Chapter 9

"I met your girlfriend today."

Brittany's brow furrowed in confusion. "Um … I don't have a girlfriend. Yet. That's why I was late …" she reached into the kangaroo pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a small, square box, "I was kinda hoping you'd want the role."

Santana couldn't detect any deception in Brittany's face or eyes. She genuinely looked confused. Santana looked at the box.

"What … what is that?"

"Open it," Brittany nudged the box a little closer to Santana, never letting go of Santana's hand.

Santana opened the box and gasped. Inside was a beautiful yin-yang necklace; well, two, actually. The yin-yang had been split along the center S curve; one side was a beautiful chocolate brown with a sparkling sapphire embedded in it. The other was a beautiful ocean blue with a chocolate diamond embedded in it. She looked up at Brittany.

"See, um, the brown side?" Santana could see how nervous Brittany was but Brittany never broke eye contact. "It's the color of your eyes and the sapphire is the piece of me you carry with you. The blue side is like my eyes and the chocolate diamond is the piece of you I carry with me. I mean, if you want the blue side, that's okay too … I just …"

"Brittany …" Santana said in an impossibly sweet and small voice, "it's beautiful and I absolutely love your reasoning for the colors." She leaned in and kissed Brittany softly on the lips. "How are you so perfect?" There was no way Brittany was seeing anyone else.

"I'm not," the blonde shrugged as she blushed and smiled slightly, "maybe I'm just perfect for you?"

Santana smiled and they sat there for a moment, just looking at each other. All Santana saw … was the love she felt for Brittany reflected back at her. Wait. Love? Santana tried to quell the rising panic … do I … do I love Brittany? She loves me. Santana could see it clearly in the blonde's eyes. No deception. No lies. No anger or guilt. Just … love.

"Um … so … will you?"

Santana looked confused as Brittany's voice brought her out of her impending panic attack.

"Be my girlfriend?"

Santana felt a tear slip free. "Of course I will." She lifted the chocolate side of the necklace out of the box. "Put it on me?"

Brittany did so and Santana helped Brittany put hers on. Then Santana threw her arms around Brittany's neck and tried not to sob.

"I'm so sorry, Brittany."

Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana and held her, gently running a hand over her back, waiting for her to calm down. Once she had, Brittany pulled back a bit.

"What are you sorry for?"

"For doubting you."

Brittany smiled softly. "Yeah. Let's talk about this for a minute. Who was this girl claiming to be my girlfriend?"

Santana shook her head. "I don't know." She told Brittany what had happened and watched as Brittany's face clouded in anger.

"Was she a little shorter than you? Maybe 5'3"? Brown hair, brown eyes, bit of a nose, looked like she'd just escaped from a Catholic boarding school?"

Santana gaped at her and nodded. "How did you know? Is she …"

"No. Absolutely not. Fucking Rachel," she hissed out.

Santana was surprised; she didn't think she'd ever heard Brittany curse.

"I swear, I am non-violent, but I may just kill that bitch. Trying to fuck with my relationship." Brittany seemed to be gearing up for a full blown rant.

"Hey … hey … come back to me." Santana took one of Brittany's hands and ran her thumb over Brittany's knuckles soothingly and cupped her cheek with the other hand, gently tracing her cheekbone. "Rachel?" Santana's nose scrunched in thought. "Rachel you were dating when you took that picture of me? That Rachel?"

Brittany took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Yeah. That Rachel."

"I don't understand."

Brittany took another deep breath. "I haven't seen her since last April. Six months. Before that? I hadn't seen her since the day I broke things off with her. When I saw her in April? I was having dinner with Jenah and Rachel came storming over; yelling about Jenah being a homewrecker and derailing all our plans to be the next New York 'power couple'. I didn't have a chance to say anything before she stormed off. Santana, I swear to you, you are the only woman … the only person … I'm seeing romantically. I told you when we met that I only date one person at a time. I would never, will never cheat on you.

"I don't want to lose you, Santana. I'm not going to do anything that might jeopardize what we have. Besides," Brittany grinned slightly, "when would I have time? I spend all of my free time with you and, if I could, I would spend even MORE time with you."

Santana huffed a small laugh and then nodded. She had known that. Fucking past screwing with her head, making her doubt Brittany.

"I'm sorry."

Brittany shook her head. "You have no reason to be. I mean, I get it. If some chick came up to me and told me to stay away from her girlfriend, I'd be asking questions, too. But that's just it … you came to me and talked to me. You didn't ghost me or ignore me. You didn't just take Rachel's word for it. Thank you for trusting me enough to actually talk to me about it."

Santana smiled and ducked her head. "You can thank Quinn, actually. She helped me see that I was letting my past get in my way. She told me to talk to you."

"I'll have to remember to thank her," Brittany tipped Santana's face up so she could look her in the eye, "but you still had to trust me enough to talk to me. To listen to me. And … you didn't come at me all angry and accusatory. You didn't put me on the defensive." Brittany heaved a sigh of relief. "So, thank you for trusting me. For talking to me and listening to me. For believing in me enough to want the truth and not believe some crazy woman without hearing my side of things. Not that I actually have a side, cuz … don't have a girlfriend. Oh, wait," Brittany smiled brightly, "now I do!"

Santana laughed and whatever tension may have been left, dissipated.

Quinn suddenly slid into the booth across from them.

"Good. You two seemed to have worked things out. Really good. Because that girl? Is crazy. I mean, seriously."

"Yeah. Britt and I talked and … turns out it's her ex."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Figures."

"Brittany?"

Brittany turned and a pretty girl with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes was smiling at her. Brittany smiled and stood up, hugging the girl. "Hey! It's so weird running into you, I was just talking about you." Brittany said as she sat back down. "This is my girlfriend, Santana," Quinn quirked a brow at that, "and her best friend, Quinn. Guys, this is Jenah."

"Nice to meet you both. Wait, Santana? As in 'the most beautiful girl in the world whose smile put shame to the sun'?"

Santana felt herself blush as Brittany laughed. "Yeah. Finally found her. And she just agreed to be my girlfriend."

"Congratulations! I'm happy for you, Britt." Jenah smiled broadly.

"Babe? Sorry I'm late. Oh, hey, Britt!" A girl with mocha skin and dark brown eyes slipped an arm around Jenah's waist.

"Hey Reina! This is my girlfriend Santana and her best friend Quinn. This is Reina, Jenah's girlfriend."

They exchanged hellos and Reina looked at Santana. "Wait. 'The most beautiful girl in the world whose smile put shame to the sun'? Santana?"

"Oh, my god! Brittany! How many people did you tell that to?" Santana knew that, had her skin tone allowed it, she'd be bright red.

"All the people. Every person. I had the whole campus looking for you." Brittany grinned a toothy grin.

Everyone laughed and Santana just shook her head.

"So, why were you talking about me? Telling Santana about our epically bad and ill-advised kiss?"

Brittany laughed. "Actually … Santana just met Rachel this afternoon."

Jenah and Reina's faces were instantly sympathetic.

"That sucks," Reina said.

"Whatever she said? Do not believe. Girl is guano-crazy. Like nuttier than squirrel poop. She actually accosted Reina and I last year, demanding I tell her where Brittany was." Jenah told them.

"Honestly? If I hadn't really liked Jenah, I'd have totally bailed on her. Wouldn't have been worth the drama. Hope she didn't scar you too badly."

Santana shrugged. "Told me to stay away from her girlfriend."

Jenah rolled her eyes. "Talk about how they were destined for New York and how some little nobody isn't going to stand in their way?"

"Essentially, yeah."

"Unbelievable."

"Hey, you guys wanna join us for dinner? We haven't even ordered yet."

Jenah looked at Reina, who nodded. Quinn stood up.

"Quinn, you don't have to go, we can pull up an extra chair."

"Oh, no, I was just stopping to tell you what I found out. Daniel and I are headed into Rochester, we have tickets to see 'Wicked' tomorrow afternoon."

They exchanged goodbyes and the two women sat down to join Brittany and Santana.

The meal was filled with a lot of talking and laughing; the four women got along very well and Santana found herself relaxing in their company. Maybe she had found some new friends? Maybe … she actually could have friends? Other than Quinn? The idea was completely foreign but not unwelcome.

They finished their meals and were getting ready to leave when Reina looked at Jenah and raised her brows. Jenah frowned for a second, then smiled and nodded.

"Hey, Reina won four tickets to the Indigo Girls concert in Rochester. You guys wanna come with?"

Brittany looked at Santana, who just smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great. When?"

"Like, the week after Thanksgiving. I'll text you all the details."

"Awesome. Sounds like fun."

They hugged goodbye, even Santana, and exchanged 'nice to meet you's and 'this was fun we should do it again'. Brittany took Santana's hand and they walked quietly back to Santana's apartment.

"Um … do you wanna come in?" Santana asked. She really wanted Brittany to come in but wasn't sure …

"If you want me to, yes. If you're tired or whatever …"

"No, no. I want you to. Quinn's gone and … yeah, I'm kind of emotionally exhausted. Been that kinda day. I kinda … was hoping … maybe … we could cuddle for a little while?"

"You are too cute." Brittany pulled Santana into her arms. "I will never turn down a chance to spend time with you. And cuddling? Bonus!"

xoxoxoxoxo

After changing into comfortable clothing, Santana turned on the stereo and the two woman cuddled up on the couch. Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana, who had settled between Brittany's legs with her head on Brittany's chest. It wasn't long before Brittany felt Santana relax and heard her breathing even out. She quickly set her alarm, pulled a blanket off the back of the couch, and closed her eyes. She couldn't imagine a better way to end the night.