God Knows Even Angels Fall 15/?
Title: God Knows Even Angels Fall
Pairing: Santana/Brittany
Rating: PG-13 this chapter.
Summary: AU. Finished with her tour, Brittany's back in the States with an obligation to fulfil. She isn't too sure how to go about it, or if she even wants to- Especially once she gets to know Santana.
Warnings: Character death from 1st chapter
Spoilers: Bits and pieces from everywhere, so to be safe, up to current episodes.
Word Count: 3500~
Author's Note;; Look, an update in 24 hours! Your reviews inspired me so here is your reward. ...your eternal reward. Okay nerdy moment over.
That last chapter was only half the reunion, so here's the...'other half'. Kind of but not really. That would have been like, Reunion Part 1 and this is Reunion Part 2A. There's a Part2B and very possibly a part 3. Part 1 was basically the filler.
I'm a little insecure about this chapter because it deals with feelings and I'm not too good at those. Feedback would be awesome.
Hope you like it, enjoy reading! All reviews will be addressed in the next chapter.
Stay awesome and keep commenting! xx
If this had been anyone else's bathroom but Rachel Berry's, Santana mused contentedly while stroking the pad of her index finger along Brittany's arm, she would not be slumped on the counter half naked with just the wall keeping her upright, and Brittany's forehead pressed on her shoulder as the two tried to catch their breath. And even then, she felt equal parts dirty and accomplished. Wouldn't Rachel just love knowing that her bathroom had been thoroughly christened?
Okay, maybe she felt more smug than anything.
Even after their heart rates slowed and their breathing evened out, the two stayed comfortably in that position for a few more minutes before Brittany pulled away to brace her hands on either sides of Santana's hips and straightened up on legs that complained at having to take her full weight again. The words 'I love you' swirled around her mind, though they were accompanied by numerous question marks. It had been barely four weeks since she set foot in Lima- Less than one month, for goodness sake. While that phrase could be loosely flung around by some people, for Brittany it held actual weight. She didn't want to say it only to either get shot down or left behind or worse, end up finding out that she didn't fully mean it. That would be a disaster.
"You're wonderful," She sought out the other woman's eyes and said instead, lips quirking up in a smile when Santana ducked her head and averted her gaze.
"There isn't any doubt of that," Santana retorted with a smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes, before it disappeared as she reached out to cup Brittany's cheek. Her voice was soft as she breathed, "You're gorgeous."
"You're more," Brittany countered immediately with a lazy grin, absolutely refusing to let Santana have the last word in this game of exchanging sincere compliments. Santana cottoned on quickly, raising her hands and shrugging before sliding her arms around Brittany's neck and pressing a light kiss to the corner of her mouth.
Pulling back, Santana seemed to be searching through the blonde's eyes before nodding resolutely to herself. "Brittany," She began seriously, "I-"
An obnoxious trilling of a mobile phone interrupted her, and Santana scowled. "Fuck." Hopping off the counter, she passed Brittany her discarded pants as she dug around her handbag for her phone, pulling it out to read the message. Brittany watched her curiously as she rearranged her clothes and snapped the suspenders back on her shoulders, wondering what the Latina had been about to say before she got cut off, and also what the text read.
Pulling her own clothes back on, Santana dropped her phone then turned to Brittany and kissed her again, gentle and chaste. "Quinn wants to talk to me before we go- I'll just go down and be right back, okay? Stay up here. Then we can get food- I'm craving a burger." Brittany nodded, pressing their cheeks together before letting Santana go, watching as she rinsed her hands and left with a "Be right back real quick."
Because she felt kind of bad for defiling someone's bathroom like that, Brittany did her best to wipe off the counter and mirror before leaving and wandering to the top of the stairs, not going down a few steps to take a closer look at the creepy portrait though she really wanted to. She had a feeling that if she did, Santana was going to have to put in quite a bit of effort in dragging her away. She would have set up camp in front of it, watching it intently to ensure that it didn't actually move.
A sudden bark of "Stop that!" in Santana's voice caused her to turn around quickly, actually taking one step down before she managed to stop herself. Santana had told her to remain on the upper level, so despite wanting to dash down to her side, Brittany stayed put. There was complete silence for a bit before a masculine (debateable, really) voice whined, "Ow, motherff-!" People started talking again after that, lowly, which meant Brittany could only catch a gentle buzzing before someone roared, "Puck is dead, Lopez!".
Torn, Brittany fidgeted on the top step before cautiously taking one down and bending her knees to sit and listen for a bit, closing her eyes as she did so. A familiar hand came down to lie still on her shoulder and Brittany let out a sigh, leaning sideways to rest against the wall. The hand moved to curve loosely along her waist as they sat side by side, quietly revelling in each other's presence.
"What the fuck are you doing, Lopez?" The same roaring voice filled their ears. "She basically admitted that she could have saved Puck, but I don't see him around and dandy, do you?" Puck stiffened beside her. If it hadn't been for the first part of that sentence, Brittany would have grinned.
More muffled buzzing filled their ears, along with sharp cries of:
"It's her fault he's dead!"
"She likes ducks, Santana! Ducks!"
"If it weren't for her Noah would be alive!"
"Fucking up everything for a summer's worth of rolling in the hay"
"Summer doesn't last forever"
Each one got Brittany feeling more and more despondent and the man beside her more and more tense. Santana and Puck's friends didn't dislike her- They hated her. Worse, they blamed her. It was only when Santana let out a shrieking "I know that!" did Brittany get up and walk out the front door, shutting it softly behind Puck. She couldn't listen anymore.
The two wandered around aimlessly for awhile, passing by the Puckerman's- "This was like, the Jew street. Jacob lived just a few doors down." Puck pulled a face. "JewBabe didn't like that too much." Brittany didn't answer.
Fifteen minutes in, Brittany's pocket chirped repeatedly. Pulling out her mobile phone, Brittany stared at it before pressing the red button. Puck glanced sideways at her, but opted to stay silent for a while. Almost instantly, though, it chirped again. And Brittany cut the call off again. And again. Then it let out a beep, signalling a new message from Santana.
Where did you go?
With a sigh, Brittany pocketed the phone again. She needed to sit somewhere and just think. And talk to Puck.
}{}{}{
"I'm sorry you had to hear all that," Puck finally broke the silence. He sat cross-legged upon the top of his gravestone, a worried look on his face as he stared at a seemingly comatose Brittany. "Zizes wasn't always like that."
The woman was a cow, but Brittany didn't voice that thought aloud. Didn't mean that he didn't hear, however.
"Yeah. She was way harsh." When Brittany didn't answer, they settled into an uneasy silence once again. He never was one for just sitting there quietly- Especially now that he could read her mind-, so it barely took two minutes before he spoke again. "I did tell you to just go, but you stayed. Not that that's bad or nothing. I'm just sayin', I did tell you to go."
"You're an asshole," Brittany responded hollowly, "You sent me here."
"Just to give my mum the letters!" He defended, "Not stick around and fall in love with Santana Lopez!"
"You sent me here!" Brittany repeated more sharply, the second part of what he said flying over her head. "You sent me here and I met Santana here-" She gestured around the cemetery, "Right here, so it's your fault!"
"I told you to leave!" Puck retorted, uncrossing his legs and bracing them on the front of the stone, "You were supposed to leave after like, a day, not end up staying here and fucking my best friend! You were supposed to leave," He repeated more quietly this time, his fists clenching and unclenching, "Lima isn't for you. It's a shit town that sucks you in even after you've gotten out. You have to be a special brand of crazy to stay here when you've the option to leave and never come back. We have family here; we're always going to be tied to this place.
"You were supposed to leave before you got tied down too."
"I like Santana," Brittany muttered rebelliously. This was like déjà vu.
"Yeah, duh, I got that much. And it's cool; she totally likes you back. You make her happy. Really happy," Puck said wistfully, running a hand over his short hair before he squared his shoulders, hazel eyes glinting. "But how much does she like you back?"
"What?" Brittany jerked, tilting her head back to look up at the man. "Enough. She likes me back enough- We're dating, she's my girlfriend."
"But you don't know for sure how much she likes you?" Puck asked again.
"She likes me enough!" Brittany barked in response, getting more and more irate. She had left the house to go somewhere and think, not to get drilled on her level of affection for Santana and vice versa. Santana liked her back enough for them to work; enough for Brittany to talk to her a little bit about what being in the army was like. Sure, she still skirted along the topic of what happened the day Puck had died, but she still talked.
"But you don't know how much," Puck pounded that in relentlessly, face set and serious. "What's gonna happen once summer is over?"
The answer was simple enough- Brittany would go with Santana. She wasn't totally sure what she would do yet, but she would find something.
Because Santana was- Is, she corrected herself-,worth it.
But Puck wasn't letting up. "Does San know that?" And he got her there. They hadn't talked about it because there was still a month and a half of summer left- And they'd only just met a month ago-, and plenty of time left to talk about it.
"Some people get married in weeks because they just know," Puck remarked infuriatingly, "What are you even gonna do in San Francisco?"
Brittany hesitated, because she honestly didn't know. Perhaps back to school, or... Something. Honestly, the army was all she knew, but she was pretty fucking adamant that she wasn't reenlisting. The army may have comprised of her whole adult life once she graduated from high school, but she wasn't all that fond of war. And the world really, really liked war.
"It wasn't all that bad. Was a life. Made money, got to see the world." A frown. "Well... Another country anyway." Puck slid off the stone and onto the ground next to Brittany, leaning back, closing his eyes and crossing his arms behind his head. Then he cracked one eyelid open to peer sneakily at Brittany. "Are you turned on by my guns?"
If it were any other time and if he hadn't been saying all that before, Brittany would have cracked a grin and giggled. But now she was pissed and angry and wanting to introduce her fist to his face, so his lame attempt at a joke wasn't amusing at all. "No," Was her short and curt reply.
"Pity," He responded, stretching. "There's no one else around, and Little Puckerone hasn't gotten any action in a while." He leered at Brittany and made a crude wrist jerk motion. "Except for this."
"Go away, Noah," She replied tiredly, "Shut up or go away or I'm going to kill you and you get to be the first ghost to die."
Throughout the whole time- Perhaps an hour or so had elapsed by this point-, her phone had kept ringing and beeping. So far she had amassed nine texts and fourteen missed calls, all of which were from Santana. Between Puck and the blasted device, she hadn't been able to think properly. All she wanted to do was think, why couldn't anyone leave her alone?
"'cause I've nothing better to do and San's your girlfriend," Puck shrugged just as the phone rang again.
With a cry, Brittany surged to her knees and flung the phone away from her, bracing her hands on Puck's tombstone and watching the little device sail away and break open on someone else's stone. Oops. But at least it had stopped making noises.
Panting despite having done nothing exertive, Brittany slid back down and cradled her head in her hands. Puck was unimpressed.
"I could have helped you switch that off."
"Noah!" Brittany shot to her feet, blue eyes all kinds of crazy. "Shut up shut up shut up!"
He held his hands up defensively and mimed a zipping motion across his lips, watching as she warily settled back down. Brittany breathed heavily into her palms as she tried to calm her whirring mind. She liked Santana. Santana liked her. That was all that was really needed- Why the hell had Puck asked all those questions and tried to make her doubt them? The future was the future- There was time yet for her to sort that out. Plus, Brittany had never been one to plan out every step of her life. She went with the flow and took each day at a time, which was basically how she had ended up joining the army right out of high school and was how she found herself in Lima just a couple of days after landing back in the States. Just because her closest friend from the military had asked her to. Things with Santana were good.
"I like Santana," Brittany finally whispered, "She's someone special. Someone specials don't come around often, Noah. I can't just leave and go h-" She bit off the word 'home', because honestly, she was pretty sure she didn't have one anymore. "I can't just leave," She finally settled on gamely.
There was a pause. "Yeah," Puck finally replied, voice low. "Preach."
Straightening, Brittany rubbed her eyes then tilted her head curiously. The man didn't answer her questioning gaze, choosing instead to turn and look away and Brittany, recognizing that he didn't want to talk, didn't push for an answer. Though he would have deserved the prying, the doubting bastard.
"Noah," Brittany started cautiously, not really sure how to phrase her question without coming off as callous or rude. "I- It's.. Do-"
He cut her off. "No," He sighed, "I don't blame you. Fault's not at all yours, babe. You couldn't have done anything." He managed a self-deprecating and mirthless smile. "I was there too, remember? The Gleeks were just needing a scapegoat or somethin', and you were there. I'm sorry." And they lapsed into silence again, with the both of them stewing in their own thoughts.
They hadn't been sitting there for long- Ten minutes at the most-, when Puck sat up and looked around before rolling to his feet. "Your search and rescue team is h-" His words cut off when Santana called out Brittany's name and the blonde stood, looking in the direction two people were heading from.
Santana looked worried and she had been perspiring- Brittany could tell because hair was sticking to her forehead and neck. "Britt?" She reached out, and the ex-soldier didn't protest when she got pulled into a tight hug. "You okay? I thought we were going to go for food after?"
Brittany felt bad and guilty, she really did. Santana had been nothing but wonderful and forgiving towards her and just because she hadn't liked what she had been eavesdropping on, she left. Just because she hadn't had the guts to hear what Santana had to say in reply. For a soldier, Brittany could admit, she was pretty spineless.
So she merely shrugged in reply, inscrutable blue eyes flicking between Santana and the other person there aside from Puck. Quinn Fabray managed to quirk a small smile at her, one side of her mouth lifting just a little before it dropped and hazel eyes welling with unwanted tears as she looked through Puck, at the grave. Speaking of Puck...
The man was inching closer to the shorter blonde, his own hazel eyes filled with something she couldn't discern. Brittany narrowed her gaze, trying to recall what Puck had told her about the girl.
"Who's this?" Brittany pointed her finger at one of the girls his arms were draping over in the picture that he had just gotten in the mail. Even though the photograph was small, she could tell that the girl was very pretty, especially in laughter. She was leaning forward slightly, hands cradling one of Noah's as her head looked in his direction, a huge smile gracing her features.
"Quinn. Quinn Fabray." Puck smiled then, wistful and yearning. "My fucking hot girlfriend."
"She is pretty," Brittany agreed, and Puck grinned.
"Hell yeah."
}{}{}{
"We had a baby together," He casually injected into conversation not long after that, and Brittany whipped around to stare, one eyebrow rising in surprise. He chuckled. "Yeah. Sophomore year. Didn't keep her though- Beth."
"Beth," Brittany rolled the name around in her mouth, before smiling. "That's a pretty name."
"You bet." She could tell that despite having brought up the subject, he wasn't really all that comfortable with it. So she switched.
"You and Quinn stayed together, though." It wasn't so much of a statement as a question.
"Broke up while she was pregnant. Got back together in Senior year." Puck grinned. "Going on two years in six months."
}{}{}{
For the past three days, Noah Puckerman had been moody and his replies clipped. She found him sitting outside the mess hall with his chin on his hands, elbows resting on his knees. Silently, Brittany sat next to him as they glanced over at the trucks and other military vehicles. It took half an hour of quiet before he spoke.
"Quinn and I broke up."
And that was all he said for the rest of the time they sat there. After they stood to go, though, he had caught her hand in his and squeezed in thanks. She didn't hesitate to fling her arms around him and hug him tightly.
They were shipped out of the United States within the week.
}{}{}{
"We're in a war," Puck whistled. They'd been here for a year, and he was only just comprehending it.
"Yeah," Brittany breathed out in response. That day had been long and a bit terrifying, if she was to be honest. They had had their first taste of active combat and for the first time, Brittany discharged her gun at live targets. It wasn't quite the thrill she had thought it would be, nor had she felt any of the so called glory of serving her country. Despite being the 'enemy', they had been people too. "Any regrets?"
Puck was silent for a few moments as he took a swing from his water bottle. Deliberately he capped it before finally replying, "Breaking up with Quinn."
}{}{}{
"If I die-"
"Why are you talking about this?" Brittany objected, clutching at Puck's arm and holding on even when he tried to tug it away.
"I'm just saying. Just in case." He smiled and ran his hand over her blonde hair affectionately. "I'm writing two letters. If I die, could you make sure my family and friends get them?"
"Why can't you send it to them now?" Brittany asked, confused.
Puck's voice was wry. "It's full of mushy shit I'd rather they not know I was capable of unless I was dead." He shrugged. "Love and guardian angels and forever, to my mum and sis. Quinn and Santana. That kind of mushy shit."
Brittany had been amused, but refrained from poking fun since he mentioned Quinn. He hadn't mentioned her in more than a year.
Shaking herself loose from the memories, Brittany looked to Santana and hugged her close, kissing her briefly on the lips. "I'm sorry. We can talk later?"
When she gestured to Quinn, Santana nodded, kissing Brittany once more before pulling away to cradle Quinn in her arms. The shorter blonde let go then, turning and pressing her eyes into Santana's shoulder, her own shaking as she tried to stay quiet. Puck stepped close, hand lifting to gently caress Quinn's cheek.
Pain for Puck flared in Brittany's chest at his expression when his hand passed through, unable to make contact.