A/N: Just a fluffy one-shot that popped into my mind after watching the finale. Spoilers to the Season 3 finale if you haven't seen it yet.
A/N2: Added a sequel to this story called, Brave New York.
As always, please R&R :)
There were still tears in Rachel's eyes as she walked down the aisle in the train, scanning the numbers above the seats to find the one that matched her ticket. She had her fingers crossed that it would be a window seat so she could wave goodbye to her friends and watch Finn run beside the train like some epic movie scene, but when she got to her number, she was disappointed to find it was an aisle seat. However, both seats were empty and the train was due to depart in only a minute, so she began praying that the second seat wasn't sold. She glanced around the train, not finding anyone coming down the aisle towards her, so she decided to take the window seat anyway and if its occupant came and they requested it, she would move. For now, the seat was hers.
She glanced out the window at her friends, all lined up on the platform with faces filled with mixed emotions. There was her boyfriend, now ex boyfriend, and she sighed still in disbelief that Finn had left her. It hadn't sunk in yet. He was standing there, tears in his eyes as he forced a brave smile and waved at her. Beside him was Quinn, quickly swiping at her damp cheeks, but looked more happy than sad and Rachel decided it was because they would be seeing a lot of each other since they both had their metro passes.
The rest of the gang was lined up beside them, all her friends. Except one. Maybe they had never really become friends and their cease fire was simply a performance brought on by over exaggerated emotions because of graduation. Still, it hurt to see that she had gone before Rachel's train had even left the station.
The train pulled away without a passenger looking for the seat Rachel had claimed, and she got her movie moment as she watched Finn run beside the train for a few seconds before he and the rest of her world, disappeared from view.
She slouched back in the chair, feeling her tears streaming down her face, and leaned her head against the window miserably. Deep down she was excited about her future in New York, but right now she was too busy mourning the loss of her friends and the man she thought she was about to marry. It was strange that she actually felt relieved that she wasn't marrying Finn anymore, though. As terrible as it sounded, she had had a knot in her stomach since the day she had approved his wedding proposal and for the first time in months she was finally starting to feel her stomach settle. She was finally starting to feel like Rachel Berry again.
"You're in my seat, Berry," she heard a familiar growl from beside her and she snapped her head up to find, none other than Santana Lopez, standing in the aisle with a huge grin on her face, "Of course you took my seat. You just think everything is yours."
"Santana," Rachel screamed with excitement, springing forward from her seat and practically leaping onto the taller girl as she wrapped her arms around her and squeezed with every ounce of strength the petite diva possessed, "How-What are you doing here?"
"Turns out hearing you yammer on about New York everyday for the past few years made me realize that I wanted to be there too," Santana shrugged, tentatively returning Rachel's death grip of a hug. She still wasn't used to actually touching Rachel when it wasn't mandatory choreography in glee club. Even if they were friends now, it still felt strange. It still felt strange that they were even friends now.
"I can't believe you're here," Rachel whispered and her hold didn't loosen as she rested her chin on Santana's shoulder. The Latina couldn't help but blush at the spectators they had attracted with Rachel's enthusiastic emotions and actions.
"Alright, no need to start crying again," Santana groaned while rolling her eyes, but she couldn't seem to contain the grin she was still sporting, "The last thing I need is dwarf tears on my t-shirt."
"I can't let go," Rachel whispered, somehow managing to hold her even tighter as she pressed her nose to Santana's shoulder with a sniffle and closed her eyes, "Not yet. I still can't believe you're really here."
"Yeah, well," Santana said, grabbing Rachel by the shoulders and physically detaching her from herself and depositing the emotional girl back onto the window seat, "Get over it. We're sharing a train ride, not getting married."
Rachel's features immediately darkened at the mention of the word and as Santana slid into the aisle seat beside her, she dropped her gaze to her feet and mumbled a remorseful, "Sorry."
"It's okay," Rachel sniffled again, staring down at her fidgeting fingers in her lap, "It's just, an hour ago I thought I was heading towards my wedding and starting a life with Finn, and now I find myself on a train to New York and the man I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with, broke up with me."
"Sorry to be your consolation prize," Santana sighed, glancing around the train keeping her eyes away from Rachel, knowing that they would show too much emotion than she was ready to reveal to the girl. She already knew that she shouldn't have so much disappointment in her voice.
"No," Rachel scoffed, slipping her hand into Santana's and lacing their fingers together, the gesture forcing Santana to look at her with a slight amount of shock in her eyes, "You're not a consolation prize. You're better than that. It's just not what I was expecting."
The words still didn't warm Santana's heart, so she forced an understanding nod, but turned her eyes away from her once again. Rachel could sense that she still wasn't explaining things right so she continued, "I just mean, it's a surprise, but I'm not saying it's a bad one. I'm excited about New York, but you have no idea how happy I am that I'm not on this train alone. And I'm really glad that you're the one I'm on this train with."
"Yeah," Santana asked, eyeing her skeptically.
"Definitely," Rachel grinned with an over-enthusiastic nod of her head, "What better person to be sitting beside me on the train to my future than my former enemy."
"Well before you turn this into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie," Santana groaned, rolling her eyes, "I need to tell you that this little set up wasn't all my doing."
"What do you mean," Rachel asked as a look of confusion appeared on her face.
"Although I was scheduled to be on this train," Santana explained, her eyes drifting as if she wasn't particularly excited to reveal this bit of information, "Your ex was the one who asked me to ride in the seat next to you."
"He did," Rachel said, turning towards her in her seat.
"He asked me to watch out for you while you're in the big city," Santana continued, "I mean you may be destined for Broadway, but let's face it, you've been a small town girl all your life. You're a little lacking in the street smarts department."
"Oh please, Santana," Rachel snorted, sitting back in her seat defiantly, "I can take care of myself."
"The last time you were in New York, you bought tickets for a discontinued musical off a bum," Santana chuckled, but quickly stopped once she caught Rachel's death glare, "I'm just going to be around to make sure you don't lose your shirt, or accidently sell yourself to a pimp who promises you a starring role."
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to know that someone has my back," Rachel sighed, "And I'm glad that someone is you."
"Okay, lay off the mushy crap already," Santana growled, folding her arms tightly across her chest, "Like I've seriously reached my max and I'm getting close to puking."
"You don't fool me," Rachel said quietly, leaning against the window and staring out at the passing fields, "And I very much appreciate all you've done for me."
"What the hell are you talking about," Santana demanded, "Did you hit your head or something?"
"You expect me to believe that my boyfriend who was barely ever able to leave my side, who never wanted me to go to New York because it interfered with whatever new plan he could come up with for his future, just decided that it was suddenly alright for us to not get married, break up, and then forced me into going to New York," Rachel asked, her voice was soft and steady and her eyes never leaving the bleak, Ohio plains, "It doesn't take a genius to discover that whatever talk you had with Finn, was quite one-sided."
"Believe whatever you want to, Berry," Santana sighed, throwing a weak gesture with her hand and resting her head back on the seat as she closed her eyes.
"You wanna know how I know it was you," Rachel asked, finally prying her eyes away from the window to gaze at the dark haired girl beside her, who was desperately trying to pretend she didn't care.
"Fine, tell me how you know," Santana shrugged, but her eyes opened just enough so she could see Rachel through her lashes.
"I'm still sitting in your seat," Rachel smirked, an eyebrow raised playfully.
"I like the aisle seat better," Santana lied, "I can stretch my legs out if I want to. Look, whatever Berry. Seriously if I knew you were going to have your mouth open on this whole trip I would've never told your ex-oaf to put you on this stupid train."
Rachel was silent for a few minutes, but her smile never disappeared, and when she couldn't hold it in any longer, she finally mumbled, "See, told you so."
"What," Santana snapped with another groan, combing her hair back with her fingers.
"You just admitted that you told Finn to put me on this train," Rachel smiled and before Santana could protest or add another argument, Rachel hastily leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of Santana's mouth while breathing the words, "Thank you."
It took a moment for Santana to recollect herself, before she slid lower into her seat and muttered a, "Whatever."
Rachel fell asleep soon after, her head resting against the window while the train continued to speed down the tracks to New York City. Santana hadn't been able to find much to occupy her time, unable to get comfortable in her aisle seat and wishing that she had a window to rest her head on too. She did everything she could not to let her eyes fall on a certain petite songstress, knowing that if they hovered for even a moment she would be forced to think about feelings she wasn't ready to decipher and questions she didn't want the answers to. Questions such as, why had she pulled Finn aside and told him that he would always be holding Rachel back? Why had she cared about it at all? If Rachel wanted to throw her life away for a giant that acted like a selfish baby, why should that matter at all to her?
Yes, those were definitely questions that she was not ready to discover the answers to. So she never once let her eyes wander in the sleeping girl's direction. That is until a moderately sharp curve in the track tossed Rachel's slight frame in her direction, so that her head came to rest on Santana's shoulder and a hand fell in a very precarious position in her lap. A little too close for her to be comfortable, and yet liking it too much to move it.
She thought about pushing Rachel back to her side of the train, but the way the girl snuggled into her and looked so blissfully peaceful, she didn't have the heart to just shove her aside. Something about her doing that too many times in the past. She wanted to be different now. So she left her there, enjoying the weight of her head on her shoulder and the feel of her warm hand on her upper thigh and tried to relax the tension that had taken over her muscles since their bodies had come into contact with one another.
It wasn't long before a tingling sensation began to creep through her arm, as if spiders were crawling up and down her skin, and that quickly transformed into full on pins and needles. She tried to do her best to ignore it, wanting to just let Rachel sleep and not do anything to bother her, but when she lost feeling in the tips of her fingers, she knew she had to switch positions.
Very carefully, she began to turn her body towards Rachel until her head slid off Santana's shoulder and onto her chest. The movement caused Rachel to stir slightly, enough for Santana to make a split second decision to lift her right foot off the floor and slide it onto the seat behind Rachel's back, allowing the sleeping girl to almost lie down on top of Santana and between her legs. Rachel's hand dragged up her body, coming to rest by her head on Santana's chest and she made a soft humming noise as her head snuggled further into her.
She wouldn't normally admit this, being too busy pretending to hate the brunette, but she actually didn't mind having Rachel drooling all over her t-shirt. She sighed with a soft snort, shaking her head as she gave in and wrapped her arms around the sleeping girl, gently tracing circles on her bare arm with the tip of her finger.
"Knew it," Rachel mumbled, a sleepy smile spreading over her lips as she turned her head until her chin was resting against Santana's chest and took a few long blinks before her eyes half opened.
"Knew what," Santana demanded, defensively.
"You like me," Rachel grinned even wider with a smug tone to her voice.
"Whatever," Santana said, but there was smile she couldn't hide as she rolled her eyes for the millionth time.
"Don't worry, Santana," Rachel sighed with content, laying her head back down on her with a yawn, "I promise not to tell anyone."
When they walked off the train and into the station, Rachel was almost running towards the exit before she realized Santana had fallen behind and wasn't following her anymore.
"Hurry up, Santana," Rachel chastised, "I can't wait to get out there and see everything."
"I know," Santana smiled with a nod, "but this is one part you gotta do on your own."
"What are you talking about," Rachel asked, her excitement dwindling as her brow furrowed, "I thought we were here together?"
"No," Santana sighed, with a slight shake of her head, "I will be there for you whenever you need me and I guess we're like friends or whatever, but you gotta take this part on your own. You can't be holding on to your past when you walk out into your future. You needs to prove it to the world and to yourself that you can stand on your own two feet."
"But what if I can't," Rachel asked nervously, gazing out into the bustling New York streets, "What if I can't stand on my own?"
"Stop being a baby, you can," Santana snapped softly, gripping Rachel's shoulders and giving her a gentle nudge, "But if you can't, I'll be around to hold you up."
Rachel smiled up at her, taking in a deep breath as she prepared herself and began to turn towards the exit as Santana's hands dropped from her shoulders. She only got two steps before she heard Santana call, "Oh, Berry, I gots something for you. Something I meant to give you a helluva long time ago."
Twisting back around towards Santana, expecting to find some sort of a gift in her hands, she was completely blind sided by the full lips that came crashing down against hers. As surprised as she may have been, that didn't stop her from kissing back with the same amount of fervour, and wrap her arms around Santana's neck as the taller girl locked hers around Rachel's waist.
They broke away panting, after some minutes had past, and a look of complete shock was still painted on Rachel's features as she gazed up at her with wide eyes. Santana simply shrugged back as if it was not something that should be made a big deal of and said, "When you're off being some big huge Broadway superstar and I've got a sweet record deal, I wanna have a good juicy gossip story to tell Cosmo when they ask me who my celebrity hookups have been with. Now I can tell them that I locked lips with Rachel Berry before anyone even knew who she was."
"Really," Rachel said with an amused grin, "That's the story you're going with?"
"You got a better one," Santana breathed, their lips still close enough to tingle as they hovered over each others.
"Yeah," Rachel nodded, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment before pulling away from Santana and turning back towards the exit. She walked a few steps before hesitating and glancing back over her shoulder at Santana.
"Call me if you ever want to hear about it."