Santana smiled. "Thank you, Elizabeth."
It was odd to see Santana so familiar with new people — new people who happened to be Brittany's parents — but odd in a good way.
Santana looked at Brittany expectantly. "Now what?"
The blonde laughed. She was like a kid on vacation. "I dunno, what do you want to do?"
She shrugged, indifferent. "I don't care at all. Whatever you want."
Brittany's mom placed the dishes from breakfast in the sink and turned to face her daughter. "Why don't you take Santana up the old walking trail? It's not too windy today."
Santana nodded her approval. "Sounds good. Can we do that?"
"Sure, go get your shoes on," Brittany responded, still laughing.
10 minutes later, they were making their way up a very narrow walking trail. They'd be worn out by the time they got back to the cabin, but it'd be worth it. They passed wildflowers of every color along the trail, and the air was so clean the wildflowers' scent wafted across their faces. The sun shone down bright yellow and warmed their skin in the mountain air. All around, the trail was lined with trees as tall as some of the buildings in New York.
After about half an hour of walking uphill, Santana's steps started to slow. "What's at the top?" Her breathing was labored too. It was pretty cute.
"You'll see. We're almost there."
A few minutes later, the trees started to thin. The gravel trail changed to rock, and then sun was everywhere. Suddenly, they burst forth into a clearing, a cap of rock that looked out onto the rest of the mountains.
Santana stopped at the edge of the trees, but Brittany kept going. "It isn't a ledge. Come here."
She sat down with her legs crossed underneath her, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on her arms and chest. Seconds later, she felt Santana's presence next to her, and she reached over to let her hand rest on the brunette's.
"See? It's a slope," Brittany said, leaning forward to look at the edge of the rock.
Santana merely nodded. "A slope I could easily fall down and die. Let's just sit here."
Brittany laughed but agreed. They looked out at the view. From here, they could see various other cabins nestled in the trees, patches of wildflowers, and the lake Brittany used to swim in as a kid. She pointed it out to Santana, who smiled at seeing a piece of Brittany's childhood.
They sat in silence for a while longer, just enjoying the view and each other's company.
"It's kind of amazing, isn't it?" Santana asked eventually, still looking out. "The view?" She paused. "Well, more so that I'm here to enjoy this view, with you. I never would have predicted I'd be here, in a situation like this, with a person like you."
Brittany smiled and squeezed Santana's hand. "One day, I hope you'll realize that I feel just as lucky to have you too."
Santana sighed. "It's funny…because I keep thinking that one day, you'll realize I'm not good enough for you."
Brittany let her eyes roam over the mountains as she considered those words. Santana was so wrong.
"Santana," she said slowly, looking at the wildflowers. "You have hands I will always want to hold. You have lips I will always want to kiss."
She felt those brown eyes on her now as she continued to look out.
"But most of all, you have a soul I will always want to love. And I would also love it if you'd let me love you without worry. I'm not too good for you. I'm perfect for you, and you're perfect for me. All I need you to do is believe that."
She finally tore her gaze from the scenery to look at her girlfriend. Her favorite smile was on Santana's lips.
"Okay."
The blonde nodded. "Okay. Now, let's go get lunch and let my mother spoil you some more."
Still smiling, Santana nodded and got up without argument.
An afternoon and evening of doing nothing but hanging out with Brittany's family had gone by surprisingly fast. All too quickly, it was Sunday morning, and they were getting ready to leave.
After giving Brittany her first proper hug all weekend, Mrs. Pierce let go of her daughter and moved to wrap Santana up in her arms as well.
"Santana dear, it was lovely to meet you and have you here this weekend. You're welcome back anytime you like."
Santana hugged her back without any reluctance this time. "Thank you for everything, Elizabeth. I really enjoyed my time here."
Mr. Pierce patted Santana's shoulder, which for him was pretty affectionate. "It was nice to meet you, Santana. Take care of our girl, would ya?"
Such a dad thing to say.
Santana chuckled. "Yes, sir."
Then Josh was moving in, his arms open as if to hug Santana as well, but Brittany was much too fast for him.
"Aww, you wanted another hug, little brother?" she asked as she stepped between them, intercepting Josh and hugging him again.
"Jerk," he whispered into her ear.
"Love you," she whispered back, smiling.
And just like that, their goodbyes were over, and Santana was driving their rental car back down the mountain, towards the airport where they would drop it off. Once they'd gotten out of the mountains, Brittany saw Santana looking in the rearview mirror.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked happily, knowing the terrifying "meet-the-parents" had gone exceptionally well.
The brunette looked over, grinning. "That's a place I wouldn't mind going back to."
Brittany laughed heartily, rolling her window down to get in a little more mountain air before they flew back to New York.
"Well, good," she said as her hand made air waves out the window, "because you probably will."
Several hours later, Brittany felt the distinct feeling of the airplane touching down. She looked over at Santana (who did take the window seat this time) and took her hand.
The brunette tilted her head toward the window, indicating that Brittany should look too. Leaning over Santana's lap — not an altogether unpleasant action — Brittany saw the familiar skyscrapers on that familiar island.
"Welcome home," Santana said in her ear before kissing her cheek.
Brittany turned to give a gentle kiss back to the woman's lips. "Welcome home."