"Man," Santana sighed, "I miss home."

Brittany smiled and gently rubbed Santana's shoulder. "Me, too."

"But I have to say," Santana admitted, taking her eyes off the road for just a moment, "this weekend was fun. I'm glad you brought me with you."

Brittany leaned her head against the car window and watched the trees whipping past with a reminiscent smile. "I always have fun," she whispered before glancing over at Santana, "whenever I'm with you."

Santana stole another look at Brittany and smiled at her knowingly. With her eyes back on the road again, she drove silently for a while, that small smile never leaving her face. The radio hummed on quietly, and cloud after cloud drifted by. Finally, Santana broke the silence. "Brittany?"

Brittany was gazing lazily at herself through the side mirror when she heard Santana call her name. It sounded so beautiful rolling off her lips like that. "Hm?"

Santana kept her hands steady on the wheel as she sped down the highway, chasing the evening's pink sun. Another moment of silence, and she spoke again. "I love you…so much."

Her eyes still on the side mirror, Brittany watched as a peaceful smile crept across her own lips. Oh, Santana. She made Brittany's heart thud, she made it wrench, she made it swell, she made it beat and beat and beat. She was, quite literally, Brittany's life-source, and, as for Brittany, she would gladly lay her entire life in Santana's hands.

Brittany flicked her eyes over at Santana and caught her staring at the road still. But something about Santana's level face and the fact that she didn't even bother to watch for Brittany's reaction made Brittany swoon all the more.

Like Santana, Brittany turned her head to stare straight ahead at the road. "I love you, too," she said.

At the same time, they glanced at each other, and both grinned at the perfect timing.

They flung their bags into their apartment before going in themselves. But before they even shut the door, Santana was already all over Brittany. She had leapt onto Brittany without any warning, wrapping her arms around Brittany's neck and her legs around Brittany's waist.

Brittany stumbled back a few steps but quickly straightened up again and held Santana up by her thighs. "Whoa…"

"I need you right now, Britt," Santana husked into her ear. "A whole fucking weekend with no privacy sucks," she mumbled grumpily before sucking at Brittany's neck.

"God, Santana," Brittany groaned, "how are you this sexy?" She kicked the door closed and began staggering to Santana's room as she kissed Santana fiercely on the lips.

"Couch," Santana murmured into Brittany's lips.

Brittany jerked her head back, her face flushed and the beginning trickles of sweat lining her forehead. "What?" she panted.

Santana rolled her eyes and pulled Brittany's face back into hers to kiss her again. "Room too far," she mumbled.

Having finally understood, Brittany walked unsteadily to the couch, and, as she was about to let Santana down, a voice interrupted.

"Hey! You guys are back!"

Brittany and Santana spun their heads toward the sound, and Brittany could swear she saw fire in Santana's eyes. "Really, Puck?" Santana yelled.

Puck shrugged. "How was your little honeymoon?" he asked instead while he padded over to the kitchen nonchalantly.

Brittany cringed at Puck's offhandedness. He, of all people, should know how scary Santana could get. Although, she supposed Santana didn't look all that intimidating at the moment, clinging to her body like a monkey.

Santana seemed to notice as well because she immediately jumped off Brittany and approached Puck. "How many times has it been, Puckerman?" Santana hissed.

"What?" Puck asked.

"You know what," she said with slanted eyes.

Sensing the fight about to break out, Brittany shuffled toward the door. "Well," she said awkwardly, "I guess I'm going to go now."

"Wait," Santana said. She gave Puck one last death glare before turning to Brittany. "Don't go, Britt."

"Oh, but I have to unpack anyway," Brittany explained as she picked up her duffel bag.

"No," Santana said again, moving over to Brittany and placing a gentle hand on the hand Brittany was using to carry her bag. "Stay here."

"Huh?"

"Unpack…here," Santana said slowly.

When Brittany finally registered what Santana was saying, she glanced up at Santana with wide eyes.

Santana stared back at her, her eyes questioning and hopeful and a bit nervous.

Brittany grinned. "But," she said with furrowed eyebrows, "what about Puck?"

"Oh," Santana said with a carefree shrug, "I'm kicking him out."

"Waaaait," Puck said as realization dawned on him, "when was this even decided?"

Santana glared at him again. "About two minutes ago."

"What?" he exclaimed. "Then where am I going to stay?"

"Well, you have a girlfriend, don't you?" Santana shot back.

"Well, yeah."

"Good. Maybe she'll have the heart to take you in." Santana turned back to Brittany again, and it was as if she were a different person, the anger in her eyes having completely vanished and her scowl curled up into a cute smile. "So, what do you say, Britt?"

Brittany nodded more times than necessary and hopped in place. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Santana chuckled. "God, I love you so much," she muttered as she grabbed the back of Brittany's neck and pushed her lips into Brittany's.

Puck grinned to himself as he watched from the kitchen. He never thought he would even see his best friend in love, not to mention this head over heels. And even though said friend was also responsible for his now possible homelessness, he had never been happier for her.

In several moments, the door opened and in stepped Quinn. "What's all this noise—" Her voice cut off abruptly as she took in the two girls making out in front of her. "Jesus," she muttered as Brittany and Santana finally pulled apart. Even so, she had to admit they were kind of cute, still gazing at each other with those love-struck eyes. Before Quinn said another word, though, she noticed the figure at the kitchen. "Puck! What are you even doing there?" she asked in disbelief. "Are you watching them?" she added with a disgusted look on her face.

"What? No!" Puck replied.

Santana, having recovered from whatever spell she was under just moments ago, joined the conversation. "You came at the perfect time, Quinn," she said matter-of-factly. "Please take him with you."

"What?"

Brittany carried another box of Puck's things into Quinn's apartment and almost laughed at the sight of Quinn ordering Puck around with a good deal of eye rolls.

"I can't believe I'm stuck with him," Quinn muttered.

Brittany giggled and patted her back soothingly. "You love him, though."

"I know, but still." Quinn glanced up at Brittany and smiled. "I'll miss living with you, Britts."

"Same here," Brittany said as she gave Quinn a big hug. "But we'll still be us. I'll still see you every day, I'll sleepover more often than not… I'll still love you as much as I always have."

Quinn nodded. "Me, too."

"Good," Brittany said with a grin.

"Where's Santana?"

"She's still digging through the storage closet, seeing if Puck left anything else behind."

"Alright, go be with your girl," Quinn said with a smile as she nudged Brittany toward the door.

Brittany laughed and began walking away. At the doorway, though, she stopped. Turning around, she gave Quinn a wide smile, thanking her for everything she had done—for always being supportive right from their kindergarten days until now, for always watching out for her, believing in her, and loving her.

In return, Quinn gave her a small nod in acknowledgement, as modest as always.

o o o

"Hey, Santana," Brittany said as she stepped back into Santana's…well, as of a week ago, Santana's and her apartment. "Do you have anything else for Puck here?"

"No," Santana called from the storage closet, "I don't think so."

Brittany made her way over to the closet and smiled as she watched Santana dig through her messy storage closet. It felt so strange to think that she was going to be living with Santana. It made her feel old but still giddy like a child. It made her feel like she was moving onto a new stage in life, and she could not be happier that it was with Santana.

As Santana rummaged through her old paintings and brushes, she suddenly stilled.

Brittany peered over Santana's shoulder but couldn't see what Santana was looking at because of the darkness of the closet. "What's that, San?"

"Umm…"

Brittany glanced at Santana quizzically before deciding to find out for herself. She reached over Santana and pulled the painting out of her hands. As soon as the light hit it, Brittany knew what it was. "Oh."

Santana shuffled closer to Brittany and studied the painting. It had been a while since she had last seen it.

"You knew right from the start, didn't you?" Brittany asked quietly.

Santana nodded. "I guess I did."

Brittany looked over at her and smiled. Then she bent down and kissed Santana softly on the lips. "We're putting this up."

Brittany's boxes were packed way too well. As Santana sat on the floor, she first tried to rip the box open. When that didn't work, she tried to peel off the tape. When that failed as well, she called out for help. "Brittany!"

Brittany poked her head out of the almost empty guest room and smiled. "What's up?"

"Do you have any scissors?" Santana asked with a hopeful smile.

Smugly, Brittany sauntered out of Puck's old room with a pair of scissors dangling from her finger. "Yes," she said with a smirk. "Yes, I do."

Santana grinned at her and tugged Brittany down by her arm. The scissors clattered to the ground, and Santana carelessly pushed them aside. "We'll finish unpacking later…"

Above their heads hung a painting of a blonde girl in a field of green grass, her eyes closed and her arms spread with just a hint of a smile on her face. Next to her lay a dark-haired girl with tan skin, her arms stretched out as well. If you looked closely enough, you could see that their fingers were intertwined.

The last time Brittany moved, she met the love of her life. This time, she was moving in with her.

Author's Note: And here goes the longest author's note in the history of author's notes. First of all, thank you to everyone who's been following this story. This has been such a wonderful journey, and I'm so glad I've been able to share this experience with you all. For those of you who read and reviewed, even more cupcakes for you!

I never expected how sad it would be to end this story, but it is. I couldn't even put in the trivia question I had originally intended to. :(

Now that all the mushy stuff is out of the way, I'm just going to leave a few things here that might interest some of you. For me, at least, I like to know this stuff, so here are some tidbits not mentioned in the story but that I had in mind as I wrote.

1. Quinn and Brittany had always, in my mind, hooked up once before in college when they were drunk. It meant nothing, but it does reflect their friendship well, seeing as how they're sometimes abnormally close for purely platonic best friends.

2. Puck and Santana had also hooked up before—and multiple times, too. In fact, the man's voice mentioned at the end of Chapter 1 is Puck's voice. For those of you who are totally sickened by this fact, sorry, just pretend you never read it and go on interpreting the story as you did. :)

3. Santana's backstory was totally unplanned. I had always envisioned Santana's character to have this ambiguous unhappiness surrounding her, but there was never a concrete reason for that. Neither was there a reason for Santana's promiscuity. She was just someone who slept around a lot. That was that. But, since many people wondered how this came to be and the Sam incident somehow fit into the story, that happened.

4. At the end of Chapter 9, when Santana acts strangely, it's because she's finally realized how serious her feelings for Brittany really are. Sorry it's so unclear. When I look back at it, I don't know what I was thinking either. Sometimes, I expect you guys to have superhuman analytical skills. Sorry about that.

5. Oh! The talk about the stars in Chapter 13 and later Chapter 23… I hope you guys understand what they symbolize!

6. As for the Sam story and its resolution, I'll leave that up to you. It's obviously more subtle and up to interpretation.

7. And this last chapter… Look at it the way you want to. :) Review or PM me if you have any lingering questions. Always glad to answer them!