Author's note: Yes. This is an AU story loosely based off of Fanny Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Feel free to look at my profile for further details.

Also: I used the iGoogle translator for any Spanish used in this. No lie, I got a C in Spanish two, so I am definitely not reliable.

Santana was running around in the afternoon spring grass with the twins Marcos and Miguel when the Erie Star was on its way to making its daily stop at the Lima train station. Her older sister Gabriella was reading a book like a proper girl from the front porch of the white house with the green shutters. Santana didn't want to be like her sister, though, and much preferred the vigorous activity of a satisfying game of tag with her brothers.

More often than not, her older twin brothers either ignored her or picked on her, so Santana took every opportunity to play with them. Gabriella, who was ten years her senior, tried getting Santana to be more like a girl and to do girly things, like reading and cooking, but Santana found her brothers more entertaining.

Mrs. Lopez poked her head out from the front door and looked around the yard, only to count four out of her five children present.

"¿Dónde está tu otro hermano?"

Gabriella didn't bother to glance up from her book, too engrossed in the workings of Jane Austin. "He's down by the tracks, showing off to the church girls with that new hat Papi bought for him last week."

Mrs. Lopez rolled her eyes and sighed. "Él no tiene que mostrar. Somos la única puertorriqueños aquí."

Gabriella shrugged and turned another page in her book, glancing up only to watch her younger sister fall down and get a grass stain on the pair of overalls that used to belong to Miguel.

"Aye, Santana!"

Santana got up from the ground and wiped her hands on the seat of her pants.

"Yes, Mami?"

"Go down to the tracks and fetch your brother," Mrs. Lopez said. "Dile que dejar de sonreír a las muchachas bonitas y volver a casa."

At the age of ten, Santana Lopez could say with complete honesty that her older brother Diego was her best friend. He didn't treat her like a small child like Gabriella did, and he didn't ignore her like the twins did most of the time. She was only an infant when her family made the move from Puerto Rico to New York back in 1917, and had been her protector ever since they traveled down from big town, New York, to the more comfortable small town, Ohio.

As the only Puerto Rican, let alone Hispanic, family living in Lima (and maybe even in Ohio), it's no surprise that the Lopez family stuck out from the norm. Everyone was white, except for the occasional black folk that worked for a white family. But after years of serving the town with nothing but kindness and fair prices down at the convenience store, the Lopez family had become well-respected in Lima, and nothing short of the average family.

Ever since Santana was old enough to walk, she followed Diego around like a puppy on a leash, and he was always thrilled to have her. Diego was a charmer, and could make any girl's heart melt with just a smile; he was a heartbreaker, whether he meant to be or not. Santana did everything she could to be just like him, and even spent a full hour in front of her mother's mirror to try and get her smile just like Diego's so she could break hearts, too.

Diego was the one who taught Santana how to steal a cookie while their mother was looking away before dinner, and then taught her how to properly lie about where the missing cookie went. Whatever Diego did, Santana did.

"Santana? Now."

"Yes, Mami."

Santana took off at a run to the train tracks, dodging the yellow dandelions in the grass as if they were mines in a field. The tracks were just behind their house, separated by a long stretch of dirt and trees that acted as a wall.

"Diego!" Santana called as she ran closer. She grinned when she saw him wave to her through the trees, and stopped so she could wave back. "Mami wants you back at the house." He was still talking to the two girls in front of him and didn't hear here.

Diego put a finger out as if to stop the church girls from doing something, and took a step back, his new hat on his head and his feet on the tracks. Santana recognized one of the girls as Lisa Fabray. She had pretty blonde hair and was wearing a nice, blue dress, and always laughed at Diego's jokes. She also had a younger sister, Quinn, who was Santana's age. Both Fabray girls were quiet, smart, and kind, the epitome of perfect, small town Catholic girls. Santana sometimes played with Quinn whenever she was following Diego around town and he wanted to see Lisa.

Diego had pointed Lisa out to Santana once after church and said, "One day, I'm going to marry that girl. I'm going to marry Lisa Fabray." She didn't understand why, if her brother wanted to marry Lisa, he spent his time bothering with other girls. But then again, Santana didn't understand a lot of things.

Santana moved closer to the tracks, ducking under a tree branch and watched her brother. She could hear the rushing sound of a sudden gust of wind, but the trees didn't move and her brown hair didn't flutter like it usually does.

"Diego,"

He grinned at her again, and then flashed his smile to Lisa Fabray and the other girl. The rushing sound got louder and Santana grew worried.

Diego took his hat from his head and extended his arms so it was straight in front of him, and then flipped it up in the air. The hat flew up and then landed on his head. He removed his hat again, bending down into a slow bow.

Lisa was the first to scream, and then the other girl. The rushing sound that Santana had heard was the sound of the Erie Star, on its way to the Lima train station.

"DIEGO!"

Mrs. Lopez felt a pang in her stomach before she heard the sound of the train coming to a screeching halt or the faded, high-pitched screams. She was in the middle of making the rice for dinner when she felt it, and immediately threw everything down and ran from the kitchen, running out of the front door as fast as her legs would take her.

"Marcos, Miguel ir a buscar a tu padre!"

The twins barely had enough time to register what their mother had said before she was off, running towards the train tracks and the screams.

"No es mi hijo! Oh, Dios, no uno de mis hijos!"

Santana didn't understand a lot of things. She didn't understand why her sister Gabriella spent so much time fussing over her hair, or why her mother insisted on teacher her how to cook, or even why she had to go to church every Sunday. As her mother came running through the wall of trees, her white apron covered in the dust of dirt, and as the two girls Diego had been trying to charm sobbed, and as the conductor walk out with a solemn look on his face, Santana didn't understand why her brother had to be hit by the train.

Author's note: I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to play this out, or if I'm even going to continue, but I do have a pretty decent idea. However, this is sort of just the beginning/an introduction. I did some research for this, and there's no way I could use the same time line as the original story, since Puerto Rico (I'm assuming that Santana is Peurto Rican; I don't think it's been explicitly stated, but I mean, Naya is, so...) didn't become a part of the United States until 1917 with full citizenship rights and everything.

For those of you that have read FGT, or have seen the movie, I am not going to include the Evelyn/Ninny storyline. I feel like it would be too difficult and rather pointless for an AU Glee story. Basically, this will focus almost solely on Santana and Brittany (aka Idgie and Ruth). Other characters that everyone knows and loves will be introduced later, and then inevitably there will be Brittany/Santana. Only I'm not exactly the best at keeping up with stories (seriously, chaptered stories are not my thing, I stick with one-shots/drabbles), so I don't want to make any promises.

Alright, guys. What do you think? Is it worth it to continue? Am I cut out for AU?