Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own them. RIB and Fox and a stable full of people who don't care about them do. I'm just taking them out for a spin to try and make them feel a little more loved. I'll bring them back ... maybe.

A/N: This is finally it. I know most of you probably thought this would never get finished, but here we are. It'll probably be the last Glee fic I'll ever write (unless something grabs me and makes me want to add an epilogue to this story). I'm more or less done with Glee and have been for a while, which is one of the reasons why it took so long to finish this story. I took it to where I wanted it to go and I hope the ending is not a disappointment.

A/N: As always, I'm immensely grateful for all your reviews and PMs.

Chapter 11

Friday, and with it Sectionals, came much faster than Santana had anticipated and she wondered where the week had gone. A lot of the time had been spent on rehearsals and on the phone with Quinn, who was vacillating between elation and depression, depending on Rachel's moods at any given point in time. It apparently hadn't helped at all that Rachel was banned from competing in Sectionals. Santana hadn't envied Quinn at all when she heard about that.

Snipping fingers in front of her face pulled her out of her thoughts with a visible start. Brittany just grinned. "Are you in there somewhere, San?"

Santana chuckled. "Sorry … just thinking."

"Yeah, you shouldn't do that, it's dangerous," Brittany said, her voice completely serious as she grabbed a banana from the bowl in the middle of the breakfast table. Then she stuffed half the banana in her mouth and grinned at Santana, looking like a chipmunk. Santana couldn't help herself and laughed out loud, shaking her head at her adorably silly girlfriend.

Brittany swallowed and smiled at Santana. "Oh good, you're laughing," she stage-whispered. "I was beginning to wonder if someone had come in at night and stolen your laugh."

Santana stared at her, and so did Brittany's mother who had come into the kitchen at the tail end of Brittany's comment. "What do you mean, Britt?"

"Santana's been way too serious this whole week," Brittany explained. She turned to Santana. "You're like totally stressing out about today and I think that's not necessary. We're going to win Sectionals because you and Mercedes are awesome and we're just the best. And if we don't win, then we don't." She shrugged. "Not the end of the world, at least not for us." She paused. "I'm not so sure about Sugar."

Santana sighed. "It's not that … well, not just that," she amended after a look from Brittany and her mom. "It's just … you know what mom said."

"About your grandmother?" Annie Pierce asked. "Yeah, your mom told me." Annie placed her hand on Santana's. "Honey, I know this is hard for you, but you have to accept that there's nothing you can do about the situation. Nothing you can do or say will make her change her mind – that has to come from her." She grinned. "Now your mom on the other hand … she might have ways to make the old hag see the error of her ways."

Santana hesitated. "But maybe if I -"

"If you what?" Brittany interrupted her, face upset and voice hurt. "Are you planning on breaking up with me to please your grandmother? Cause that would be the only thing that might get her to change her mind …"

"No, of course not, Britt!" Santana exclaimed. "I love you, you know that," she murmured, still not entirely comfortable saying these things around any kind of parental figure. She chanced a side-glance at Brittany's mom who simply smiled a little indulgently.

Santana wrapped Brittany in her arms. "I'm sorry, Britt," she whispered. "I'm never going to do that."

Brittany sighed. "Sometimes I remember how you used to be and then I get scared."

Santana pressed her lips against Brittany's hair in reply, not knowing what to say. She hoped her gesture would say it all. She was never leaving Brittany.

/

McKinley's two glee clubs had all been excused from regular classes for last-minute rehearsals while the auditorium was being prepped for the evening's competition. The Troubletones were crowded around the piano in the tiny classroom they had been using when they couldn't use the auditorium, just running through the songs a few times. Brittany and Ms. Corcoran had agreed that they had the dance moves down as perfectly as they could and that yet another run-through today would probably do more harm than good.

Santana was standing near the door, watching Ms. Corcoran who was standing in the far corner of the room, quite obviously deep in thought. Hm, wonder what that's all about? She grabbed the water bottle, but still found her eyes drawn to their choir leader. She looked … a little lost and a lot sad, and Santana was beginning to get worried. They weren't that bad, were they? No, that couldn't be it. But what else could be wrong?

She thought back to the past few days. No, their practices had all gone well, with her and Mercedes having an iron grip on the singing and Brittany more or less leading the dancing part of their routine. So, something else then. Something, she considered for a moment, that she probably had no business knowing or even speculating about. God, she was getting … too nice in her old age, she smirked to herself.

With a shrug, she ambled over to Ms. Corcoran and leaned against the wall just outside the older woman's personal space. "Everything all right?" she asked casually.

Mc. Corcoran looked up at her as if she was surprised that there was someone there. "Yeah, yeah," she mumbled unconvincingly. "Everything's fine."

"Uh-huh." Santana turned towards Ms. Corcoran. "I know I'm just a student, but since you went all up in my business last week, I figured I'd at least offer to listen. No matter what everyone thinks, I'm actually pretty good at that, and there isn't much that would shock me." She thought back to the conversation she had with Quinn. "And you'd be surprised at what I know and don't talk about … Just sayin'."

Shelby Corcoran's face was really interesting when there were lots of emotions chasing each other across its planes and angles, Santana thought. She waited until she could catch the spark of realization in dark eyes, then nodded.

The older woman sighed. "Well, I guess you deserve some warning of what's to come and maybe you can actually help me out," she finally said.

"I'm all ears, Ms. C," Santana said quietly as she settled against the wall. They were relatively alone in their little corner, despite the room being so small. The noise everyone else made singing and joking around the piano effectively shielded their conversation from prying ears. Brittany caught her eyes for a second and Santana tried to convey that she needed some privacy for a bit back here. She assumed she had gotten her point across when Brittany nodded and then started a funky dance number that conveniently led the others from the room and into the hallway. Atta girl.

Shelby watched her choir dancing away merrily and shot a knowing grin at Santana. "Have you and Brittany always been able to communicate telepathically?" she asked semi-seriously.

Santana shook her head. "No, that's a relatively recent development," she replied with a grin. "We had enough trouble with actual communication for years, so it's a good change."

"I agree." Ms. Corcoran assessed her. "You have changed quite a bit, even in the short time I've known you."

Santana considered that. "Yeah, I guess that's true … a lot of stuff happened in the past few months and that sort of forced me to stop just bitching around and grow up." She smiled. "A few months ago we wouldn't be having this conversation … or at least not without me having some hidden agenda."

"So no hidden agenda now?"

Santana shook her head. "No, nothing apart from making sure everything is okay … you are kinda a vital part of The Troubletones …"

"Yes, about that …" Shelby began. "Today is almost certainly my last day here."

"What?!" Santana exclaimed "What's that supposed to mean? Is it because of that whole Puck thing?"

To Santana's surprise Shelby chuckled, albeit a bit darkly. "So you do know about that," she muttered. "Does everyone know?"

"No, just me … Quinn told me and we talked about it," Santana reassured her. "She's not going to tell anyone, now that she's not completely miserable any more."

Shelby shook her head. "I can't be sure of that," she said. "She does have a point, too, because it was wrong and I have no idea how it happened. And it's never good when someone has something dangling over your head … you should know that better than anyone."

And Santana did know that. "What are we going to do?" she asked quietly, accepting Ms. Corcoran's point. "We're probably going to win tonight … then what? I'm not going back to Mr. Shue."

"That's the part where I'd like your help," Shelby replied. "I have a friend who could take over for me. I'm going to give Mr. Motta some reason for why I need to leave and suggest my friend as a replacement."

"What do you need me for?"

"Well, my friend is not actually a music teacher and as far as I know she's never worked with a school choir before," Shelby admitted. "But she can sing and she's a great teacher. Brittany can do the choreographies, I know she can. I just need you to make sure that the rest of the girls accept the … new realities. And I'll be able to help my friend if need be … from a distance."

"I really don't think you have to do this … but have you talked to your friend yet?" Santana asked. "Would she even want the job?"

"I was going to do it after practice, invite her to tonight's competition, so she can see you perform."

"Sounds like a plan," Santana said. "If we lose, we won't need another director anyway … So she's local?"

"Oh, you'll need her because I have all the confidence in the world that you're going to win tonight," Ms. Corcoran said with a tight smile. "And yeah, Holly's a substitute teacher and I think she's even worked here before. I think she mentioned McKinley once or twice."

Santana stared at her teacher. "Did you say your friend's name is Holly?"

"Yes," Ms. Corcoran replied. "Holly Holiday. You know her?"

A grin spread over Santana's face just as Brittany and the others returned from what appeared to have been a little dance to the cafeteria and back. "Oh yeah, I know her."

/

The auditorium was steadily filling as more and more people took their seats. Brittany stood in the wings, searching for familiar faces among the crowd. Ah, there. Her parents and sister were already in their seats and looking excited, but the seats next to them, the ones reserved for Santana's family, were still empty.

She looked around backstage to see all the different glee clubs mingling around, soaking in the atmosphere. Her eyes automatically scanned the room for Santana and it took only seconds to spot her off to the side, talking to Quinn with a serious look on her face. Wonder what that's all about, she thought before focusing back on the audience.

There. Finally. Thank you, Cheesus. A happy little grin spread over her face and she turned to walk over to Santana.

/

"Hey, Santana," Quinn said with a smile. "Not sure we should be talking to each other this close to the competition. Isn't that bad mojo or something like that?" She winked but to her surprise Santana just scowled at her. "Okay," she drawled, "What's wrong?"

"Are you blackmailing my favorite teacher, Fabray?" Santana asked bluntly.

"What?"

"Did you threaten to tell people about Ms. Corcoran and Puck?"

Quinn shook her head. "I told you I'm over that whole thing. Why?" Santana studied Quinn for long moments before her anger receded. She really hadn't wanted to have to hate her friend again. Quinn held her eyes. "What happened?" she asked again.

"Ms. Corcoran is leaving McKinley," Santana explained. "She said she couldn't have the threat of exposure hanging over her or something like that." She sighed. "I told her it's not necessary … fuck, we all know it was probably all Puck taking advantage anyway, even if she's an adult, you know how he is." She and Quinn shared a knowing grin.

"That sucks," Quinn agreed, "but she is probably just doing what she thinks is right."

Santana scowled some more. "Really? And will you also think that when suddenly Rachel's mother disappears from her life again? When Beth is gone from your life completely?" Her voice was hard. "'Cause that's what's going to happen, Quinn. The woman leaving is not just the only teacher who ever cared enough to teach me anything, she's also your daughter's adoptive mother … and your girlfriend's mother. Think about that. Weird as it is."

Quinn swallowed. "I know all that, Santana," she said quietly. "But I can't believe she'd completely vanish from our lives. At least I hope not." She touched Santana's arm. "And I'm sorry that she's leaving the Troubletones, I really am."

Santana snorted. "You should be," she said, "because when we beat you tonight and you're joining our little glee club after that, you won't get to experience her amazing teaching any more." She paused. "Although her replacement might be a nice surprise."

"So you think you're going to win tonight? And you'd want us to join the Troubletones?"

"Absolutely. Oh, and girls only."

"It's on."

/

Santana ran straight into Brittany who had apparently been waiting for her to finish her talk with Quinn. "What's up, San?" she asked with a nod at Quinn's back.

"Long story," Santana sighed. "I'll tell you once we have a little privacy, okay?" She leaned over to kiss her girlfriend. "What's up with you? You're all bouncy and excited."

"I know!" Brittany exclaimed. "I gotta show you something, come on." With that she dragged Santana over to the side of the stage, from where they could easily see the audience. "See over there?" She pointed towards their families' seats, now actually bouncing on her toes.

Santana gave Brittany an indulgent look before following her index finger to try and see what had her so excited. She gasped, quietly, when she found her targets. There, sitting next to Brittany's family, were her mother and father … and her grandmother, a dour look on her face. "I can't believe it," she breathed.

"Right? Isn't it great?" Brittany hugged her fiercely. "I knew she'd come!"

Yeah, under duress and after some nicely crafted blackmail from my mother. Santana decided to keep her thoughts to herself and just hugged Brittany a little tighter. Well, at least for once my whole family is here to see me perform on stage. That's gotta mean something. It didn't occur to her to find it strange that she included Brittany's parents and sister in that statement.

"Wanna go talk to them?" Brittany's enthusiasm was contagious, but anything Santana could have done or said was interrupted by the emcee taking center stage and opening the night's competition.

"No time," Santana whispered. "We need to get ready."

"Okay," Brittany agreed easily. "We'll see them after we win anyway." With that she dragged Santana towards the other Troubletones.

/

Santana barely had time to brace herself before Brittany jumped into her arms. "We won, San!" the blonde yelled. "I knew we'd win this."

"Hell to the yes," Mercedes chimed in while the rest of the Troubletones danced and jumped all around them.

The only one not jumping was Sugar who was sitting on the floor, lovingly cradling the huge trophy in her arms and smiling at the world.

"You okay, Sugar?" Mercedes asked her after a few moments.

Sugar nodded. "I finally won something," she muttered. "I belong to a group of people who love me and I won something." She smiled at Mercedes, Santana and Brittany, not even registering their synchronized eye rolls. "Isn't this fantastic? Dinner for all of us and our families is on me!"

"Yay!" Brittany whooped and the four of them hugged. Santana looked over Brittany's shoulder and met Ms. Corcoran's eyes for a moment. Their musical director gave her a huge smile and a nod before being distracted by a tall, blonde woman who threw herself into her arms.

Santana grinned and pressed a kiss to Brittany's cheek, remembering what that particular blonde woman had done for them. Brittany looked up and at Santana's nod towards the wings, followed her girlfriend's gaze. "Is that Ms. Holiday?" Brittany whispered. When Santana nodded, Brittany searched her face. "Is that part of the long story you still need to tell me?"

"Yes, it is," Santana said. "I'll tell you all about it later, but first—"

"Breadstix!"

One day, Santana thought with a wry grin, I'll end up deaf.

/

The Breadstix parking lot was filling up quickly and people were laughing and celebrating as they walked towards the restaurant doors, ignoring the obstinate-looking older woman and her companions standing next to a black Mercedes.

"I am not going inside that restaurant to celebrate," Carmen Lopez stated for the tenth time in as many minutes.

"Oh yes, you are," Maria replied calmly. "Remember our deal?"

"I was supposed to go to the concert, which I did," the older Lopez huffed. "You didn't say anything about spending time with that deviant daughter of yours."

Maria Lopez shot her husband a look, silently urging him to say something. She rolled her eyes when he tried to avoid her gaze, but just as she was opening her mouth to give her mother-in-law another piece of her mind, Antonio suddenly spoke. "Mother, God knows I love you, but if you don't go in there and be nice to my daughter, I'm going to kick you out myself."

Carmen's eyes widened. "Tonio! You wouldn't!"

Antonio nodded grimly. "Watch me," he said quietly. "I've had enough of you imposing your outdated values on our life. This ends now." He shook his finger in her face. "You either accept your wonderful granddaughter for the person she is or you leave our lives. Comprende?" He took his wife's hand with his free one. "If you can't accept Santana and be sincere about it, she'll be a lot better off not having you in her life at all, although she loves you dearly and would miss you. As would we."

Maria smiled at her husband. Finally. "I guess I can cancel the spine-replacement surgery for you then, huh?" she muttered so only he could hear. She turned to her mother-in-law. "It's love, Carmen," she said imploringly. "What can be wrong with love?"

Carmen's face was inscrutable. "I don't know that I can do it," she finally said. "But I will go in there and try."

"You will try and withhold any judgmental remarks," Antonio amended. His mother nodded. "Okay, let's go celebrate then."

None of their faces looked the least bit festive when they entered Breadstix, which is how Annie Pierce spotted them. She rushed over at once. "Hey, Mari, Tonio." She hugged Maria and Antonio and completely ignored Carmen. "Look, you have about three seconds to start looking happy because Santana and Brittany will see right through that little family act you're pulling here, if you don't."

Maria laughed bitterly. "Knowing Brittany, she'll see through it no matter what." She still wasn't happy with her mother-in-law." "But I am happy for Santana and Brittany and the rest of the girls," she said with a smile, "and I am going to celebrate!" She dragged Annie over to the bar to get some liquid fortification into her system.

As soon as she had her son alone, Carmen turned to him. "Tonio, what happened to you?" she asked, voice shaky. "I raised you to be a good Catholic man and now you're defending this … behavior?"

"God is love, remember?" he said earnestly. "And who are we mortals to say what kinds of love are right or wrong?" He smiled. "I remember that you told me once that your father didn't want you to marry dad because he was not right for you. You married him anyway because it was right for you."

He searched her eyes for any sign he was getting through to her. "Santana loves you, you're her abuela, and what you're doing right now is hurting her. But she and Brittany belong together and everyone but you can see that." Carmen's face lost nothing of its hardness. "Watch them tonight, watch them together. See them and keep an open mind."

With that, he turned and followed his wife to the bar, where Annie handed him a shot of tequila without asking.

/

"Dear Troubletones, ladies and gentlemen, welcome." Mr. Motta's voice over the microphone silenced the room. "This is a beautiful night, isn't it? The Troubletones won Sectionals tonight, and they'll go on to win even more!" He smiled broadly at the cheers from both Troubletones and family members.

"Unfortunately," he continued, "Shelby Corcoran, who shaped our girls into the winners they are, won't be there to guide them along the way due to personal reasons and different commitments. But she already found someone to take over."

There were disappointed groans from all the Troubletones spread across the room, and one moan from Shelby Corcoran. This was not how she had wanted to share her news.

Brittany turned towards Santana. "You knew." Santana nodded and watched Brittany think. "And Ms. Holiday is going to take over." It was a statement, not a question. Santana nodded again. "That's good," Brittany continued with a smile. "Not that Ms. Corcoran is leaving," she amended after a second, "but that we don't have to go back to Mr. Shue."

Santana laughed out loud. "So true, and I'm kinda happy that Ms. Holiday is back."

"What's Ms. Corcoran going to do?"

"Don't know, she hasn't told me," Santana admitted. "I'm not sure she knows yet."

Brittany studied her face. "You are going to tell me the rest of this story later."

They turned to the makeshift stage again when Shelby Corcoran took over the microphone from Mr. Motta. "First of all," she started, "I am so very, very proud of you ladies. You rocked this show today!"

Cheers erupted.

"Now for the other thing," Shelby continued. "Mr. Motta was right: unfortunately I will have to leave Lima and won't be able to work with you any longer." At the sounds of protest, she held up her hands. "I'm so sorry, but it's the way it has to be."

"Bullshit," Santana muttered under her breath.

"The good news is that an old friend agreed to take over for me, and most of you already know her." She pointed to Holly Holiday who stood up from her seat at the bar and walked over.

"The cucumber lady!" Mercedes blurted with a cheeky grin and everyone laughed.

"Indeed," Holly Holiday said. "Hello, Mercedes. Don't worry, we won't be using cucumbers for microphones." She winked at Mercedes, then smiled at the whole room. "Hello, Troubletones!" she yelled.

Santana smiled. Looks like it's not going to be much of a problem.

/

It was about an hour later when Shelby Corcoran and Holly Holiday finally made it round to where Santana and Brittany were standing in a corner, talking quietly.

"Hey, ladies," Shelby greeted them. "Mind of we interrupt for a second?"

"Hello, Ms. Corcoran," Brittany said with a smile. "I'm happy you're back, Ms. Holiday. I just wish you'd both be here." She sucked her lower lip between her teeth and looked at her shoes.

"Brittany," Shelby coaxed. "I'm glad you're happy Holly is taking over," she said gently, "and I have no intention of breaking off contact with you completely. Especially not with you, Brittany." She waited until Brittany's eyes met hers. "I expect to see you in New York in the summer. You have a career to start."

"You're going back to New York?" Santana asked.

"Yeah." Shelby nodded. "I think that's best for everyone."

"Maybe," Santana agreed. "Maybe not."

"Santana," Shelby muttered. "You know why I have to leave." She pulled both girls into a hug. "I'll see you both in New York next year, okay?"

Brittany sniffled. "Okay, Ms. Corcoran."

Shelby let go of the girls. "Call me Shelby."

"Shelby," Santana said with a smile, testing out using the name to the woman's face. It didn't feel wrong.

"Sooo," Holly said brightly, "you girls finally managed to get your act together and figure out what you are to each other."

Brittany grabbed Santana's hand and linked their fingers. "Yes, although it took a little while." She looked at her girlfriend. "We never got to thank you though."

"You're welcome," Holly said. "You can pay me back by being awesome and help us win Nationals with the Troubletones."

"Santana," Shelby interrupted. "Who's that woman over there? She's been glaring at you for a while now."

Santana turned around to see where Shelby's head was turned. "Oh," she breathed. "That's my grandmother."

"She doesn't look like a particularly happy person," Holly remarked.

"That's cause she's not," Brittany mumbled quietly. "She hates that Santana is gay and she's the reason Santana can't go home at the moment."

"You're not living with your parents?" Holly asked. "Where are you staying?"

Santana didn't take her eyes off her grandmother who was still staring at them with an unreadable expression on her face. Brittany answered for her. "She's staying with me for now."

Nobody said anything for a few seconds, then Holly decided to act. She walked over to Santana's grandmother. "Oh God, not again," Shelby breathed and Santana wondered what she meant.

"Hello," Holly greeted Carmen Lopez, her voice friendly. "I'm Holly Holiday, pleased to meet you." Carmen just looked at her, ignoring the teacher's outstretched hand. "You were watching us this whole time," Holly continued, "and I didn't know if you were just shy or didn't want to interrupt our conversation." She leaned in closer. "You know, it's perfectly fine if you want to go over there to congratulate Santana and her girlfriend on a very fine performance tonight."

"This is none of your business," the older woman said hoarsely.

Holly's voice turned steely, although her smile never left her face. "Oh, but it is," she said. "Santana and Brittany are two wonderful girls who happen to love each other," she added. "And you need to leave them alone, if you can't accept them for who they are." She got right into Carmen's face. "I don't know you and you don't know me," she whispered, "but that doesn't mean I won't be protecting Santana and Brittany from a bigoted little old lady like you." Her face hadn't lost its smile the whole time.

Carmen spluttered. "This is none of your concern. Why are you threatening me?"

"Am I?" Holly asked innocently. "Hm, …" She turned around to walk back to Shelby and the girls, leaving a very angry woman behind.

"What are you doing, Hol?" Shelby asked through clenched teeth.

"Me? Nothing." Holly turned around once again to stare at Carmen Lopez. "Nothing at all."

Carmen turned around and left.

Three weeks later

"San," Brittany said with a pout. "Are you sure you want to go back to live with your parents?" She watched as Santana put a few more clothes into a duffle bag. "Don't you like it here?"

Santana turned around and pulled her girlfriend into her arms. "You know I love being with you all the time, Britt," she said, her voice muffled against blonde hair. "But now that my grandma moved out, my parents want me back, and you know … that's a good feeling, too." She kissed Brittany's head. "They promised you could come over and stay over whenever you like. They're not going to keep us apart. They know I love you."

"I know," Brittany sighed. And she did know because both families had sat down together to talk about everything the night before, and both sets of parents had promised solemnly to let nothing get in the way of their relationship. "How about I come with you?" Brittany asked. "We could stay at your house one week and here the next."

Santana chuckled. "Let's just see how it goes tonight, okay?" She knew that it would probably end up exactly like Brittany had just laid it out because it was what Brittany wanted. Brittany almost always got what she wanted, and it wasn't like Santana would mind an arrangement like that either.

"You're going to keep wearing your ring?" Brittany asked, touching the metal band on Santana's finger.

"Of course I am … why would I take off my … engagement ring?" Santana held her breath. She hadn't called it that since the night Brittany sort of proposed to her, but she knew Brittany needed reassurance and if she were honest it was how she felt about their rings too.

Brittany pulled back to look into Santana's eyes with a cheeky grin. "Does that mean I can finally start calling the rings that?" she whispered with a smile. "And I can tell people?"

Santana's only reply was a gentle kiss that quickly turned more heated. "When did you say Quinn and Rachel would be here for dinner?" she huffed breathlessly when they parted.

"Six or so," Brittany replied, already leaning in for another kiss.

"Wanna spend an hour doing better things than packing?" Santana mumbled against Brittany's lips, hands already pulling at Brittany's uniform.

Brittany just kicked the door shut and pulled Santana over to the bed.

Annie Pierce looked up from her crossword puzzle when the door slammed. "Here we go again," she mumbled.

/

A few blocks away, Rachel turned to Quinn as they were cuddled together on Quinn's bed. "Shouldn't we get ready to go over to Brittany's house?" Her voice was still a little breathless.

Quinn breathed in deeply, enjoying their mingled scents. "Rach, Santana's moving back to her parents' house today," she said as she gently pushed a lock of slightly damp hair behind her girlfriend's ear. "I can't imagine they want us to be on time."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Any idea what we could do in the meantime?"

"Oh, yeah."

The End