The Beat Goes On

Santana knocked on Kurt and Rachel's door, not knowing what to expect. It had been three days since the pair had kicked her out, and the only contact she'd had with either of them was a text message from Rachel last night. It had simply said: I'm sorry. Please come over tomorrow evening? She'd replied with an emotionless Sure, because she knew it would annoy the girl. Rachel loved her emoticons. She found herself staring into relieved face of Kurt Humell a few seconds later.

"Oh, thank Alexander McQueen! You're back. Come on in."

"What's—"

"She's been like a velociraptor on crack for the entire day," Kurt said in an undertone. "I'll leave my apology for later, because frankly? You're only emotionally equipped to deal with hers tonight." With that, he grabbed his bag and stalked out of the apartment.

"Okay…."

"Santana?"

She turned to see Rachel standing in the doorway of the kitchen, looking nervous as hell. "Hey there, Hobbit. What changed your mind?"

"I…I was hoping we could talk over dinner?"

"Sure," Santana said gently. Sure, she was still mad, but she really couldn't handle Rachel standing there looking slightly terrified. She'd seen that face enough in high school…. "Need me to set the table?"

"That would be great, thanks."

They got ready to eat in silence, Rachel bringing out the food and Santana putting plates out and getting drinks.

"Prime rib?" Santana asked, astonished. "That's one hell of an apology."

"Kurt cooked it," Rachel said. "However, I did make the spaghetti and the roasted vegetables."

They ate in silence. Santana had to admit, dinner was amazing. She'd look up every once in a while to catch Rachel staring at her. Finally, she took the younger woman's hand and said, "Rachel, talk to me."

"Why are you being so nice about this?" Rachel asked. "I at least expected an 'I told you so' when you got here."

"Oh, we'll get to that," Santana said, smiling. She stood, not letting go of Rachel's hand, and led them over to the couch. "But first, I want to know why the turn around."

"It was something you said, before you left," Rachel explained. "You said you loved us…that we were a family. I couldn't get it out of my head the first day you were gone, and I realized it was because it reminded me of sophomore year—when you said glee was the best part of your day. I believed you then, because for once you were trusting us to accept you. I should have trusted you now. You were doing that again, and…well, you don't do that often. I see why now."

Santana sat staring at her for a long moment, then nodded for her to continue.

"I talked to Brody yesterday. I won't go into the details, but he seemed to think that lying was the best course of action. When he came clean, I kicked him out." She looked directly at Santana then. "I'm so sorry. I was wrong. About him, about everything…. And he wasn't here first. You were, in a way. He may have moved in here before you, but I've known you longer. I should have remembered that, and known that you were trying to help."

Santana squeezed her hand. "Apology accepted…you lunatic."

Rachel let out a relieved chuckle. "Do you…want to watch a movie or something?"

"Sure."

They put Avengers in and sat back on the couch. Rachel took Santana's hand again and leaned her head on her shoulder. "By the way?"

"Yeah?"

"I asked one of the instructors for the security footage of the dance studio. You rock Paula Abdul."

Santana laughed as the movie came on.