Work Text:
Three bedrooms, two bathrooms with a small yard, a playground a ten minutes away and a decent school district. It seems perfect.
Ok, well it was in Ohio which was probably the reason she could afford it in the first place but still. The house had a couple previous owners, the last of whom had been a couple who’d lived there for ten years before moving down to Florida to retire. Fixtures weren’t new or anything but she didn’t imagine a couple of sixty year olds could cause too much damage.
“What do you think, Nick?” she asked the dark haired toddler in her arms. “Do you think we could be happy here?”
He looks up at her, brown eyes leaving the stuffed t-rex in his hand and nods his head. “Yeah, we’ll be happy.”
She smiles and kisses his cheek. “I think so too.”
The day they close the deal, the realtor shakes her hand and picks up his briefcase.
“I hope you’ll be happy here.”
“I hope so too.”
He pulls out a business card from his pocket and hands it to her. “The place has passed housing codes and everything but just in case you want to renovate or something. I trust their work,” the realtor says. “Good price, very reliable.”
She looks at the business card.
Pierce’s Handiwork & Home Repairs
“So anyway, I’m thinking of getting a dog again, Sam explains. “I’m thinking Golden Retriever,” he says as he turns the corner.
“Who’s gonna watch him while you're at work?” Brittany asks her brother. “Business is picking up.”
“Yeah,” Sam sighs a little longingly. “I miss having a dog around though. Don’t you remember how much fun it was having Bongo around?
“Fun till he actually ate your English homework,” Brittany reminds with a wry grin.
“Ah yeah...Mrs Hagberg really didn’t believe me.”
The van hits a speed bump that the two of them feel and causes metal to clank as a toolbox slides around in the back.
“Damn! I always forget they put that bump there,” Sam mutters.
“Family friendly neighborhood,” Brittany shrugs.
“Speaking of which...you seeing anyone?”
Brittany rolls her eyes. “Did mom put you up to this?”
“No, I’m just making conversation. What about all the math stuff, any breakthroughs?”
She shook her head. “Not for a long time. Why do you think I took a sabbatical?”
“Because you miss being a grease monkey like me and dad,” Sam grins. Brittany’s about to come up with a response when she feels the van start to slow down. “Hey, you’ve got new neighbours.”
Brittany looks out the window and spots a newish looking pickup truck with boxes still on the cargo area. The front door to the house is open, though she can’t seem to spot the house’s new residents.
“Why are we stopping?” she asks as she notices Sam park the car on the side of the road.
“Don’t you wanna see your new neighbours?”
“Don’t be a creep, Sam.”
“What? It’s not creepy, aren’t you curious what they’re like? What if they’re like circus freaks? What if they’re spies?”
“Why would spies move to a suburb in Ohio?”
“Because no one would ever suspect it,” he says as if it were obvious.
“This is a nice neighbourhood, I’m sure they’re just...” Brittany trails off when she catches sight of a gorgeous brunette - the house’s new owner, she assumes - walking out the door and picking up a box from the back of the truck. She’s dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and Brittany’s positive that this is the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen.
“Seeing something you like?” Sam smirks from the driver's seat, obviously noticing the look on his sister’s face.
Before she can tell him to shut up, Brittany notices two more people come out of the house. A little boy with dark hair and tanned skin comes barreling out the front door as fast as his little legs will carry him, closely followed by a tall Asian man.
The little boy runs up to the woman - his mother, she assumes - and hugs her legs. She laughs and the man reaches to take the box from her so that she can scoop up the little boy and kiss his head.
They look like a nice family.
“Let’s get going,” Brittany turns to Sam. “I need to feed Tubbs before we finish the Anderson job.”
“You don’t want to say hello?"
“I can say hello later. You know if I don’t feed Tubbs he’ll set the kitchen on fire.”
“Ok I think we’re good as far as toddler-proofing goes,” Mike says, standing up from his position, placing rubber stoppers on the table corners as Santana returns from tucking her son into bed.
She’s grateful for all his help over the last couple of months, helping her out with house hunting and the move. Theirs had been an unexpected friendship for sure, but one she was grateful for nonetheless.
She looks at her phone and the onslaught of emails that she hasn’t read all day and knows that her Monday is going to be insane.
She communicates as much to Mike when he asks her what’s up.
“You’re not gonna take a couple days off?” he asks. “Give yourself time to settle in.”
She shakes her head. “Too much going on at work. Promotion’s the only reason I can afford the mortgage payments.”
“Don’t overwork yourself is all I’m saying.”
Santana doesn’t promise anything. She’s a single mom with bills and daycare and now a mortgage.
“For him, if for nothing else,” Mike says, as if he can read her thoughts.
“You should probably head home now,” Santana tells him. “Seriously, thank you for all your help with the move and everything.”
Mike smiles. “Always happy to play your fake husband at open homes.”
“I hope it didn’t cause you issues with your girlfriend.”
“Tina? Nah, she understands,” he says kindly. “For real though, call me if you need anything.”
“I will,” she promises.
After Mike leaves, Santana gets ready for bed. She looks in the mirror and takes a deep breath, psyching herself prematurely for the next day. The next day where she’d have to quickly drop off Nick at daycare before her nine o’clock meeting and then after work, pick him up and come home and make dinner, give him his bath, put him to sleep and do it all over again.
But when she climbs into bed, she feels Nick roll over to snuggle up next to her and she kisses his forehead and somehow it feels worth it.
It takes two weeks for something to go wrong. The kitchen sink is leaking and she has no idea how to fix a sink. Even if she did, the only tools she has are a couple of screwdrivers and a hammer. Probably not what she needs.
Mike tries to help out but he’s not exactly the king of DIY himself, so she’s still left with a leaky sink.
Santana feels like a stereotype, a woman who has no idea about repairs and plumbing so she needs a man. In her defence, her father wasn’t exactly a handy guy around the house either.
She knows a decent mechanic but no plumbers.
Finally, she finds the card the realtor gave her in her purse and figures she’ll give it a shot.
Pierce’s Handiwork & Home Repairs
Santana’s surprised when fifteen minutes later there’s a knock on her front door. The guy she talked to on the phone said they could send someone tonight, which had already surprised her, but she didn’t realize how soon. She eyes her son who’s playing in front of the TV on the living room floor before opening the door.
Her breath catches when she sees a beautiful blonde woman, wearing overalls and holding a toolbox at her doorstep.
“Hi,” the blonde says brightly. “You called about the leaky sink.”
“You’re the...you’re my...handyman?”
She nods. “I’m Brittany,” she extends her hand. “Pierce,” she adds as an afterthought.
“Santana,” she shakes the blonde’s hand. “Come in.”
“I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting a woman,” Santana admits as they make their way to the kitchen. “Not that I have a problem with it or anything.”
Brittany laughs. “I assure you I know my way around plumbing just fine,” she points to the sink. “Right here?”
Santana nods and runs the water so she can show Brittany where the leak is from the pipes hidden under cabinet doors. Brittany takes out a flashlight and positions herself under the sink so she can get a better look.
“So how’d you get my number?” she asks.
“Realtor gave it to me,” Santana explains. “Wasn’t expecting to use it so soon. I just moved in two weeks ago.”
“Welcome to the neighborhood, then.”
“You live around here?”
“Just down the street actually. We’re practically neighbours.”
“Cool, so I know who to run to when my sink leaks after working hours.”
Brittany laughs. “Well, sometimes it’s just an age thing with the sink. Can’t be helped unless you wanna test every one before you move in,” she reaches for a screwdriver. “I think it’s just an issue with the gasket, nothing complicated.”
“Good to know,” Santana nods. “So, how long have you been doing this?”
“Since forever,” Brittany laughed as she continued to work. “My dad would take my brother and I along on jobs sometimes when we were kids. It’s his business card you have actually. Could you hand me the groove pliers?”
“Ummm,” Santana looks into the toolbox.
“The orange ones,” Brittany clarifies and Santana passes them to her.
“So you were fixing pipes in diapers?”
“Basically,” she says. “When we were little my dad would drive with me in his lap and my brother, Sam in the passenger seat. I’m pretty sure that’s illegal now, but he got all his jobs done and managed to watch us while my mom was at work.”
They slip into easy conversation for a bit as Brittany works until Santana’s phone rings.
“It’s work, I have to take this.”
“Don’t worry, go ahead,” Brittany assures her as Santana slips off into the hallway to take the call.
Brittany keeps working and manages to pry out the gasket when she hears a pitter patter on the kitchen floor and spots a small person watching over her. She moves her head out from under the cabinet to come face to face with a curious looking little boy in pyjamas.
She recognizes him. The little boy from the day Santana moved in. Her son, she surmised given the uncanny resemblance.
“Hello there.”
“Hi!” he says brightly. “Who’re you?”
“I’m Brittany. I’m here to fix your sink,” she introduces.
“I’m Nick,” the little boy introduces himself. “Nick Lopez.”
“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Nick Nick Lopez,” Brittany smiles at the child and nods at him with formality which makes him laugh.
“You my mama’s friend?” he asks her.
“Uhh, sort of,” she replies.
“D’you like dinos?”
Brittany laughs. “Dinosaurs are cool, but I don’t know that much about them.”
“They’re really really big” Nick reaches his arms out to emphasize his point. “And there’s lots. There’s Steg’saurs and T-rex and ‘Certops. I got a T-rex but he’s only small, not a big, big one. Oh, and there’s a Bron...bron….” he tries to remember the name. “Bronosaur! He’s the biggest one!”
“What’s going on here?” Santana asks, returning to the kitchen, a knowing smile on her face.
“Mama! I was teachin’ Brittany about dinos!'' he informs her proudly.
“He sure was, he's very knowledgable.”
Santana smiles at them and bends down to kiss her son’s forehead. “Well my love, you'll have to teach another time, because it’s your bedtime.”
“Nooo, we’re talkin ‘bout dinos!” he pleads. “Can I show her my dinos before bed?”
“Maybe another time,” Santana says. “Say good night to Brittany and then I’ll tuck you in.”
“G’night Brittany,” he says. “Next time you can meet my dinos.”
“That sounds nice. Good night Nick Nick Lopez.”
He giggles at the name and Santana looks curiously between the two of them before she takes Nick to bed. He’s still sleeping in her room since she hasn’t been able to assemble his bed yet. Of course she loves it that she wakes up every morning with cuddles from her son, even if sometimes she woke up with a bad back after accidentally sleeping on a dinosaur.
Santana tucks her son into bed and by the time she comes back out to the kitchen, Brittany’s running the tap again, seemingly having fixed it.
“Everything ok?”
“Yup, everything’s fine. I changed out the gasket for a new one. Yours was due for replacement. It’ll be maybe five or so years before you have to change it again.”
“Well thank you. By the way I’m sorry if Nick...got in your way or anything.”
Brittany shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it. He seems like a good kid.”
Santana smiles at that. “Thanks. What do I owe you?”
“No, don’t worry about it,” Brittany shakes her head. “That was a super quick job, I already had the new gasket in my toolbox, it’s cool.”
“Come on, I have to pay you something. For your time at least,” Santana insists.
“Really not necessary. I actually just live down the street, it would be ridiculous to charge a call out fee. Besides, it took me no time at all.”
“Brittany, I have to pay you something. It’s late.”
“Your son sleeps at this hour Santana, I don’t.”
Santana huffs and instead of finding it annoying, Brittany actually just thinks it’s kind of adorable as the woman pulls a few bills out of her wallet and hands it to her.
“You have to take it.”
It’s then Brittany takes notice of her hand. No ring.
Ok so maybe she wasn’t married, but maybe she was in a committed relationship. She had a son, there was that guy she saw when Santana was moving in.
“Tell you what, you moved in two weeks ago right? Consider it part of the warranty. Payment starts from the next one onwards.”
Santana looks at Brittany and sighs. “Brittany-”
“Neighbour discount,” she says firmly. “First one’s free. You can pay for the next one.”
Santana rolls her eyes but she smiles and agrees.
“Next one,” she says firmly, putting away the money.
It starts with the lighting in Nick’s room.
The room is mostly empty still, comprising of a bookshelf, his toy chest and a chair that she used to read to him in. His clothes are in the closet, but she’s yet to set up the bed and get some more shelves or a dresser and really set it up properly.
Work gets busy and when she gets home, Santana is met with dinner that needs to be cooked and a son who wants to play, not build a bed.
One evening when Nick is finally sleeping and she has time to put it together, she realizes that the lighting in his room is dim and she can barely read the instructions.
How was she supposed to know? The realtor only showed her the house in daylight.
She switches out the bulbs but it doesn’t address the issue. She doesn’t call Mike since he’d probably just electrocute himself if the problem is more complicated just changing bulbs.
She calls the only person she knows could help.
She calls Brittany.
“You could switch out the fittings. Those are kinda old school, lots of gaps between the bulb and the socket. The more modern ones are brighter, more energy efficient.”
“How much would that cost me?”
“Not much. A couple hours work,” Brittany shrugs. “It would just be fittings and labor, you wouldn’t have to rewire the house or anything. Besides, I know where to get a good deal on parts and someone who offers a good rate,” she says cheekily.
“Is that so?” Santana raises a brow.
“Yep, best handywoman in town.”
After the light fixtures, it’s shelves that she wants built into the wall and after that it’s paint. Santana manages to squeeze in coming home during her lunch break to check on the progress. She has to fight off some very cliche and inappropriate thoughts when she sees Brittany all sweaty with a few streaks of paint on her clothes bend over to grab the paint roller.
“Looks good so far?”
“Hmm? What? Yeah,” Santana babbles quickly, trying to shake off her thoughts. “Looks good.”
The final task is assembling Nick’s bed and by that point, Santana doesn’t even bother thinking about calling Mike for help or doing it herself. She calls Brittany and the blonde is more than happy to come over and help assemble it.
“Ugh, I never did get the hang of these,” Santana sighs as she flips over the instruction booklet to try and put together the bed.
“It’s mostly just practice,” Brittany tells her. “Can you pass me the B5 screw?”
“Which are those?”
“The longest ones.”
“How can you even tell?,” Santana asks, passing Brittany the bag of screws.
“Well, it helps that you’ve got these beautiful new lights to help you see.”
Santana laughs.
“It's good you’re here or Nick might never have his own bed.”
“I’m sure you’re not that bad.”
“No, really, I’ve never had a knack for this DIY stuff. You need to close a client at the zero hour, I’m your girl. But if you ask me to build a bed or change a tyre I’m pretty hopeless.”
“You’re said you’re in sales, right?”
Santana nods. “IT solutions.”
“Do you like it?”
“It’s ok. They let me work from home sometimes so I can take care of Nick, but it can get stressful sometimes. Sales targets and stuff.”
“I see.”
“The last client I signed was a publishing company actually. They were pretty cool, got some free books for Nick.”
Brittany chuckles. “Score. He’s a lucky kid.”
“Yeah, there was even a dinosaur one in there.”
“I meant to have you as a mom.”
Santana looks up from trying to attach two joints together and meets Brittany’s gaze. There’s something about the sincerity in her blue eyes that makes Santana unable to look away.
“Thank you,” she says softly. “I do my best, but it’s not easy doing it alone.”
“Alone?” Brittany can’t help but ask.
Santana snorts. “You must have noticed,” she bristles.
“I didn’t want to assume.”
“It’s just me and Nick. My friend Mike tries to help out wherever he can and my mom tries sometimes too, but really it’s just…”
“Just the two of you,” Brittany finishes.
“Yeah,” Santana says, letting out a sigh. “It’s kind of why I got the house. We used to live in a rental my father owned but I wanted our own place. I wanted to fix up his room, so that he’ll always have a place that’s his. A home, somewhere he’ll always feel safe even if it’s just us…” She pauses for a minute and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laying this all on you, I don’t know...I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”
“It’s ok,” Brittany says, reassuringly. “I think it’s an amazing thing you’re doing for Nick.”
They finish the job without too much else coming up.
“Are you free to have dinner?”
“What?” Brittany turns.
“Well, since you’ve obviously been undercharging me, let me and Nick take you out to dinner. As a thank you.”
“I’ve got another job in an hour,” Brittany says. “But how about tomorrow night?”
When Santana lets her in the door, she’s quickly greeted by a tiny voice.
“Hi Britt-Britt!”
“Hi Nick-Nick!” she beams at him as he hugs her legs. He’d been seeing her more often since she started fixing his room. Their nicknames for each other were now official.
“Come see my new room!” he tugs her hand, towards his bedroom and she laughed.
Brittany steps into the room. She’s obviously seen it having done much of the work, but it looks different with all his things moved in. It looks different lived in with all that kid energy instantly felt as soon as you walked through the door.
“This my bed,” Nick bounces on it. “And my dinos sleep here with me.”
All his dinosaurs are lined up neatly on the bed and there’s a reading chair next to his bookshelf. A large N hangs on the wall above the bookshelf, but what catches Brittany’s attention is the row of pictures on the shelves she built.
There’s one she assumes of the day Nick was born. Santana is still in a hospital gown holding his tiny form in her arms. She’s not looking at the camera, eyes completely fixed on her son.
“These my pictures,” he introduces. “That one is me and mama when I was a baby, but I’m big now.” Nick moves to the next one where he looks a little older. It’s a selfie taken more recently. They’re at the zoo, the elephant enclosure in the background and Santana is holding him in her arms in, while the selfie is being taken by the Asian man - Mike, Brittany has since learned - they all have big smiles on their faces.
“This is when me and mama and Uncle Mike went to the zoo. Those are el-phants, see?”
The rest of the pictures are of Santana and Nick taken at various points in his life. He’s sitting in front of a birthday cake with two candles on it one, in another Nick and Santana were sitting in front of a Christmas tree. Once Nick is finished giving her the tour, Brittany bends down and gives him a high five, which he slaps.
“Your room is sooo cool, Nick-Nick!”
“You can sleep over,” he offers. “We can play dinos. You got dinos, Britt-Britt?”
“No,” Brittany shakes her head.
“That’s so sad,” Nick says apologetically. “You can borrow my dinos if you want.”
“That’s very nice of you Nick-Nick,” she smiles, taking in what a sweet kid he is. “I don’t have dinosaurs but I have a cat.”
His jaw drops. “You got a kitty?”
“Mhmm, his name is Lord Tubbington.”
“I hate to break this up but we should get going to make our reservation,” Santana says, peeking in through the door.
“Mama! Mama, Britt-Britt got a kitty at home!” he announces. “We get a kitty too?” he asks.
Brittany chuckles and looks at Santana apologetically.
After dinner at Breadstix, Brittany becomes more of a fixture in Santana’s life. They’re friends and Nick adores her, always asking if Britt-Britt can come over and play dinosaurs or watch a movie with them.
She wonders if this is going to backfire. Nick’s never really taken to anyone as fast as he has to Brittany, what would happen if she stopped coming around? Of course, Brittany had been very gracious about the whole thing, she’s always happy to come over and spend time with Nick, but she was an attractive, single woman in the prime of life.
What would happen if she moved away? If she started seeing someone who wasn’t cool with her spending a lot of time with someone else’s kid? What if she just got bored of it?
These were fears at the back of her mind she couldn’t shake and she wondered if she was being rational.
Mike had been in Nick’s life since he was born. Nick liked Mike and Mike had spent time with him and helped out where he could. Mike had a job. Mike had a girlfriend and a life of his own and she’d never once had any of these reservations when it came to Mike being in Nick’s life.
Perhaps her reservations weren’t just about Nick.
The more time they spent together, the more Santana felt her feelings for the blonde handywoman grow. When she watched Brittany play with her son, when she’d tell Santana ridiculous stories about her cat or about her latest repair job. She’d felt the attraction since the first night they met but Santana had never expected it to grow into something more. Something that made her heart flutter when their eyes would meet.
They’re just hanging out in Santana’s living room one day. Nick is playing with blocks and attempts to secure two of them together using play-dough, like he’s repairing them.
Her heart flutters because she realizes the idea of Brittany’s rubbing off on Nick kind of appeals to her.
Brittany arrives home after having dinner with Sam and her parents. She spent the evening dodging sly comments from Sam asking her about Santana. They were just friends but Brittany knew that there was something more between them...at least there could be.
She knew that Santana probably had to be careful because of Nick and she understood that. But that didn’t mean that she didn’t want more.
Her phone rings and she sees Santana’s caller ID, so she answers it.
“Hello.”
“Hi Britt-Britt!” she hears a small voice on the other end.
“Hi Nick-Nick, does your mama know you’re using her phone?”
“Yes! She gave it to me. You wanna come to my party?”
“You’re having a party?”
“Yes! It’s my birfday on Saturday. I’m gon’ be four!”
“Four? That’s a big age,” Brittany smiles. “How exciting!”
“Yeah and we gon’ have cake and presents. You wan’ come? You and Tubbin’ton.”
“I’d love to come. What time is it?”
“Ummmm, Mama what time?” she hears him ask his mother. “Ok Mama tell you the time, I’ll see you on Saturday, Britt-Britt! Bye!”
“Bye, Nick-Nick,” she says.
“Hey Britt-Britt” Brittany hears the voice she’s been dying to hear all day, in a teasing manner.
“Hi there.”
“He wanted to call and invite you himself. The party’s at two, just at the house.”
“That was sweet of him, I’ll be there.”
“You don’t have to stay the whole time or anything. It’ll just be my mom and Mike and a couple of kids he knows from daycare and their parents. Nothing big.”
“Santana, I’d love to be there. I’m very honoured he invited me.”
“I just don’t want you to feel obligated if you have plans or something.”
“What are you talking about? I’d never miss a party,” she jokes and hopes that Santana’s smiling on her side of the phone.
“Well, I’ll see you on Saturday then.”
The party is small like Santana said. There’s some balloons and a Happy Birthday banner. It’s a sunny day so most of the party goes on in the backyard.
She brings Lord Tubbington (at Nick’s request) and as soon as Nick catches sight of her, he introduces her to everyone as his new friend.
She meets Mike, his girlfriend Tina, Santana’s mom Maribel and two of his friends he goes to daycare with and their parents.
Mike smiles kindly at her and offers to get her a soda. Santana’s mother eyes her for a bit and Brittany can’t help but feel a little nervous.
“What do you do, Brittany?” she asks.
“Repair work mostly.”
Maribel raises a brow. “Did you go to college?”
She nods. “MIT,” which makes Santana’s mother widen her eyes.
“And you’re doing repair work?”
“I help out with my dad’s business,” she explains. “Always had a knack for it. I prefer the practicality of building and fixing things way more than sitting in a room trying to crack theories all day.”
Santana’s mom nods in agreement. “Well that I can certainly understand.”
“Britt-Britt builded my room!” Nick offers helpfully.
“Mami, no need to give her the third degree,” Santana interjects.
“I was just making conversation with her,” Maribel counters. “It’s nice to put a face to a name that I hear so often.”
Brittany assumes she means Nick, but she notices Santana looking down and start to blush at that comment.
Brittany kind of forgets that children’s parties don’t last that long because before long they’re cutting cake, opening presents and then guests start leaving.
Maribel offers to take Nick to the nearby playground to help him burn off the excess energy. His hyperactiveness likely a combination of his age, the cake and excitement.
He insists on wearing his new green dinosaur hoodie from Brittany - one that makes him look like a t-rex when he puts the hood up - to the playground.
Brittany starts putting paper plates into a garbage bag, when Santana returns to the backyard, having seen off her son and mother.
“You don’t have to do that,” she says.
Brittany shrugs. “It’s no problem.”
“Thank you for coming,” Santana says. “It meant a lot to Nick...and me.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it,” she replies. “Besides kids birthday parties are way better than grown up parties.”
“Oh yeah?” Santana raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, grown up parties always drag on for way longer than they’re supposed to. Sometimes they go like five hours and you don’t even like any of the people there. Plus, when was the last time you went to a grown up party with a dinosaur cake?”
She laughs. “Fair enough.”
With two of them, the cleaning up doesn’t take too long and they wind up on the couch.
“I think you must be Nick’s new favorite person,” Santana says. “I think the hoodie really sold it.”
Brittany chuckles. “You’re his mom, you’ll always be his favorite person.”
“I can’t believe my baby is four already,” Santana says wistfully. “Feels like just yesterday I brought him home for my hospital. He was so little,” her smile wanes slightly as it looks like she remembers something else. “I was so scared.”
“He’s an incredible kid,” Brittany says, taking her hand. “You’ve done an amazing job.”
Santana looks down at their hands and squeezes. “Thank you, Britt. For everything.”
Brittany’s eyes flit between their hands and when she looks back at Santana she realizes she can’t look away. There’s something in the air - a kind of tension begging to be cut - yet there’s something about how comfortable it all feels.
Brittany leans forward and kisses Santana. The faint taste of birthday cake is still on her lips but all she can feel is Santana. She feels the brunette start to kiss her back and she’s lost in the moment until she feels Santana pull away and words break her from her trance.
“Brittany, wait. I-”
Suddenly she’s snapped out of the feeling. Heat rushes to her cheeks and Brittany quickly backs away.
“I-I’m sorry!” she blurts out quickly. “I didn’t mean to...well I did, but that was stupid...I’m sorry,” she rattles.
“Britt, it’s ok. You don’t have to be sorry,” Santana reaches out and grab her wrist before she can pull away further. “It wasn’t stupid, I just…”
Brittany notices Santana let go of her wrist when she stills and start wringing her hands, clearly nervous.
“Do you like me?” Santana asks, quickly closing her eyes. “Oh my God, this is so lame, it’s like I’m in middle school,” she groans. “It’s been way way too long since I’ve done this.”
Brittany cocks an eyebrow and Santana’s nervousness makes her smile. “I think the fact I just kissed you answers that,” she takes Santana’s left hand back in her own to stop the other woman from wringing her hands. “Yes, Santana. I like you a lot. I have for a while.”
Santana glances down and lets out a sigh of relief, she smiles and her face does that scrunchy thing like Nick’s when she’s happy.
“I like you a lot too,” she confesses.
Brittany smiles. “Sooo...you like me and I like you. Does that mean I get to take you out on a date?”
“I...I haven’t done this in a really long time, Britt,” Santana admits. “I want to, but...it’s just that I have Nick and I know you guys get along great, but I still have to…” she closes her eyes, feeling frustrated that she can’t get the words out.
“Santana,” Brittany says, running her thumb along the brunette’s knuckles. “We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. I know you have Nick and I love that about you. We can go as slow as you want and we don’t have to tell him anything until you feel ready.”
Well what the hell she supposed to say when Brittany comes out with the perfect answer?
“You’d really be ok with that?”
Brittany nods. “We can go as slow as you want. I won’t even kiss you till the tenth date if that’s what you want.”
Santana lets out a laugh. “Well I don’t think that’s quite necessary,” she loses herself in the sincerity in those blue eyes. “Come here,” she whispers in a low voice, pressing her lips against Brittany’s.
They go on dates. Sometimes Nick comes with them and sometimes he doesn’t, but either way the two of them are spending more and more time together.
Brittany’s totally kept her word about taking things as slow as Santana needs. They’re not too affectionate in front of Nick and as far as he’s concerned, they’re just friends.
As for when it’s just the two of them, they still haven’t done anything yet. Between work and babysitters hours, it seems enough of a miracle they find time to be alone together at all sometimes. Goodnight kisses have started turning into makeout sessions and it’s really only a matter of time before the sexual frustration starts manifesting itself elsewhere.
Of course Brittany’s been totally cool and understanding of the whole thing which just makes her that much more attractive and desirable.
Santana’s woken up from enough dreams of Brittany showing up to her house all sexy, in her overalls, with her toolbox, announcing “I’m here to clean your pipes,” and then doing just that...metaphorically of course.
It would sound a combination of terribly lame and sleazy coming from anyone else, but Dream Brittany makes it sound so charming and sexy.
She has to shake herself out of that dream a few times so she can actually focus on doing her job.
Brittany drives them both home, date night ends when Santana has to go pick up Nick from Mike’s because the latter needs to be up early to drive out of town for work the next day.
Nick talks her ear off the whole car ride home.
“You wan’ sleep over Britt-Britt?” Nick asks her, inside Santana’s home.
Brittany shares a look with Santana before bending down to his level to answer his question.
“Sorry Nick-Nick, I have to go home, that’s where my bed is.” He pouts a little bit at that comment. “But I’ll see you real soon, okay? We can play dinosaurs and watch movies.”
His face brightens and he looks between his mother and Brittany. Santana has a soft smile on her face and she just nods.
“Ok,” he agrees, before wrapping his little arms around Brittany’s neck to give her a hug. “G’night Britt-Britt.”
She wraps her arms around him and smiles.
“Good night Nick-Nick.”
Santana gives Brittany a hug of her own and wishes her good night before the blonde leaves to return home.
After that it’s straight to Nick's bedtime routine, bath, PJs and tucking him into bed. Roaro the T-rex is in his arms and he’s surrounded by all his dinosaur pals in his big boy bed.
“Mama, can you sing?” he requests and she grants it, singing the song she’d been singing to him since he was a baby. She sees his eyes get sleepy and kisses his forehead once she’s finished the song.
“Mama?” he asks.
“What is it baby?”
“Is Britt-Britt your girlfriend?”
She’s taken aback by that, but decides to be honest. Slowly, she nods.
“She is. Is that ok with you?”
He nods. “I like Britt-Britt. She’s super cool.”
Santana smiles. “I’m glad you feel that way, baby. How did you know?” she asks, gently tracing the side of his face with her thumb.
“Cause you look at Britt-Britt like Uncle Mike looks at Tina.”
She should have known that her little boy was too smart not to pick up on the little things. Just because they didn’t kiss in front of him or use words like “girlfriend” or “date”, it didn’t mean he wouldn’t notice something. Still, it did feel like a weight off her chest that he was ok with them.
“You’re really ok with it? You know if you ever want to talk to me about it, you can, right?”
He nods. “It’s ok. I like Britt-Britt. She’s fun and plays dinos and she makes you smiley.”
Santana fights back happy tears at the sweetness of her son. She wipes them quickly and leans in closer to him.
“Mama’s so lucky, you know? I got the best boy in the whole world.”
He smiles and wraps his arms around her. “I love you, mama.”
She hugs him back and kisses his forehead. “I love you too, Nick.”
They spent the evening in Brittany’s home. They have Chinese food and watch a movie that was made with an audience over the age of six in mind. They laugh and talk about their days and Brittany feeds Santana a fried wonton. At one point, Brittany puts on music and they just dance in the living room, they collapse back onto the couch and Santana takes Brittany’s hand and plays with her fingers.
Nick is spending the night at his abuela’s. Brittany knows as much.
The night ends with the two of them in Brittany’s bedroom.
They’re kissing, seated on the edge of the bed, Brittany only pulls away so she can tug her shirt off over her head, before helping Santana with hers. When she shimmies out of her pants, Santana tries to remember how to breathe and Brittany places kisses down the side of her neck.
“Is this ok?” Brittany asks.
She nods quickly. “Yeah,” she says, hoping the nerves in her voice don’t show. They obviously do because the next thing Brittany says is:
“We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”
Santana chuckles and shakes her head. “No, I want to, believe me. It’s just...it’s just been a while,” she admits.
Brittany takes Santana’s hand in her own, before bringing it up to her lips and gently kissing her knuckles. They lock eyes and she knows what Brittany’s saying without saying anything.
Santana moves in to kiss her and slowly she feels her back hit the mattress and Brittany’s trailing kisses down her body.
She pulls Brittany closer and tangles her fingers in long blonde hair. Before long she’s pulling Brittany back up to kiss her, letting out a moan when she grants Brittany’s tongue access and letting her other hand fall to Brittany’s hip.
She feels Brittany unzip her skirt and soon whatever remaining articles of clothing they have on disappear without her really noticing.
Santana had to remind herself to breathe again when she feels Brittany’s hand trail up her thigh.
It turns out that despite the fact it’s been a while, Brittany and Santana find their rhythm easily.
The first time is sweet and gentle and Santana may or may not have cried when they were finished. The second time is more heated, it’s hurried and sweaty and frenzied and playful all at once. A mess of limbs and lips and moaning and panting each other’s names.
When they’re finished, Santana rests her head on Brittany’s chest and curls up into her side. Brittany wraps her arms around Santana’s waist and pulls the thin sheets over them both.
Santana sighs. “Guess I’m not so rusty after all,” she says, too confident from hearing Brittany moan her name into her ear.
“No you were not,” Brittany lets out a laugh, still trying to catch her breath. “You were incredible.”
They lay like that for a little while, neither seeming ready to sleep despite the rigorous activities they’d just finished.
“What are you thinking about?” Santana asks, noting Brittany’s look as she stared up at the ceiling.
Brittany looks at her and smiles. “I’m thinking that taking that sabbatical from MIT was the best decision I ever made.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, or I never would have met you.”
Santana snuggles into her side. “I told Nick about us.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, actually he figured it out. He asked me if we were girlfriends.”
“He’s a smart kid,” Brittany muses and places a kiss on Santana’s head. “What tipped him off?”
“He said that I look at you the same way Mike looks at Tina.”
“What does that mean?”
“That Mike’s in love with Tina I guess,” the words slip out before Santana has time to realize what she’s said. Maybe the orgasms had stopped the filter between her mouth and her brain from working. “I…” she stumbles, unsure of how to finish the thought, unsure of how Brittany will react.
She feels Brittany freeze and is torn about whether to look up and see her reaction or to stay in her position and wait. She closes her eyes and wonders if she wills it hard enough, she can suck the words back into her mouth, when she feels Brittany press a kiss against the shell of her ear.
“I love you, Santana,” Brittany whispers.
Santana instantly feels her whole body relax back into Brittany’s touch once again. She rolls over to face Brittany, relief and happiness flooding through her. She cups the blonde’s face and pulls her in for a long, deep kiss.
“I love you too, Britt.”
Their relationship doesn’t change drastically or anything now that Nick knows. They’re more open about holding hands or sharing kisses in front of him and Brittany watches him more frequently when work allows.
She wonders if he’ll have questions, if it will change the way he views their entire dynamic. Brittany’s her girlfriend, but she’s not his second parent. Not unless she wants to be and he’s ok with it. It weighs on her a bit until Nick explains it to her like it’s the most simple thing in the world when she checks in with him.
“Britt-Britt is your girlfriend and she’s my best friend, like your best friend is Uncle Mike.”
She smiles at the simplicity of it and kisses his cheek. “You are so smart, baby.”
The first time Brittany spends the night, she wakes up to find Brittany and Nick watching cartoons and having cereal together in their pyjamas, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
When an emergency comes up at work and Santana realizes she won’t be able to pick her son up from daycare, she calls Brittany and asks if she can pick him up and watch him till she gets home.
Santana comes home from work to find her son, her girlfriend and most of her kitchen counter covered in flour. She hears baking trays clang and could bet anything that Nick’s hands are definitely sticky.
“What’s going on over here?” she asks.
“We’re making cookies,Mama!” Nick loudly informs her, from the stepstool he’s standing on to see over the counter.
Santana makes her way over to the kitchen, dropping her bag by the couch and giving her son a hug, even if it means her blouse is going to be covered in flour and batter.
“That sounds fun,” she says.
“We thought it might be a nice surprise,” Brittany says and gives Santana a peck on the lips. “Are you ok?” she asks, noticing something was wrong with her girlfriend.
“We lost the account.” she explains. “They went with another company. My boss didn’t take it so well.”
“Oh, babe, I’m sorry,” Brittany says apologetically, pulling her into a hug. Santana lets herself relax into Brittany’s touch. She blows lightly on Brittany’s cheek causing some flour to fly off. The blonde giggles.
“Do you want a cookie?” she asks, reaching for a cookie on the cooling rack and handing it to Santana. “I’m not the best at recipes,” she admits. “But it might help.”
Santana laughs, taking a bite. “It’s perfect.”
Brittany’s never dated anyone with a child before so the pace at which she finds their relationship progressing is interesting. Because of Nick, their relationship moves faster despite them trying to be careful and take it slow first.
She never expected this would be the outcome when she left MIT. She had just spent too long cooped up in the lab working on euler bricks and complex values and the Riemann Hypothesis. She felt like she was constantly hitting walls and towards the end, felt like she was nothing more than a math monkey. She was unhappy and the university wasn't thrilled with her lack of progress so she took the sabbatical and returned home.
It was a coincidence that she’d ended up working for her dad again. She’d been having lunch with Sam and he mentioned that he had a pretty big job redoing Ms Pilsbury’s deck and could use an extra set of hands and cajoled her into helping out.
Brittany had forgotten how much she missed the work. There was just something about being able to solve a problem - a real problem you could touch and see - with your hands, instead of sitting in a room debating in circles about the best way to solve something that most people didn't care about and wouldn't be affected by. By the end of her stint, research felt like more of a point proving exercise than anything else.
After that project, she started working with Sam and her dad, being on call for any repair work that was needed. It had all culminated one evening when Sam called her, saying there was a leaky sink just up the street from where she lived.
She knows people sometimes look strangely at her situation, leaving a prestigious research gig, working with certified geniuses at one the best schools in the country to unclog drains and fix decks, but it matters little to Brittany.
She’s got a job she likes, a woman she loves and a little boy she adores so frankly, Brittany’s good.
She gets called to a job because a pipe in the bathroom had burst and the floor was flooding. She manages to replace the pipe but the water damage in the bathroom and the adjacent bedroom is bad, so before she knows it, the job turns into a bigger one and she’s calling Sam and her dad to help replace the floor.
“It’s a really big job,” she tells Santana over the phone. “The Rutherfords want it done ASAP so I won’t see you for dinner tonight.”
“It’s ok,” Santana assures her. “Stop by after, anyway?”
“Might be late.”
“It’s alright, I’ll save you some dino nuggets.”
Brittany laughs. “Sounds good.”
It’s a long evening, removing floorboards till just the subfloor remains. Sam and her dad are planning to get the new floor the following morning so they can do the install sooner and the Rutherfords can move back into their bedroom.
She shows up at Santana’s doorstep and is greeted with a kiss.
“You sure? I’m all dirty,” Brittany tells her.
“Wanky,” Santana laughs and kisses her again, Brittany giggles.
“Is that Britt-Britt?” she hears a familiar voice ask.
“It’s me, Nick-Nick.”
The little boy comes running up to the front door in his PJs, ready for bed.
“Can you read me a story?”
“Nick, baby, Britt just got off work-”
“Sure,” she smiles at him and then at Santana, who looks at her in a way that Brittany hopes never goes away.
Brittany tucks him into bed and settles next to him to read his chosen bedtime story. When she turns the final page, she puts away the book, kisses the cheek of the sleepy boy and wishes him sweet dreams.
She turns around to find Santana watching from the doorway of his bedroom with a soft smile on her face.
“I drew you a bath,” Santana whispers to her and Brittany nods and squeezes her hand in thanks, as Santana goes to say goodnight to her son.
On her way out, she catches a glimpse of a photo in Nick’s room. A new one on the shelf she hasn’t seen before. Her heart swells when she sees it’s of her and Nick and Santana in the backyard during Nick’s birthday. Nick is sitting in Santana’s lap, reaching over the table to play dinosaurs with Brittany.
They’ve all got smiles.
The thought occurs to her. They look like a family.
It’s funny, they weren’t even dating yet when this was taken.
She takes one last glance at Santana kissing her son goodnight before she heads to her bath.
Brittany strips down and gets into the tub, closing her eyes and letting the tiredness of the day melt away. She hums in contentment when she feels a loofah scrubbing her back.
“You’re not going to join me?” she asks.
Santana chuckles and shakes her head. “You need to rest,” she gives Brittany a quick peck on the lips.
After getting clean, she towels off and slips into a pair of her sweatpants from a drawer in Santana’s bedroom and one of Santana’s t-shirts (oversized on her girlfriend but a perfect fit on her) and gets comfortable under the covers as Santana snuggles into her side. Sleep comes easily.
When Brittany stirs, she can feel Santana drawing patterns with her finger on her back. She doesn’t bother to check the time, knowing it’s too early anyway.
“What are you doing up?” she asks, voice still rough from sleep. “You’re thinking too hard,” she adds, noticing the look on her girlfriend’s face.
Santana chuckles lightly, still drawing patterns. “Go back to sleep.”
“Not if you’re up.”
Brittany shifts onto her side and they hold eye contact for a few moments, not saying anything until Santana realizes that Brittany’s not going to go back to sleep unless she does.
“Were you ever scared,” Santana asks softly.
“Of what?”
She shrugs. “Us. Being with me.”
“I was scared I’d do things wrong,” Brittany says. “That I’d mess up, but I was never scared of us.”
“Never?”
Brittany shakes her head. “You love me and I love you and I love Nick. I understand he comes first, but the other stuff is mostly just details.”
Santana takes a minute to absorb it.
“Were you ever scared?” Brittany asks.
She nods slowly. “I still am, a little. I’ve never felt this way about someone before,” she pauses, gauging Brittany’s reaction. “But I trust you, Britt.”
“Come here,” Brittany whispers. Santana leans over and Brittany presses her lips against the brunette’s, trying to communicate that her trust was not misplaced. Santana kisses her back in a way that she says that she knows.
“I saw the picture,” Brittany says, once Santana is back all cuddled up next to her. “In Nick’s room.”
“He asked for it.”
“Yeah?”
“Mike sent it to me,” Santana informs her. “He took it at the party. Nick asked me if he could have a photo of us all together in his room.”
“It’s a nice photo.”
“Yeah,” Santana nods. “We look cute, like a...”
“...A family,” Brittany finishes.
“Is...that ok?”
Brittany nods. “It’s more than ok, Santana.”
Santana blinks away some tears, but a few find their way onto her cheeks and Brittany wipes them away with her thumb.
“What about you?” she asks. “Are you ok?”
Santana nods. “It’s just that I’m really happy.”
“Can I ask you something? When we first met you were fixing up Nick’s room. I know nothing’s really wrong with it, but how come you didn’t fix up the other parts of the house?”
“I told you before. When we moved in, the most important thing for me was Nick feeling like he had a place that was his, that he’d always feel safe and loved in, no matter what.”
“You know you deserve that too,” Brittany tells her.
Santana looks up at her and smiles. “I have it. Right here, when I’m with you. The other stuff is mostly just details.”
“I love you,” Brittany says, as she wraps her arms around Santana and lacing their fingers together. “And if you ever decide that you want to fix anything or change something to make it feel more like home, I know a pretty good handywoman who’d be happy to help.”
Santana giggles. “She hot?”
“Oh yeah, she’s smokin’ hot.”
“Well, there is one thing that would make me feel more at home,” she says.
“What?”
“If you moved in.”
Brittany grins. “Nothing would make me happier.”