For Becki

"Santana, I wanna talk to you."

Santana looked Finn Hudson up and down. "What do you want?"

"You."

"Everyone wants me. You'll have to get in line. And you'll have to get at the END of the line, since I had sex with you not very long ago." She turned around to walk away, but he grabbed her arm.

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"Do you realize the only time we have ever spoken is to hook up?" She rolled her eyes at him. "God, you think I'm stupid? I know what you want. Guys are all the same. And like I said, take a number."

She left Finn standing in the middle of the crowded hallway.

Finn knew he wasn't just like everyone else—somehow, it was always painfully obvious. He hadn't been able to get Santana out of his mind since she took his virginity. And he wanted to get to know her better—her likes, dislikes, interests, passions. Especially passions.

Since she had become one of his.

Finn devoted the next several days to following Santana around like a lost puppy, leaving her flowers and sweet notes everywhere. Her only responses were dramatically rolled eyes and little grunts of disapproval.

Glee practice was a whole different monster. Finn couldn't keep up for staring at Santana. Rachel hit him numerous times to snap him back into reality, but it never lasted very long. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was that left him wanting more…but he had to admit it was the largest desire he had. To be Santana's boyfriend—Mr. Santana Lopez. He wouldn't mind being called that if it meant she would be on his arm, looking gorgeous and being unforgivably nasty and yet completely endearing at the same time. Her strength amazed him.

As she left the choir room, he followed her. "Santana, please. I'm pouring out my heart here!" he pleaded with her.

She snapped around. "You are a borderline creeper."

"It's because…I love you."

"You love what we did. I get that me taking your virginity is a big deal—"

"It's NOT the sex!" Finn insisted. He took her hand and held it to his heart. "I need a woman who is honest and straightforward. Who can take care of herself, but will sometimes let me pretend I can take care of her, anyway. Who will let me do my own thing, and can do her own thing, but can still come together and laugh and talk and have a good time. I need someone who won't bullshit me when things get rough. Someone who is willing to work hard to get what they want. Now, look me in the eye and tell me that isn't you."

Santana's hardened expression softened a bit. She looked at her hand on his chest, his hand capturing her wrist firmly, yet gently.

"Pick me up tonight at 8. Don't be late and don't come in." She looked him up and down. "Wear green. It's my favorite."

And Finn knew that he might have won the battle, but the war was far from over.

Finn pulled up at the Lopez house at five minutes to eight, wearing his Sheets N' Things polo from work—the only green shirt he owned. He sat in his car for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes. Right when he decided she was standing him up (added humiliation since she's standing me up AT HER HOUSE, he thought to himself) her front door opened, revealing her thin frame in her cheerios uniform coming toward his car.

"I thought you weren't gonna show up." He admitting, smiling to her as she got in the car.

"I was testing your dedication. You leave without ever trying to figure out why I wasn't coming out to the car, you're giving up too easily."

"Fair enough." He drove to Breadstix , his heart pounding from the sensation—he was going on a DATE with Santana. A REAL date. He couldn't screw this up.

Once they got settled, Santana started in. "What is it that you want from me?"

Finn gulped. This girl didn't beat around the bush. He liked that. "I want a real shot…at a relationship. I think we could be so good together. You have to admit that our personalities work really well together."

"Whatever. I guess."

"Cut the act, Santana…" Finn rubbed the back of his neck in consternation. "I know the real you…that time were together…I saw the real you, and this isn't it. Don't put on a show for me."

She leaned forward. "Finn Hudson. I don't know who you think you are. " She glanced to her left and right, as though making sure nobody could see her and then whispered, "I don't want to get hurt. And I won't get hurt. If you even try, you'll regret it so hard…" She closed her eyes for a moment, as if it pained her to think about it. "I don't play. If we're going to do this, it's going to be the fucking real deal. No games, no 'Oh, I've decided I like Homeschool Berry again', none of it. I'll make you wish you'd never been born." She straightened up and looked at Finn, whose eyes were as big as the plates in front of them. "Are we clear?"

"I would never hurt you. I would never try, Santana. I think…I think I need you."

She rolled her eyes. "I've heard it before." For a ghost of a second, a flash of worry passed across Finn's face. Santana noticed it and added, "So you're going to have to prove to me that you're not like the rest."

Finn smiled and grabbed her hand across the table. She smiled back, slight uncertainty in her eyes, but overall, genuinely happy.

Finn walked her to the door after the date. They stood on her front door step, holding hands.

"Wanna come in for a while?" He recognized that gleam in her eye before, and knew what it implied. He didn't even think about it before answering.

"Goodnight, Miss Lopez." He kissed her gently on the lips before pulling away.

Santana would later remember that moment as the moment she fell in love with Finn Hudson.