Chapter Text
They're six when they first meet.
It's the first day of the school year, and the class is buzzing around her; friends greeting one another after a summer apart, and kids holding desperately onto their parents, begging them to stay. As Santana's mother says goodbye before she leaves for work, a blonde head stands out in the crowd of people standing in her first-grade classroom. The face is new, Santana notes, she's never seen her before.
Santana's mom kisses her softly on the cheek and waves goodbye as she backs out of the classroom. Some of the kids around her are crying or snuggling into parents, Santana feels a strong urge to roll her eyes – this isn't their first year of school, they should be used to this by now, it's pathetic.
She makes her way over to her cubby to stow her backpack. The blonde girl catches her eye again. She clings desperately to the leg of blond woman, who Santana assumes is her mother. The girl looks absolutely terrified and suddenly Santana feels a wave of guilt for ever thinking that people who cling to their parents are pathetic. This girl is anything but pathetic, her blue eyes well with tears as her mother bends down and mutters something softly in her ear. Santana tries not to stare as the girl bites her lip and shakes her head, but still loosens her grip on her mother's leg.
The lady kisses her daughter's head and walks out of the classroom.
Santana tries not to stare as the girl remains frozen on the spot her mom left her. The girl's teeth dig even deeper into her lip, an obvious effort to prevent herself from crying. Her fists clench tightly at her sides. She's like a statue, completely still.
Santana is about to step forward and help the girl when their teacher, Miss Clifford appears beside the blonde and gently rests a hand on her shoulder. The girl's brow furrows as Miss Clifford whispers something to her before leading her over to where the rest of the class is sitting in a circle on the carpet in front of the whiteboard.
She quickly joins the class, wanting to sit next to the blonde girl, but Miss Clifford guides her to the spot next to her chair, and Santana is stuck on the opposite side of the circle. Miss Clifford introduces herself to the class and points to where her name is written on the whiteboard beside her. Santana feels a jolt of pride at the fact she can read clearly what it says next to her name; 'Welcome! Who's ready for a great year?'
Miss Clifford reads the words out loud and then announces that she's going to lead them in an introduction game. Again, Santana resists the urge to roll her eyes, it's a dumb idea – with the exception of the blond girl, Santana has known all of the people since preschool. Lima's a small town, there's only one of everything.
The introductions begin, 'I'm Miss Clifford and I'm nice… During summer vacation I went to the beach.'
They go around the circle, the adjectives are basic: happy, kind, strong, sad, mad etc. The vacations are even more basic: visiting family, going to the park and going shopping.
The game reaches Santana, 'I'm Santana,' she says, bypassing the adjective – she doesn't know how to describe herself, 'I stayed with my Abuela during the summer.'
Miss Clifford takes this as a prompt and asks, 'Where does your Abuela live, Santana?'
Santana doesn't answer, she doesn't want the class to know her grandma lives in Lima Heights Adjacent – she doesn't want them to know that until the summer she lived in Lima Heights Adjacent, she was staying with her Abuela while they set up the new house in Lima Heights, the nice, rich part of town.
She just shrugs and gestures to Noah Puckerman, who sits on her right to continue the game.
When the game reaches the blonde girl, she sits there in silence, staring wide-eyed at the unfamiliar faces staring at her. For the second time that day, Santana watches her bite her lip and clench her fists. Her blue eyes blink rapidly, and she shakes her head intensely before dropping her gaze to the ground.
Their teacher smiles softly and turns to face the class, 'Everyone, this is Brittany. She's just moved from Washington, so she doesn't know anyone here. Can everyone say hello to Brittany?'
'Hello Brittany,' The class echoes loudly. Santana keeps her eyes focused on the blond, Brittany, the name suits her, it's sweet and soft and Santana can tell just by looking at her that Brittany is both of those things.
Brittany lifts her eyes to look at her classmates and raises her hand in a tiny wave before Miss Clifford smiles at her again and asks, 'Is there anything you want to tell the class about yourself or your summer vacation?'
Brittany drops her eyes to the ground again and doesn't say anything. Santana feels a pang of sympathy for her, she doesn't know anyone, she looks so lonely even in a room full of kids.
Miss Clifford then splits them into pairs, announcing they will begin the day with some painting to ease them back into the school year. Unlike most elementary art lessons, there is no set painting that they need to do. Miss Clifford simply instructs them to paint something they did over vacation, they can work on one painting together or on their own, as long as they share the paint and paintbrushes with each other and don't push their partners painting off the table.
She chooses the pairs based on who they will sit next to for the remainder of the year due to the arranged seating chart. She asks them all to find their nametags on the tables and sit together with the person next to them and wait for her to pass out materials.
Santana is seated on a table of four, next to Eloise Salzburg, a small girl with midnight black hair and pale white skin – she reminded Santana of Snow White in the book her and Mami read together last night before bed, not that Santana would ever tell anyone that, she didn't want people to know she read fairy tales. Both Eloise and Santana glance at one another and immediately select two pieces of paper to paint separately, Santana notices that Eloise deliberately shifts her chair to the side of the table so she's further away from Santana and closer to Kurt Hummel and Mike Chang who sit opposite them. Santana just shrugs and looks down at the paint, she's used to people not wanting to sit with her since she yelled at Noah Puckerman in Spanish on the second day of kindergarten for stealing her crayon. He spread a rumour that she was a witch and so Santana sat alone for the rest of the year.
Across the room she sees Brittany sitting next to Rachel Berry who has a firm grip on her arm as she informs Brittany that they will be doing a joint painting as a team-building exercise since Brittany is new. She talks at a rapid pace, directly into Brittany's ear, Santana can feel herself getting annoyed and she can barely hear Rachel's voice. Brittany doesn't appear to mind though; she lets Rachel guide her without saying a word back. Rachel doesn't check if anything she's doing is okay, just grabs a pencil and begins tracing an outline of their drawing, her left hand still placed on Brittany's arm.
Santana decides that tracing her painting first is a good idea, so she also picks up a pencil and begins to draw a house – her new house, since its big and pretty and isn't falling apart like her one in Lima Heights Adjacent was. If anyone asks she'll tell them it's her Abuela's house, the one she stayed at over summer, no one needs to know where she used to live. She's proud of her new house, proud of her Papi for finally getting a job at Lima General Hospital, one he'd been working to get since he finished med school the year after Santana was born. She sketches her family too; her, Mami, Papi and Abuela, she wants to show them this when she gets home, make sure they know she loves the new house and she loves them even more.
She's just picked up the red paint to start painting the roof of the house when Rachel's voice screeches across the classroom, 'No, Brittany! You can't put the orange there!'
Santana looks up in time to see Rachel snatch a paintbrush out of Brittany's hand, holding it high above her head and looking down at their painting in absolute devastation. Miss Clifford was already making her way over to the girls, kneeling down beside them while asking what's wrong. Santana grabs the brown paint and begins to paint the outlines of the windows while Rachel launches into a detailed explanation of what they were painting together.
'She started to paint the apple orange. Apples aren't orange, everyone knows that,' Rachel states, tears pouring out of her eyes.
Next to her, Brittany remains silent, biting her lip again, her eyes flickering between the painting and Rachel. She doesn't say a word as Miss Clifford asks Rachel to apologize for snatching and yelling, she doesn't do more than shrug and furrow her brow when Miss Clifford asks her to apologise to Rachel for painting the apple orange without asking first. When Rachel gets handed a new piece of paper, she informs Brittany she will be painting this one alone – 'in the right colours.' Brittany simply sits back down and picks up her paintbrush again, filling the apple in orange. Santana can tell, even from across the room that not a single stroke of orange ends up outside the lines.
She looks down at her own painting and suddenly feels as though her messy brush strokes and odd pencil lines aren't good enough to show her family after all. She slows herself down and tries to get her paint perfectly in the lines. She's concentrating so hard that she didn't hear the bell for recess ring until her classmates starting moving around her, carrying their paintings to the back of the room where Miss Clifford is hanging them on a rack to dry. Santana looks down at her incomplete painting, it's definitely not good enough to give to her family now, she'll have to finish it at home. She stands up and carefully carries her artwork to Miss Clifford, feeling slightly disappointed that she didn't finish, she really wanted to show her mom when she got picked up.
She goes to her cubby and pulls out her lunchbox, as she heads to the door to follow her classmates outside, she notices Brittany still sitting at her table, paintbrush in hand. Santana doesn't make a conscious decision to walk over to her, but her feet carry her towards Brittany's hunched form. She pulls up the chair next to her and sits down, Brittany doesn't look up.
'Watcha painting?' She asks.
Brittany glances up at her but doesn't say anything, her eyes flick back to the page and she keeps going. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Miss Clifford look at them still in the classroom, she expects her come over and ask them to go outside, but she just sits at her desk, keeping an eye on them. Santana takes that as a good sign and pulls her recess out of her lunchbox.
She opens her packet of crisps and pops one in her mouth before holding them up to Brittany, 'You want one?' She offers.
Brittany looks up again, this time casting her eyes properly over Santana and her crisps as though she is seizing her up, she just stares for a moment before shaking her head. Santana shrugs and eats another crisp.
'This is my cat,' Brittany says, answering Santana's first question. Her voice is barely above a whisper, but Santana hears her clearly, 'Her names Charity.' She points to the black and white blob on the page that Santana can clearly identify as a cat. 'She's really old and she's going blind,' Brittany continues, 'My mom says that she can't see colours properly anymore.'
Santana nods when Brittany looks up for confirmation that she's listening. Santana thinks it would be impossible not to listen, Brittany's voice is calming in a strange way, its soft and beautiful Santana decides.
'Her favourite food is apples, but she can't tell that they're red or green, so I painted it orange, 'cause that's how it looks to her.' She explains.
Santana nods again, 'That's clever.'
Brittany smiles at her, and it lights up her face, making her eyes look like they're dancing. 'Thanks,' She says, 'She got lost when we first moved here, I was so scared she wasn't going to come back. That's why I painted this because it was the best part of my summer when she came home.'
Santana smiles back, 'I'm glad she came home, I don't have any pets, but if I did and I lost it I'd be really sad,' She pauses, 'I'm Santana,' she holds out her hand.
Brittany giggles, and grabs it, shaking, 'I know, you said it in the circle.'
'I didn't know if you were listening,' Santana shrugs.
'I'm Brittany,' is all she says back.
'I know.' Santana looks down, suddenly slightly embarrassed. When she looks back up, Brittany is still looking at her intently, her eyes curious. Santana smiles, Brittany smiles back.
'What did you paint?' Brittany asks.
'I painted my house,' Santana ignores her earlier decision to tell people it was her Abuela's house, 'and my family in front of the house.' She looks down again, 'It's not very good though, it's messy and I didn't finish.'
Brittany tilts her head, 'I'm sure it's great, it doesn't need to be finished to be perfect.'
Santana doesn't know why, but Brittany's words calm her, 'Do you think it's good enough to give to my parents?'
The look Brittany gives her says everything, 'Of course.'
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The bell rings to end the day, and Santana waits by her cubby for her mom to pick her up. Sometimes her mom is late, when she can't get off work Santana is the last one left in the classroom. Brittany's mom had been waiting since before the bell, and Santana sees how excited Brittany is to see her – she hadn't spoken to anyone except Santana, remaining silent as Rachel babbled next to her about math. Santana had sat with her outside at lunch, but Rachel also sat with them – 'I know you're not a witch Santana, so I can sit with you' – so Brittany hadn't spoken.
Brittany's mom leans down and talks softly to her daughter, Brittany shrugs, but when her mom stands up and grabs her hand to lead her out the door, she turns around and flashes a quick smile at Santana. She smiles back and Brittany disappears down the hallway.
She hovers by her cubby as all the other kids and their parents slowly leave the classroom. Eventually, it's just Santana, Rachel and one of her dads who is talking to Miss Clifford, Rachel tries to talk to her, but Santana gives her a look and she turns back to her dad. Santana pulls her backpack out of her cubby, before sitting cross-legged on the ground, pulling the bag to her chest, unzipping it and pulling out her painting.
She stares at the small version of her family, which she knows doesn't really look very much like her family, but she thinks you can still tell it's them. Three dark-haired adults and one smaller dark-haired girl. Rachel and her dad leave the classroom and Santana hears Rachel launch into a detailed explanation of her day the moment her feet cross the doorway.
Miss Clifford crouches down beside Santana, 'Who's picking you up, Santana?'
'My mom,' Santana shrugs, 'Work makes her stay longer sometimes, I need to wait next to my cubby until she gets here.'
'Where does your mom work?' Miss Clifford asks, Santana hadn't said much all day and she wanted to learn more about the girl.
Santana shrugs again, 'She's a nurse at an old people's home, it's far away.'
Miss Clifford nods, the nearest nursing home was at least half an hour away, 'Okay, well I'll wait with you until she gets here, do you want some paper to draw?'
Santana shakes her head.
'I saw you talking to Brittany today,' Santana looks up at her teacher who continues speaking, 'It was very nice of you to go sit with her. She didn't talk to anyone else, not even me, you must be very special if Brittany wanted to talk to you,' She smiles.
Santana just nodded, 'She was nice, I wanted to talk to her.'
Miss Clifford nods, 'I'm very glad you did. I'm proud of you, Santana, for making her feel welcome.'
Santana smiled, properly this time, 'Thank you.' Her voice was softer when she spoke.
At that moment, Santana heard the familiar click of her mom's work shoes coming down the hallway and pulled herself off the floor as her mom entered the classroom.
'I'm so sorry Mija, the traffic was bad, I even left work early for you,' She pulls Santana into a tight hug.
'It's okay,' Santana mumbles into her leg.
Her mom smiles at Miss Clifford, 'Thank you for waiting with her.'
'Anytime, I understand it can be difficult, she's a lovely girl so I don't mind having her around for a bit longer. I wasn't going to leave for a while anyway.'
Her mom thanks Miss Clifford again, before looking at Santana, 'What did you do today, Mija?'
Santana holds up her painting, 'It's us,' She explains, 'In front of the new house.'
'It's beautiful,' Maribel runs her hands over the painting, 'It can be the first thing hanging on the fridge.'
Santana tucks her head into her mom's side, 'I did it so you know I love the new house, and I'm proud of Papi for getting his new job.'
'Wow, Mija, proud is a big word. I bet Papi's going to be very proud of you for this painting, how about we take it home so it's ready on the fridge to show him?' Maribel presses a kiss into her daughter's head.
Santana nods and turns to Miss Clifford, 'Bye, I'll see you tomorrow.'
'Bye Santana, have a good afternoon.' She turns back to her desk as Santana and Maribel walk out the door. She's intrigued by the small girl, who barely said a word all day, even actively avoiding direct questions that were part of the schoolwork. She was by no means as quiet as Brittany, but there was something about the way she stayed quiet that made her think that she was guarding herself. She recalled hearing Rachel say something about a witch to Santana at lunch. Yet, despite the walls she had created around herself, she'd still spoken to Brittany, she'd started the conversation, and Brittany had responded, in none of the three times Miss Clifford had met her, including today, Brittany had never uttered a word, not even to her mother.
She stands up and crosses the room, grabbing Santana's name tag off her desk, walking to Brittany's and placing it on the spot next to hers, replacing Rachel and instead moving her to Santana's old spot.
Maybe, she thought, these two have the potential to open each other up.
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When Santana enters the classroom the next day, she falters for a second when she sees Rachel Berry sitting at her desk with a scowl on her face. It takes her another two steps to realise that the nametag on her desk, or old desk now, says Rachel. She glances at Miss Clifford who is looking at her but doesn't say anything, her eyes scan the desks until they land on 'Santana' placed on the spot next to Brittany. She doesn't have any visible reaction to the placement, but she feels her insides squirm at the thought of getting to sit next to the blond.
Brittany isn't there yet, so Santana sits in her chair and waits for her to arrive. Her feet only just touch the ground and she taps her toes on the floor, eyes flittering between Rachel who is still glaring at her and the door on the opposite side of the room where Brittany will enter at any moment.
She almost misses it when Brittany actually does enter, it's only a few seconds before the bell rings to signal the start of class. The small blond clings to her mothers' leg, just like yesterday, together they kneel in front of Brittany's cubby and lift her backpack off her shoulders, placing it on the shelf. Her mother unzips the bag and pulls out a bright pink lunchbox, sliding it next to the bag before leaning down and whispering in Brittany's ear. Brittany nods and points to the lunchbox, her mother smiles in confirmation. She takes Brittany's hand and leads her to Miss Clifford, talking to the teacher while gesturing to her daughter and then back to the lunchbox in the cubby.
Brittany's mother leans down and gives Brittany a kiss on the head, prying her hands off her leg and giving her a gentle nudge in the direction of her table before leaving. Unlike yesterday, Brittany doesn't stand still for very long, instead, she heads straight over to the table, head down, fists clenched. She only stops when she lifts her head as she reaches the table. She notices Santana sitting in Rachels spot and freezes, her face squishing up in confusion. Santana thinks is a strange look, like the one her Abuela gave her when she told her that she didn't want people to know she lived in Lima Heights Adjacent, and she had to park away from the school so no one would see her run-down old car. The face looked weird on Abuela, but adorable on Brittany.
'Me and Rachel swapped seats,' Santana says.
Brittany's face immediately changes, the confusing melting and an entirely different look taking its place. Santana can't identify what the expression is, she's never seen anyone pull that face before. It's a mixture of happy, excited, relieved and overwhelmed all at once. Santana decides she wants to see that face a lot more often.
In a classroom full of people, Brittany doesn't say anything at all, she just looks at Santana and takes her seat, her face fading back to neutral. Her eyes never leave Santana's though.
Brittany remains silent throughout the whole morning. They're working on writing, something they started last year, and Miss Clifford writes words on the whiteboard for them to copy down. Santana doesn't say anything either, she just picks up a blue pencil from the holder in the centre of the table and begins to write the words; happy, book, pack, big, small, sad and best. Santana already knows all the words, so she sits silently after she finishes as the rest of the class copies them down. Beside her, Brittany is alternating between colours for each letter, creating rainbow words on her paper, her letters are wonky and misshapen, but she does manage to write all the words.
Miss Clifford calls on people to sound out the words and sees if they know what they mean. She starts with Rachel, who correctly identifies happy and gives a long-winded explanation of what it means to feel the emotion.
They get to small and Miss Clifford looks at their table, Santana can see her eyes fix on Brittany who is looking at her paper. Santana shakes her head a tiny bit, just enough for the teacher to notice and shift her eyes to Santana instead.
'Santana, can you read the next word?' She asks.
Santana nods, 'Small,' She replies. 'It means little, it's the opposite of big,' She gestures to the previous word.
Miss Clifford nods and moves on.
Brittany and Santana don't say another word for the rest of the morning. They complete worksheets about the words, and Santana pretends not to notice when Brittany leans over to copy her answers in slow, deliberate letters.
When the bells rings for recess, Santana gets her lunchbox from her cubby and heads to a spot, just outside the classroom, sitting with her back against the wall. A few moments later, Brittany joins her, sitting next to her. They stay silent as the rest of the class files out of the room and heads to various areas of the playground. Rachel gives them a dirty look as she walks past but doesn't sit with them. Santana feels a rush of excitement that maybe Brittany will talk to her if no one is around.
She opens her lunchbox and pulls out two Oreos wrapped in brown paper – she offers one of them to Brittany who shakes her head. Santana shrugs and twists the first cookie, eating the side without icing first, before popping the other half in her mouth. She takes a sip of her Juicebox before doing the same with the second cookie.
Brittany giggles at her. Santana quirks her head, unsure as to what was so funny. Brittany keeps giggling as she mimes Santana eating her Oreo, dramatically twisting her hands and throwing her head back as she puts the imaginary cooking her mouth. Santana giggles too, Brittany repeats the motion and Santana copies her, making the movements even bigger. They keep laughing and Santana never wants to stop, the look on Brittany's face as she throws her head back and holds her tummy is just as good as the unidentifiable look from earlier.
Brittany's laughter does cut off abruptly as Miss Clifford walks out the door, holding a pick lunchbox.
'You left this inside,' She says, passing it to her.
Brittany's face falls as she takes the lunchbox, placing it on the ground in front of her. Miss Clifford doesn't say anything else, just walks back inside. She felt bad for interrupting the girls who had clearly been making progress, but Whitney Pierce had asked her to make sure Brittany got her lunch today, yesterday she'd returned home with all the food uneaten. She'd told her that Brittany's mind tended to wander and with all the changes associated with the move, she had probably just forgotten about her lunch.
Santana watched as Brittany didn't open her lunchbox, just sat with it in front of her. She kept her eyes down again and didn't look up at Santana.
'It's okay if you don't want to eat, sometimes I'm not hungry.' Santana says.
Brittany's eyes dart upwards and for the first time Santana becomes aware of just how blue they are, it's like looking into pools of the bluest water. Like when Rachel went to Hawaii last year and showed the class pictures of the water she swam in. Brittany's eyes were the colour of the water in Hawaii, clear and filled with something that Santana didn't really understand.
Brittany's voice is barely above a whisper when she speaks, 'Thanks.' She unzips her lunchbox and pulls out a container of pre-sliced apple, 'Do you want this? Mom got sad yesterday when I didn't eat them.'
Santana nods and takes the apples. She's not hungry but she eats them anyway, she doesn't want Brittany to get in trouble. She hands back the empty container just as the bell rings and they stand up to head back inside for class to start again.
Just like the previous day, recess is the only time they speak. For the rest of the day, they only engage in silent conversations, Santana pointing things out to Brittany as they work, helping her with schoolwork, while Brittany gestures to things in the classroom that Santana has never noticed before. Together they observe the way Noah Puckerman annoys Rachel by constantly placing his hand on her desk, and the way Miss Clifford only just refrains from rolling her eyes every time Rachel attempts to complain about it.
At lunch, Miss Clifford is on playground watch and hovers near the girls, never looking at them, but close enough that Brittany doesn't speak. Instead, they talk with their eyes, Brittany looking down at her lunch and then up at Santana until Santana takes her jelly sandwich and eats it after her own ham one.
That afternoon, Santana's mom arrives on time and she barely has time to wave goodbye to Brittany before she's being whisked out the door her mom saying something about a surprise visit to Abuela. Out of the corner of her eye, she does catch Brittany's mom smiling when she sees the empty lunchbox next to her backpack. She feels a swell of happiness that she was able to help Brittany.
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It takes a week for Santana to get worried about Brittany. She's not worried about Brittany not talking, she knows that she's just shy, and she talks when she's comfortable. Besides, Santana likes their silent conversations, no one else knows what they're saying, it's like a secret language.
Santana gets worried about the fact that Brittany never seems to eat at school. She always refuses to eat the snacks Santana offers her, and every day since the second day of school, she passes her food to Santana to eat – or when Santana doesn't want it, she throws it in the bin.
At first, she thinks that Brittany just isn't hungry, which she understands, sometimes she isn't hungry and doesn't eat her lunch either. But, by the third day, Santana knows that she must be hungry, even if she is eating at home – she's always extra hungry if she skips lunch the day before.
Then, Santana wonders if Brittany is sick – she's never hungry when she's sick. But Brittany doesn't seem sick, and if she was sick, why would she be at school?
On the fourth day, Santana realises that Brittany never brings her lunchbox out to recess or lunch, she only gets it when Miss Clifford brings it out to her. Brittany's face falls every time it happens, Santana realises that maybe she just doesn't want her food at all. She doesn't know why; it's always nice food.
After the fifth school day where Brittany gives Santana her food, she knows she needs to tell someone.
That evening after dinner she crawls up next to her mom on the couch. 'Mami,' She says, 'I'm worried about Brittany.'
Maribel looks down at her and frowns, 'Who's Brittany?'
'I sit with her at school, we sit together at recess and lunch too.'
Maribel nods, 'Okay, why are you worried about her?'
Santana frowns this time, wringing her hands together, 'She never eats her food,' She explains, 'She gives it to me, or she throws it in the bin, she said her mom gets sad when she doesn't eat it. I thought she just wasn't hungry on the first days, but she still hasn't eaten any.'
'She hasn't eaten at all?' Her mom asks.
Santana shakes her head.
Her mom nods, 'I'll talk to your teacher tomorrow.'
Santana moves to leave the couch, but Maribel grabs her arm.
'Thank you for telling me,' She smiles at her daughter, 'You are a very smart young lady.'
Santana doesn't answer, she just snuggles into her mother's side.
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Papi drops her at school in the morning, so that day Brittany gives Santana her lunch again, Santana feels guilty as she takes it and eats it, but her mom had said she'd talk to Miss Clifford and she trusts her Mami.
Maribel is in the classroom the moment the bell rings that afternoon, quickly pulling Miss Clifford aside to talk to her. Santana stays by her cubby, so she can't hear what the two women are saying, but she watches her mom's worried look as she nods her head in Santana's direction.
Brittany smiles at her as she walks out, but Santana barely registers it, focused on the look of concern on Miss Clifford's face. Brittany's gone by the time she looks up to talk to Brittany's mom, she turns back to Maribel and says something to her, Maribel nods and says something back.
Santana stays completely still. Her body feels strange, she feels as though she's done something wrong even though her mom told her she did the right thing. The emotion washes over her in waves, a mixture of guilt, regret and a sense of achievement.
When they get home, her mom gives her a cut-up orange for afternoon tea, and as she eats it, Maribel tells her that they're going to go to school early in the morning and have a meeting with Brittany, her mom and Miss Clifford.
Santana doesn't even make it to the bathroom before she throws up, the feeling growing worse inside of her.
She skips dinner that night, not wanting to throw up again – knowing it was because of the weird feeling but trying to convince herself it was because of the food.
She lies in bed trying to sleep, hunger and the feeling gnawing at her stomach, wondering if this is how Brittany feels every day at school.
In the morning, Maribel decides Santana isn't going to school that day. She also decides that they will go in for the meeting but come home afterwards because it's too late to cancel on Mrs Pierce and Miss Clifford.
Santana skips breakfast.
Brittany and her mom are already in the classroom when they get to school, Santana sits in the corner furthest from Miss Clifford's desk as Maribel tells them she's sick and they'll go home afterwards. Miss Clifford gives her a sympathetic smile and turns her attention back to Brittany's mom who is saying something and gesturing to her daughter.
Santana puts her head down on the desk and tries to ignore the way the feeling is swirling inside of her, making everything else difficult.
She can hear the three women talking in hushed voices on the other side of the classroom and clutches her stomach as the feeling gets worse.
She stays like that for a few minutes until she feels a tap on her shoulder. She lifts her head and her eyes meet Brittany's perfect blue ones; the feeling begins to simmer down within her. Brittany smiles at her, and gestures to the drawing she was doing, she holds up a blue pencil and places it in Santana's hand before pointing to the outline of a girl, signalling Santana to colour her dress blue.
They colour together in silence, having conversations with their eyes. Brittany asks Santana to pass her the yellow, and she does, Santana moves her eyes to look at the tree and Brittany automatically picks up the green and starts colouring the leaves.
Santana realises that being around Brittany makes the feeling go away.
She doesn't know how long they've been colouring for when Brittany's eyes suddenly dart up to their moms and Miss Clifford.
She tilts her head, as though she only just noticed they were there, 'Do you know what they're talking about?' She asks.
Santana feels the feeling wash over again and panics, 'No.'
The feeling gets worse immediately. She jumps up and runs across the room, kneeling over the wastebasket and dry heaving into it.
Her mother is at her side in seconds, holding her hair up and rubbing her back. There's nothing in Santana's stomach, so she coughs up bile for a few minutes before just sitting there breathing heavily,
She doesn't want to turn around because she knows Brittany will be watching her.
Her mom wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her up, she vaguely hears Brittany's mom say something about calling Maribel later, but her head is spinning too much to register exactly what's going on. The waves of the feeling get worse and worse and it's not until she lifts her into her arms and holds her to her hip like a baby that her head stops spinning. She tucks her head under her mom's chin and wraps her arms around her, wanting her mom to make it feel better.
She knows her mom is whispering soothing things in her ear, but it's Brittany's voice that breaks through her fuzz in her brain, 'Bye Santana,' Her sweet voice says, louder than Santana has ever heard her talk, 'I hope you feel better tomorrow.'
Santana sleeps the rest of the day, the feeling has gone away slightly, but it still lingers low in her stomach.
Her mom calls her dad at work and asks him to take a look at her when he gets home. He comes home early and sits beside her on her bed, he lifts his hand to her forehead and presses a palm into her stomach. As he checks her temperature, the phone downstairs rings, and Santana's stomach drops when she remembers Brittany's mom saying she'd call later.
She throws her blanket off and rushes down the stairs, suddenly determined to get to the phone before her mom. She doesn't make it. She hasn't eaten over 24 hours, and her run is more like a fast, wobbly walk. She hears her mom say, 'Hello Whitney,' just as she makes it to the kitchen.
Her legs are shaking as she makes her way across the kitchen. Her mom looks over at her as she wobbles to the counter and grabs onto it to hold herself up.
'Mija,' She says, looking concerned, 'Go back to bed.'
Santana shakes her head, 'I want to talk to Brittany.'
Maribel places her hand over the phone and sigh, 'Go sit on the couch and I'll ask her mom if it's okay.'
Papi followed Santana into the kitchen and hoists her into his arms, carrying her to the living room and setting her down on the couch. He places a gentle kiss on her forehead and sits down next to her, hugging her tight to his chest.
'I love you, Mija,' He says, and the feeling in Santana's stomach goes away for a second.
'I love you too, Papi.'
He stands as Maribel enters the room and passes the phone to Santana before leading her father out of the room with her. They stand out of Santana's eyeline, but still close enough to hear what she's saying.
'Hello?' Santana speaks into the receiver.
'Hi,' Brittany's soft voice replies, 'Are you feeling better?'
Santana smiles at the sound of her voice, 'A little.' She pauses, 'Brittany, I'm sorry.'
She can almost hear the confused look on the other girl's face, 'For what?'
'For lying.'
Brittany giggles, 'When did you lie?'
'This morning, I told you I didn't know why we were there, but I did,' The feeling both disappears and becomes ten times worse as she tells the truth and anticipates the reaction, 'I told my mom that you don't eat at school.' Her voice falters for a second, 'I'm sorry, I was worried about you.'
Her throat clenches when Brittany keeps giggling, 'I'm sorry too, Santana.'
Santana frowns, 'For what?'
'Lying.'
'When?'
Brittany's giggles get louder, 'This morning, I knew we were there to talk about me. I just wanted to talk to you.'
'Oh,' Santana doesn't quite know what to say, 'I'm still sorry for telling, you didn't want your mom to know about your food.'
' 's okay,' Brittany sighs, 'I'm glad you told, I was getting very hungry.'
Santana frowns again, 'Then why didn't you eat?'
'I can't.'
'Why, are you sick?'
'Charity's not eating,' Brittany replies like it was obvious, 'I can't eat if she's not.'
'Why?' Santana is confused about what a cat has to do with this.
'Dunno,' Brittany says.
'Oh.'
'Santana, I have to go,' Brittany's voice lowers to a whisper, 'Mom says dinner's ready.'
'Bye Brittany.'
'Bye Santana.'
Brittany hangs up and Santana realises that the feeling is completely gone – not even a wisp of guilt remains in her stomach. She feels like Santana again. She also realises that she's even more confused by what Brittany just said. She doesn't understand why Brittany's cat meant she couldn't eat and why Brittany didn't even know why she wasn't eating.
Mami and Papi come back into the room and Maribel gently pries the phone from her hand, placing it on the arm of the couch. They sit down on either side of her, both of them wrapping their arms around her.
She smiles slightly, it's something they always did when she was super little; a Santana sandwich.
'Mija,' Papi says, 'We're very proud of you. Thank you for telling Mami about Brittany, she might have gotten very sick if you didn't.'
Maribel looks down at her daughter, 'Baby, we need to have a very adult conversation with you right now.'
Santana looks up.
'Brittany's mom told me some things when I spoke to her,' Maribel continues, 'And I think that you need to know about it because you were the one that noticed something was wrong with Brittany.'
Santana doesn't say anything, just stares at her mom to continue.
Her mom sighs, 'Brittany's family used to live in Seattle, do you know where that is?'
'Miss Clifford said Brittany is from Washington. Is Seattle in Washington?'
Maribel nods, 'Seattle is a big city in Washington.' She pauses before continuing, 'Last year, Brittany's family was in an accident. Their car got hit by another car while they were driving home from school.'
Santana feels strange again, but a different kind of strange, 'Were they okay?' She remembers last year in Lima Heights Adjacent when the teenagers had crashed in front of her house. She hadn't seen much because her mom pushed her back inside, but she does remember seeing a mess of metal and hearing someone screaming.
Maribel nods, 'They were all okay, but Brittany hurt her neck, so they had to put her into a special sleep at the hospital so she wouldn't move it.' She looks at Santana's dad for help.
'Mija,' Papi says, 'Your neck is very important, if you hurt it can be very bad. So, Brittany was asleep for a few days while her neck was getting better.'
Santana nods, 'Is her neck okay now?'
Maribel smiles, 'Her neck is fine, but when Brittany woke up, she was very scared. She didn't know what had happened. She didn't like the city anymore because there were too many cars and she got worried they would make her go to sleep again.'
Papi continues, 'That's why they moved here, Brittany's dad got a new job that isn't as close to a big city so that Brittany feels better. Does that make sense?'
'Yes, but why wasn't she eating? She said it was because her cat wasn't eating?' Santana understands being scared of cars after she saw the accident last year, she hadn't wanted to go in the car either until Abuela told her they would go and get ice-cream to make it less scary.
'Well,' Maribel rubs her daughter's arm, 'When Brittany was very scared, so her parents got her a cat.'
'Charity.'
'Yes, Charity,' Maribel smiles, 'Charity is a special cat whose job is to look after Brittany when she gets very scared. Charity gives her cuddles – like this,' She snuggles into Santana, 'Or lets Brittany pat her until she calms down. It's Brittany's job to look after Charity to make her feel more comfortable; it stops her from being scared and reminds her to look after herself.'
'So, it's like how you make me food and also make food for you?'
'Exactly,' Mami tickles Santana, 'You are a very smart young lady.'
Santana grins and wriggles away from her mom's tickles.
'Brittany got a little confused when Charity stopped eating and thought she should stop too.' Maribel explains, 'She knows now that Charity not eating meant something was wrong and Whitney told me she ate all of her lunch at school today.'
'She's all better?' Santana nudges her head under Mami's arm.
'She's all better. And Charity is eating again too, she just had an upset stomach.' She pokes Santana's stomach, 'Just like you.'
Santana places a hand on her tummy, 'I think I feel all better now.'
'You do?' Papi asks.
Santana nods.
'What was wrong with you then?' Maribel stares at her.
She shrugs.
Papi sighs softly, 'I think she was just a little bit stressed about everything with Brittany. Weren't you, Mija?'
'Yeah,' Santana sighs.
Maribel gently runs her fingers through her hair, 'Mija, that's not good.' She kisses her forehead, 'Please tell me in the future when you're worried.'
'I will Mami,' Santana says softly, 'I promise.'
Then Santana's stomach grumbles loudly and both her parents look down at her before bursting into laughter. Santana curls up on herself and they wrap themselves around her hugging her tight.
'We love you, Mija, so much,' Her mother mutters into her hair, 'Nothing will ever change that.'
Santana kisses her mom's cheek and then her dad's cheek, 'I love you too.'
'Now,' Papi sits up, 'Let's get some food in here,' He pokes her tummy.
They eat dinner as a family, something that is very rare since her dad got his new job and started working shifts at the hospital. Mami also lets them eat in front of the TV, which Santana is never allowed to do, they watch Scooby-Doo and both her parents sit close to her, as though trying to protect her from the imaginary ghosts inside the show. She doesn't notice the look they share over her head, one that signals that they are protecting her; but not from made-up ghosts, from all the horrible things that the world has in store.
They send her to brush her teeth so they can have a private conversation.
'She got so stressed she threw up,' Maribel says worriedly.
Javier nods, 'I know. She's okay though.'
'I don't think it's normal for a six-year-old to get so stressed they threw up.'
Javier rubs his wife's back, 'It's actually more common than you think.' He sighs, 'She's young and doesn't know how to process her emotions properly.'
Maribel shakes her head, 'If this is happening now, is she going to be okay as she gets older? She already struggles to make friends, and I know she gets stressed about people knowing where we used to live.'
Javier takes her hand and squeezes it tightly, 'She'll be okay, it seems like Brittany is well on her way to becoming a friend, and if it keeps happening, we can take her to see someone. I know your mother won't approve of professional help, but if we need to, we want our baby to be okay.'
Maribel nods.
'But,' He continues, 'She should learn better coping mechanisms as she gets older. We've told her to come to speak to us, we need to give her a chance to prove that she will.'
Maribel nods again.
The phone rings from where it still sits on the arm of the couch.
Maribel answers, 'Hello, Lopez household.'
Whitney Pierce speaks from the other end, 'Hi Maribel, it's Whitney again, I've just been having a talk with Brittany and I wanted to know if Santana would like to come over this weekend. Brittany doesn't have any friends since we moved, and it seems that they've been spending a lot of time together.'
Maribel smiles, 'I think that would be a great idea, Santana would love that, she was very worried about Brittany.'
'Fantastic,' Whitney grins through the phone, 'How about Saturday at eight? That way they can spend the whole day together.'
'Perfect.'
Whitney gives their address before hanging up the phone. Maribel looks up at her husband, 'Well, I don't think we need to worry about her having friends.'
---------
Santana wakes up at five am on Saturday. She's too excited to sleep anymore, so she goes downstairs and watches cartoons on the TV in the living room until her parents wake up. When they finally walk downstairs at seven Santana is practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.
Mami helps her pour a bowl of raisin bran – her dad is very adamant when it comes to healthy breakfasts, 'It's the most important meal of the day, Mija.' And she eats it at a record speed, only slowing down when her mom tells her that she'll be sick if she eats too fast.
She dashes upstairs when she's finished and brushes her teeth. She does this at regular speed, she's still got all her baby teeth, but she only wants them to fall out if they're ready too, not because they're so rotten that ruin her big teeth as well – then she'd have a holey smile for the rest of her life, and that's one of her top ten fears (number one is spiders).
She leaves the bathroom and enters her bedroom, her mom has been in here and opened the curtains for her and sunlight streams in, lighting up the pale pink walls and butterfly posters that adorn them. Santana opens her closet and stands there for a moment, staring at all of her options – she went on a big shopping trip with Abuela and Mami when Papi got his new job and they could afford to buy new clothes to fill the closet in the new house.
It's already starting to get cold outside, so she pulls on a pair of black tights and selects a pink t-shirt with a purple butterfly emblazoned across the front to go with them. Brittany wears pink to school every day, so Santana hopes she likes the shirt.
Maribel enters her room with a hairbrush and Santana sits on the floor in front of her bed while she brushes her hair, trying to wrangle the frizz into something acceptable. Santana likes to leave her hair out, she knows it looks crazy, but she likes the way it falls around her, dark brown curls framing her face and making her eyes stand out. Mami decides that she's wearing braids today since she's going to be playing and they're less likely to fall out the moment she starts running. Twenty minutes later, she has two braids running down her back, each tied with a hair tie and a small pink ribbon that matches her shirt.
Her mom forces her into a purple jacket with a quick, 'It's cold outside, Mija.' And stands next to her as she deliberately ties the shoelaces of her purple sneakers. This was a new skill that they had been working on for the new school year, sometimes Santana needs Mami or Papi to tighten the laces, but most of the time she can do it herself.
'Ready to go, Santana-Banana?' Papi asks as bounces down the stairs to the front door.
She nods enthusiastically and grins. He grabs her hand and takes the keys off the hook. Maribel gives Santana a kiss on the head and tells her she'll pick her up at five after her work shift ends.
Santana's whole body vibrates with excitement as Papi straps her into her car seat – she's six now, so technically she only needs a booster seat, but she's small, one of the smallest in her class, so she stays in the car seat just in case.
The Pierce's only live a few streets away, if she wants to go to Brittany's again, Papi says they can walk over, but he has to go to work after he drops her off, so today they'll drive. He also tells Santana that maybe they can start catching the bus home from school together and stay at each other's houses in the afternoon. That makes Santana even more excited, she promises herself that she'll be on her best behaviour all day so that she gets invited back to the Pierce's and she and Brittany will be allowed to spend extra time together each day.
Their car pulls up in front of a house that looks fairly similar to her own. It's about the same size as hers, but brown brick instead of white. The front lawn is slightly overgrown and unlike Santana's, there aren't any plants other than a few rosebushes up against the front wall. The moment they moved into the new house, Papi planted a garden out the front complete with hedges and stones rimming the edges. Their house looks very formal, as though a dinner party will be held at any time – Brittany's looks cosier; a soccer ball sits on the grass and the white picket fence that closes off the yard reminds Santana of the traditional houses and families in Abuela's telenovelas.
Papi opens the gate for Santana who skips happily up to the front door and after looking back at Papi for confirmation reaches up and rings the doorbell. It takes about three seconds for Santana to hear a squeal from within the house and then the sound of running footsteps. A voice calls out, much closer to the door before it swings open and Santana is staring up at Whitney Pierce.
Suddenly, Santana feels quite shy and grabs onto Papi's leg for support. Whitney holds the door open wider and gestures for them to enter, 'Good morning,' She says with a wide smile. 'How are you, sweetheart?'
Javier nudges his daughter with his knee, prompting her to answer shyly, 'I'm good thank you, Mrs Pierce. How are you?'
Whitney grins at Santana, 'I'm very good thank you,' Papi pushes Santana through the door and Whitney shuts it behind them, 'Brittany's waiting in the living room.' She guides them to the first doorway on the left, which leads to a spacious room. Brittany sits on the couch facing the doorway, she jumps up when she sees Santana and a wide grin lights up her face. Santana notices that her smile make her eyes shine even more than normal.
'Hi Santana,' Brittany waves shyly, 'I like your butterfly shirt.'
Santana looks at her shirt and back up at Brittany, 'Thanks, you like pink; that's why I picked it.'
Brittany's smile grows even bigger, 'Pink's my favorite color!' She turns to her mother, 'Mom, can we go upstairs to my room, I want to show Charity to Santana.'
With her mother's confirmation and after waiting for Santana's Papi to kiss her on the head and tell her to have fun, Brittany grabs Santana's hand and drags her towards the staircase. Santana feels a jolt inside of her when their hands meet, and clutches Brittany's hand back, gripping it tightly and never wanting to let go. They make it to the second step before Brittany's long legs make longer strides and she's bouncing up the stairs faster than Santana can manage. Brittany's hand slips from Santana's as she pulls ahead, and Santana feels another jolt at the loss.
Brittany slows for a second, letting Santana catch up – Santana reaches out her hand again to grab Brittany's at the same time that Brittany reaches down to grab hers. Their hands miss one another and start to fall back to their sides, but at the last second, Santana swings hers up again and brushes her hand past Brittany's. Her pinky hooks onto Brittany's, for a second she feels as though she should try and grab her hand properly, but Brittany curls her finger up to fit with Santana's and keeps dragging her up the stairs, pinkies linked together.
She pulls her into the first room at the top of the stairs, Santana holts in the doorway – the room is so perfectly Brittany. She doesn't know how to describe it, but everything in the room is something that aligns with Brittany so well; the walls are pink with the except of the back wall which is covered in a blue floral wallpaper, the double bed has a pink comforter on it, and the walls are littered with certificates and photos.
'I like your room,' Santana says, 'It's very pretty.'
Brittany squeezes her pinky finger, 'Thanks, I helped decorate it myself when we moved.'
Santana nods, 'I moved in the summer too, into a new house,' She decides that she doesn't want to keep any secrets from Brittany, 'I wasn't allowed to decorate my old room, but I picked the color for my new room.'
'What color is it?'
'Pink,' Santana smiles.
Brittany's eyes light up again, 'We match!' She looks over to the corner and says, 'Come on, Santana, meet Charity.' She gestures to a ball of fur that Santana had mistaken for a blanket lying on a blue armchair in the corner.
They approach the ball slowly together; Brittany doesn't let go of her pinky as she reaches out and strokes the lump – the lump lifts its head and purrs at them. 'Charity,' Brittany coos, 'Meet Santana, my friend.'
Santana holts at the word 'friend' she's never had anyone call her a friend before, she looks at Charity then looks up at Brittany, who is staring at her, blue eyes wide and watchful. 'Hi Charity,' She says softly, 'I'm Santana. Brittany's my best friend, but I'm happy to share her with you.'
Brittany's arms wrap around her in a hug before Santana even gets the words out properly, Santana squeezes back and feels the jolt again. She doesn't let go until Charity purrs again and Brittany pulls back to stroke her head before looking at Santana, the crystal blue of her eyes seems even brighter than before, 'Thank you for being my friend, Santana.'
Santana grabs Brittany's pinky with her own again and squeezes, 'Always.' She whispers and Brittany hugs her again, even tighter than before.
They sit on the floor together and play with Charity. Brittany teaches her how to roll a ball of wool away from herself in the right way so that she could pull on the string and the ball would roll back up. Charity paws at the wool and meows softly while chasing it around the room. One time, Santana rolls it too far and Charity does a giant leap to catch up with it. It looks so funny that both of the girls are rolling around on the floor laughing so hard they can't breathe. Charity meows insistently at them to keep rolling the wool.
Santana laughs so hard she rolls into the wall. One of the pictures comes unstuck upon the impact and flutters down to land on Santana's leg. When they finally manage to stop laughing, she passes it to Brittany, 'Sorry, this fell.'
' 's okay,' Brittany takes the photo and goes to hang it back up, ' 's just a picture.'
Santana looks at the picture and stops. She thinks it's an odd image to be hanging in a kids bedroom; it's all white, except for a face in the middle, which has its eyes closed and Band-Aids stuck on each cheek and the chin, blond hair surrounds the face and what looks like grey plastic sits where the neck is supposed to be. Santana frowns at the photo.
Brittany notices her look, 'That's me,' She explains, pointing to the face, 'In the hospital…'
'Oh,' Santana realizes that the face is, in fact, Brittany's, 'After your accident?'
Brittany nods, 'This when I was in my special sleep.' She points to the grey plastic, 'That's called a neck brace, it made my neck better. I had to wear it even after I woke up all the way until I moved here.'
'Why do you have Band-Aids on your face?'
' 's 'cause I had scratches, from the car, they all gone now though,' Brittany smiles as though she is proving her point.
'Are you okay now?' Santana asks.
'Mmmhmm,' Brittany nods, 'All better, I just have to be careful when I run.'
Santana nods, 'I'll protect you.'
Brittany links their pinkies again, 'Thank you.'
Whitney calls them down to have lunch a few minutes later. They keep their pinkies linked together as they skip down the stairs into the kitchen.
'What would you like on your sandwich, Santana?' Whitney asks.
Santana points to the grape jelly and Whitney begins spreading it on a slice of white bread.
'Santana,' Brittany says, 'Do you want peanut butter as well, peanut butter and jelly is my favorite.'
Santana shakes her head, 'I'm not allowed.'
Brittany furrows her brow, 'Why?'
'She's allergic sweetheart,' Whitney responses.
'To peanut butter and jelly?'
'Just to peanuts, sweetheart.' Whitney pats Brittany on the shoulder.
'Oh,' She looks at Santana, 'What happens if you eat them?'
'I can't breathe,' Santana answers, 'It's never happened since I was little, I don't remember what it feels like.' She points to the small bag that she brought with her, 'I have a special medicine in there in case I do eat them accidentally.'
Brittany turns to her mom, 'I don't want peanut butter, just jelly.'
Santana shakes her head, 'You can still have it.'
Brittany shakes her head back, 'If you can't have it, I don't want it.'
They eat at the bench and then Brittany drags her to the backyard to play in her treehouse. 'My daddy built it,' She tells Santana.
They climb the ladder that's nailed to the tree and enter the treehouse through a trapdoor which Brittany closes behind them. 'Welcome,' She says, 'To the best place ever.'
Santana looks around. It's a fairly normal-looking treehouse, there's a small kitchen area complete with a plastic stove and oven, a little table which is covered in mismatched teacups, and a thin foam mattress on the floor in one corner. The walls are covered in Brittany's drawing and painting, each hung perfectly straight, with four bits of tape placed diagonally over each corner. Santana spots the painting Brittany was doing on their first day of school.
'It's perfect,' She says.
They sit on the floor and draw; they keep their pinkies linked – Santana's right and Brittany's left hooked together on the ground in between their knees. Santana draws the treehouse, while Brittany draws the tree it goes in. Santana's just gotten to coloring the red windows when Brittany speaks.
'Santana,' Her voice is soft, 'Can I ask you a question?'
'Yeah.'
'Why didn't you say a word?'
'What?'
Brittany looks at her, 'On the first day, you were supposed to say a word about yourself, but you didn't?'
Santana's eyes meet hers, 'I don't know how to describe myself.' She answers truthfully.
Brittany shrugs, 'All the others just said happy or tall, you could have said something like that.'
'Abuela taught me that I should always tell the truth. I didn't know what the truth was, so I didn't say anything.' Santana leans her head on Brittany's shoulder.
'Who's Abuela?'
'My grandma.'
'Oh,' Brittany looks at her again, 'You could've said beautiful, that would have been true.'
Santana pulls her head off Brittany's shoulder, 'I'm not beautiful,' She shakes her head.
Brittany smiles, 'Yes you are. You're the most beautiful.'
Santana giggles, 'That's not true.'
'Yes, it is!'
'No, it's not. 'Cause you're the most beautiful, Britt-Britt.'
Brittany giggles, 'Britt-Britt?' Her giggles turn into laughs, 'Only my grandpa calls me Britt-Britt.'
Santana wrinkles her nose, 'I can stop.'
Brittany shakes her head, 'No, I liked it.' Santana laughs along with her, 'But only if I can call you San.'
Santana frowns but nods, 'Fine.'
Brittany squeezes their pinkies together tightly, 'Britt-Britt and San.' She whispers.
Santana puts her head on Brittany's shoulder and squeezes her pinky in return, 'Together forever.' She whispers back.
'Together forever,' Brittany echoes.