AN: Merry Christmas, Kris! It's not much, but I hope you enjoy this fic along with the rest of your gifts :)

"Santana, will you please be serious right now? I understand that this play may serve absolutely no significance towards you whatsoever, but I need this to be a success if I ever intend on making it in New York."

"Oh whatever, Manhands. I don't need to rehearse I am Anita."

Rachel crosses her arms and glares at the girl sitting in front of her. Nail file in one hand and cellphone in the other, Rachel doesn't think she's ever been more frustrated with a person in her entire life. She was just ruining everything for her, Anita was a main character and if Santana wasn't going to cooperate and help do whatever it took to make her shine as much as she possibly could then she'd have to take extreme measures. She knows she promised Finn that she'd behave, but how was she supposed to work like this?

"Really? And what exactly makes you so much like Anita?"

"I love to live in America, I look bitchin' in this dress, and I have experience with dating guys in gangs." Rachels eyes widen at that and Santana shrugs "He had a nice smile."

She shakes her head and throws her arms up in frustration. "Santana, do you even know what this play is about? Besides the fighting, singing and dancing?" Rachel kneels down in front of her and Santana rolls her eyes, preparing herself to deck her in the face if she goes off into one of those annoying rants that she seems to prepare the night before or something. If she'd known that Berry would be this annoying then she wouldn't have taken the role at all. She kind of just did it for her Abuela who would constantly go on and on about how she played Anita when she was in high school and how it was her favorite show. But mostly for Brittany. She hadn't spent much time with her recently and it was killing her that they couldn't just be together. So if they weren't going to be together outside of school then she'd be attached to her during class, during glee rehearsal, and during cheerios practice. But the last person she was doing this for was Rachel.

Before Santana could even open her mouth, Rachel had already started to talk "It's a love story, Santana. It's a tragic tale of two people who, despite everything not being in their favor, despite the universe pushing them away, they fight to be together. They need each other so badly that they go behind everyones backs, break every rule, risk their lives, just for a chance. Haven't you ever wanted something so badly that you'd do anything for a chance? Just a chance to prove that it's right, that it could be perfect?"

She doesn't know when she started tearing up. Something in Santana snapped when Rachel started talking about the romance and how hard they had to fight for it. Maybe she should have researched it a little more, whatever. She feels Rachel take her hand, probably thinking she was comforting her, but Santana doesn't function that way. She stands up and turns towards her, arms crossed over her chest "That's stupid. I just wanted to play the fierce Hispanic bitch who gets to boss you around."

Rachel rolls her eyes and stands up, facing her confidently and unafraid. Even Santana had to give her a little credit for having the guts to do that. "You felt it, Santana. You have it in you, you can do this…" She takes a step closer and bites her lower lip before speaking again "It's Bri-"

"Don't." Santana interrupts her. "Don't you dare say anything about her because you don't know anything. You know, you walk around thinking you're such a great person, thinking you helped everyone out so you can feel awesome about yourself. Reality check Berry, You mess up people's lives. You messed up Quinn's life when she was knocked up, I'm sure you messed up your flaming Dads lives when they first had to look at that incredibly huge nose, and now you want to mess with mine. It's not gonna roll with me. This isn't worth it, I'm out of here."

Santana climbs off the stage, leaving Rachel speechless for a moment. Partly because what she just said made her feel terrible and partly because she can't believe Santana was trying to storm off on her. Storm offs were her thing. She stomps her foot loudly, causing even Santana to turn around and look at her. "Stop being such a baby. You're not the only one in the world who's dealing with this. You're not the only one who's had to deal with this. Look at Kurt, everything he had to go through just to be able to come to school every day, but he did it. He did it without fighting, without pushing people away, he stuck to himself and whoever didn't like it was irrelevant to him. You're the last person to judge my character when you live this fake life every day." Rachel climbs down the stage and looks at her disappointedly "It's not like you don't have anyone, you've got us. You don't have to be so bitter or angry all the time, you and Brittany aren't Maria and Tony. You don't have to be."

In all honesty she's really just deciding whether she wants to punch Berry in the face or burst out in tears. She looks at her again, eyes glossy and completely torn, and steps closer causing Rachel to flinch a bit. "I-I know you may not be happy with my opinion, but that's it and if you want to hit me I would appreciate it if you stayed clear of my n-"

"You're right…"

Rachel pauses… She's right? Santana sighs and openly lets the tears fall "You don't think I know all of this, that as much as I bully people or push people around it'll never change? That Kurt has more courage in his pinky finger than I've ever had in my entire life?" Rachel opens her mouth to say something, but Santana holds her hand up and shakes her head "What am I supposed to do? T-They're going to talk about us. They're going to make fun of me and they'll hurt her, I can't let Brittany get hurt I-"

"You love her." Rachel interrupts.

Santana nods her head and looks down. She's never been this vulnerable in front of someone who wasn't Brittany and even now she's been keeping her guard up. As much as she hated that the hobbit was the one she was confiding in, it felt damn good to let things out to someone who wasn't Brittany. There were just some things she couldn't say to her, things that might hurt her feelings or be too serious for her to actually understand. She loves Brittany and she'd spend forever trying to keep her as happy as possible.

"Santana, I-"

"Don't." Santana stops her and shakes her head "Don't try to tell me that you're sorry because you're right, and please don't try to tell me that everything is going to be okay because neither of us know if it will be." Santana sits down on one of the aisle seats in the audience and looks down at her lap as she does.

Rachel can't help but just stand there and watch. This was a person that she envied for her confidence, for the way that she carried herself around and was constantly so honest all the time. Rachel never really said so, but she looked up to Santana. She kind of liked her despite the mean things she might say or think sometimes, Santana was a friend and to see her break down like this…Rachel had to do something.

"Okay," She sits down next to her and reaches her hand out "So things might not be okay, your life might suck right now, and I may be inspired to work on a new script for a musical about you, but we'll have that discussion later," Santana actually cracks a smile at that and Rachel feels her heart beat a little harder because of it. She did that, she took this broken girl and made her smile. That, to Rachel, was so important. She'd spend forever making Santana Lopez smile if she could. "But no matter what happens, Santana, you're always going to have this hand to hold. When you're sad, or when you feel like everything is completely wrong, I'll be here to talk your ear off, sing for you, and to offer you this hand. If you want it of course, I understand you don't like me very much and we don't have the best history with one another, but I do care about you and I am your friend even if you aren't always mine."

Santana looks down at the small hand. For some reason that hand just became something so special to her, something that she felt like she needed. She reaches for it hesitantly and intertwines their fingers before looking back up at Rachel. "I'd like that…Thanks, hobbit."

Rachel laughs and rolls her eyes before squeezing Santana's hand "Okay, I'd appreciate it if the nicknames stopped, or changed. I can take it if you call me your queen."

"Not happening," She can't believe how easy it is to talk to her now that she's not fighting it. For a moment Santana thinks it might be this easy with everyone if she just went ahead and came out with the truth, but she's still afraid. She still cares about what other people think and she can't take it if anyone hurts Brittany because of her. "What about Starberry? You'll be Starberry from now on."

Rachel was going to fix this. Tony was not going to die for Maria this time, assuming that Santana was Tony of course. She'd help make her stronger, make her realize that life could be so much easier if she was just herself. She smiles "Starberry…That's cute." She nudges Santana with her shoulder "And you can be-"

"Santana. No way in hell am I letting you give me one of your cheesy nicknames"

"Oh come on! You could be….S-Lo! Jennifer Lopez made a whole franchise out of her nickname!" Santana shakes her head and Rachel pouts "Fine. Then can we at least rehearse now? We've only got the auditorium until six."

"Six? Berry, it's three and we've been here for two hours!"

"Exactly! We don't have very much time!" Santana groans and mumbles something in Spanish as Rachel stands and drags her back up to the stage. "Now tap into that inner gayness, and sing this song like you mean it!"

Santana would normally deck someone for making a comment like that, but in this case she couldn't help but just laugh. She's got a feeling that this was the beginning of something beautiful.