High Frequency Romance

A/N: Hey everyone, there will be some aviation phraseology and terminology in this fic. It won't be a lot and I don't think it will be confusing, but I will explain a few things below, and for the rest of it I'll do my best to keep it understandable for those that might not be familiar.

Please read this: A few minor things to quickly explain so you aren't wondering about them as you're reading…

1) Cleveland Center is one of twenty-one Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) in the United States, where each one covers several hundred miles of airspace spanning over multiple states, and chunks of that airspace is then broken into smaller sections called sectors. It is an en route radar facility. It is very different from that of an air traffic control tower at the airport. The controllers who work at a center, control the aircraft while it is en route between its departure point and destination (hence the name) and they don't physically see the aircraft in person, they see them on a radarscope.

2) When an aircraft is flying eighteen thousand feet and above, the altitudes are called 'flight levels', so for example, flight level 1-8-0 is eighteen thousand feet, and flight level 3-3-0 is thirty-three thousand feet.

3) An aircraft's tail number is a unique set of letters and numbers referred to as its call sign and that is how air traffic control identifies the aircraft. The letters in the call sign are said using the phonetic alphabet. For this story, the call sign for Brittany's aircraft is N750MI, but it will be said, November-Seven-Five-Zero-Mike-India.

4) Pilot/Controller phraseology is not perfect English. Unnecessary words are eliminated and because of that it can seem choppy, so just keep that in mind too.

5) There's a minimum amount of separation that air traffic controllers need to maintain between aircraft. Anything less will result in a loss of separation, which is a bad thing. In the en route environment, the typical separation between two aircraft is 1000 feet vertically and 5 miles laterally.

Okay, that's it, please enjoy the fic!

-()-()-()-()-

Chapter 1

The sun still had not risen the day before New Year's Eve when Brittany pulled up to the security gate where she worked. As she slowed to a stop, she lowered the driver's side window, lifted her badge that was attached to a lanyard around her neck, and smiled when a familiar armed guard came out of the small building.

"Hey, Finn." Brittany chirped.

"Mornin', Britt." Finn returned the smile as he shined his flashlight through the window into her backseat, just to make sure there wasn't anything or anyone that was not authorized to be on airport property back there. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Just one day of work and then I have a couple more days off for New Year's."

"Sounds good. Are you doing anything fun?" Finn asked as he stuffed his gloved hands into his coat pockets.

"Just going to a party that my next door neighbors invited me to. What about you?"

"Same. Rachel's friend from college throws a big party for New Year's Eve every year, so we always end up there. It's pretty fun and the food's always amazing." He said with a goofy grin.

Brittany chuckled. She wasn't surprised that Finn measured a party's worth on how good the food was.

"Well I hope you have fun." Brittany said before she leaned over to pick up a cup holder with two cups of peppermint hot chocolate and a bag with a few pastries from Starbucks, and handed them to Finn. "I thought you and Rory could use something to keep you warm this morning."

Finn's eyes practically bugged out of his head as he reached for the unexpected treats. "Thanks Britt! That's so nice of you."

"It's no problem. I know you guys get here before the coffee shops open and I thought you could use something other than the same cup of coffee. I told them to add extra whipped cream for you."

"You're the best." Finn beamed and scanned his badge over the card reader that opened the gate. "Fly safe, Britt."

"I always do. See ya later."

"See ya." Finn said and Brittany raised her window and drove through the gate over to a parking spot beside the hangar that belonged to Motta Industries.

It was six o'clock in the morning, two days before New Year 's Day, so there wouldn't be many people around. In fact, there were only two other cars in the parking lot, which belonged to Trey and Kevin, two of her favorite mechanics. She knew her first officer and flight attendant wouldn't be there for a little while. Most of the other captains liked to have a later arrival, so they would make their first officer's do all the prep work of calculating the weight and balance, filing the flight plan, and doing the walk around to make sure the aircraft was ready for flight, but not Brittany. She liked to do all that herself.

When Brittany got out of her car, she felt the full force of a wintery Cleveland morning and zipped up her leather jacket to keep warm before quickly gathering her things and going into the large hangar.

"Hey, Trey! Hey, Kevin!" Britany waved as she walked in.

"Hey Brittany!" They both waved back with greasy hands.

"Your girl is all ready to go. Just let us know when you're ready and we'll pull her out for you." Kevin added.

Motta Industries had four Citation business jets in their fleet. One Citation 550 and two Citation 650's that were used by upper management when they were required to travel without Mr. Motta, and a newer, better performing Citation 750, also known as a Citation Ten, that was exclusively for Mr. Motta's use. That was Brittany's baby. She hardly ever flew the other planes because Mr. Motta had his favorites when it came to his flight crew, so she, Puck, and Kurt were usually present when Mr. Motta wanted or needed to go somewhere.

"Thanks guys! Mr. Motta will probably be here a little before eight. I'm sure Puck will be along any minute," she laughed, "or skating in here at the last minute as usual. Make sure you tell him you could use his help when he gets here." Brittany said.

Kevin and Trey laughed because they always loved to mess with Puck, especially when he was running late. "Don't worry. We will."

"Just make sure he stays clean!" Brittany warmed. The last time he got a grease smudge on his white shirt from helping the mechanics, Mr. Motta was not happy because he expected his pilots to look sharp and clean in their uniforms.

"We'll keep him clean." Trey said.

"Thank guys!" Brittany said and pulled a Ziploc bag filled with candy out of her flight bag and handed it to them. "Don't eat it all at once."

Trey and Kevin just smiled. "Thanks Brittany." They said taking the treat.

"You're welcome. If you need anything, just let me know."

"Alright." Trey and Kevin said at the same time and went back to what they were working on before Brittany arrived.

Brittany went into the flight planning room, set her bags and jacket in the corner, and loosened her tie before she set about planning their flight to LaGuardia. In the fourteen months that she had worked for Motta Industries, she had taken Mr. Motta and his employees to a lot of places, but New York was by far the most frequent destination because they also had an office in Manhattan and they would commute there at least three times a week, sometimes more.

She flew between Cleveland and LaGuardia so often she could probably plan the flight in her sleep. She knew the preferred routings, altitude restrictions, and radio frequencies that air traffic control typically assigned, and if there was any deviation from it, she knew they had to alter it for something, most likely compensating for weather or traffic volume. She was so familiar with the routing that she even started to recognize the air traffic controllers by their voice.

Well, that wasn't completely true. Brittany spoke to a lot of different controllers, and she recognized a few of them, but there was one controller in particular that was the first to catch her attention within her first week of flying for Motta Industries…a woman with a voice so sexy it made Brittany excited just to hear her speak. She was the only one that Brittany found herself wishing that she were working whenever she flew through Cleveland Center's airspace.

As luck would have it, the controller, whom Brittany came to know only by her operating initials as 'S.L.', seemed to work a lot of the time that Brittany flew through, and S.L. was the first one to open the dialogue between them that was more than just control instructions.

It started about a two months after Brittany had noticed S.L. They had been in her sector for about three minutes when S.L. asked them a question.

"November-Seven-Five-Zero-Mike-India, Cleveland Center. Do you have time for a question?"

Since it was Puck's turn to fly that leg, Brittany was monitoring the frequencies, so she had been the one to answer the call.

"N750MI, yes ma'am, go ahead." Brittany said with professional politeness.

"I'm curious, I've noticed this aircraft fly through a lot recently, are you an air taxi service?"

"No, Motta Industries owns this plane and they do a lot of work in New York, so we commute them in several times a week."

"Oh, wow!" S.L. said impressed, knowing that jet was worth close to twenty-five million dollars. "Must be nice to take a Citation Ten to work every day."

"I wouldn't know; I drive a Ford to work." Brittany joked.

S.L. laughed. "Hmm, yeah that's not as cool as the company issued vehicle you're driving now."

"I mean, it's a mustang. It's pretty fun to drive."

Considering that the Citation Ten had the capability of a ground speed of over six-hundred miles per hour when it wasn't speed restricted for traffic or airspace considerations, it was doubtful that the car was more fun than the plane for Brittany.

"Come on girl, be real. You know you'd rather be flying that jet." S.L said.

"You got me," Brittany admitted with a little laugh, "I do love my plane."

"So it's yours now?" S.L. teased.

Brittany giggled. She was enjoying the playful banter they had started. "Okay, obviously I don't own it, but since I fly it all the time, and I'm the captain, it's mine while it's in my command."

Brittany wasn't a boastful person, far from it, but aviation was a male dominated field, so she felt a sense of pride and accomplishment when she said that she was the captain.

"Fair enough, Captain. She's definitely yours." S.L said with a chuckle, but before Brittany could respond, it was as if S.L. flipped a switch back to serious mode and started making clearances to other aircraft.

Brittany listened intently as S.L worked on sequencing aircraft for the miles in trail restrictions that the congested New York area always had in effect. She turned, climbed, descended, sped up, and slowed down aircraft with tremendous confidence and a smooth cadence it seemed as if S.L. was performing a well-choreographed dance. She wasn't forceful or aggressive, but she projected an assertiveness that let everyone know she was in charge and they needed to listen to her.

A few minutes later, S.L. returned to Brittany as she was nearing the boundary of her airspace.

"N750MI, I guess I'll see you tomorrow if you fly through again." S.L said and Brittany noticed that her tone changed when she spoke to her than when she spoke to the other pilots. She wasn't as assertive. She actually sounded softer, as if she was speaking to someone she knew. "Make sure you ask for S.L. if I'm not working the sector when you fly through and I'll try to work out a short cut for you."

Brittany smiled widely. While she knew that controllers used operating initials when they worked as a way of identifying themselves, she felt as happy as she would if S.L. had given her, her full name. "I will. Thanks S.L."

"You're welcome, Captain. Fly safe and contact New York Center 134.8."

"Thanks; have a good one and contact New York Center 134.8." Brittany responded. Before she changed the radio to the New York Center frequency, she heard S.L. start speaking again, and her serious tone had returned.

After that first meeting, so to speak, they had a conversation every time Brittany flew through and S.L was working. It was always brief because Brittany would only be on S.L.'s frequency for about ten minutes and S.L. still had a responsibility to work the traffic in her sector, but after months of speaking several times a week and looking forward to that time 'together', Brittany noticed that their friendly conversations had morphed into flirtation, at least on her side. She didn't know how S.L. felt about it.

Brittany came to the quick realization that she had developed a serious crush on S.L. She thought about her a lot. Brittany loved to fly, but she looked forward to those flights that she knew would go through S.L.'s airspace the most, and she felt sad on the days that they missed each other in passing. She wondered if S.L. thought about her as well, and if she looked forward to those moments that they could talk like she did.

S.L. always seemed happy to see her fly through and it reflected in the change of tone in her voice when she spoke to Brittany, even when she was issuing control instructions. But one of the things that plagued Brittany's thoughts was that she didn't know if that meant something or if S.L was just being friendly and polite to someone she spoke to often.

From the outside looking in, it didn't seem as if there was much between them, just fleeting moments, but it was enough to intrigue Brittany, even if it was frustrating at times. They only knew each other as 'S.L.' and 'Captain'. They never exchanged their names and Brittany didn't know anything about S.L's life outside of work where partners and romantic relationships were concerned. Unfortunately, Brittany didn't know if she would ever know the answers to those questions either because their means of communication didn't allow her to ask. Nothing between them was private, because the other aircraft on the frequency could hear anything they said.

Sometimes Brittany thought that she should forget about S.L., because she had developed an attraction to a woman that she didn't know if a romantic relationship could even be possible. It would be easy to ask Puck, or whomever her first officer was, to work the radios when they were transitioning S.L.'s airspace, but every time she had those thoughts, she would hear S.L.'s voice and they would just disappear. There was just something about S.L. and the way they interacted with each other that made her want more.

Brittany had just finished filing the flight plan, when a door slamming disturbed her thoughts and the calmness of the hangar. A moment later, Kurt appeared in the doorway of the planning room and he looked annoyed, but smart in his pressed flight attendant uniform.

"Brittany Pierce, I swear I could just kill you right now!" He shrilled.

Brittany raised an amused eyebrow at his outburst. "What, no 'Good morning Captain'?" She teased, but Kurt just huffed at her. She was trying not to laugh because Kurt was not only cute, but also hilarious when something set him off.

"Okay, why are you upset with me?" She asked. As far as she knew, she hadn't done anything, so she was confused as to why he was mad.

"You brought Finn and Rory hot chocolate and pastries this morning!" He said gesturing wildly with his hands. "Do you know what you've done?" He ask as if it was something outrageous.

Again, Brittany was struggling not to laugh. "Umm, yeah." She said slowly. She thought it was obvious.

"Great! Now if I don't start bringing them drinks and muffins too, all I'm going to hear out of Finn is 'Dude, Brittany brought us drinks and snacks, you're my brother, you should hook us up too.'" He said lowering his voice to try to mimic Finn.

That caught Brittany's attention. "Wait, Finn's your brother?" She asked.

Now it was Kurt's turn to be confused. "Yes. Well actually, he's my stepbrother, but we're close so we just drop the 'step' part. In the year that you've worked here and all the time we've spent together, you honestly didn't know that? You didn't notice him calling me 'bro' all the time?"

"Yeah, I heard it, but I just assumed he was saying that because you were friends. He calls Puck 'bro' too. Is Puck your brother too?"

"No, thank god." Kurt laughed. Not that he had anything against Puck personally. They were friends and co-workers, but he was sure if they had lived together in the same house growing up, there would have been more sibling conflict than he and Finn had. "Finn and Puck are just close friends. I guess I can see how you misunderstood that piece of information."

"Oh, okay." Brittany nodded, but then she scrunched her eyebrows, "Soooo, tell me again why are you upset about the hot chocolate?"

"Because now at least once a week I'm going to have to give up ten minutes of my beauty sleep so I can stop to get them drinks or I'll never hear the end of it. Thanks Britt; thanks a lot!"

Brittany just giggled because she knew Kurt well enough to know that he wasn't upset about actually getting Finn and Rory a drink, he was just annoyed because his morning routine would be thrown off, and apparently it was critical for him to follow it exactly.

"I'm sure you'll survive."

"That remains to be seen." Kurt said with a flick of his hand. "Anyways, since Mr. Motta has decided to interrupt our holiday break for a last minute day trip to New York, I'm off to ready the cabin."

"Have fun!" Brittany called and then went back to her work, and her thoughts.

It wasn't much longer before Puck arrived, and then Mr. Motta, two other execs, and their assistants. Brittany was actually surprised that many people in the upper ranks of the company were working so close to a holiday, but she didn't give it much thought. It wasn't her business to question what they did; the only thing she concerned herself with was their safety as she flew them to where they needed to go.

Once they were in the air, Brittany and Puck were all business until they leveled off at their cruising altitude of thirty-three thousand feet.

"So, guess what happened last night." Puck said with an excited smile.

Brittany wasn't sure she wanted to know, but it was just the two of them in the cockpit, so unless she wanted to fly in silence, which was boring, she really had no other option than to listen to his stories.

"Probably something insane and dirty with a woman that resulted in a good night." Brittany said as if she already knew. Puck was never short on sexual escapades.

"Normally you would be correct, but you'll be happy to know that I had my first Skype call from Beth last night."

"Really?" Brittany chirped.

They had had several conversations about his daughter that he gave up for adoption when he was sixteen. Her parents had recently reached out to him asking if he would like to meet her, which of course he did. The plan had been to have a series of skype calls and then eventually a meeting in person.

"That's awesome. How'd it go?" Brittany asked.

"It was great. We talked for almost an hour." Puck said happily. "She's beautiful. She looks so much like Quinn, but I can see me in her too, especially when she smiles. I don't regret giving her up because I know we did the right thing by giving her to a family that could have provided better for her than we could at the time, but I'm so glad her parents weren't against her meeting us. I can't believe she's fifteen already."

"When are you talking to her again?"

"Friday. I can't wait!" Puck said and Brittany smiled warmly. She loved seeing this side of Puck.

They talked about Beth for a little while longer until they got closer to S.L.'s airspace and then Puck changed the subject.

"You think your girlfriend is working today, Captain?" Puck teased.

Brittany just playfully rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder.

Puck was the only one that knew about S.L. and their little chats. He also knew that Brittany had a thing for her. Every now and then, he would tease her about it, but he was rooting for them to meet one day.

"You know you should just ask her if you can have a tour of the center, that way you have a chance to meet her and see what she's like in person. She sounds hot, but you never know." Puck said with a shrug.

"I can't do that!" Brittany yelped. "That sounds way too stalkerish."

"You don't have to tell her that it's because you want to meet her. Just tell her you're curious about how things look from her side and that you'd like to see it sometime."

Brittany shook her head. "No, it still feels stalkerish." She didn't want to seem over bearing or creepy to S.L. before she even met her.

"Well how else do you think you're going to meet her? Hell you don't even know this woman's name and you two have been flirting up a storm for almost a year!"

"I was kinda hoping she would be the one to make the first move. She always starts the conversation when she has a spare moment to talk, so I've just been following her lead."

"Maybe she wants you to ask." Puck encouraged.

"Or maybe she is in a relationship with someone and all of this is just her being polite and she's really not flirting with me." Brittany countered.

"Maybe she thinks the same thing about you and she's hesitant to ask. Face it Brittany, one of you is going to have to grow a pair and make the first move. If she's single and into women, then great, but if not, then you know and you can let it go, but you won't know unless you try."

Brittany knew he was right, but she didn't answer right away.

Puck sighed and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He knew this was a sensitive subject for her.

"Look, maybe I don't know what's best for you here, but if you're that hell bent on her making the first move, maybe you should leave some hints for her. She's not a mind reader any more than you are." Puck suggested.

"Yeah, maybe I can do that." Brittany said.

"It's worth a shot at least."

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, both of them lost in their own thoughts. Brittany was happy to have that time to herself, because she had a lot to process from her talk with Puck, and she felt herself getting excited the closer they got to S.L.'s airspace. It had been a week since they last spoke, so she really hoped that S.L. was working.

When they were switched to S.L.'s frequency, Brittany gave an internal sigh of relief, because she only had to wait a moment until she heard that S.L. was working the sector.

"Good morning Cleveland Center, N750MI checking in at flight level 3-3-0." Brittany chirped as she checked in.

"N750MI, Cleveland Center, good morning to you as well Captain." S.L. said and to Brittany she sounded a little happier than normal. "How've you been? I haven't seen you for a while."

"I've been good." Brittany said and she was happy that S.L. noticed her absence. "We had last week off for Christmas, but the boss had something going on today."

"Ooooh. So you've been living it up and enjoying the holidays while the rest of us are stuck working. I see how it is." S.L. teased.

"I'm sorry!" Brittany said. "Did you at least get to enjoy some of it?"

"I did. I would have had Christmas and the day after off because I'm normally off on Thursday and Friday, but I ended up working Christmas morning and having the 26th and 27th off instead because one of the other controllers in my area really wanted to be with her kids. They're little and still believe in Santa, and since I don't have kids, I didn't want hers to be upset that she wasn't there to see them open their presents, so I traded with her."

Brittany's heart melted at that and she was happy to learn another detail about S.L. personal life.

"Aww, that's really sweet of you." Brittany cooed.

"Well, it was for the kids." S.L. said and Brittany thought she heard her voice soften a little more. "So do you have anything fun planned for New Year's?"

"Just a party that my neighbors' invited me to." Brittany said and then because she was going to take Puck's advice and drop a hint that she was single she quickly added, "They adopted me so I wouldn't have to spend it alone. What about you? I'm sure you have something exciting planned."

"I'm going to a party with my-" S.L. said but before anything else could be said about it, she had to cut their conversation short. "Delta 2032, verify assigned altitude?" She asked and her controller voice was back.

There was a pause. "Umm, we're level at flight level 3-5-0." One of the pilots said but he didn't sound sure.

"Sir, I'm showing you level now, but I was showing your altitude five hundred feet below your assigned. There's a lot of extra traffic out here today because of the holidays, so please do me and yourself a favor and watch your altitude. Neither one of us want to deal with a separation error today."

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry about that." Delta 2032 said meekly.

He just had an altitude deviation, which was something that he could be violated for, but because there was no loss of separation between him and another aircraft, S.L. was not going to turn him in.

"It's okay; just keep an eye on it for me please." She said. "United 1422, turn thirty degrees left, vectors for spacing into Newark."

"Thirty degrees left, United 1422." The pilot read back.

"American 311, descend and maintain flight level 3-2-0."

"Descend and maintain flight level 3-2-0, American 311."

The next few minutes were filled with one control instruction after another, and unfortunately, S.L. was too busy to get back to her conversation with Brittany.

When it came time for Brittany to be switched to the next controller, S.L. said, "N750MI, it's good to see you fly through again. Have fun at your party and happy New Year."

"Happy New Year to too you and have fun at your party as well." Brittany chirped, masking her disappointment that their conversation was cut short.

"Thanks, fly safe and Contact New York Center 134.8."

"See ya and contact New York Center 134.8."

Brittany changed the frequency and checked in with the New York controller before she turned to look at Puck.

"I think it went well." Puck said.

"Yeah, but we only got to talk for maybe a minute total." Brittany pouted.

"You're right, it was short, but now she knows that you're single and you know she doesn't have kids, so I say again, it went well. You both learned something important and incredibly personal about each other."

Brittany smiled and nodded. "You're right. When did you become the voice of reason?"

Puck smirked. "Girl, I got skills you ain't never seen before."

Brittany snorted out a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Whatever Puck, fly the plane."

"Sure thing, Captain." Puck teased and Brittany playfully smacked him on the arm.

-(New Year's Eve)-

Brittany was excited for the New Year's Eve party. At first when her neighbor's Mike and Tina invited her to their friends', Mercedes and Sam's party, she was reluctant. She didn't know them and she didn't want to intrude, but when Tina insisted that Mercedes had already said that she was happy for them to bring Brittany along and she mentioned that it was a masquerade party, Brittany changed her mind. She had never been to a masquerade party and she had always wanted to.

Brittany was in her bathroom finishing her makeup when there was a knock on her door. When she opened the door, she wasn't surprised to see Mike and Tina.

"Hey guys, you look awesome!" Brittany said taking in their coordinating black and gold outfits and masks.

"So do you Britt, but where's your mask?" Tina asked.

"Right here." Brittany said, picking up the eye mask from the end table by the couch before she put it on.

It was silver with rhinestone beading and blue glitter around the catlike shaped eyes. It matched perfectly with her blue dress.

"Oh wow, your eyes pop more than they normally do with that mask." Tina said.

"All the singles at the party aren't going to know what hit them." Mike added with a smile.

Brittany blushed at the compliments, but she doubted that she would stand out that much. The party was at a hotel in one of the ballrooms. "I don't know, didn't you say there were going to be more than a hundred people there?"

"There are and you will." Tina said. "Everyone is going to wonder who the girl in the blue dress is."

"'Lady in Blue' doesn't have quite the same ring as 'Lady in Red'." Brittany joked.

Tina just rolled her eyes and playfully pushed Brittany on her shoulders towards the door. "Stop being coy and let's go. The party started already and if we're more than fashionably late, Mercedes is going to kill me."

"Okay." Brittany yelped and grabbed her clutch and coat. "Bye Lord Tubbington!" She said and rubbed the cat behind her ears. "Behave yourself tonight. I don't want to bail you out of jail again." She warned.

Lord Tubbington yawned and laid down again as if he didn't care.

"Okay, let's go." Brittany said and then they all left the apartment and headed for Mike's car in the parking lot because he was the designated driver.

When they arrived at the hotel, Mike valet parked the car and they went inside, following the signs for the Evans' Party. Brittany felt a little silly walking through the hotel in her mask as they were drawing attention to themselves, but that was short lived, because as soon as they arrived to the party, everyone was wearing a mask."

"Let's go find Mercedes." Tina said once they had checked their things in the coatroom.

"What about Sam?" Brittany asked.

"Trust me, he's like a lost puppy without her, he'll probably be close by."

As Tina and Mike searched the room for Mercedes or Sam, Brittany followed and checked out the crowd. There was a mix of people, who like Tina and Mike went all out and got costumes with masks, and then there were people like her that had just worn a nice outfit and added a coordinating mask. Some masks were more elaborate than others, but from what Brittany could tell, everyone was just having a good time with the masquerade theme.

When they found Mercedes and Sam, they were standing by the bar talking with two other people, one a woman in a pink dress and an elegant mask with jewels and feathers that covered half her face, and a man in a wheelchair wearing a suit and a simple navy eye mask.

"Hey guys!" Tina cheered.

"Hey!" They all said back and Brittany felt a little anxious.

Normally she was fine when it came to meeting new people. She was a very social person, but in this case, they all knew each other, and Brittany felt like the odd woman out.

"Guys, this is our friend Brittany, and Brittany these are our friends, Mercedes, Sam, Kitty, and Artie." Tina said pointing to each one so Brittany would know who was who.

As they were introduced, each one smiled and said 'hi' to her.

"It's nice to meet you guys." Brittany said with a warm smile.

"Girl, it's nice to finally meet you too." Mercedes said and gave Brittany a friendly hug. "Tina and Mike talk about you all the time and it's nice to finally put a face to the name."

"Oh, well I hope I don't disappoint." Brittany said when they pulled back from the embrace.

"Nope, even with your mask on, I can tell you're stunning." Mercedes said.

Brittany felt her cheeks heat up. "Thanks." She said shyly. "So this is a nice party. I wasn't expecting something so big. You even have a bartender and a D.J."

Everyone chuckled. "Sam and I go all out for New Year's." Mercedes said with a smile.

"We met at a New Year's party, so we celebrate big every year." Sam said and put his arm around his wife.

"That's cool. I love the idea of a masquerade party; do you do this every year?" Brittany asked.

Mercedes laughed. "No, usually it's just a normal party, but Sam watched a movie with a masquerade scene a few months ago and he was hooked on the idea ever since. I have to say even though I was skeptical at first, it's actually fun. I wouldn't mind doing this again."

"See babe, I knew you would like it." Sam said with a goofy grin.

"Yeah, well it was much better than a superhero themed party you tried to do last year." Mercedes said. "I squashed that idea quickly."

Brittany giggled. "I don't know, I think a superhero party could be fun too."

Sam smiled. "I knew I was going to like her."

"Well maybe I'll entertain the idea for next year." Mercedes said and Sam pumped his fist and high fived Artie and Mike. "Whoa, hold on, I said I would think about it, I didn't say I was all for it."

"Then I've got a whole year to convince you." Sam said and kissed her on the cheek and Mercedes playfully rolled her eyes.

Brittany smiled at how they interacted with each other. She could tell that they were a happy couple and a big part of her wanted that with someone.

"Anyways, I think my husband owes me a dance." Mercedes said as one of her favorite songs came on. "Brittany, we have to get together soon, because I can tell we're going to be good friends."

"Yeah, I'd like that." Brittany said. She always liked to make new friends.

"The buffet table is on the other side of the dance floor, the bar is open for beer, wine, or my rum punch, but cash bar if you want any other kind of liquor, so please help yourselves." Mercedes said to the group.

"Okay, thanks!" Tina chirped and waved when Sam and Mercedes walked away.

They stood by the bar making small talk with Artie and Kitty as they got a drink, coke for Mike and a rum punch for Tina and Brittany. After a while, Artie and Kitty left to dance and some other friends met up with them at the bar, but after a few minutes Brittany started to feel awkward because she wasn't really contributing to the conversation, so she excused herself and headed toward the buffet table.

She was just rounding the corner of the dance floor when she saw a tall man hovering around the table that looked like he was dressed as Zorro, cape and wide brim hat included. As she got closer, she smiled because she was sure she knew him

"Finn Hudson, while I'm surprised to see you here, why am I not surprised to see you hovering around the buffet table." Brittany chirped.

Finn turned to look at Brittany and it took a few seconds for him to figure out who she was with the mask on, but when he recognized her, he broke out into a wide smile and set down his plate, engulfing her into a big hug

"Brittany! You look amazing! What are you doing here? I didn't know you were friends with Mercedes and Sam."

"I'm not, I just met them tonight, but my neighbors are friends with them."

"Who are your neighbors?" Finn said as he released her from the hug.

"Mike and Tina Chang."

"Oh really? That's awesome! Rachel went to college with Tina and Mercedes, so we hang out with them sometimes."

"Small world isn't it?" Brittany mused.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Finn said. "Kurt is running around here somewhere too. He met this guy earlier, Brian or maybe it was Blaze, I can't remember, but ever since Sam introduced them, I haven't seen him."

"I thought he was going to a party in Dayton with Adam? What happened?"

"They broke up last night." Finn said with a frown. "He was upset and wasn't going to go out tonight, but Rachel forced him tag along, which judging how he reacted after meeting Bane, I don't think he's hurting that much."

Brittany giggled. "I guess not. Good for him."

"Yeah, so Sam says there's a lot of single people here tonight too, more guys than girls, but maybe you'll meet someone you like."

Brittany's mind flashed to a certain someone that she liked, but despite her conversation with S.L. from yesterday, where she felt they made a baby step forward; she knew that they weren't that much closer to meeting each other than they had been on their first talk a year ago. And while she wasn't willing to let go of her crush on S.L., she had to admit that the idea of meeting someone that she could actually see and talk to in person, instead of on the radio, was appealing. She figured it wouldn't hurt to at least try and see.

"Yeah, maybe. You never know, right?" Brittany said.

"Totally." Finn said. "I don't have an opinion on the guys, and don't tell Rachel I said this because she would kill me, but I saw a few of the girls and they're smokin'. I don't know if any of them are bi or gay, but if they are, you might just find yourself an eleven."

"Oh really?" Brittany said raising her eyebrows in interest. "I guess I better keep my eye out then."

They spoke for a little while longer while they sampled some of the food, but then Mike came up to them.

"Hey guys! Nice outfit Finn. Love the Zorro idea." Mike said.

"Thanks dude. Rachel thinks it's ridiculous, but I thought it was cool. I like yours too."

"Thanks. I was wondering if I could steal Brittany for a bit to dance with me. Tina and Mercedes are off somewhere and I thought it would be fun."

Brittany's eyes lit up after that. She and Mike shared a love of dancing, so she was game. "Sure. I'll see you later Finn."

"See ya!" Finn said and turned his attention back to the table to see what else he hadn't tried yet.

Mike led Brittany to the dance floor where they danced for three songs before Sam and Artie pulled him away for some reason. Brittany didn't mind though, she enjoyed dancing on her own. Although, it didn't take long for a man to come up to dance with her. At first Brittany didn't mind, but when she caught a whiff of his horrible breath, she quickly found a way to dance away from him and disappear in the crowd.

She only got halfway through another song before another man in a maroon mask came up to her. He was very handsome and had a nice smile and thankfully fresh breath so they danced together for a few songs before he asked her if she wanted to get a drink.

Brittany nodded and they walked off the dance floor together.

"I'm Brody by the way." He said when they got into the short line at the bar.

"Brittany." She said with a smile.

"It's very nice to meet you Brittany." Brody said and kissed her hand. "You are a very talented dancer. I didn't see anyone out there that was on the same level as you. Are you a professional dancer?"

Brittany chuckled. "No, I just like to dance."

"So what do you do?" He asked in an attempt at small talk. "Let me guess…you're a school teacher, kindergarten or first grade?"

"Nope, I work in the aviation industry." Brittany said with a smile and Brody's eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm, I'm a pilot."

"Really, that's cool. I've never seen a pilot as beautiful as you. I would have guessed flight attendant." He said, not knowing that he had just insulted Brittany.

It annoyed Brittany when people just assumed that she was a flight attendant because she was a woman. Not that she had anything against flight attendants, she appreciated that they had difficult job, especially when it came to dealing with unruly or difficult passengers; but people usually just took one look at her physical beauty and if they weren't surprised that she was a female pilot, they made it seem as if she wasn't smart enough to be the pilot.

"Huh, well I guess there's always a first time for everything." Brittany said slightly annoyed, her previous attraction to Brody draining away, but it went past him.

"I think it's hot that you're a pilot. I bet you've joined the mile high club. That's always been a fantasy of mine."

"No, I haven't joined. I've been too busy flying the plane." Brittany said flatly.

"Well, like you said, there's a first time for everything." Brody said with a smile that told Brittany that there was more behind that comment.

"What'll you have?" The bartender asked.

"I'll have a whiskey sour." Brody said. "What about you Brittany?"

"I'll just take a bottle of water." Britany said.

"Really? It's New Year's." Brody said. "Have you tried Mercedes' punch, it's pretty good."

"I've had one already, but after all that dancing I just want some water."

"You got it babe." Brody said and Brittany frowned, because she didn't care to hear him calling her 'babe', but he didn't notice because he had turned back to the bartender to watch him make his drink.

As Brittany waited for her drink, she was thinking of a polite way to lose Brody. Had she been at a bar or a club, she would've ditched him already and not worried about doing it nicely, but she didn't know his connection to Mercedes and Sam, and she liked them, so she didn't want to possibly insult someone close to them.

When Brody turned around with their drinks, Brittany saw him run his eyes over her body and she hated it.

"Here you go beautiful." Brody said handing Britany her drink and she had to force herself not to roll her eyes at him. "So where were we?" He asked before he took a sip of his drink.

"You were being a sexist ass." Brittany thought. "We were talking about my job." She said flatly.

"Oh yeah!" Brody said. "I work with Mercedes. Currently I'm developing a new program for…" He said, but Brittany tuned him out.

She wasn't interested in his job or anything about him, but while she now knew that Brody worked with Mercedes, she was still hesitant to just walk away from him because she didn't know if he was Mercedes' boss or not.

Brody rambled on and Brittany discreetly scanned the room around her, sipping her water and looking for one of the few people that she knew there so she could easily escape. She was sure that Brody didn't even notice that she didn't care because he just kept talking.

"Isn't that funny?" Brody said with a laugh as he ran his hand down her arm and glanced at her breasts.

Not knowing what he had said, Britany just agreed with him. "Oh, um yeah, it's hilarious." She said giving a half-hearted smile and subtlety took a step back so he wasn't touching her anymore.

"I thought so too, but…" He continued and Brittany tuned him out again.

After another minute of scanning the room, she was just about to give up looking for her friends and just let Brody down as nicely as she could, when off to her left side a man yelled over the music and Brittany thought she heard him say, "S.L. move your fine ass, girl!"

Brittany snapped her head to the left eager to find who had just yelled. She felt her heart drop into her stomach and she hoped that she had heard correctly.

"Are you okay?" Brody asked when he noticed the sudden movement.

Before Brittany could answer, she heard the voice she had been daydreaming about for almost a year, "Matt, shut your mouth or I'll show you how we do it in Lima Heights!"

There was no mistaking it; Brittany knew that voice. "She's here!" She yelped and she felt her whole body heat up with excitement.

She looked around in the direction that she had heard S.L., but it was too congested. All she saw was people conversing amongst themselves and dancing on the dance floor, so she knew she would have to go find her.

"Who's here?" Brody asked and Brittany turned back to Brody.

"Brody, I gotta go. You seem nice enough, but you really aren't my type. Good luck finding her." She said, setting her water bottle down, and walked off leaving Brody looking confused.

Brittany was quickly forming a strategy in her head. She planned to check the dance floor first because the man had told S.L. to 'move her fine ass', so she guessed that she had been dancing. As she passed by people on her short walk to the dance floor, she tried to listen in on them in an effort to hear their voices, because while the music was playing, it wasn't too loud that people couldn't talk normally.

Unfortunately, she didn't hear anyone that could have been S.L. When she arrived at the edge of the busy dance floor, reality crashed into her and she realized that she had a daunting task in front of her.

"Shit, there are a lot of people here." She murmured as she looked around trying to find a woman that she had no idea of what she looked like.

When the song changed to a faster paced song, Brittany figured that she should jump into her task with both feet, so she started dancing, and to anyone else she would have just looked like she was having fun, but she was strategically moving her way around the floor. Whenever a man would try to dance with her, she would flag him off and let him know she was not interested. She lingered around the couples until she heard the woman, or both women of the few same sex couples she had encountered say something and once she had determined that they were not S.L., she moved on.

By the time she had reached the other end of the dance floor, she had not found her, but there was a ray of hope. She ran into Mike and Tina and they seemed to be dancing in a group with a few people that she had not been introduced to yet, so she went up to them.

"Heeeeeey Brrrriiiiiiittt!" Tina drawled drunkenly and wrapped her arms Brittany's back. "Where have you been? I missed you! Are you having fun?" She said quickly and then started laughing for no apparent reason.

Brittany couldn't help but to giggle at her friend's state. "Yeah, I've been good. Just dancing. Are you having fun?"

"Yeeees! Mike and I made out in the corner and I had four of Mercedes' punches!"

"Oh, that's great." She said and looked to Mike who just crossed his hand over his neck to tell Brittany that he had cut her off.

"Dance with us!" Tina said and pulled Brittany into the middle of their group.

"O-okay." Brittany said laughing. She figured that she could spend time with her friend and still figure out if any of Tina's friends were S.L. "Are these friends of yours?"

"Yeah! This is Marley, Ryder, Sabrina, Unique, Stephanie, and Joe." Tina said pointing to everyone.

Brittany's interest piqued when she heard that two of the women's names started with an 'S'. She knew that not all controllers had their own initials as their operating initials, but some did, so she was hoping that either Sabrina or Stephanie was S.L. She danced with the group as she made friendly conversation, but it didn't take long for Brittany to find out that neither Sabrina nor Stephanie was S.L. Their voices were too high pitched.

She danced with them for a few minutes because she didn't want to be rude, especially to Mike and Tina, but she was a woman on a mission, so after a while she made up an excuse that she needed to get a drink. She went back to the bar to get a glass of wine and then she thought she would circle the room looking, or rather listening, for S.L.

Brittany let her mind wonder as she listened to the people around her. She felt like a creep as she discreetly listened in on their conversations, but she didn't let that stop her. She couldn't. She felt like this was fate telling her that she needed to take the initiative and find the woman that had captivated her since she first noticed her; because she wasn't sure if she was going to get another chance like this.

She also wondered who Matt was and his connection to S.L. She hoped that he wasn't her boyfriend or husband, but she knew that she had to find out because if she wasn't available then she knew that she had to let her crush on S.L. go.

She zigzagged around the room a few times and she was starting to become discouraged. When she ran into Mercedes and Sam, she almost asked them if they knew who S.L. was, but she was a little embarrassed to tell them that she was looking for a woman that she didn't know, so she passed by them.

After almost an hour and a half of searching, she still hadn't found her.

"Come on Fate, if you're trying to tell me something, I need a little help here." She said with a sigh.

Then as she rounded the dance floor for what was probably her fifth time, she was approaching the buffet table when the woman who was standing there accidently dropped her plate.

"Oh for fucks sake!" She yelped loudly and jumped back so the food wouldn't get onto her shoes.

Brittany stopped dead in her tracks and her heart started to beat quickly, because she was sure that she had finally found S.L.

-()-()-()-()-

A/N: So that's the end of the first chapter. Thank you for reading! I hope you guys liked it and while I tried to keep all the aviation stuff as basic as I could, if any of you have any questions or you're curious about anything, please don't hesitate to send me a message. I'm happy to answer them.

As always, feedback is so helpful and appreciated. I love hearing your thoughts, so if you have time, please leave a review.

I'd like to thank my beta naynay1963 from not only proofing this chapter, but also giving me the idea of a Brittana masquerade party. She suggested it for New Years and I started writing it right after Christmas, but then my dad got sick and was in and out of the hospital for a while, so I had to postpone it until I had more time.

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Glee' or any copyrighted material or products that are mentioned in this story.