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Wild Hope: Chapter 2

A month passed without any further correspondence from Brittany, and Santana had all but given up on hearing back from the blonde. In the end, she figured it was probably all for the best. Brittany was an intelligent, resourceful woman who knew how to take care of herself. She did not need the brunette’s help in keeping Pierce Automotive afloat. Santana was sure of it.

At least, that's what Santana told herself every time she remembered that day. The brunette could not help but kick herself for finally having an opportunity to talk to the woman she’d had a crush on since she was fifteen and then promptly blowing her chance to even simply befriend her. Regardless, she still preferred having offered help to Brittany and being turned down than to not and have her never know that Lopez Marketing Services was a viable option in the event that she actually ever needed them. Santana just hoped that Brittany did not feel as if she had overstepped or, at the very least, that the mechanic would not hold it against her.

Santana buried her face in her hands, realizing that she had once again found herself mulling over the memory of that day. Reflecting on that moment was something that had taken up the majority of her idle thoughts over the past several weeks, and she was still trying to figure out a way for her to hopefully move on and return to life before Brittany S. Pierce had stepped back into it. It wasn’t that Santana regretted seeing the blonde again after being away for college. It had just proven to be near impossible for her to get the other woman back out of her head after years of working to suppress the echoing thoughts of her woulda-coulda-shouldas. For the time being, she told herself there was nothing she could do to change the situation that caused her latest bout of mortification. Well, nothing outside of calling up the other woman and profusely apologizing, but she would never do that. Not after already embarrassing herself beyond belief.

Releasing a frustrated huff, Santana decided to put her thoughts of Brittany aside for the time being as she grabbed her wallet and car keys to once again pick-up her lunch for the day. On her way out, she stopped by her mother’s office and gave a knock against the open door to gain the older woman’s attention.

Maribel instantly snapped her gaze over to the younger brunette, giving her daughter a bright smile before greeting, “Hey, Sweetheart. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to let you know that I am heading out to grab lunch. Do you want anything?”

“Depends. Where are you planning to go?”

“Well, there’s that new bistro that opened up across town. Rach keeps claiming that their Italian sub is to die for, so I figured I’d find go out for myself.”

“In that case, grab me one, too.”

“Will do. Be back in a bit.”

“Okay, take your time,” Maribel replied with a wave of her hand as she watched her daughter turn to leave.

Santana returned a half-hour later with a bag of takeout in hand. After saying hello to the receptionist, she made her way over to her mother’s office to deliver half the food only to find the woman no longer there. Suddenly, the somewhat distant sound of laughter caught her attention. Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Santana slowly spun around and started following the unexpected voices coming from her own office around the corner. As she approached the room, she looked through the opened doorway to find Maribel leaning back on her daughter’s desk as she spoke to the woman seated a few feet away in one of the office’s guest chairs. Santana nearly shrieked in surprise as she realized that it was the same woman who had unknowingly maintained a near constant claim on her thoughts over the course of the past few weeks.

Not realizing her presence, Maribel continued, “Yeah, my Santanita has always been a little spitfire, but that’s part of her charm. I remember this one time when she-“

“Um, hello?” Santana cut in, refusing to allow her mother to tell Brittany any other potentially embarrassing stories about her life. She watched on as the pair each turned their gazes over to the brunette standing at the office’s entrance, mainly maintaining a subtle glare in the direction of her mother.

“Oh, hey, Santana! We were just talking about you. Brittany came in requesting to speak with you while you were out, so I figured I’d just keep her company until my favorite daughter got back,” Maribel explains and Santana instantly noticed a glint of mischief dancing behind her mother’s eyes.

“I’m your only daughter, let alone child, Ma,” Santana grumbled with an exaggerated eyeroll. She knew what the woman was doing, and although she most likely had her daughter’s best interests in mind, Santana refused to let her mother continue to try to talk her up to the mechanic. Fishing out Maribel’s to-go container, she held it out to her and added, “Here’s your food, by the way. Rachel said it tastes best when it is still warm.”

Catching the hint, Maribel clutched the box with her hand and replied, “Okay, great. Can’t wait to try it.” Glancing between the two women, she continued, “I’ll leave you two to discuss whatever matters Miss Pierce needs to speak with you about. It was good to see you, Brittany. Don’t be a stranger.”

“Yes, ma’am. Have a good afternoon, Mrs. Lopez.”

“You, too, Honey,” Maribel returned as she moved to leave, subtly winking at her daughter. Santana instantly shot another thinly veiled displeased look at the older woman, but her mother had already moved past the brunette before she even had a chance to see. It didn’t matter anyway. Maribel knew her daughter well enough to know how she felt about the matter even without meeting her gaze.

Releasing a quiet sigh, Santana put her exasperation aside and addressed the blonde with a friendly smile, greeting, “Hi, Brittany.”

“Hey, Santana,” the woman chirped back in return.

“What can I do for you today?”

“Well,” Brittany began before her expression turned a bit uneasy. “I, um- I was hoping to maybe talk a little more about your offer from a few weeks ago. You know, the one regarding you potentially helping the shop with some marketing-related things?”

Suppressing her surprise, Santana replied, “Yeah, I remember.”

“Well, I was hoping to maybe discuss my options if you had some time this afternoon. Sorry to just barge in like this, by the way. I thought about calling to schedule a formal appointment, but I was out on my lunch break and figured I’d stop by while I was in the area. Now, I’m starting to realize that you might have other meetings scheduled for this afternoon. If you are busy, I could just some back another time.”

“No, I’m free for the time being. You’re fine.”

“Oh, okay. Good, good,” Brittany hums out. Getting more visibly nervous, she adds, “I-I know I could have maybe talked to your mom about it just now, so I’m sorry about that. Like you said the other day, she’s been doing it for a long time now, which of course isn’t your fault because you have to start somewhere, just like she did at some point, but- I don’t know. This is something that is really important to me, and I just feel that I know you a bit better. I mean, we graduated together, and you’ve always been nothing but nice to me, and-“

“Britt-“

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come in here and immediately word vomit,” the blonde apologizes before taking a deep, shaky breath, tears visibly starting to well in her eyes. “Shit, I’m sorry. I-I thought I’d be able to keep it together. I-I’m just really terrified right now.”

"Hey, it’s completely understandable why you would feel scared. The shop is obviously very important to you,” Santana assures as she quietly shuts her office door to give them more privacy. “Please just take a deep breath for me, and we’ll talk everything through, okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Brittany complies as she sucks in another long, unsteady breath before breathing it slowly back out.

“There we go. Now, what’s going on?”

“Th-the auto shop hasn’t done much better since the last time we spoke, and I’m terrified that I’m going to lose everything. I-” she started to say before hesitating, almost thinking better of it before deciding to just speak her thoughts anyway. “To be honest, I’m starting to feel that e-everyone’s right, and I’m just an idiot who-“

“Okay, no. First of all, Brittz, you are absolutely the furthest thing from an idiot, and anyone with the nerve to insinuate that you’re dumb is the actual idiot, alright?” Waiting for Brittany to nod her head, Santana continues, “Good, I’m glad we can agree. Now second of all, you aren’t losing anything. Not over my dead body.” Placing her take out on top of her desk, the brunette slid into her office chair and pulled open her desk drawer to retrieve a folder that had Pierce Automotive written in neat cursive script before laying it on the desktop next to her keyboard. She then moved to log back into her PC as she adds, “I've actually given quite a bit of thought as to how we can maybe help you increase traffic to the shop on the off chance that you’d change your mind. Just give me a second to find the other document I have with my ideas."

While focusing on pulling up the file on her computer, Santana suddenly heard the sound of a loud stomach growl and looked over to find the mechanic with a deep blush blooming on her cheeks.

"Oh, God. This is so embarrassing. I'm so sorry,” Brittany apologized, her mortification clearly shown on her face. “I came right over at the start of my lunchbreak, and I was so worried and distracted that I didn’t even think to eat beforehand."

“Hey, it’s alright. You are more than welcome to have some of my food if you want."

"No, I’ll be okay. I can wait until after we’re done. Let’s just move past it."

"Britt, I genuinely have the stomach of a small bird and hate leftovers, so you'd actually be doing me a favor by not letting this food go to waste," Santana encouraged with a small, soft smile has she nudged the to-go box towards the other woman. "Seriously, please feel free to take half of it."

Another moment of hesitation passed before the blonde tentatively asked, "Are-Are you sure?"

A small smirk pulled at the brunette's lips as she flipped open the container for the other woman, revealing the contents on the inside as she responded, "I’m positive. Now just to let you know, it is an Italian sub on a ciabatta roll with provolone, ham, salami, pepperoni, red onions, tomatoes, lettuce, pepper relish, mustard, some type of Italian sauce, and-" Santana suddenly trailed off as she thought over the details of her order. After pausing for a brief moment to make sure she did not miss anything, she concluded, "Yeah, I think that's it."

"Sounds delicious,” Brittany chuckles as she reaches forward to grab half of the sandwich. “Thank you.”

"Anytime. Now, let me get back to pulling up that list of marketing ideas," Santana stated as she shifted her focus back to the computer screen in front of her. "Okay, so-"

"Wait, please eat your sandwich before worrying about the shop."

Glancing back at the other woman, Santana assured, "It's really no problem. I take working lunches all the time."

"Not this time, please. I really don't want my problems to cause you to get indigestion," Brittany pouted. "Lord Tubbington always gets super cranky when he has an upset tummy."

"Okay, fine. You win, but just know that I'm not aware of any time that working through lunch has caused me to have an adverse bodily reaction," Santana acquiesced with a teasing roll of her eyes as she reached for the other half of the sandwich. After taking the first bite, her eyes instantly widened in surprise before holding out the sandwich in front of her to take a good look at it. “Oh my God!” Motioning toward the sub still grasped in the mechanic’s hands, she encouraged, “Brittany, you have to try this.”

"Oh, okay,” Brittany quietly replied as she chomped into the sandwich. Giving a moment to process the taste, she suddenly released a long hum in contentment. "Wow, this is really good. The crunch of the toasted ciabatta with the melty provolone and spicy pepper relish work perfectly together. This was a fantastic choice."

"Right? I hate to say it, but Rachel has pretty good taste when it comes to food.”

“Apparently," Brittany agreed before glancing back down to take another bite. The pair continue eat in silence for a few minutes before the blonde asks, "So, how has your day been? At least, before I came in to ruin it."

“Oh, hush. You haven’t ruined anything,” Santana laughed. "It hasn’t been too bad for a Tuesday. I actually might even venture to say it’s better now that I get to see you."

Brittany’s face immediately narrowed her eyes at the woman as she teased, "You really don't have to sweettalk me, Santana. I'm already in your office with the intention of asking you for help."

"Oh, I know I don't have to say it. I'm telling the truth. You're a goddamn ray of sunshine, and it'd be extremely hard for anyone to not have their day brightened with you around."

"Aw, shucks. You must be really, really trying to butter me up."

Santana gave a little noncommittal shrug as a sly smirk pulled at her lips. Popping the final bite into her mouth, she dusted off the crumbs from her hands and returned her attention to the matter at hand. "Okay, so back to business. My initial thoughts involve three to five different ads across all local television, radio, and online ad services. I have also already scoped out a few potential billboard locations that we can go look at if you are interested." She then paused to look over at the mechanic, "Does the shop happen to have any social media pages?"

"No, not really."

"Okay, so there is room for expansion in that regard. We might actually be able to use that to our advantage. How do you feel about potentially holding giveaway packages to drive traffic to your social media pages and the shop, itself?"

"I don't see any problem with that. Honestly, I'm pretty much down for anything you think will help at this point."

"Great, but also feel free to veto any ideas that may not work for you or the shop. You are the expert here and will know better than anyone else what works for your line of work. I’m just an outside third-party who is trying to help.”

“Okay, I’ll let you know. Thanks, San.”

“Of course,” Santana replied with a wink. “So, I was also thinking about reaching out to the carwash located down the street from the shop to see if they'd be willing to try a mutually beneficial team-up. Basically, customers at the shop can have a free carwash after receiving routine maintenance services while people who purchase certain carwash packages can get discounts on oil changes."

“Oh, that’s a great idea.”

“Yeah, I thought so, too. Of course, we would still have to reach out to them, but I’ve been told that I can be pretty convincing when I want to be so I don’t think we’ll have a problem getting them to come to the table.”

For the first time that day, Brittany actually started to feel somewhat hopeful about her situation. That was, until she remembered that this kind of help came with a price. Getting a bit worried, she asked, "So just to clarify, are there various packages for these marketing options, or-?"

"All of this is typically included with our premium offer."

"Okay, so how much would all this set me back?"

"Absolutely nothing,” Santana answers in a matter-of-fact tone.

Brittany blankly stared at the woman for a long moment, looking at the brunette as if she just sprouted a second head. Slowly furrowing her brow with a clearly confused expression, as she hesitantly responded, “What do you mean nothing?"

Santana laced her fingers together as she leaned forward to rest her chin on top of her hands as she stated, "Brittany, I've already spoken to my mother about this, and I would like to personally pay for everything we help you with."

"What? Why?" Brittany questioned, her eyes wide with shock.

“Because I’ve caused a lot of bad throughout my life, and I would really like to use this opportunity to add a bit of good to the world.”

“But this would be a lot of money we’re talking about, right?”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Brittany balked, “Of course I’m going to worry about it, San! Are you kidding me?”

“Britt, you literally just tried to do the exact same thing for me not that long ago.”

“Yeah, and last I checked, you refused to let me give you free service.”

“Well like we discussed last time, I’m hardheaded as hell, and I won’t stop until I get my way.”

The blonde gives her a slightly skeptical look, not really sure what to make of the situation. Thinking over her options, she tentatively asked, "Are you're sure about this?"

Placing her hands down onto the smooth desktop, Santana met the other woman’s gaze and swore, "I've never been more sure of anything in my life. You happen to employ several people I have actively terrorized in the past, so I would like nothing more than to hopefully help them maintain their livelihood while also ensuring you don’t lose the shop."

"And you really want nothing in return?"

“Nothing at all,” the brunette assured before her lips pulled into a teasing grin, adding, “but I also won’t stop you if you want to name-drop Lopez Marketing Services in idle conversations and such.”

Brittany gave a light laugh as she sat back in her seat, a look of slight disbelief on her face. “It almost feels like an offer I can’t refuse.”

“You definitely can. I’m not here to try to pressure you or anything. Feel free to take some time and think it over. Potentially even discuss it with Kurt and any legal representation you may have. I can even have some paperwork drawn up if you’d like. That way, it is legally binding and ensures that I am not going to swindle you.”

Taking a moment to think it over, Brittany suddenly seemed to come to a decision as she held up a pinky toward the other woman.

Santana could only stare at the gesture, not really sure of the other woman’s intentions as she questioned, “Um, what’s this?”

“It’s a pinky swear.”

“And what would you like me to swear to, exactly.”

“Do you swear that you are telling the truth about everything we’ve discussed today?”

Finally understanding, a wide grin spread across her face as Santana reached forward to lace her pinky with the other woman’s, swearing, “I promise that I genuinely aim to help and that I will do everything in my power to help your auto shop become as successful as possible. Everything will be paid for by myself, you can decline any idea that is pitched to you, and you will ultimately have the final say in any business Lopez Marketing Services conducts on behalf of Pierce Automotive.”

Seemingly pleased with their deal, Brittany briefly tightens her pinky’s grip around Santana’s before letting it slip from her grasp as she affirms, “Then, I think you have yourself a deal.”

Santana’s face lit up with elation at the news as she cheerily replied, “Good to hear. I’ll go ahead and arrange to start having the official paperwork drawn up. As binding as our pinky swear may be between us, I unfortunately don’t think it’ll hold up as well in a court of law, and I want to make sure we go about this the right way. That way you can have full confidence in our work with you.”

“I already do, with or without the paperwork.”

“Then, it’ll be for Kurt, who I can guarantee will be wanting to see it.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“I usually am,” Santana teased with a wink. “In the meantime, would you like to go check out the billboards I have in mind? That is, if you’re free.”

“Yeah, I think I can spare some time.”

“Awesome,” Santana states as she grabs her keys and opens her door for the other woman. “After you, milady.”

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#title: wild hope #mechanic!au #brittana #my work #links for ao3 and ff.net at end

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