Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.

"Say what?" Brittany's head snaps up so fast her friend thinks her head might momentarily suspend from her head. Her eyes are comically wide, face twisting in confusion, wanting—no, needing Tina to clarify her latest string of 'news'. Brittany's sitting on one of the sun deck chairs in her new Beverly Hills pad—a gift from her dad after her recent divorce—when Tina unceremoniously plops down on the deck beside her.

"Your ex-wife," Tina smirks, making sure that she emphasizes the words that she knows Brittany hates hearing to this day, "is dating Riley Williams. You know, the hotshot lawyer and the new 'it' girl of Los Angeles?"

"San's dating that woman?" Brittany pouts, placing her mango smoothie on the table beside her to focus on Tina's words. "But why?"

"Brit, I hate to break it to you," Tina sighs exasperatedly. "but you guys have been divorced for over two years now. Are you really that surprised that Santana's dating other people?"

"But San never dated anyone else since our divorce!"

"But you have—"

"I only did that to make her jealous!" Brittany pouts. "Oh my god! Is she the reason why Santana's not sleeping with me anymore?"

"Brittany, divorce entails not having sex with your ex-spouse. You should know—" Tina's rambling is cut off by Brittany jumping out of her chair. Tina watches as Brittany grabs her robe before stomping her way back inside her house. Behind her, Tina smiles triumphantly, feeling good at being the first one to break the news to her friend. She prides herself with being the group's foremost news bearer, and today, she's even prouder at the reaction she received. Knowing Brittany, she's probably calling her ex to berate her for 'moving on'.

/

Santana met Brittany five years ago, at a club where the then 30-year old lawyer was celebrating her latest court win with her colleagues. It would have been her last stint as a practicing litigator because in the coming months, Santana would be coming back home to Arkansas—her hometown—to run for the Attorney General post after her father, outgoing Governor William Lopez announced his intention to run for Arkansas' Senate the following year. It was a decision that William and his wife, Maribel (also a lawyer) arrived at after their youngest child finished her undergraduate Economics degree from Harvard. But instead of trying to immerse herself in Arkansas' political arena by joining her father's gubernatorial staff, Santana opted to attend Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar for two years before going back to the United States to get her law degree from Yale University. After passing the Bar, once again to the disappointment of her father, Santana decided to work for Robbins & McKenzie in Chicago—the world's top-earning law firm.

A year into the law firm and William Lopez made his distaste for Santana's career choice painfully obvious. Despite Santana's success, he wants more. And that 'more' would eventually come in the form of being elected the new Attorney General or Arkansas. After two years of being the law firm's top gun, Santana acquiesced, deciding to move back to Arkansas in the coming weeks to start campaigning for her father before focusing on her own campaign for the AG post a year after her father's senate run.

Only, another barrier would come between Santana and her father.

That barrier was in the form of a then twenty-year old five foot eight blue-eyed blonde dance student from Joffrey Ballet School.

By then, the overly tipsy lawyer believed Brittany (who confidently strode towards Santana's table and asked for a dance) when she said that she was 25 and was in town for a family business while they were dancing, or as their friends would comment later on, boning each other, on the dance floor.

It wasn't until Santana woke up the next day in a completely different place. She quickly turned her head, as she saw the smooth, pale skin of someone's back, and tousled blonde hair spread out on top of her, clearly naked. Santana allowed her eyes to dart across the room of a seemingly posh apartment. Her mind drifted back to the events of last night and a smirk graced her features at the remembrance of the things that happened. Which was a lot, actually. The woman on top of her had moves in the bedroom that Santana hadn't found anywhere else. For a second, she thought that the young businesswoman could have been a dancer or a cheerleader when she was in school.

With a shrug, she gently removed the woman's arm wrapped around her torso, making sure not to wake up the woman who she remembered was Brittany. She will definitely remember her. And if she would have stayed in Chicago instead of moving back to Arkansas, Santana would have pursued the funny and gorgeous woman.

But she was leaving, so.

As she exited the room a few minutes later, Santana was taken aback by what she saw in the living room of the apartment. There are a couple of other people on the couch, all of them with plates in their hands as they stuffed their mouths with huge chunks of what appeared to be pancakes.

"Uh, hi..." Santana awkwardly greeted the other people in the room, waving her hand at them before she scurried out the door.

"Hey! Is Brittany up yet?" The Asian man asked between mouthfuls of pancakes. "We have our midterms in 20 minutes!"

"Midterms?" Santana furrowed her brows in confusion, her hand on the doorknob tightened.

"You know? Like, midterms." The Asian man eyed her in confusion.

Still feeling a bit weird from the alcohol and lack of sleep, Santana's brain was working slower than usual. "What?"

"Never mind." The man smiled kindly before turning to his companion. "Kitty, would you wake Brit up? We can't be late."

"Why did she go to that stupid club anyway?" The blonde woman, who Santana deduced to be 'Kitty' mumbled as she stood up from the couch, but not before she looked at Santana menacingly. "And you! You know that she would be having her exams today and you still spent the whole night doing my friend!"

"What? I don't—"

"Oh please..." It was 'Kitty's' turn to roll her eyes. "We heard you alright!"

"I don't understand. Midterms for what? Grad school?"

"Grad school?" Kitty chuckled. "She barely passed high school! And she's barely passing her undergrad courses. So no. She's not in grad school."

"She said she was 25!" Santana exclaimed, her head ached at the confusing conversation. Kitty looked at the only man in the room before she glanced back at Santana, smirking.

"25? Sure." The man shook his head, laughing.

"She's 25 alright." 'Kitty' mumbled before eyeing Santana up and down. "In a little over four years!" She added before she laughed out loud as Santana's face dropped, the blood drained from her face before she hurled all the remaining contents of her stomach.

/

If there's one word that her friends would use to describe Brittany, it would be persistent. She's persistent, especially if she wants something.

So Santana didn't really have a chance when Brittany came to her office, demanding that the lawyer talk to her.

"How did you know I work here?" Santana asked as soon as the blonde dancer made her presence known.

"I went through your purse that night. Why were you ignoring my calls?" Brittany huffed.

"How did you even know my number?" The lawyer asked as the object of both her fantasies and nightmares stood right in front of her. She was in the middle of wrapping up all the papers needed before she could officially leave the firm.

"Duh. I got your phone to call mine. Easy."

"I don't even want to know how you got through my very efficient secretary." Santana rolled her eyes as she tried to focus on the papers in front of her. "What do you want, Brittany? Or is that even your real name?" She narrowed her eyes at the blonde.

"Of course!"

"Well, you lied about your age. So."

"I'm sorry, okay? That was just my normal response everytime I'm in clubs."

With a sigh, Santana closed her eyes, massaging her forehead. "What do you want?"

"Well, I wanted to get to know you more. But Martha, who I may add is a very kind woman, accidentally let it slip that you're leaving the firm. So I thought, maybe I should just invite you to my 21st birthday. Dad will be throwing me a party in Vegas. So I'm thinking, it could be our sort of last hurrah, you know? Since you'll be moving to Arkansas in a month."

"I don't even know you." Santana chuckled at the invitation. Does she seem like a woman who would jump at any opportunity to 'hang out' with younger people?

"You knew me pretty well that night. In my bed." Brittany smirked, not oblivious to the way the lawyer seemed to be very uncomfortable in her seat. "Look, I come in peace. I'm so sorry for lying to you. I feel really bad. So let me make it up to you, please? It's this weekend. Daddy will be renting a jet to bring all the guests there. Please?" The young woman pouted for good measure.

/

In hindsight, Santana knew that she does bad things when drunk.

In more hindsight, Santana shouldn't have agreed to go with a bunch of strangers to a birthday bash of someone she barely knew.

Maybe it was the nagging thought at the back of her mind that said she should have that last hurrah indeed, before she immerse herself under her father's campaign. She's sure she won't be having any good time back home.

Also, looking back, that fucking pout did her in.

It fucking did her in.

/

She woke up with a topless Brittany moving around the room carrying a tray of steaming cups of coffee in her hands.

Fighting the pounding in her head, Santana squeaked and pulled the comforter to cover her body, scrambling back against the headboard. "What the hell, Brittany?"

Brittany's smile slowly faded into a frown. "What's wrong?"

"Ugh!" Santana groaned. "What the hell happened? Why am I naked? Again?"

"Oh." Brittany grinned as she placed the tray on the bedside table. "We consummated our marriage last night."

Santana froze. "What?"

"We're married," Brittany repeated, "we got married last night. It was so cute. You sang 'Happy birthday' to me ala Marilyn Monroe. It was so hot. Then you proposed to me with a ring pop." She added with a smile.

Santana was not amused. "You're kidding right? This is insane. I mean, why would I marry you? You're…a woman — and I'm a woman with a dick— no, you know what? You're practically a stranger!"

"Silly, we're not strangers. You and Daddy hit it off last night. He was there, you know?" Brittany beamed. "He promised to buy us a house wherever we choose to settle in. Do you still want to stay in Arkansas? I can find us a house there. But I'm not moving in until after graduation. Which is in three months. Or we could stay in Chicago? Or maybe LA?" Brittany said on and on, but Santana wasn't listening.

/

Tina waits for her friend to get back, knowing quite well that it will take some time before that happens. At this time of the day, Santana would be very busy meeting with clients or potential ones. But Santana will take that call, no matter what.

Despite the tumultuous and at times, rather weird marriage that the two had, they'll always be there for each other.

The two surprised most of the people who knew them when their marriage lasted a little over three years.

Tina herself had been surprised when she realized how heartbroken she was the moment she learnt that Brittany and Santana were calling it quits.

/

A. So! There's the sneak peak to my next story. This will have less angst as much as possible. Let me know what you think.

B. There's another chapter left in 'It's Always Been You' (maybe an epilogue after, maybe not).

C. Check out my Tumblr! (see my Profile page for the account name)