Prologue: The Feeling

The airport was the most genuine of all places, with hellos and goodbyes that revealed more about a relationship than a thirty-chapter book could. For some, it might have been a place of bad memories, of unwilling goodbyes and tight, wet hugs. Others might think that the airport was a point of transition, a gateway to the rest of the world – to freedom. As she strolled along the polished floors (while sashaying to the beat of 'Inner Ninja'), she restlessly played with the phone in her hand, anxious to see a familiar face amidst the sea of strangers flooding the arrival halls.

Dani was never one to stay still; her feet were always moving, and her mind was always wandering. As the beat of the song thumped right next to her brain, she could feel every fibre of her being coming alive, each atom excited from the upbeat rhythm – and perhaps also the prospect of finally seeing her girlfriend after a long, long week. Initially, it had occurred to her that she should have welcomed her Latina with a bouquet of red roses and a love teddy bear. But Dani knew better – Santana was not one to fall for cheesy romantic gestures. For all her spitfire's feistiness and, for lack of a better word, heartlessness, she was sensitive. Santana was a sentimental bitch.

But she was Dani's bitch, and she loved her just as she was.

A week without being physically close to Santana was hard, but it would have been an exaggeration to say that Dani would have died. Sure she loved her with all her heart, but she understood that there was no place for her back in Lima (albeit her girlfriend's sarcastic eye-roll when she says this). She had probably heard a thousand tales of Santana being the big bad cheer-wolf at McKinley High from Rachel during countless "sleepover nights", or, in other words, a little "banggity-bang" in the bedroom, as Kurt liked to call it. Recently, the duo had been referring to Dani as a fourth roommate, simultaneously demanding for her to pay a share of the apartment rent. Until today she still wasn't sure if they were being serious.

A pair of arms encircled her chest and there was a soft tug on her earphones. She inhaled a breath of fresh Latina, and her eyes literally lit up with delight.

"Where's my welcome sign?"

"Right here,"

It was easy for her lips to find Santana's. Quick and accurate – a route that Dani had become accustomed to after the morning of their first sunrise together. The taste of Latina lingered on her tongue long after they had parted, and she could feel the rest of her body craving for more. One week had been way too long.

"I'd take this over cardboard and magic markers any day."

"Oh knock it off, you two." Kurt practically modelled over, posing a cocked eyebrow at the two smitten kittens. "The both of you better keep it in your pants tonight, because I am so not in the mood for another one of your disco nights."

Dani chuckled lightly, pulling him in for a friendly hug. "No promises."

There was a short pause before she even thought about mentioning it, but Dani wounded her earphone wires while (attempted to) casually asking, "So, where's Rachel?"

"She decided to take a later flight," And that was it about Rachel Berry for tonight.

The night went by slowly at first, with the intimate hand-holding in the cab ride back home and the stolen kisses in the backseat as Kurt grumbled under his breath from the front. It felt like Santana had never left in the first place, and that despite the one-week gap, everything just oddly fell into place. Perhaps the nightly Lima-NYC Skype sessions had helped to maintain their temporary long distance relationship, and it led Dani to begin thinking that perhaps the nonsensical difficulties long distance couples constantly droned about was not a 100% fact. A relationship had two people, and if both parties continued to love each other, then what more could it need?

For most of the time there was a particular silence between Santana and Dani, but it wasn't as alarming as it was calming. Feeling her girlfriend's thumb brushing against her skin was enough to keep her content for the hour-long car ride, because it allowed Dani to soak in both the joy of getting back her Latina, and also the secret happiness of quiet cuddling. She could hear the steady thumping of Santana's heart, and it made her feel so much more connected to her at that very moment in time.

Nothing could break them apart. Not right now.

With Santana gone, her shifts at the Spotlight Diner had growingly become dull and mundane. Though it might have been contributed by the fact that the NYADA duo were also missing, the Latina-less life was very much uninteresting and slow. Sunrises suddenly became less enjoyable. Nights became colder and days became monochromatic.

It occurred to Dani that she was becoming more and more reliant on Santana's presence as a source of, well, life. She found herself writing more music as opposed to performing; one night she had fervidly scratched an entire notebook with scrawny handwritings of lyrics and half-songs. It was buried deep somewhere in her pile of laundry, which she made the mental note of doing when she got home.

"If I got a penny for every one of your thoughts, you're going to make me the richest girl in the world."

"No, I'm pretty sure one of those geniuses at Harvard or MIT would give you one penny more."

At this, Santana quieted and did not speak until the next morning. Her thumb continued to stroke Dani's until they reached home.

Dani pegged her silence as tiredness from travelling, and so she left the place with Santana's wordless embrace and kiss. The night was still young, and she could have met up with Elliot for a beer or two, but she decided against it. It was one of those nights where you felt a certain discomfort in your head or heart or body and you don't know how to fix it. It wasn't sadness, because Dani felt relatively happy, with Santana back in town. She had gotten the kisses she missed and the smile she adored. Nonetheless, the dreadful Feeling persisted, all the way from the apartment to the bus stop to the walking pavement and back into her own house.

The Feeling laced her blood as her heart pumped it all through her body; it travelled in her arteries and surged into her brain and lungs. It was like a disease that stuck to her insides and will remain for the foreseeable future.

Dani made the choice to ignore it and started sorting through her laundry.

Gunther was cranky this morning.

It was the first day of work with Santana back in her usual shift and the day rolled out smoothly. The first thing that Gunther got Santana to do was transferring ketchup and mustard into red and yellow bottles, and this singlehandedly disrupted all of Dani's ideas to sneak butt pinches while she waitressed with her Latina. Guessed they would have to save their Diner Dance for another day.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Dani cheekily smiled, one arm manoeuvring the dirty dishes and the other playing on Santana's skin.

"No pennies," She sighed, intertwining her skinny fingers with Dani's calloused ones. "No thoughts."

"Having fun with the ketchups? Or do you miss your sapphic goddess?"

"No, I'm having fun with the ketchups. I think I'm turning them sapphic."

At this, Dani laughed. The simplest of things that Santana said always amused her to no ends, and this even included her vicious attacks on Rachel. Though she felt sympathetic for her friend, most times she had to forcibly swallow back her laughter.

"Well," Dani leaned over the counter, kissing the bottles of condiments while lustily looking over at Santana. "Ketchups get these then."

She could feel her Latina's eyes burning onto her back (ass, probably?) as she swayed away towards another table. The morning passed by painfully after that, with Santana complaining about sore hands and for Dani to lick the spilled ketchup off of her caramel hands (needless to say, she did that once and left her girlfriend begging for more). Eventually, sunlight and customers began flooding into the booths, and the Spotlight Diner lived on for another day.

Waitresses were busying themselves with double cheeseburgers and chocolate chip milkshakes, and the bell at the door chimed like the song of a thousand sirens (Santana had threatened Gunther that she would yank it right out of its place, but she never did in the end). The sheer commotion of the diner left everyone flustered with quickened shuffles and barely any time for Dani to steal glances at Santana, who was still pumping away at the ketchup bottles.

It was three in the afternoon – halfway through Santana's break but sometime during Dani's shift – when time momentarily stood still. Dani thought that there was some secret superhero hiding in the sea of dining customers who had used his/her superpower while stuck in some world-saving dilemma, but it eventually came down to a tall blonde with a questionable sense of style.

Blue Kitten Sweater, or BKS for short. That was who she became known as from now on till the end of time.

Still, there was something distinct about her (other than her wardrobe malfunction, of course) that caught Dani's eyes – with BKS, the diner suddenly became less dull, and more... whimsical. A palpable tension materialised in the air, and it wafted through the scent of burnt burger patties and salty french fries. She was awkward yet graceful, innocent yet seemingly devilish.

And Dani had to admit – she was pretty. Heck, she was classed between 'HOT' and 'Mamamia', but more so leaning towards the former.

Dani noticed Santana's eyes hovering over BKS. The Feeling suddenly returned in full force.

"Brittany?"

An overwhelming nausea swept over Dani, for God knew what reason.