A Second Chance
Title: A Second Chance
Pairing: Brittany/Santana
Rating: PG
Summary: Brittany saves the day for Santana. Kinda.
Spoilers: Loads of little things.
“Well done, Brittany,” Mr. Schuester said as he handed back the test paper. “Keep it up, and you’ll get through Spanish this term.”
Brittany stared at the sixty-five marked on the paper. “Wow, I don’t even remember having this test.”
Quinn Fabray looked over and hid her score of fifty from sight. “It was yesterday, Brittany, and you didn’t even cheat off me. Are you studying, or something?”
“Nope, studying gives me a headache.” Brittany looked at the test paper again. “But I was out sick yesterday.”
Quinn shook her head. Forgetting the test was one thing, but forgetting you were even at school was really something. Then the baby kicked, and she forgot all about it.
---
“Hey, Brittany, thanks again for helping me and Tina with that dance yesterday,” Kurt said as he walked up to her in the hallway. “It’s great how you have Beyonce’s dance moves down pat. Single Ladies was good, this one was fantastic.”
It wasn’t just that she was naturally good at dancing, though she did have a lot of innate talent. Brittany practiced for long hours to master each move at home. She had her own dreams just like any other girl. Maybe someday soon she’d get to be one of Beyonce’s backup dancers.
Brittany nodded back, then a thought struck her. “Yesterday? But I was out sick.”
“Wow, you can move like that even when you’re sick? That’s impressive.” Kurt waved as he headed off to class, leaving behind a somewhat bewildered blonde cheerleader.
---
Cheerios practice went by fast, taking her mind off the unusual events earlier. Without Quinn around anymore as head cheerleader, the squad had to pick up the slack. Santana was the natural alpha female that everyone looked to for leadership, and Brittany found herself in the unusual position of second banana. When Quinn had been around, she had been a distant third in the ranks, but it wasn’t so bad, even with the extra duties Coach Sylvester piled on. She got to work more closely with Santana, and that was always good. But what was strange were the comments she was getting from the other cheerleaders.
“Nice work on that routine, Brittany.”
“Yeah, you go, girl. We might have a shot at the Nationals with it, even without Quinn.”
She accepted the pats on the back with a vague nod and cheery grin, while her brain puzzled at all the weirdness. It kind of hurt trying to work it out. The other girls left the changing room, but fortunately, Santana was still there. She’d know what was going on.
“Santana, something strange is going on.”
Santana shot her that sideways look of hers that always made Brittany want to do something wild. “What, again? That’s what you said yesterday, and we know where that led. Coach Sylvester nearly caught us.”
“Huh, no, that’s not what I meant-“ I didn’t forget something like that, did I? “And yesterday, I was-“
“Really, really smokin’. I wouldn’t have guessed you had it in you, and I’ve known you for how long?” Santana shot her another look that brought up Brittany’s temperature a lot. “’Sides, we’re meeting up tonight, remember. My place. Hang tight until then.”
“Tonight… your place, right.” Something seriously weird was going on, and Santana was involved. Being fooled, somehow, though Brittany didn’t know how that was possible. But she was going to find out, for sure.
---
It wasn’t like Brittany was stalking her BFF. She was just really worried, and it was up to her to make sure Santana was okay. Light was fading as dusk edged into night. The Lopez house was lit up though the garden was dark with shadows. Brittany opened the gate and walked up the path towards the front door. She really should have called Santana beforehand, but it would be-a bush rustled, and Brittany jumped. A cat? She stepped towards the bush nervously. This was probably a bad idea. She should just ring the doorbell, get Santana to beat the bushes with her baseball bat. But she was here to help Santana, not make trouble.
She stepped around the bush and came face-to-face with… herself. Brittany blinked. And the other Brittany blinked too. The other Brittany was dressed the same in her usual cheerleading uniform, had her hair done up in the same ponytail, had the same makeup, and wore the same bracelet and earrings. Though there was a silver ring on one finger. That was odd. Brittany reached out to poke the mirror and yanked her hand back when her finger prodded warm flesh.
“Okay, I knew downloading the Fringe theme as my mobile ring tone was pushing it.”
“I’m real. You’re not dreaming me,” her other self said. “I was at school yesterday as you, well, me- us. Tests aren’t that bad the second time round, after Mr. Schue goes through the answers.”
Brittany didn’t waste any time with disbelief. That was for people who thought too much. She went straight for the important question. Not who, nor where, nor how, but, “Why are you here?”
“I came to warn you. Santana’s in danger. She’s going to get into an accident tomorrow.”
“Bad?”
“Real bad.” Pain flashed in those mirror eyes as they clouded over. “My Santana’s gone. And she’s not coming back. This is like a second chance for me to save her. You’ve got to do it. Save Santana.”
Brittany took a deep breath. “What do I need to do?”
“Make sure she doesn’t go near Johnson and Fifth tomorrow. It’ll happen on the right-hand corner. Stay with her all day, if you have to.”
“Okay, I do that anyway.”
Her other self reached out to grab her hand and held it tightly. “I’m serious. You don’t want to go through what I’ve been through.”
Brittany nodded. She understood. Anything for Santana.
---
“What is it with you today?” Santana gave her a look. “You seem kinda clingy.” She was being cool today. Santana Lopez was cool everyday, of course. She worked hard at it, though it was getting harder to pull off with Glee Club and a ditzy blonde by her side. Some days she felt being cool was no longer so rewarding, other days she worked twice as hard so maybe some of the effect would rub off on her BFF. Though it was probably a lost cause.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Nobody told me you were going to be in terrible danger today, or anything like that,” Brittany said.
“You really need to stop watching Fringe episodes.”
“I can’t help it. Anna Torv’s just so-“
“Woah! I like her too… but way too much info.” Santana held up a hand. Usually, she was fine with a clingy Brittany; in fact, it was kind of nice at times. But, today, she needed a little bit of space. Just for a short time. After all, a surprise is no good if the other person finds out about it. “Why don’t you head on over to Glee Club? I’ll be right over once I finish up this report.”
Brittany obviously didn’t want to leave her alone. She actually looked kind of torn, which hurt Santana-a lot. But she’d make it up to her later. “I promise, five minutes tops.”
“Okay, I’ll be waiting. Remember you’re not in terrible danger, so be careful.”
The blonde cheerleader ducked out of the classroom, and Santana took a deep breath, waited half-a-minute, then stood up and grabbed her bag. She would have to hurry if she didn’t want to worry Brittany.
---
“Where is Santana, Quinn?” Brittany asked. It had been twenty minutes since Glee Club started, and there was no sign of the cheerleader.
Quinn looked surprised. “Didn’t she tell you? You guys hang out all the time. She said something about missing the start of Glee Club earlier. Had to hit the shops for something-hey, wait!”
Brittany didn’t wait to hear the rest. She was out the door in a second, leaving behind a surprised Glee Club and a gaping Mr. Schuester. No, no, no, no! This can’t be happening to me. I need to get to her. Her feet flew beneath her as she raced out of school, pounded down the street, and onto Johnson.
The right corner of Fifth and Johnson was just up ahead. Santana stepped out of a corner shop… on the wrong side. Brittany felt a momentary spike of frustration. Her other self must have meant the other right. But traffic was light, nonexistent in fact. She was going to make it. “Sant-“
Santana cut corners. Literally, not figuratively. Jaywalking was a habit. She stepped onto the road after a cursory glance either way. And a school bus roared around the corner of Fifth, hitting the amber light. The driver was obviously late on his pickup run and didn’t even see Santana until the bus came out of its turn onto Johnson.
Brakes screeched furiously as the driver slammed his foot down. The bus skidded, and Santana looked up, startled. Brittany lunged forward, screaming out Santana’s name, but it was too late. All too late!
A figure hit Santana from behind, sending her staggering out of harm’s way. Brittany caught a momentary glimpse of her other self, a quirky triumphant grin on her face, just as the bus hit. Then the other Brittany was gone. The bus slid to a stop, and the driver stumbled out, ashen-faced. He looked around in shock and disbelief, raising one hand to touch the undamaged front of the bus. The bus had hit something - he had felt it, but there was no body and no damage. It must have been just his horrified imagination. He called out shakily to Santana, “Are you okay, Miss?”
Santana had fallen to her knees, and she looked up dazedly as Brittany reached her. “I’m alright. What the hell just happened?”
Brittany sank to her knees next to Santana and took a shaky breath. Santana wasn’t hurt. She wasn’t injured. She wasn’t dead. And it was all thanks to her other self. Who had sacrificed herself to save Santana. Just as Brittany would have done to save Santana, or any other Santana. She reached out and pulled Santana towards her, and hugged her tight.
“A second chance,” Brittany said, utterly relieved. Thank you, me.
---
Brittany told her all about it later that night, of course. There was no way she could keep such a huge thing from her BFF. So, when she was in Santana’s room, she poured it all out in a rush of words. And Santana accepted it like she always did when Brittany did or said something impulsive or silly. No hesitation, no doubt, no hysteria. “I believe you,” was all she said in that coolly awesome Santana Lopez way of hers.
She laid back on Santana’s bed, feeling relieved after sharing her burden, and a question popped into her head. “Why did you skip the start of Glee Club, anyway?”
There was no answer, and after a second, Brittany turned her head to see Santana looking a little flushed and uncomfortable. It was difficult to make it out against her normal olive complexion, but Brittany was keyed to all of Santana’s emotive states, including her very rare look of embarassment. Like when Brittany had inadvertently shared their secret on that party line phone call. Yup, Santana was blushing! This was a total memory moment to treasure.
“Remember when you got us those matching bracelets six months ago after we first-well, you know,” Santana said, still delightfully flushed. “Well, I went to get these.” She handed Brittany a silver ring and slid a matching one on her left hand.
Brittany held the ring up against the overhead light. There was a lot of moisture in her eyes, and she couldn’t quite make out the small engraving on the inside of the band. “What’s it say?”
Again, there was a moment of quiet hesitance from Santana as Brittany slid on the ring on her finger, then Santana murmured, “Brittana Forever.”