An Unexpected Relationship

The McKinley high glee club were deep into their rehearsal for this year's regional's competition. Not even placing last year, they knew they had to really bring it this time if they wanted to place. Rachel was being her usual self, trying to plan and control everything. The team loved her and she was an amazing singer, but most of the time she was just annoying. Mr Schu was running the show and had decided to feature Rachel, Quinn and Artie as soloists, with mike and Brittany doing a dance piece. No way the other glee clubs could bring something like that to the table.

Everyone had just arrived and had begun to take their seats, then, Sam and Santana walked in together, holding hands. This turned everyone's heads as Sam and Quinn had only recently split up, and everyone knows Santana isn't the kind of girl suited to a relationship. Everyone fell silent as they walked past to the back of the choir room and took their seats. Arms now locked sided by side. 'So,' Finn said, 'you two huh?'

'Yeah, is that alright with you boss,' Sam said sarcastically.

'It's just a bit odd that's all,' He replied, seeming slightly offended.

'Well, it's true, so everyone needs to leave it. Okay?'

'Yeah man, sure.' Finn turned and looked at Rachel for some help, hoping that she would know what to say. She gave him that don't look at me look, but then she managed to say; 'When did this happen? Just out of curiosity if you don't mind me asking'

'About a week after Quinn and I broke up.' Sam said, as Santana cuddled in closer to him. They had never seen her act like this, and she hadn't said a word. Usually they all would have been offended at least once by now. Quinn decided to pry; 'Santana? Are you alright?'

She looked over at her; 'yeah, Quinn, I'm fine. Thanks for asking.' She gave Quinn a smile, a genuine smile, and then went back to cuddling her new boyfriend.

Everyone was freaked now. They couldn't recall a time when Santana had said thank you, or even smiled at them so convincingly. Worried looks were passed throughout the choir room, and then Mr Schu walked in.

'Good morning guys. Lets pick up from yesterday shall we, Artie take it away.'

The lesson continued as normal accept for one thing. Santana was polite and smiled and no one was insulted.

When the lesson was over, the girls stayed behind to have a chat with their teacher. 'Mr Schu,' Mercedes started; 'can we talk to you for a minute?'

'Yeah, sure girls what's up?' he started to pack his briefcase.

'Well, did you notice anything different about Santana today?' Tina questioned.

'How do you mean different? She seemed fine to me.'

'Yeah, but Mr Schu, she didn't argue or insult anyone, don't you think that's odd?' Rachel continued.

'Not really, she doesn't insult people all the time.'

'Come on sir, yes she does.' Quinn was right, 'We're just a bit worried that's all.'

'Well, I saw she was with Sam, maybe he's making a different side of her come out.'

'But Mr Schu,' Brittany protested.

'Look girls, she seemed fine, happy even, so leave it alone. I'll see you all later for rehearsal.' With that he walked out, and the girls just looked at each other puzzled. They knew what they had to do.

The next morning before glee rehearsal they cornered Sam. 'Woah, guys, what's going on?'

'We need to talk to you Sam, it's about Santana.' Quinn said.

Sam rolled his eyes; 'what the hell do you guys want from me, she's my girlfriend now. Deal with it.'

'We're just concerned, that's all. She doesn't seem like her normal angry mean self.' Rachel pointed out.

'Did you ever stop to think that maybe she's just happy with me. Maybe I make her want to be nice and caring.' He pushed his way out between Tina and Quinn, and stormed off. He made a good point, but the girls were still not buying it. They decided they needed everyone to help them in the next glee session, all the boys would help grill Sam and Santana until the truth came out.

They were all positioned as Sam and Santana walked into glee that afternoon. The boys had agreed to help out, not because they really cared but because they were nosy. Once again the couple walked in hand in hand and took a seat in the back of the choir room. 'Sup guys.' Sam greeted them casually as he sat down, Santana sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling. Again, the odd glances were passed around the choir room. 'So,' Mercedes began, 'how is everything today?' she asked Sam and Santana. Again it was Sam who answered; 'everything's fine Mercedes.'

The silence was awkward for a few minutes, and in the end Puck couldn't take it. 'Look man, what the hell are you doing with her?' This made Santana sit up straight and glare at him; he used to date Santana so a hint of jealousy might be showing.

'What the hell is that supposed to mean man?' Sam responded angrily.

'Oh come on,' Quinn cut in, 'we all know that she's gonna drop you as soon as someone better comes along.'

'Hey, Quinn' that's out of order, and it's not true.' Sam defended Santana superbly, and to their amazement, she still said not a word.

'Santana?' Artie asked gently, 'what do you have to say about this?'

She looked down at her lap. 'Nothing, you guys can think what you want to,' she took Sam's hand; 'we know what this is.' He planted a kiss on the top of her head and placed an arm around her shoulder. Again the rest of the glee club couldn't believe what they were seeing. They had known Santana to start fights over much less than this.

'Alright,' Quinn yelled; 'what was that? Don't you want to kick my ass right now? Santana what the hell is up?' she moved to kneel in front of her friend, placing her hands on her knees. They were just genuinely concerned now.

Santana looked down into Quinn's eyes and simply said; 'nothing is wrong. I'm fine.' Quinn went back to her seat, unconvinced.

They were all quiet again for a few minutes, then Sam had a thought. 'Why don't you just let them know what's going on?'

Santana looked angrily at him, 'Sam!'

'Oh come on, they all know something's up, why don't you tell them?' he picked up both her hands and kissed them.

'Because,' she said, 'I don't want them to know, it's none of their business.'

'You told me.' He pointed out.

'That's because you're my boyfriend, and I don't want any secrets with you.' This time she kissed him on the cheek.

The rest of the club heard all of this and now they had to find out what's going on. 'Come on Santana, whatever it is we wanna help you.' Mike stated.

'Thanks Mike, but I don't think I'm up to sharing right now. Give me a few days?' she smiled at him.

'Sure,' he smiled back.

Quinn wasn't having any of it though, 'I bet she finally got pregnant from one of the millions of men she's slept with.'

They all gasped at Quinn, not believing what she had just said. Santana just sat there, not responding.

Sam stood up and faced Quinn, 'hey, you have no right to make that accusation.'

'But it could be true, right Santana, I mean you have slept around a lot!'

Santana looked at her; 'yeah Quinn, I have, in the past.'

'Oh what so now your suddenly not a whore?' Again, gasps came from around the room, just as Mr Schu walked in.

'What is going on here?' he ordered someone to tell him.

'I'll tell you what's going on here, everyone is being completely unfair, and Santana doesn't have to sit here and take it.'

He held out his hand to her, as everyone noticed the tear fall down her cheek. She took it and stood up. Then they both left, Santana sobbing into his chest.

After they had left, Mr Schu asked the rest of the team what was going on. They explained. Quinn also realized that she had been harsh, and needed to apologize to her friend. They were friends after all.

The next morning, Sam found a note in his locker, it read 'meet in the choir room now, bring Santana.'

He did as then note said, and as he and Santana rounded the corner into the choir room all of their team mates were sitting waiting for them. 'Hey, what's going on?' he asked as they slowly walked into the room. 'Sit, we need to talk.' Mr Schu was there so he didn't think it would get out of hand. He took Santana's hand and they went to sit in the middle of all their friends. 'We want to talk to you guys about your relationship.'

'What! Not you to Mr Schu, we are in a real relationship and we're happy.'

'Santana? Is that how you feel to?' Quinn asked.

'Yeah, of course, but then I am only a whore so you know.'

Quinn looked down' 'I'm so sorry about that, I didn't mean it. I was just trying to get something out of you guys. What's going on?'

'Why would something be going on?' Sam queried.

'We have just noticed some, irregularities, in Santana's personality.' Tina put it nicely.

Sam and Santana exchanged a glance, and they knew it was finally time to tell people. Santana looked down, allowing Sam to take the lead. 'Have you guys not noticed that Santana has moved in with me?'

They all looked around, astonished. 'What? When?' Finn could only get two words out.

'About four days ago, she left her house and moved in with me, my mum said it was fine.'

'What about your dad Santana? Didn't he mind you moving in with a boy?' Mr Schu asked.

She looked at him. 'My dad couldn't care less Mr Schu.' She said sadly.

'To be honest Mr Schu, her dad was the problem.' He looked down at her, hugging her tight. 'Do you mind if I tell them?'

'No,' she looked up at him, 'It would be easier for me if you said it.' He kissed the top of her head.

Everyone was waiting in anticipation, they were finally going to her the reason for Santana's odd behavior and why she has had to move out.

'It was after our first date. Everything was going to plan, we were having a good time, and I walked her home at the end of the night. We were standing on her porch; I was wanting my good night kiss,' he smiled down at her and some of the glee clubbers smiled too; 'when her dad walks out. He starts shouting at us both, and then he grabbed the top of her arm and pulled her into the house, slamming the door in my face. I called her the next day and she said everything was fine, but I decided to go round and check things out.'

The rest of the guys knew things were about to get serious, as Sam pulled Santana into him as if trying to stop her nonexistent tears from falling. 'So, I went over to her house and before I could knock I heard shouting. She was arguing with her dad.'

'What was the argument about Santana?' She looked up at Mr Schu, and then looked at Sam.

'It was about Sam actually, my dad didn't think he suited me.'

'So what happened next?' Puck asked.

Sam continued; 'I didn't want to go in there and cause more trouble for her, so I went round the side and watched the argument from the window. It kept getting worse and worse, so I knew I would eventually have to go in and break it up, but I didn't move fast enough.'

'What the hell happened?' Quinn asked, concerned.

Sam hugged Santana again, and said; 'as I was walking back to the door, I heard a crash.'

'What was the crash?' Brittany questioned.

'It was my dad,' Santana cut in; 'throwing me onto our glass table.'

The glee club couldn't believe what they had heard. 'We were up the hospital all that night because they had to pull twelve bits of glass out of her back.' Sam looked as though he was about to cry just remembering.

'Santana, was that the first time your dad has hurt you like that?' Mr Schu asked, as he went to sit in front of her. Just the look on her face made them all understand that it wasn't. 'How long had it been going on before?'

'Since my mum left.' She said.

'But your mum left when you were like ten, didn't she?' Quinn pointed out.

'Yeah,' Santana agreed, tears in her eyes.

'Oh my God, what else has he done?' Puck wanted to know.

'Hey, that's none of your business,' Sam defended.

'No, Sam its fine.' She assured him. 'He, well, it didn't start off this bad, you know, he would hit me a few times a week if I made him mad or something. When I got older it got worse, I would stay out all night to get away from him but I would have to go home eventually and that's when he was usually drinking, so.'

Sam hugged her, 'it's okay, you don't have to,'

'No I do, I need to get these things out there.' She wiped a tear from her face and Mr Schu got her some tissues. 'Thanks,' she said taking one. 'So, when I was older, he would put cigarettes out on my arms, and he would hit me more often. I think the worst thing was one night he was really drunk and he threw me into our TV.'

'Santana, why didn't you tell us?' Rachel asked touching her shoulder.

'To be honest, I didn't think you guys would care, I mean, I'm pretty awful to you.'

'Santana, of course we care, we would have cut you some slack too if you had told us what was going on.' Finn said.

'Yeah, I'm sorry guys I should have told you, that day with the glass was just it. I couldn't stay there anymore, and Sam was so amazing.' She smiled at him and he smiled back.

'What about your dad? Does he know you've left?' Mr Schu asked.

'He was away on a trip after that day so I left him a note.'

'Well when does he come back?'

Just then, a strange voice came from the doorway.

'Today, he comes back today.'

They all turned around, shocked, as Santana's father was standing by the door.

'Dad' Santana exclaimed.

'Santana,' he replied, 'would you care to explain this to me.' He held up the note. Santana stood up, still holding Sam's hand. 'I'm sorry, I didn't know how else to tell you.'

'Right, well, it isn't happening. You're coming home with me, right now.' He demanded.

'No, I'm not dad.' Sam squeezed her had, letting he know he was there when she needed him.

'What did you say?'

'I said, I'm staying with Sam.' her father shot Sam a look as he stood up in front of her. He wasn't quite as tall as her father but he thought he would be able to take him if he needed to.

'Santana, you will come home with me right now.'

'Okay,' Mr Schu interjected, not wanting things to get out of control. 'Why doesn't Santana finish the school day and then you can talk?'

'No, sorry, she's coming with me now.'

'Like hell she is.' Sam said.

'Sam.' Mr Schu shot him a look.

Then without warning, Mr Lopez stormed over to where they were standing, many of the club scooting back. Sam held his ground though, hand out in front of Santana. 'Dad, stop it.' She yelled.

'No, you are my daughter and you will come home with me. Right now!'

He was now standing directly in front of Sam, 'With all due respect Mr Lopez, she doesn't want to go with you.'

'With all due respect,' he mocked; 'says the guy who's taking my daughter, my only child, away from me.'

'I'm not taking her anywhere sir, she is choosing to come with me, you might have been able to salvage a relationship if you weren't abusing her on a regular basis.'

With that, a fist caught the side of Sam's face, and he went flying over the row of chairs next to them. The glee clubbers gasped, and Mike and Tina rushed to see if he was alright. While this was going on, Santana was grabbed around the back of the neck by her father and was being dragged from the choir room. 'Sam!' she yelled, struggling.

'Santana!' he tried to run after her, but Mr Schu pulled him back. 'Mr Schu what the hell! He's going to hurt her again.'

'Okay, Sam calm down, we need to do this the smart way. We can't just take her away from her father; we will call the police and go with them to her house later.'

They all agreed and they would all go to Santana's later to help out. Strength in numbers, right.

As soon as school ended Mr Schu, Sam, the rest of the glee club and two police officers made their way to the Lopez residence, not knowing what they would find.

The officers knocked on the door, but no one answered. 'Break the thing down.' Sam suggested.

Eventually they had to do this, and the entire house looked like it had been trashed. Their hearts collectively dropped, and they all knew what might have happened. 'Santana!' Sam yelled. Then he bolted up the stairs to her bedroom, knowing that's where she hid from her father. A few moments later they all heard; 'up here!' and the entire glee club was in Santana's bedroom. Sam had found her sitting with her back to the wall, hugging her legs, and crying. She had bruises and cuts all over her face.

'Where is your dad?' Mr Schu asked.

She looked up at him, sobbing her eyes out, and just said; 'gone.'

They stood and watched in silence as one of their own sobbed into her boyfriends arms. She was so small and vulnerable. She had been caught in a world filled with pain and heartache and none of them had ever noticed.