"Hello?"

A voice echoes through the cold winter air. I stop my movement and look around. It's dark around me, and beside a family of ducks, I do not see a living soul.

"Hello..?" I ask. My breath freezes, and the wind takes my words out in the darkness. I hear a noise and turn around.

No one.

I look behind me once more and decide it was probably all in my head. I put my earphones in and continue jogging. I run a tour around the lake, but when I arrive at the same spot, I can't help but to stop again.

I have always been too curious for my own good.

I take out my Ipod for a bit of light, and take a few steps forward. "Is anyone there?" I call. A twig cracks beneath my feet.

I'm playing with the thought of actually going off the path, and walking further through the trees. But it scares me too, so I just stand there, not knowing what to do.

"Hello?"

My eyes widen as I hear the voice again. It's louder, as if the person is closer to me. Then, I hear the footsteps. They are soft, light. Like from a little child.

I still don't see anyone and I start to freak out a bit.

"Is somebody there?"

I want to run away, but now the voice is clear to me. It sounds like a little girl.

I suddenly feel someone pulling on my vest. I turn around and look down at a little girl. She looks at me questionly.

Okay, she doesn't really look like a ghost ..

"Hello?" she asks again, and I try to smile. "Hey .. What are you doing here, all by yourself?" I say, while kneeling down.

She curls some hair around her finger and looks down "I lost my mommy .."

I frown. What was she doing in the park at this time, even with her parents?

"You lost your mom? Where?"

"I don't know .." she whispers. "I was running here to feed the ducks and suddenly she was gone .."

"Oh, sweety .. Do you want me to help you find your mommy?"

She nods and I stand up again. A cool wind breezes past us and she shivers. "Are you cold?" I ask. I take off my jacket and put it over her shoulders. Her hands clutch to the hem of the vest.

I smile at her and take her little hand in mine. She's freezing.

"Let's find your mommy, okay?"

She nods and I ask her the last place she has seen her mother. She tells me that they were on the playground before she ran off.

Good thing I know this park like the back off my hand.

As we start walking, I realise I don't know her name yet.

"What's your name?" I ask her.

She looks up at me and smiles "Alison."

"That's a pretty name" I say. ''I'm Santana."

"Nice to meet you, Santana"

I smile "Nice to meet you too."

We get closer to the playground and streetlights lighten our path. I can see the girl more clearly now. She has short, blond hair, and big blue eyes with long eyelashes. She is actually breathtakingly beautiful. And I find myself a bit creepy to think this about a little kid, but she really is.

I have to tighten my grip on her hand as we see the playground appear in front of us. I don't want to lose her too.

I see her looking around and suddenly she points in the distance.

"There she is!" she shouts, and she starts running, pulling me with her. I have trouble keeping up with her, I didn't stretch after running, and my muscles are frozen from the cold air.

I see the silhouet of a woman sitting on the swingset, with her head bowed down.

"Mommy!"

The woman looks up and smiles brightly, I let go of her hand. The little girl runs into her mother's arms, who spins her around.

"Ali? I was worried sick about you!" I hear. Their voices practically sound the same. I walk up to them, a little bit slower, and in the soft light of the moon, I can see the woman more clearly.

I realise that the little girl is really just a smaller version of her. She has the same blond hair, same eyes, and she's definitely just as beautiful.

The woman looks at me with a questioning look. 'Hi" she says.

I reach out my hand as I arrive at the swingset and shake hers. ''I'm Santana. I uh .. I found your kid. Well, actually she found me but .. well, anyway." I curse at myself for stumbling and force an awkward smile.

She giggles at me. "I'm Brittany" she says with a smile "Thank you for bringing her back to me."

I shrug "It's not a problem."

The little girl is hugging her mother's leg tightly, and pulls on her coat to pick her up. The woman smiles at her and takes the girl in her arms.

'Hey," she looks at her daughter "Did you went to buy a new jacket without me?" She jokes, and the girl giggles and shakes her head. "Noo ..."

"Well then, where did that beautiful jacket come from?"

I see the girl shyly hiding her face in her mother's neck and I smile. "It's mine" I say.

She gives me a warm smile "I know" she chuckles "Thank you." She turns to her child again "Sweety, why don't you give the lady's jacket back? She's probably freezing right now, and we're going home anyway."

The girl pouts at her. "But I'm cold .."

"It's okay" I say "I have plenty of jackets at home."

She smiles surprised "That's really sweet .. But I have blankets in the car, she's gonna be fine." She bops her daughter's nose softly with her finger. "Won't you, my little princess?" The girl giggles, and then suddenly whispers something in her mother's ear.

A smile spreads across the woman's face and she looks at me. "Are you in for hot chocolate and cookies?"

I chuckle "I don't know .. It's getting pretty late and ..-"

"-Oh, c'mon .. It's my treat. I have to thank you in some way, right?"

I sigh and smile at her. "Okay, a hot chocolate it is."

"Yay!" The little girl shouts and the blonde laughs at her. "C'mon" she says as she puts the girl down. "Go show our new friend the car."

The girl starts running and I watch her a bit worried. I don't want her to disappear again.

"Don't worry" the woman says, and I turn my head. "We're not going to lose her twice."

I hint a smile at her. From close-by she's even more gorgeous than before. She has longer hair than her daughter, the moonlight shines on her pretty face and gives her long eyelashes an even longer shadow. Her lips are a deep shade of red in the dark, and her hair is tucked behind her ear on the right side.

"Mommyyy!" We hear and I see the girl waving at us. The woman takes out a car key and a couple of seconds later I see the car lights flash.

We approach the car and suddenly I don't see the girl anymore. I start looking around, until I hear a knock on the glass. I look through the carwindow.

The girl is sitting in the passenger seat, with a big smile on her face. Brittany opens the other door. "Princess, let Santana sit in the front. Go sit in your carseat in the back"

The girl turns around and I guess she's pouting at her mom. "But I want to sit on Sanny's lap .."

I smile at the nickname and chuckle as the woman rolls her eyes at me. "Well, that's not very safe, is it?"

"Mommyy, she saved me, she's not going to let me die .."

I smile and look at the blonde, who is watching me with her eyebrows raised. "Only if Sanny's okay with it?" She asks with a smile.

"It's okay," I say. 'I won't let her die" I wink at her.

She shrugs "Well, okay. If you sit very still."

I open the car door and sit down, placing the girl on my lap. I fasten the seatbelt and she cuddles up to me. I smile sweetly and wrap my arms around her.

She's still wearing my jacket.

The radio is playing and I softly turn down the volume a bit. Brittany smiles at me. She knows I don't want to wake her little girl up.

From the moment we drove off the parking lot, Alison fell asleep in my arms. I haven't moved since, and my arm is starting to hurt a bit.

"So, Santana huh?"

"Uh, yes."

"That's a pretty name, where does it come from?"

"I, uh .. My family is hispanic."

She smiles at me "Seems legit"

"Yeah" I chuckle. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. You want to know why we were in the park this late, don't you?"

I frown "Uh .. Yeah .."

"I've always liked the dark. As a kid, it scared me, but at the same time I loved the feeling that at a certain time, everyone was suddenly equal. You couldn't judge people on their height, looks, weight or hair.." She shrugs "Because you simply couldn't see them."

I watch her talk and smile. Now I was intrigued.

"And now I guess that my daughter looks more like me than I had expected. We're night people." She smiles at me "What were you doing over there?"

"I uh .. Jogging" I smile a bit awkwardly as she laughs at me.

''I see .. Why are you still jogging at 10pm?"

"I don't know .."

She raises an eyebrow at me.

"Okay, I try to jog everyday but I forgot" I laugh. "I'm really losing it nowadays."

She laughs with me "Well, you're not the only one" she winks. "We're here."

I frown, wanting to ask her where we are exactly. But then I look out the window and see a cosy place with the letters "Pam's Pancake Place" lighting up.

"Oh my god .." I whisper.

"What?" She asks me, while taking off her seatbelt.

I turn to her with a smile on my face. "I used to come here every week with my abuela when I was little."

"Oh, really? Me too! Well, not with my abuela or anything."

I chuckle "I thought I knew you from somewhere .."

She smiles surprised "Really?!"

"No" I laugh "I can't even remember my jogging schedule" I chuckle and she smiles sweetly.

"You're right. Now lets wake our little munchkin here up"

I smile as I realise what she said.

Our little munchkin.

Okay, I absolutely know she didn't mean anything with that, but I just really like the sound of it.

I softly shake the girl's shoulders and she looks up at me with sleepy eyes. "Hey, little one. You still want your chocolate milk?"

She smiles and nods, and I take off the seatbelt and carry her out of the car.

"Seems like she likes you" Brittany comments, and I smile.

"I guess she does .."

We enter Pam's Pancake Place and sit down by the window. The blonde doesn't look at the menu, she calls a waiter and orders three hot chocolates with whipped cream, chocolate chips and marshmallows.

"I guess I'll have to run a double tour tomorrow" I joke after hearing her order. She looks at me and smiles.

"Why do you even jog? Your body is in perfect shape."

I frown and want to respond to her -what seemed to me- flirty comment, but there is the waiter again, with our chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Alison immediatly digs in, stuffing three marshmallows in her mouth at once. I expected her mother to point out that wasn't very polite, but she just laughed at her.

"How many can you eat at once, princess?"

A frown appears on the girl's face, like she's thinking really hard, and she eventually puts up 5 fingers.

Brittany smirks "I bet I can do better."

Ten minutes later we have ordered a second portion of marshmallows already and now we're playing a game of Chubby Bunny.

"Chwuwby bwummy" I mumble, and I almost spit everything out as she starts laughing at me. I currently have 9 marshmallows in my mouth, and I'm going for ten.

I know I probably look like an idiot right now, but I have a feeling that they absolutely don't mind.

I stuff the last marshmallow in my mouth.

"Chwuwby mbwumny!"

"Yaay!" The little girl shouts, and Brittany laughs at me.

"Sanny is champion!"

Brittany chuckles "She sure is." She says nodding.

As I try to chew all the candy in my mouth without spitting it out on the table, Alison takes a sip of her drink and pouts.

"It's still too hooot" she whines, and her mother smiles.

"Be patient, sweety."

I hum a bit and she chuckles again "Are you okay, Santana?"

I try not to laugh as I shake my head.

She just grins at me and eventually I manage to get everything down.

I look at my watch and see it's almost midnight. "I should go .. It's almost twelve."

The little girl cocks her head to the side and looks at me "Are you like Cinderella?"

I smile at her and run a hand through her hair. "No, sweetheart. I'm not like Cinderella."

"Yes you are" she nods at me "You're a princess! Just like me. And just like mommah. You should be princesses together."

I chuckle and look over at Brittany. She just shrugs and smiles at me. "Children speak the truth"

I can't hide my smile as I feel that I'm starting to blush a bit. I clear my troath. "Well, uhm. Thank you, for the chocolate and the fun night."

She smiles "Don't mention it. Thank you for finding my little girl."

I smile back sweetly. "You're welcome.."

I stand up from my chair and Brittany hands me her sweater. "Here, I don't think she's going to give up your jacket anytime soon." She says smiling.

I look at her. "Won't you miss it?"

She shakes her head. "Nah.."

"Well, thanks" I chuckle.

"No problem, this way you won't forget about us" she winks. "Hey, we should meet again sometime."

I put on the sweater and smile at her. "Yeah, we definitely should."

Any thoughts? I'm not planning on making this a multi chapter story, but if you want me to continue, just tell me and I will.