Santana Lopez felt her jaw drop as she read the room assignments for Nationals. The New Directions were in the lobby of their New York Hotel and Will Schuester, their director, had just handed everyone a copy of the list of room assignments for the trip. The group would be in New York for two weeks and they had to live with their assigned roommate for that long. 'No way. Not possible.' Santana thought. She opened her mouth to speak, but Will beat her to it. "Sorry, Santana. No trading. It's too big of a hassle. You are going to stay in the room you were assigned to." he said. Santana sighed in defeat and looked around her roommate. She glared at the girl before grabbing her key and walking toward the elevator without waiting for the other girl.
Rachel Berry stared at the paper she had just been handed in disbelief. She couldn't understand how she was expected to stay in the same room as Santana Lopez for two weeks. She was now completely convinced Mr. Schue was trying to send her to her own death. She looked over at the teacher and saw that he and Santana were talking, no doubt about the room assignments. The taller girl turned to glare at the diva before stalking off in the direction of the elevators. Rachel sighed and accepted her key from Mr. Schuester before walking in the trail of her new roommate.
Santana saw Rachel walking toward her and willed the elevator to move faster. It seemed that not only did Will Schuester hate her, but God did as well, because Rachel arrived at Santana's side at least a minute before the elevator showed up. Santana refused to even make eye contact with Rachel. Silently, the two girls entered the elevator when it finally arrived. As Santana pushed the button for their floor, Rachel took that opportunity to speak. "I know you aren't thrilled about rooming with me, so if you want to sneak off to Brittany and Quinn's room at night after bed check and come back in the morning before wake up calls, I won't tell Mr. Schue." Santana looked over at Rachel in surprise. She would have expected the smaller girl to be the first one to rat her out.
"No, I'm good." Santana said. This time, it was Rachel's turn to look surprised.
"Really?" she said. Santana nodded. "Why?"
"Because you offered. It gives me a little bit more respect for you. But just because we work together, doesn't mean we're suddenly best friends. Is that clear?" Santana clarified. Rachel nodded. Things had barely gotten better over the past two months, on the day Santana and Rachel had found out that they were co-workers at Rachel's uncle's restaurant.
FLASHBACKSantana walked into the Lima Italian Restaurant. It wasn't Breadsticks, but it would have to do. Her parents wouldn't allow her to work at Breadsticks, in fear that she would come home with wheelbarrows full of breadsticks everyday. She immediately saw her new boss, Trevor Spring. She walked over to the man. "Hi, Mr. Spring." she said. He turned around.
"Santana! Glad you made it. Are you ready for your first day?" he asked. Santana nodded. "Great. Let me introduce you to my niece. She'll be training you for the next couple of days." Santana nodded and Trevor went and retrieved someone from the back of the restaurant. Words couldn't describe the shock between the two girls when the saw each other.
"Berry?" Santana said.
"Santana?" Rachel asked.
"You're his niece?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded.
"You're the polite, enthusiastic new employee?" Rachel asked. Santana raised an eyebrow in response
"Rachel, please just teach Santana how to wait on the tables." Trevor said. Rachel nodded and her uncle walked away.
"Time for some rules, Santana. You don't get to pick on me here like you do at school, okay? Here I am in charge and you do what I say. If you don't like that then tell me now and you can leave." Rachel said. Santana stared at her in shock. She had never seen Rachel stand up for herself before. "Hello?" Rachel said impatiently.
"Uh… yea sure. Just show me what to do. But just we're clear, this doesn't change how we interact at school, got it?" Santana said. Rachel nodded.
"Whatever. Let's just get to work okay?" Santana nodded
END FLASHBACK
The elevator arrived at their floor and the two girls exited and went in search of their room. Santana allowed Rachel to enter the room first and quickly followed the other girl into the room. "Nice room." Santana commented. Rachel nodded. "So, we don't have to be back downstairs until tomorrow. Do you want the shower first?" Santana offered. The smaller girl shook her head.
"You can go first." Rachel said. Santana nodded and got her stuff to shower with and headed into the bathroom. Once Rachel heard the water running, she fell onto one of the beds and fell asleep. After her shower, Santana came out of the bathroom and heard Rachel's voice. Assuming the singer was talking to herself, Santana went out with the full intention on making fun of Rachel. However, she noticed that Rachel was sleeping and her words sounded like cries of pain. "No. NO! No, please don't!" Rachel yelled. Santana felt her eyes widen and she dropped her stuff and rushed over to the bed.
"Berry. Hey, Berry. Rachel, wake up." Santana said. She gently shook the girl, but Rachel didn't wake up. Instead, she pulled away from Santana and turned over.
"Stay away from me! Just go away!" Rachel yelled, still asleep. Without thinking, Santana laid down on the bed and wrapped her arms around Rachel in an attempt to calm her down. Santana whispered in Rachel's ear.
"Hey, its okay. It's Santana. You're okay. You're safe, Rachel." Santana said. After about ten minutes, the sleeping girl calmed down. Santana reached over and pushed some of Rachel's hair out of her face. The girl woke up at the light contact.
"Santana?" Rachel asked. The two girls looked at their embrace. Embarrassed, Santana moved away.
"You were having a nightmare or something. You were freaking out. I was trying to calm you down." Santana explained. Rachel nodded.
"Thank you." she said. She got up from the bed. Santana followed suit. They reached for Santana's things at the same time, their hands brushing against each other's. Pulling back, Santana looked into Rachel's eyes. She took a step forward and gently placed her hands on Rachel's waist. She looked for any signs of objection before kissing Rachel. After about twenty seconds of kissing each other, Santana suddenly pulled back.
"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I'm going to go to Brittany's room for a little bit, but I will be back for bed checks, I promise. You won't get in trouble." Santana said before rushing out of the room, leaving Rachel completely confused.