Chapter 7

For the next few of weeks, Brittany and Santana were busier than ever. With now complete songs, Santana was spending all of the time she wasn't in dance rehearsals in the recording studio, sometimes only coming home after fifteen or sixteen hours. Brittany for her part, was working even worse hours than before. Her bosses had decided that they would work with the seven dancers for a few months, because they were getting such great reviews from the artists they worked with. Brittany herself had been requested by three different clients, forcing her to start her day at 4 AM and only get home by 10 PM. They usually both had a day off in the week, mandated by artist unions or something like that, but as their days off were rarely on the same day, they would often find themselves at work anyway.

Halfway through the fifth month of this though, their loads were finally lightened. Santana had finished recording all of her songs, so she had two weeks off where the producers would listen and, hopefully, approve.

As she walked out of the studio into a bright sunny day for the first time in months, Santana was suddenly engulfed by two strong pale arms, and hit in the face by a cascade of long brilliantly blonde hair. Inhaling the all too familiar scent of coconut, Santana quickly shook off her surprise and wrapped her arms tightly around Brittany's waist. They stood that way, holding each other for almost five minutes, relishing the closeness before being interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

"Didn't you guys see each other this morning? You haven't seen me in half a year."

It was Quinn. Santana pulled back from the chaste kiss she had just placed on Brittany's lips to fix her old friend with her well-rehearsed glare.

"No actually, we didn't see each other this morning. Brittany left before I woke up. And who said I didn't want half a year to turn into a full one?"

Brittany looked between her girlfriend and best friend with a wide smile. To anyone else it would look like they were a second from ripping at each other's throats, but to Brittany, who could see the amused glint in both of their eyes, it was the familiar sight of her oldest friends reuniting.

"HA! As if you could go that long without needing someone to smack some sense into you satan"

Brittany cringed slightly at the old nickname. She had never liked it, but Santana's face broke into a wide smile.

"You always were a genius slapper"

Quinn shrugged, her own smile forming.

"Will you guys just hug already?" Brittany cried after a few more seconds passed.

Dropping the hand that had still been around Brittany's waist, Santana stepped towards Quinn, who opened her arms wide, tugging Santana into a warm hug.

"I missed you bitch"

"Yeah me too preggers"

"Really?" Quinn exclaimed, letting Santana go. "I haven't been pregnant for five years now. Can't you come up with another nickname?"

"Why would I do that when it always puts you in such a good mood?" Santana asked smirking.

"Briiiit" Quinn pleaded.

Brittany took a step towards Santana, placing a hand on her lower back and leaning in to kiss her temple.

"Baby please?" She whispered, between kisses.

Santana exhaled dramatically.

"Pathetic Quinn!"

"It worked didn't it?"

Santana just rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore the smug smirk on Quinn's face.

"What are you doing here anyway? Yale finally kick you out?"

"Please! I wouldn't be shocked if they begged me not to graduate, that's how much they love me there."

"Whatever. I give it a year before you're out of there."

"Okay guys…Not that we're not excited to see you Quinn, but what are you doing here?" Brittany cut in, knowing how easy it is for the two of them to get side tracked by useless arguments.

"Well, everyone in New York won't stop calling me asking if I've heard from you. Apparently since you moved you've been completely MIA. Last week Rachel and Kurt said they were planning to come up here to check on you guys and make sure that you actually are here and weren't murdered or something-"

"Always so dramatic" Santana cut in.

"Wouldn't be Rachel and Kurt otherwise" Quinn said laughing. "But I figured that you were probably ignoring them, so to save you the trauma I told them I'd come check instead."

"Why did you figure we were ignoring them?" Brittany asked nervously. "We've been really busy since we got here. First with unpacking and now both of our schedules are so insane that we barely even speak to each other. Usually I only see Santana when she's sleep-"

"Brittany I'm gonna just stop you there hun" Quinn said, raising one hand to cut Brittany off and then crossing it with the other one over her chest. "I know you guys. I know you guys better than I think even you realise. I knew you were in love with each other before you did, I knew when you started hooking up and I knew, even when you tried to fool yourselves and everyone else along with you with the Sams and Danis of the world, that you were still pinning after each other."

Brittany shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Dani, and Santana crossed her arms defensively.

"What's your point Fabray?"

"My point, is that you can't lie to me. When I asked Brittany why you were moving, she said, 'Unicorns don't live in packs', and then began telling me all these statistics on dancers and musicians in California versus New York."

Santana looked at Brittany with a small smile. She of course knew exactly what Brittany had meant by 'Unicorns don't live in packs' and she couldn't help but swoon at the sheer adorableness that was Brittany S. Pierce.

"Well they don't" Brittany said with a pout, prompting Santana to place a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth.

"No they don't B"

"Well it took me a few weeks to understand what the hell that had meant. Mercedes said that it was probably nonsense that only Santana could decipher like always, but I've always known that nothing you say is nonsense, even if I couldn't understand it."

Brittany smiled broadly at this.

"Okay maybe sometimes you do say some rubbish stuff, but I'm pretty sure you do it on purpose. This particular sentence felt like a hidden message."

"You have a lot of free time Lucy Q" Santana quipped, laughing lightly.

"Don't call me that" she bristled, then Quinn shrugged. "It was just really weird how you guys up and left." She eyed the women in front of her for any signs that they would just answer her unspoken question, but seeing the blank expression on Brittany's face, and the snarky grin on Santana's she knew she was going to have to pry it out of them.

"After about a month of constant calls and emails from everyone, I begun to think maybe they had pissed you off. But then Tina told me that you only got kind of annoyed the day you were announcing your move, so that couldn't be it. Then Sam called me saying some really stupid things about being worried about what Santana was doing to you Britt, and all of a sudden it clicked"

"Did it detective pregg-"

"Santana"

"Sorry B"

Quinn smirked and continued.

"It did."

"Well don't hold out on us now Nancy Drew. Please share with the class" Santana said, brandishing her hand as if to give Quinn the stage.

"You guys were leaving because you needed to move on from the toxic barely functional quote-unquote family that the glee club became. Just like me" she added with a smug smile, looking from the shocked look Brittany was trying to conceal to the impressed one Santana was giving her.

"That's some A-class sloothing Fabray. I'll give it to you, though anyone with half a brain who had spent any amount of time around those band of misfits would have got it. It's nice to know you care enough to connect the dots though"

Quinn smiled at Santana.

"How did you know we would be happy to see you though?" Brittany asked.

"We're the unholy trinity. Can't break up the unholy trinity, you told me that."

Brittany squealed, and pulled Quinn and Santana to her sides, jumping up and down.

"You're SO right Quinn! This is going to be so awesome! The unholy trinity take on San Jose kind of AWESOME"

Santana chuckled while Quinn shook her head, brandishing a toothy smile. The two women looked at each other, sharing a knowing look before both turning to the over excited blonde between them and saying

"Whatever you say Britt." Letting her drag them down the street.

******************************************************************************

"Wait, why don't you have to work B?"

"The big man upstairs finally decided to hire some more dancers after Syth told him how many hours we've been working."

"God?"

"No Quinn, she means her boss"

"Of course she does"

"Anyway Syth demanded that Chad and I take the next client off because we've been working the most, and it so happens to be a month long contract."

"Wow. I'm so glad B. That means you'll be free for my first week of touring"

"I was thinking the same thing when Syth told me."

The three girls had been sitting in the coffee shop a few blocks from their apartment for almost three hours. Quinn had insisted on being given the most detailed run down on their lives in San Jose, and though Santana tried to protest, claiming it was all boring work related stuff, Brittany had been all too happy to oblige.

"Okay so if all goes well and the label approves your songs?"

"Then I start playing gigs. The hope is that people like my stuff enough to start searching them up on iTunes or YouTube and so on, and then we'll start selling tickets to my own shows."

"OMG!" Quinn exclaimed. "I really can't believe this is happening for you Santana. Don't forget me when you blow up and have paparazzi chasing you."

"I plan on denying everyone I knew in Mckinely. Except for Britts obviously." Brittany whooped excitedly.

"Score!"

"And maybe Noah too" Santana added with a thoughtful look.

Brittany stiffened, and Quinn choked on her water.

"Noah who?"

"What do you mean Noah who?" Santana asked amused. "You forget your baby daddy so soon??"

Santana had expected Quinn to reply with something snarky, but Quinn wasn't in the mood.

"Noah…Puckerman?" She asked with a tentative look towards Brittany.

"Ok what the fuck is wrong with you?" Santana asked her, seriously confused by her friend's sudden awkwardness.

"Why is Puck getting remembered when you hit fame?" Quinn asked, hoping that Santana would say something bitchy or funny.

"Well, I don't say it often…or at all really, but Puck is important to me." Santana said shrugging. "We were there for each other when we were both being complete fucking idiots you know? We kinda just get each other that's all" She finished, completely unaware of the effect of what she had just said.

Quinn stared at her, shocked by both what she had said and the fact that she had said it at all. Brittany still hadn't spoken, but her eyes had narrowed.

"Q why the hell are you looking at me like that?"

"Santana what the hell do you mean 'you get each other'?'

"What? Why is that so hard to believe?"

"What do you get each other…about?"

"Stop being a fucking idiot Quinn. That's just how it is, we-"but before she could say what exactly they were, Brittany had stood up and walked out of the shop.

Santana stood up quickly to follow her, but a hand around her wrist stopped her.

"Just let her walk it off S"

"Quinn what the fuck is happening? What does she need to walk off, and why the hell are you looking at me like that?!" Santana asked loudly, feeling herself getting angry.

"Sit down and calm your titties. I'm just shocked that's all."

"What's so shocking about-"

"Shut up I'm getting there. Just let me process"

Santana sat back in her seat and crossed her arms. She was so confused that she didn't even mind the tone Quinn had just used with her. Clearly something she had said had annoyed Brittany, something that hardly happened, so she would sit and wait for Quinn's explanation.

After close to five minutes of silence, Quinn finally exhaled loudly and looked at Santana.

"Senior year 2.0, Brittany and Puck got into a fight."

"WHAT? WHEN? W-"

"Will you please shut the hell up and let me talk?"

Quinn waited for Santana to nod her head before she continued.

"Puck had gone to school to see his brother or kitty or something, and Britt overheard him saying how he was going to Louisville to visit you. He was bragging about all the cheerleaders he'd sleep with or something."

Santana smiled fondly at the memory. It had been an awesome week with Puck that she had really needed after breaking up with Brittany.

"Yeah he stayed with me for a week. So?"

"Well Brittany had apparently been trying to call and text you but couldn't get you or something…"

She trailed off, hoping Santana would give her a reason, but Santana just turned away, looking at the floor.

"Yeah…" She said, close to a whisper.

"Well…"Quinn continued after a moment. "She went up to Puck, asking him all these questions, and Puck just kind of…refused to answer."

She waited again for Santana to say something, but as she had yet to lift her eyes from the floor, Quinn decided to continue.

"Britt hasn't really told me what exactly he said, but from what I gather it wasn't that…nice" Finally Santana looked up. Her brows were deeply furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know Puck, Santana. He's not the nicest person. I've asked him about it and even he won't say what he told her. I've gotten bits and pieces from both of them but the fact that they're so closed lipped about it tells me there's something bad that happened."

Santana closed her eye trying to remember her week with Puck. He hadn't been any weirder than usual. He had tried to get her to sleep with as many people as possible, had made her drink gallons of alcohol, had forbidden any talk of Brittany, and had tried to get into her pants.

"Okaayyy" she drawled out. "So Britt hates him now? Cause of a fight?" she asked. This didn't make sense. She had talked to Puck many times on skype. Britt hadn't expressed any anger towards him then.

"Not exactly. Britt doesn't hate anyone. I think It's more like she's scared of your relationship with him because she doesn't understand it. She called me a couple of times that year, before you came to get her back and she sent you to New York. She'd be crying about how you guys don't talk anymore and her missing you so much, but then out of nowhere she'd start asking me if I've talked to Puck and do I know where he is, do I know if you've talked to him and so on. I think she was scared that he had replaced her as your best friend."

"That's completely insane. No one could ever replace Britt."

"Well…she didn't, or I guess doesn't, seem to think so. Britt has always been used to being your only exception. You're mean to everyone but Britt. You hate everyone but Britt. Then there was a period of time when she wasn't a part of your life, and Puck was. Since then she's been worried that she may not be the only exception."

"And I just confirmed it" Santana said, slapping her forehead.

"Yeah pretty much" Quinn told her simply.

"Why the hell didn't she just tell me all this? Why didn't YOU tell me?!"

"It wasn't for me to te-"

"Why didn't you stop me? Why were you asking stupid questions!? FUCK"

"Santana, I was hoping you were kidding. Like you'd say something really stupid like 'his disgusting mowhawk would keep the paps away' or something. I didn't think you were going to say that he 'gets you'! Why the hell would you say that anyway?"

Santana was letting out a quiet stream of curses in Spanish. Running her fingers through her hair she said, "I didn't mean it like that Quinn. I just meant that we're both stupid afraid of feelings and shit so he gets why I do things and knows how to call me out on my shit. Fuck! What do you think Britt thinks?"

"I think deep down she knows what you meant, but honestly?" Santana nodded. "I think she think there's a part of you that you let Puck see that you hide from her."

"FUCK, why would you say that Fabray!" Santana asked, now on the verge of panic.

"You asked." Quinn was fighting the urge to laugh at the frantic look Santana was giving her. "Look, let's just go find her, and straighten this all out."

"Yeah okay. You go to the apartment and call me if she's there, but I don't think she will be." Santana stood up, tossing Quinn her house keys.

"Ok where are you going?" Quinn asked, standing up.

"To her spot"

And with that, Santana ran out of the shop.

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Brittany sat on a bench close to the water and watched as it shot out of each hole in the ground. She could feel small droplets hitting her arms and legs, but she really didn't care about getting wet. All she cared about was what Santana had said. Puck got her. It was plain and simple. Puck just got her. Why did she have to say that? She could have said anything else. 'Puck knows me'…'Puck and I are the same'… ANYTHING. But instead she had said that Puck got her.

Brittany got her too. Right? Or was she saying that Puck got her in a way that Brittany didn't?

It was all just too much. She felt a little bad for running out on Santana like that, but she couldn't stand to hear anymore of how connected she and Puck were.

All of a sudden Brittany stood up and broke into a run. She ran faster than she usually would, needing to push her mind, her whole body, to forget what Santana had said. But she couldn't. Try as she might. Brittany would just have to accept that there were parts of Santana that she couldn't understand. Quinn understood the bitchy side better than Brittany, Dani understood the lesbian side, and Puck understood…actually Brittany didn't know what Puck understood. She stopped abruptly, bending onto her knees for support as she gulped in air. Maybe this is why she got so disturbed by Puck and Santana's relationship. She said he 'got' her, but what exactly did he get? He was there for her when they were both being idiots she had said. So did he understand the idiot part of Santana? Brittany shook her head violently. This was not the time for stupid thoughts, she chastised herself. What had been Santana's 'idiot' time?

Brittany stood up straight and looked around at her surroundings for the first time. She hadn't been here before. On any other day, she would have been excited to explore new places, but not today. She turned around to head back home and began to walk.

Okay, what could Puck understand that Brittany did not? She didn't know Puck that well, but she guessed that there must be something they had in common. They were both kind of mean…But then, they had all been kind of mean. They both slept with a lot of people…But so did Brittany…and she wasn't so sure that counted for Santana because those were all boys, and she had been trying to fuck away the gay. Her words, not Brittany's.

Brittany stopped walking again, and looked around. Where was she? She had been walking long enough that she should be in familiar territory, but she wasn't. She patted her pockets for her phone before cursing herself deeply. She had managed to lose her phone. Brittany sighed heavily. Great, now she was lost with no way to call for help.

Meanwhile, Santana sat at the bench in front of the water, trying not to cry. She was taking deep breaths to stave off the panic attack she could feel approaching, and it was all she could do to keep from picturing Brittany bleeding out on the street somewhere. In her hands she was squeezing two phones. One was black, with a plain dark red case. The other one, white with a rainbow coloured case that had two cats, Santana wished she was not holding at all.

"Hi, can I use your phone please?" Brittany asked the clerk at the store she had just walked into.

"Umm…we don't usually…I mean…we don't even have...Brittany?" Brittany, who had been absentmindedly looking around the store, spun around to face the boy.

"Chad!?" She said cheerily. "You work here too?"

"Yeah it's my grandfather's store. He makes my sister and I do a few hours a week. What are you doing on this side?"

"I uhh…went for a run." Brittany wasn't sure how comfortable she felt telling Chad that she was lost. "I didn't bring my phone with me and I need to call my girlfriend." She smiled to herself. That wasn't a lie.

"Oh yeah! Sure thing Britt" Chad pulled out his phone from his pocket and handed it to Brittany.

"Thanks" she said, as she punched in the number she knew by heart.

***

"Santana calm down. I'm sure she's okay. She probably just went for a walk or something." There was silence as Quinn watched Santana pace up and down the living room of their apartment like she had been doing for the past hour. "Santana come on! Sit down. Pacing doesn't help anything"

"IT HELPS ME!" Santana screamed. She was in a fit of panic that Quinn didn't know how to stop. She understood that after Brittany's accident, Santana had been a bit more protective of her, but what she was seeing in front of her was very far beyond that. She had never seen Santana so frantic. Her hair was shaggy because she kept running her hands through it, her face was as pale as someone of her complexion could be, her eyes were darting left and right like she couldn't focus on anything, and her whole body was stiff, even as she walked, which was a far cry from Santana's usually confident swaying. Just as Quinn was about to panic over Santana's behaviour, a phone rang.

Santana stopped dead cold, then dashed suddenly to the coffee table where her phone was laying.

"Hello" she said loudly into the phone. The hand holding the phone to her ear was shaking significantly. She was deathly afraid that this was another hospital calling.

Quinn held her breath, fearing the same thing.

"BRITTANY! Where the hell are you? What the hell are you doing?"

Quinn shot up from her chair, with her eyes bulging. She watched Santana's whole body soften as fear left her eyes, replaced by anger. Santana was frowning now.

"Fine, text it to me." Santana said coldly, hanging up the phone.

Santana stood in the living room, staring up at the ceiling. She was breathing heavily.

"What happened Santana?" Quinn asked.

"I'm going to get Britt. Wait here." She picked her keys from the kitchen counter and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door loudly.

20 minutes later, Brittany watched Santana's car pull up at the store, and wasn't sure how to feel. She was happy to see her, but she still felt uncomfortable because of how she had left, and was embarrassed about how she had to call her for help. When she saw Santana come out of the car though, she was filled with an entirely different emotion. Guilt. Santana looked horrible. Her eyes were puffy like she had been crying and her hair was pulled into a messy bun that left hair hanging both at the back and front like it had been done in a hurry. Deciding not to keep her waiting anymore, Brittany thanked Chad and walked out of the store towards Santana, who was leaning against the hood of the car.

The two of them stood facing each other, but neither of them meeting each other's eye. Santana had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring at her shoes, while Brittany took in the rest of Santana's appearance. She had changed out of the clothes she had worn to work and was now in baggy sweatpants and a crop top. Even as her hair and face looked a mess, Santana was still the most beautiful person Brittany had ever seen.

Deciding to go first, Brittany took a step forward, but was stopped by Santana bringing a hand up, lifting her eyes from her shoes and finally looking into Brittany's eyes.

"Quinn told me" She said. Brittany's shoulders slumped. She had wanted to talk to Santana about this at a time when they were both ready. She wasn't sure that she was ready to talk about it or if Santana was ready to hear it. It didn't matter now though.

"Can we talk about this at home?"

"No Britt. We could have talked about this at home if you had told me about this before, or if you had said something at the coffee shop instead of running off for 3 hours."

Santana's tone wasn't cold, but it was as close to it as Santana had ever gotten with Brittany. It was also painfully obvious to Brittany that she was straining to keep herself from yelling.

"I didn't mean to be gone so long"

"Why did you need to be gone at all?"

"I needed to clear my head."

"Right. Did it help?" Santana didn't roll her eyes, but she may as well have. Brittany could feel herself getting angry.

"Don't do that Santana"

"What Brittany? I genuinely want to know whether you running away from me, without even telling me what was wrong, and then disappearing for hours helped clear your head."

"I already told you I didn't mean to be gone for so long."

"Oh then that's okay then."

Brittany scoffed, then she took a deep breath, reminding herself that Santana had been scared, that's why she is acting this way.

"Santana I was okay. I lost my phone, otherwise I would have called you. I'm sorry."

She watched Santana nod her head slowly, and then walk to the driver's door, pull it open and reach in for something. Next thing she knew, something was flying towards her face. Jumping back quickly, Brittany reached out her hand and caught the object. She closed her eyes with a small sigh when she realised that it was her phone.

"I found it at the water feature when I went to look for you after Quinn explained why you left."

"Quinn doesn't know anything. She shouldn't have-"

"No she shouldn't. You should have Brittany. I mean how the hell could we be together for so long and you didn't tell me about Puck? I mean shit we're supposed to be getting married."

Brittany didn't know what to say. She didn't know why, but she had always been afraid to tell Santana about what had happened with Puck. Most of the time she liked to pretend that the period when she and Santana had broken up had actually never happened. Instead of speaking, she shrugged.

"No that's not good enough for me. You're always making me talk about my feelings. All the while you're sitting on all of this? I thought we don't keep secrets."

"I don't know what to tell you Santana."

"Tell me the truth. What happened?"

"It doesn't matter what happened. It's in the past. Let's just leave it alone and go home."

Brittany made a move towards the car but stopped when she heard Santana lock it.

"Really?"

"Why won't you just tell me? It's obviously not in the past because it made you run out of a coffee shop and-"

"HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO SAY THAT?" Brittany yelled, causing Santana to straighten up and drop her hands to her sides. She frowned at Brittany for several minutes before talking again. When she did it was in a painfully level voice that scared Brittany.

"Tell me what happened with Puck, Brittany. I deserve to know, as it obviously is about me. How am I supposed to make you feel better if I don't even really know what's wrong?"

"I didn't ask you to make me feel better. Let's just go home."

Santana looked at Brittany the way she had looked at her only one other time in the entire time they had known each other. The look of betrayal she had given her when Brittany had chosen to stay with Artie. It broke Brittany's heart to see Santana look so hurt, but before she could say anything, Santana had walked up to her, thrust the keys into her hand and walked away.

"Santana!" Brittany yelled.

"Go home" Santana said, without even turning around.

"Where are you going?" she called after her, but she got no reply. Brittany stood there for several minutes, unsure what to do. Should she go after her or should she listen and go home? It was getting dark and she didn't much like the idea of Santana walking all the way back home by herself at this time. Then she remembered the look she had been given and decided it would be best to give Santana some time. So she slowly got into the car, punched home on the GPS and drove home.

********************************************************************************

When she walked into her apartment, Brittany was met by a frantic looking Quinn.

"Britt?! What the hell happened? I wasn't sure if I should call the cops or something. Santana wasn't answering her phone. She just got up and left I didn't even know where she was going. To get you obviously, but the way she said it I mean…I don't know…I thought you were hurt or something." She said all this in one breath while examining Brittany for any sign of injury.

"I'm fine Quinn. I just got lost and didn't have my phone to look up directions."

"Oh okay" Then she slapped Brittany hard across her face.

"JESÚS! What the hell was that for?" Brittany asked angrily, cupping her cheek, which was still stinging.

"You scared me half to death Britt, but Santana? I've never seen her that way before. She was such a fucking mess that I started thinking I should take her to the hospital. I thought she was going to pull out her fucking hair, or have a stroke…or both. Fucking hell."

Brittany slumped onto the couch feeling severely guilty. She had never really known what Santana was like when she was panicking about Brittany. Sure Santana had told her a bit, but hearing it from someone else, specifically Quinn who was never dramatic, made Brittany feel like shit. And now she had let her go off and walk the streets alone at night. She was really sucking at being a girlfriend today.

"Where is Santana?" Quinn asked, just realising that Santana had not followed Brittany in.

Just then Brittany remembered what Quinn had told Santana. "Quinn why the hell did you tell her about me and Puck?" she asked angrily, standing up again.

"She was so confused Britt. And after you just walked out like… how could I not tell her? What was I supposed to say?"

"Anything else!" Brittany nearly yelled. "Now she's asking questions"

"Why don't you just tell her? Keeping this a secret is only going to destroy your relationship"

"It's not a big deal. I don't know why I acted that way earlier. Maybe I'm just tightly wound from work. If you hadn't said anything I could have come up with something to tell her and we'd be past this by now" Britany said exasperatedly.

"You mean lie to her?" Quinn asked suspiciously.

"No I…I just meant..."

"Listen Brittany, you keeping secrets is a full proof way to explode the nice bubble you guys have been in since you got back together."

"What do you mean?"

"Santana had a lot of work to do to get to trusting you again, the same as you."

"What-"

"Oh my god you guys are insufferable. How many times do I have to tell you that I know you? You both call me about your problems and then get shocked when I know what your problems are? What's wrong with you guys?"

"Quinn what are you talking about?" Brittany was thoroughly confused. Why didn't Santana trust her?

"After Santana broke up with you, you didn't trust her. Not fully anyway…It's why you stayed with Sam. It's the same as when she told you she loved you. You chose Artie because you didn't trust Santana's ability to be with you."

Brittany sat silently for a moment, thinking this over. It made sense. She had always hated making both of those choices, and even though she had other reasons that she told Santana, she had never felt that they were fully true.

"Okay..." she said slowly, encouraging Quinn to continue.

"Well, picking Sam kind of cemented this fear that had been growing in Santana since you chose Artie. You never told her you weren't going to graduate, she heard about you and Sam dating from Tina, and then you married him-"

"It wasn't a real-"

"It doesn't matter Britt. Real or not, it really broke Santana. And again she didn't hear about it from you. Then you got into MIT and didn't tell her. She had to be called by Sam and practically force it out of you."

Brittany sat silent again. She hadn't realised how many secrets she had kept from Santana.

"Now try and think of even one thing about Santana that you didn't find out from her."

Brittany thought hard. Every single person Santana had dated, she had told Brittany about it herself. Even the one night stand with Quinn, Santana had called Brittany and told her everything, saying she knew how fast things spread in the glee club and she didn't want her to find out from someone else. She had always been honest with Brittany.

"Nothing…" She whispered. Quinn nodded knowingly.

"When you guys got back together, she had to work really hard to start trusting you. Obviously she didn't think you'd like…cheat or anything" Quinn added hastily at the pained look on Brittany's face. "But she was always feeling like maybe there was something you were hiding from her."

Brittany closed her eyes and leaned back on the couch, replaying Santana's words. 'I thought we didn't have secrets'. Brittany could have just undone years of progress in one night, just because of a stupid fight with Puck. She would take an uncomfortable conversation with Santana over her going back to not trusting Brittany again.

As if on cue, Santana walked into the apartment looking so bleak that Brittany highly anticipated another slap from Quinn. Without wasting any more time, Brittany began the story.

"I had just wanted him to tell me how you were or something. Just anything. You weren't returning my calls or replying to my texts and I missed you so much."

She paused, waiting for Santana to look up at her. Quinn was doing her best to blend into the couch, not wanting to disturb the moment by walking out.

"But he kept saying he wouldn't tell me, that I didn't need to know. So I told him that I'll always need to know, cause it's always going to be me and you, even if we aren't dating. We'll always need each other."

Santana smiled weakly at the knowledge that even after just breaking up with her, Brittany was still so sure that they would always be in each other's lives.

"And then he said…" Brittany broke off, and Santana took a step towards her.

"What did he say?"

"He said that I've never been all you need. That in high school you had needed him too, the way you need him now…well not now but…the then now."

Santana nodded quickly, showing she understood. Quinn scrunched her eyebrows in confusion before nodding her head as well, even though no one was looking at her.

"He said he was there for you now and I didn't need to worry cause 'the Puckersaurus is going to take good care of her'" Brittany said in an uncanny Puck imitation.

Santana shook her head, already understanding where this was going.

"So I told him that you'd be better off without his help, and that you definitely didn't need taking care of by the disgusting Puckersaurus. And he got really angry and…"

"And what Britt?" Brittany shook her head slightly before looking at Santana with pleading eyes.

"It doesn't matter anymore Santana, if I tell you you're just going to get upset. We really don't need-"

"I need Brittany. I need to know." Santana said in a hushed voice.

Brittany nodded sullenly. "He said that you obviously didn't find him that disgusting when you were with him for two years before me. That you must have liked it more than me cause we didn't get to two years before we broke up, and now as soon as we were broken up you had called him." Quinn and Santana both shook their heads. Puck and Santana weren't even dating for most of those two years. "He said that you could always find another dumb blond to love. That there were just some things that I would never get about you that he did, parts so important that no matter what happened between me and you, you would always need him. 'People fall in and out of love all the time,' he said, 'but the way me and Santana get each other doesn't happen all that often.'" Brittany finished the story close to tears.

"That idiot" Quinn muttered angrily.

"Britt, Puck has always liked breaking people up. He's a real idiot troublemaker-"

"But you said it too. You said it today, that you get each other. You said the same thing." Brittany was fighting hard not to cry.

"Brittany, the fact that Puck understands what it's like to be an idiot is about as important as it is for Quinn to understand what it's like to have someone in your family turn their backs on you."

Brittany was taken aback by the comparison. She couldn't see why that was so important.

"I don't get it" she said.

"Noah and I worked as a couple, if you could even call it that, because we never talked about our feelings. We hung out, messed around, got drunk and that was it. When you and I started getting more serious and I stopped sleeping with him, he asked me why. I never actually told him, but we kind of started talking about how we never thought we were relationship people…" Santana trailed off with a quick look towards Quinn.

"Then we started dating, and he kind of decided that I had to succeed at it because if I could then so could he. So whenever I felt like running or messing up what we had, I'd call Noah and he'd remind me how shit my life is without you. It was better than a pep talk from Quinn because more than anything Quinn wanted to be loved, so she'd definitely not understand what I was scared of."

"And better than talking with me because?"

"It wasn't better than talking with you Britt. My talks with him would go something like 'Britt loves you Santana, and you love her. You'll regret it if you mess it up with her, but if you do, the Puckersaurus is always here to cheer you up.' And I'd remember where I was before I let myself love you." Santana gagged at the thought. "But with you, you always reassured me that you loved me no matter what. I knew that even if I was scared, I couldn't mess it up because you would always be there for me. Eventually I realised I didn't have anything to be scared of in the first place. You fixed me Britt. Puck was just there to remind me that I deserved you."

"What?" Brittany and Quinn said together.

"Puck and I…We come from families that never really cared where we ended up. Britt your family is just completely awesome and Quinn, what they did sucked, but until that moment they cared about you. They were invested in your everyday life. You guys grew up knowing you mattered. Me and puck… we didn't have that. We had to do things to get their attention. So we got into a lot of trouble, and I spent a lot of money so that my dad would at least talk to me about cutting back. My grandmother actively broke me down. I was either too skinny, too loud, not Hispanic enough, not pretty enough, spoiled, you name it. Our parents didn't care if we came home, if we were being bullied, if our grades were good, if we had friends. They didn't care about anything."

Brittany and Quinn looked at each other, then back at Santana with sad eyes as she continued talking.

"You hear something enough times, you begin to believe it you know? So we kind of grew up knowing that we didn't really matter."

"You matter Santana" Brittany said forcefully. Santana smiled sweetly.

"I know that now B. Because of you. You made me believe that I matter, and I love you so much for it. But Noah, he kind of helped me love you despite not feeling like I should."

Brittany walked to her and gave Santana a tight hug. When she pulled back, Santana said,

"I don't need Puck anymore Britt. I didn't always need him and I won't always need him. He was just a necessary person for me to have in my life at a time when I had no idea what I was doing, and that means something to me. Hearing from someone who feels as useless as I did that it's okay for me to be loved made me believe it more than hearing it from someone who I thought at the time, didn't really get how worthless I was. But I was so wrong Britt, because you've always known everything about me. You get me more than anyone ever has…Puck, Quinn, or anyone else may get small parts of me, but you see me for more than just one part Britt. You see everything."

Brittany couldn't contain herself anymore. She bent down and kissed Santana deeply. She dragged her hands up her body and brought one hand to the back of her neck while the other tangled in her hair. She could feel tears wetting both her and Santana's cheeks and didn't know if it was because they were both crying, or she was and it was dripping onto Santana's cheeks, but she didn't care. She loved the feel of Santana's tongue against hers, her hands tugging at her waist, pulling her impossibly closer.

A loud cough broke them apart just as Santana's hands had found their way into Brittany's shirt.

"As glad as I am that you guys are all lovey dovey again, I have to stop you there before the clothes come off. First, I'm still here and have nowhere else to go. Second, there's someone at the door. Third, it's gross. Forth-"

She was cut off as Santana walked to the door and threw it open.

"Hey neighbours!"

It was Elaine.