Rachel Berry heard voices downstairs and a peel of feminine laughter that made her smile. It was nice to hear the sound from the usually angry and confrontational high-schooler that was no doubt joking with her fathers as they let her in. Rachel walked too her bedroom door and cocked her head to try and listen but the voices were a little too far away to make out any words.

With a chuckle to herself and slightly irritated sigh she walked back into her room and sat down at her study desk and looked over her homework again. She made it a point to get her homework done early so she had no distractions when it came to tutoring her friend.

"Berry. How are you this fine evening?" Santana Lopez asked as she sauntered into the room and sat down on the edge of Rachel's bed.

"Quite well thank you Santana. Yourself?" Rachel responded politely as usual.

"Swell." Santana smiled genuinely.

"You ready to get down to business?" Rachel asked not messing around as she stood up from the desk.

"Depends on what you mean by business." Santana said suggestively with a flirtatious raising of her right eyebrow.

"Santana you try so hard." Rachel said with a laugh and a shake of her head as she pointed at the desk.

"Can't blame a girl." Santana said with a shrug as she moved to sit at the desk.

"No I suppose not. How are things with Brittany?" Rachel asked as she pulled up a spare stool to sit beside Santana.

Santana didn't respond strait away, instead opting to get her books out of the bag she had carried in with her when she had come in. With a loud sigh she finished laying her books out and then turned to look at Rachel.

"Not well. She is with Arty and has no intention of leaving him. Besides me and Dave have a thing going on now." Santana finished with a shrug.

"Yes that is... perplexing... After what he did to Kurt how can you be dating him? Better yet, since you are a lesbian how can you be dating him?"

"See that's one of the things I like about you Rachel. My being a lesbian is always second thought to you." Santana smiled winningly but was clearly trying to avoid answering the question.

"Stop avoiding the question. Besides you know I don't care which way you swing." Rachel was not going to let it go.

"Can you keep a secret? … What am I saying, of course you can." Santana frowned at Rachel.

"Why do you by the way? You could tell all of McKinley if you wanted too." Santana asked as a second thought.

"I found out you were into girls by accident, its not my place to tell anyone. You will let people know when you feel like it." Rachel answered without hesitation.

"I didn't mean that, though I appreciate it. I meant why haven't you told anyone that you help me with this crap... that we are friends?" Santana quirked as eyebrow in question.

"If I told people you and I were friends they wouldn't believe me. You are ex-Cheerio Santana Lopez and I am Rachel Berry, self absorbed Gleek. Besides even though you are indifferent towards me at school you still don't act towards me there the way you do here." Rachel said honestly meeting Santana's eye.

"I'm sorry. You could tell people, I wouldn't deny it." Santana looked apologetic.

"Yes but you wouldn't tell people of your own volition. Its fine Santana it doesn't bother me. I know we are friends and that's all that matters." Rachel smiled warmly.

"You are too good to me." Santana returned the smile.

"I know. Now, whats the deal with you and Karofsky?" Rachel was like a dog with a bone.

"Well, the only chance we have of winning sectionals is if we have Kurt. And Karofsky royally fucked up with Kurt so I gave him an ultimatum. Besides Dave and I being 'together' gives us both a cover if anyone tries to out us." Santana explained casually as she opened her books.

"Outing 'us'? You mean Dave is gay?" Rachel asked with a skeptical look on her face.

"Yes. That is the secret you have to keep." Santana said looking sternly at Rachel.

"I'm a little offended you would give me that look, especially after what I just said. I know what it is like to be judged and belittled by peers Santana. I'm not about to out anyone." Rachel spoke in an affronted tone.

"You are right. I'm sorry." Santana said apologetically and gave Rachel's knee a brief squeeze.

"Its fine. So are we going to get this done, it is a school night." Rachel said seriously as she turned to the desk.

The next two hours of the evening were spent with Santana complaining about algorithms and Rachel getting frustrated by the latinas attitude. Finally when Santana began to understand they called it a night on the home work and Rachel suggested they just mellow out and watch a movie.

The two climbed onto Rachel's bed once the movie was in and settled down to watch it. It was a musical as that was all Rachel seemed to own. After a mere 40 minutes Santana fell asleep and Rachel didn't have the heart to wake her when the movie finished. Instead she moved and readjusted the sleeping Latina and got her under the covers before she went about her nightly ritual of getting ready for bed.

Once finished Rachel climbed under the sheets and rolled onto her side and went to sleep. She woke the next morning at 6:30 when her alarm went off and she climbed out of her bed to the sounds of loud grumbling. Santana had woken to the sound of the alarm looked at the clock and proceeded to complain about the early hour.

"Fuck Rachel, its 6:30." Santana spat.

"Then go back to sleep. I will warn you though I will probably end up making quite a bit of noise when I get on the elliptical." Rachel spoke over her shoulder as she walked into the bathroom.

When Rachel walked back out in her work out clothes she chuckled to herself at the sight of Santana sprawled out on her bed asleep with her face buried in a down pillow. Rachel went about her morning as usual only this time trying to make less noise which seemed pointless because the Latina showed no sign of waking.

There was a small knock on her bedroom door just as Rachel was getting down from the exercise machine. She called out for who ever to come and smiled when her dad stepped in with a hot cup of coffee in his hand. This was not the first time Santana had fallen asleep and ended up staying the night and Rachel's fathers quickly figured out the best way to calm the fiery Latina when she first woke.

Hiram walked over to the bed after giving Rachel a good morning kiss on the forehead and sat down before laying a hand on Santana's shoulder and giving her a little shake while he said her name. Santana didn't seem to walk to stir so Hiram tried a little harder.

"Santana. Honey, wake up." Hiram shook her a little harder as he spoke louder.

"Five more minutes dad." Santana said groggily and Rachel snickered before walking into the bathroom and turning on the shower.

"You are going to be late for school and you should wake up and call your mom and let her know you stayed over and are going strait to school from here. Its raining so you cant walk back to your place." Hiram said as he rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"OK OK I'm up." Santana said rolling over and sitting up before opening her eyes.

"Good girl. Now here is your coffee. You might want to borrow some of Rachel's clothes and take a shower before school. LeRoy will drop you girls off." Hiram said handing the coffee to Santana.

"Thank you Mr. Berry." Santana said taking the steaming cup gratefully

"What happened to dad?" Hiram asked with a smile as he stood up and walked to the door.

"Thank you Mr. Dad." Santana corrected cheekily and Hiram laughed as he walked out and closed the door before him.

Santana sat in the middle of the bed and sipped the coffee slowly while Rachel showered. By the time her coffee was finished Rachel walked out fully clothed and Santana went into the bathroom. Before she could close the door Rachel called out to her.

"I put some of my clothes in there for you, so go ahead and take a shower. I'm sorry but you will have to wear one of my sweaters as its quite cold outside. The rest of it is as normal as I could find though." Rachel said over her shoulder with a smile.

"Thanks Rach." Santana said returning the smile and closed the door.

Rachel brushed out her hair and then went downstairs where her fathers were sitting in the kitchen. LeRoy was making pancakes as they happened to be Santana's favorite now she was no longer a Cheerio. Rachel walked over and gave LeRoy a kiss on the cheek and said a cheery good morning as she sat down at the kitchen table and poured herself a glass of juice.

"You should date her." Hiram said finally looking up from the news paper he seemed to be nose deep in.

"Dad, Santana and I are just friends you know that. I don't want to date her and she doesn't want to date me." Rachel said after a few minutes of stunned silence.

"How do you know she doesn't want to date you?" LeRoy asked curiously over his shoulder as he flipped some cooked pancakes onto a plate.

"Because I have it bad for a tall blonde. Not that Rachel isn't hot, and very sweet to me but my heart belongs to another." Santana said dramatically as she sat down beside Rachel at the table.

Rachel chuckled and handed the orange juice to Santana she poured herself a glass before taking a sip.

"Oh. Well that is a little disappointing." Hiram said putting the news paper down.

"Why is that?" Santana asked curiously.

"Because we quite like you and would like to see more of you. A couple of nights a week just isn't enough and we don't want Rachel to be lonely." LeRoy answered as he sat a large plate of pancakes in the middle of the table next to the syrup.

"Rachel wont be lonely, i'm sure she is crushing on someone. Besides i'm not 'out' I would make a terrible girlfriend for Rachel, shes so comfortable with herself and I am... not." Santana frowned at herself a little.

"I'm not crushing on anyone. Besides your being out or not wouldn't even factor into a relationship between you and I. You know I don't care about people knowing you are a lesbian, if we dated I would be completely OK with it being a secret until you felt like you wanted people to know." Rachel said honestly as she reached over and took two pancakes off of the stack in the center of the table.

Santana stared at Rachel for a long minute and then leaned over and kissed the smaller girl on the cheek.

"You are an amazing person. I cant believe I was such a contrite bitch to you all this time." Santana said with a warm smile.

"Santana you are a bitch to everyone except Brittany, I don't take it personally." Rachel said with a cheeky grin.

"You both suck. Cant even date to keep your dads happy." Hiram said with an exaggerated sigh.

Rachel laughed and rolled her eyes and Santana giggled as she also grabbed a couple of the warm pancakes.

"Sorry dad. You should just be happy that I have a friend." Rachel said after drowning her pancakes in syrup and handing the bottle to Santana.

"Oh we are sweetheart. Over the moon in fact. You and San, are just so cute together and we love her so much." LeRoy said with a wistful smile.

"I love you guys too but seriously, its not going to happen. I'll try and visit more if you like." Santana said rolling her eyes.

"That will do then I guess." Hiram said dejectedly.

"What makes you think Rachel is into girls anyways, she has certainly never hinted at it." Santana said as she started to eat her pancakes.

"Rachel isn't straight, she isn't gay either, she is just a lover and very open with us about it. She used to have a crush on her 3rd grade teacher. Miss. Simmons." Hiram said taking some pancakes and spreading raspberry jam over them.

"What? You are bi? I never would have guessed." Santana eyed Rachel curiously.

"Yes I suppose if you want to put a label on it. Except for Finn I hadn't really developed any crushes on anyone since Miss. Simmons as dad kindly pointed out." Rachel spoke around a mouthful of pancake.

"No fucking way. Never would have guessed." Santana said with a laugh.

"Language young lady." Hiram said sternly to the Latina.

"Sorry Mr... Dad." Santana finished when she received a stern look at what she was about to say.

Hiram grinned at that and LeRoy chuckled and Rachel shook her head with a smile. The rest of breakfast was spent with small talk and then they all cleaned up together before LeRoy told the two girls that he would take them to school since it was raining. Santana said she needed to grab her bag from Rachel's room

Rachel and LeRoy went out and hopped in the car while they waited and Rachel was surprised to see Santana wearing one of her sweaters when she came out and got in the car as well. Rachel didn't say anything but it kind of pleased her to see Santana in the knit sweater even though she figured Santana would just take it off when they got to school.

"Maybe we should drop Santana off a little ways down the road so no one sees her with me." Rachel suggested as they neared the school.

"Don't be silly Rachel it will be fine." Santana said from the back seat.

"Are you sure?" LeRoy asked curiously.

"Yeah i'm sure." Santana smiled.

They continued on there way to the front of the school where LeRoy rolled to a stop and bid both girls have a good day. He was a little surprised when not only Rachel but Santana as well leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before climbing out of the car.

Rachel had explained to her dads when she first became friends with Santana two months before, that Santana and herself weren't on the best of terms in the school environment but that she was OK with the silent treatment from the Latina and that it really wasn't a big deal. Both men had been a little hesitant to warm up to the young Latina until one night when Santana opened up to the two men and told them the circumstances of her and Rachel becoming close friends.

Outside of Brittany and Rachel, LeRoy and Hiram were the only two people Santana had actually admitted her sexuality too and it warmed both men to be so fully trusted by the naturally stand-offish young girl. Once the girls were out of the car and the doors were closed he drove off.

"Looks like Finn and Quinn are having another fight." Santana pointed out with a gesture towards the obviously fuming pair.

"That's all they seem to do lately. You wonder why they bother?" Rachel said with a shrug.

Before Santana could respond to the potentially rhetorical question a group of the football players walked up to them and stopped with a glare at Rachel.

"Get dropped off by your daddy, Berry? I hear he is a fag." One of the call players spoke harshly.

"You hear correct." Rachel said flatly, clearly not phased by the comment.

"I hope you don't want his number, he is married so it would just be awkward." Santana said sharply.

"Are you wearing one of Berry's sweaters. God you two aren't fucking are you?" A blonde football player asked rudely.

"And so what if they are? Don't you have anything better to do than make peoples lives miserable?" Kurt Hummel spoke from behind the two girls.

"So what if they are? Its fucking gross, its bad enough that we have to go to school with you Hummel. Don't want to be surrounded by dykes either." Said the first guy that spoke.

"Excuse me? Do you want to throw down?" Santana was irate at this point and Mercedes, who had walked up with Kurt had to grab the Latinas arm to stop her from getting in the football players face.

"What is going on here?" Quinn asked as she walked up without Finn who was usually her shadow.

"These guys think Santana and I are sleeping together." Rachel said flatly.

"Why would they think that?" Quinn asked curiously.

"Because I'm wearing Rachel's clothes. If you must know, not that its anyones business, Rachel has been helping me with school work. We ended up watching a movie last night when we were done and I fell asleep so she let me borrow some of her clothes cause I didn't have time to walk home and change." Santana explained in an angry tone as she looked back at the football players.

"Seems harmless to me. Come on guys I heard Mr. Shue wanted to see us all before first period." Quinn said stepping past the football players, her fellow glee members behind her.

As Kurt stepped past the boys one of them lashed out and went to shove him but with reflexes that surprised everyone who witnessed them, Santana grabbed the guys wrist and gave the guy a shove that sent him stumbling back into his team mates.

"Don't you dare touch him." Santana's voice was deadly quiet and Rachel and Quinn stood behind her staring daggers at the guy while Mercedes put her arm around a shaken Kurt.

"What ever. I'm not about to fight a bunch of girls." The guy said straitening up and gesturing his team mates follow him when he turned and started walking away.

"Brilliant start to the school day." Rachel said with a frown as she looked after the guys that were all wearing Letterman jackets.

Santana scowled and started walking again with everyone following her. Quinn and Rachel walking beside each other and Kurt and Mercedes behind them. They all seperated shortly after and went to there lockers to get there things for first period and put there bags away before meeting up again in the choir room were everyone else was sitting around waiting for there director.

Santana went and sat beside Brittany who was sitting with Arty and Quinn sat down beside Mercedes and Kurt. Rachel sat in her usual seat in the front and they all waited quietly. Finn walked in closely followed by Mr. Shue and he sat down beside Rachel in the front.

The glee meeting was brief, Mr Shue partnered everyone up and gave them all the assignment of picking the perfect song to describe themselves and sing it to there partner at the end of the week. Apparently another one of those team bonding things.

"Santana are you wearing one of Rachel's sweaters?" Mr. Shue asked distractedly as he was about to let them all head off to there classes.

"Yea. I fell asleep at her place last night." Santana said with a frown.

"You was at Berry's? Are you two getting it on cause I would pay money to watch." Puck said with a lecherous grin.

"God, no we are not getting it on. Rachel has been helping me with school work because believe it or not, I don't want to be a Lima Loser the rest of my life. Rachel and I are just good friends." Santana snapped and stormed out of the room.