Honey, No Regrets

Buttercup

Santana founds herself at the dance studio. At first glance, there is nothing in the dim, empty room. She was turning to leave when a soft sob floated from the direction of the locker room. Santana opened up the small single door and found what she was looking for, Brittany. Her eyes fought back the tears as she took in the wholly broken blonde sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest.

Santana hesitated for a moment and then spoke. "Britt?"

Brittany looked up and locked glossy eyes with Santana. They stared at each other for a moment before Brittany whimpered and broke down again.

Oh no, B comes here." She said, striding tentatively toward Brittany. She kneeled to get eye level with the fragile woman before her. "Hey.." she cooed, taking Brittany in her arms. "I'm here, shh."

That's when it hit Santana. What if she wasn't the one Britt wanted here?

What if this was the opposite of comforting? When Brittany didn't respond, she spoke up.

"I- I'm not sure I'm the one who should be doing this. If you want me to go grab somebody, I can," Santana started to get up.

"Don't you dare think about leaving me, Santana," Brittany said in a broken voice. "Please stay." She whispered.

Santana could see her bottom lip quiver.

"I'm here; I won't go anywhere." She kneeled back down and wrapped both of her arms around Brittany. She didn't say anything and could feel Brittany's body jolt every time her cries got a little intense. She took in everything she could at that moment. The way Brittany felt, the way Brittany smelled, and holding her when she was falling apart felt organic.

Lima Ohio

2006

Santana woke up and glared at her alarm clock. She still had five minutes before it rang out. Great start. She smiled to herself and sat up, swinging her legs off the side of her bed. She stretched and stood up, walking toward her bathroom.

"Santana, my love, is that you?" Her mother yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes, mama! I'm about to hop in the shower." Heading into the bathroom and shutting the door. She took in her appearance. Okay, up early, check. Everything else, yeah, she wasn't quite ready to check that off yet. She chuckled to herself and turned on the water. She let the glorious steam fill the room before it clicked.

"Oh shit, B." She smacked her forehead and ran out of the bathroom to retrieve her phone. She flipped it open and quickly texted.

Brittany Susan Pierce, you better be awake! -San :)

She waited there for a moment and wondered if she should call to be sure. Today was Junior Cheerio tryouts, and everything needed to go smoothly. This day could determine how their lives went for the rest of their school career, after all. And if they had any shot in making Sue Sylvester's team freshman year, they needed to have Junior Cheerios on their resume to do it. God, this is taking too long; she should have texted back already. She flipped her phone back open and dialed her best friend's number. It continued to ring with no response. Well, crap. She grabbed her workout bag, tossing in the clothes and shoes that she'd need for tryouts. She ran into the bathroom and shut off the water, retrieving her makeup bag and tossing it in with the other items. She ran down the stairs and headed toward the front door.

"Mama! I need to go wake up Britt; she's not picking up. I'll get ready over there."

"But I made you breakfast, and you aren't going to eat?" Her mother walked out of the kitchen with a concerned look.