Prologue

Rachel was happy her first seven years of her life, living perfectly content with her father's. Sure, she never had much friends at school, but she always had her fathers to go home to after a hard day. They would love her with everything they had and everything would get better.

But that was taken away from her one day, when they both died in a car crash. The one responsible for it, a drunk driver, just had a few scratches and bruises.

Rachel was in the backseat, and the driver had hit them head on, so she had taken the least amount of damage. But that didn't make it any less scary for her. When she was taken away to the hospital in the ambulance, they had told her the worst news she could get.

Her fathers were dead.

She felt numb, and she didn't exactly know what happened next or what they were saying. All she knew was a social worker came and drove her to a large building. They said it was where kids like her got adopted. She didn't care; she didn't even bother trying to talk to the worker who kept trying to make small talk.

After someone she could care less about gave her an explanation of the rules and way things worked, the first thing they did was send her to the therapist. He asked Rachel all kinds of questions that she didn't remember or even listen to. He kept urging her to talk, trying to force it out. She grabbed the container of candy on the coffee table separating them and threw it at his face in frustration.

Her frustration only grew when he dodged it.

The therapist decided to make an appointment every other day and after he excused her she got sent to one of the bedrooms and was led to her bed by one of the workers. As she sat on the bed, she stared at the others who just dismissed her and talked quietly with one another. No one was in a big group; everyone just had one or two people with them.

Rachel sat quietly on her bed, swinging her legs back and forth as she looked down at the ground. She sat there ignored until she felt something small hit her shoulder so suddenly she jumped up wide eyes and flung herself to the headboard. The other kids looked at her direction in surprise, looking as if seeing her for the first time before minding their own business again.

Rachel took deep breaths as she stared at what had hit her earlier. She furrowed her eyebrows together and crawled toward it and grabbed it in her hands.

"Hey, that's mine." She flinched at the voice, but didn't make noise. She looked up to see brunette with tan skin around her age with her arms crossed. She had a scowl on her face as she tapped her foot repeatedly. Rachel looked at the ball in her hands then to the girl in front of her. The girl opened her mouth to say something but closed it again when Rachel held it out to her wordlessly.

The other brunette grabbed it and was about walk off before thinking better of it. Instead, she bounced the small yellow ball on the floor and watched as Rachel brought her legs to her chest and stared back.

"You're new." Rachel nodded and the brunette stared at her in a way that made Rachel want to curl up even more before giving the ball a final bounce and jumping on the bed next to her. "Do you even talk?" Rachel looked down and shrugged, making the brunette sigh and think of another question.

"What's your name?" Rachel looked back up and open her mouth a few times but closed it and looked down again. "I'm Santana," Rachel looked back up a little bit to see Santana giving her a grin. "If you don't tell me your name, I'm making one up." The Latina stared at Rachel for a few moments, but nothing came out of the petite girl, making Santana shrug. "Okay, I'm making one up," She thought for a moment before frowning. "I'll think of one later." Santana then sat in the middle of the bed and played with the tiny ball without saying anything else.

She didn't know how long they sat there, with Santana playing with the yellow ball and Rachel staring blankly at the cheap covers, but it wasn't until a worker came in announcing bed time that Rachel finally looked up to see Santana and the other kids getting into bed or changing into pajamas.

Santana wordlessly went to the tiny drawer beside Rachel's bed and through the clean clothes at Rachel. As Santana made her way to her own drawer Rachel put them on and found them way to big. Her fingertips barely showed and she almost tripped on the pants. As she climbed into bed, she looked a few beds over to see Santana giving her an amused grin before diving under the covers. Rachel sighed and did the same, closing her eyes for what was probably her worst night ever.

The next morning, all the kids are doing their daily morning routine. Rachel looks around trying to remember what the person in charge told her when one of the workers waking up the heavy sleepers comes over to her.

"Did you sleep well, sweetie?" She talks in a high pitched voice that's so forceful and reminds her of how someone would talk to a newborn or puppy that it's painful. She raises her wrinkly hand and tries to put it on her shoulder but Rachel flinches away, causing the woman to frown.

Santana walks by and the woman and she tells her to look after Rachel in the same irritating voice and tone. She opens her mouth to argue but the old woman threatens her with no breakfast and the she closes her mouth. She leaves with a pat to Santana's head, making the Latina scowl and messing up her hair. When Santana nears Rachel with that scowl, she afraid

"You're lucky we already talked." Is all she says.

The old worker makes Santana sit next to Rachel during breakfast but doesn't say anything. Breakfast consisted up tasteless eggs and bacon, and Rachel feels sick just looking at it. She looks at Santana to see the girl eating with her usual scowl on her face. Rachel's stomach growls and she slowly eats some of the eggs.

In the end, she can't even finish the eggs and doesn't even touch the bacon. She waits for Santana to finish eating, and keeps fidgeting so much that Santana finally slams down her forks and glares at her, making Rachel shrink in her seat.

"Stop moving so much. Jeez." Rachel looks down embarrassed and stops fidgeting for all of five seconds. Santana groans in frustration and gets up to throw away her food, but gets scolded for doing so. The fiery Latina throws a tantrum and gets sent to time out, leaving Rachel alone and needing to use the bathroom.

Rachel decides to wait for Santana, but her bladder can't wait as long and soon enough she wets herself. As soon as someone notices, they point it out mocking laughter fills the room. Rachel feels the tears coming and runs away, knowing for the first time what it's like to be a laughing stock.

She gets lost along the way and as soon as she realizes it, she walks backwards until she hits a wall. She slides down until she's on the floor and she curls herself into a ball, her small frame violently shaking with quiet sobs.

The cries she makes are the first sound she's made since arriving.

When she hears footsteps coming her way she tenses and prepares herself for more mockery when they come to a stop. But she hears nothing and looks up to see Santana rubbing the back of her head looking sheepish.

"I…" She began. "Sorry about that." And Rachel knows someone spread around that Rachel Berry wet herself and that's how Santana found out. Rachel buries her face and suddenly she feels herself being lifted up. She looks up in surprise and see's Santana looking forward. Rachel clings onto the other girl and is slightly shocked at how strong she is, but then again, Rachel was never a heavy person.

The next day Santana watched her more carefully out of the corner of her eye. Rachel still hadn't said a word to anyone, including Santana, but the brunette watched her for so long she knew what Rachel wanted most of the time.

Rachel's incident also brought on the beginning of a long history of bullying. The first time it happened, a boy walked to Rachel where she was drawing a star in the play room. He grabbed her paper from her hand, making her whimper in protest.

"Maybe you should draw yourself wetting the bed." He was bigger than her, and Rachel could only look on as he ripped the paper in half and everyone in the room laughed. When he turned around to walk away, Santana was suddenly there and pushed him away with all her strength. He was caught off guard and stumbled back, knocking over paint and spilling it over a younger girl and her picture. She cried and a worker ran in, taking in the scene and glaring at him.

"She did it!" He said in a high pitched, whiny voice as he pointed to Santana. The said girl was sitting at the table with a piece of paper, drawing Rachel a new star. The worker just shook her head and dragged him out of the room when he broke out in tears. Santana hid a smirk, feeling slightly accomplished at not getting caught.

Santana finished the sloppy star and looked through the box of crayons and colored pencils to find a suitable color when Rachel passed her a colored pencil. She thought the color was yellow, but when she looked at it, the words said gold.

"Is it your favorite color or something?" When she looked at Rachel, the small girl nodded and Santana nodded back and began coloring. When she was done, she wrote out the letter S in the back and gave it to Rachel. Rachel took it with a smile and when she looked at Santana, the other girl smiled back.

It was a promise that Santana would be there for Rachel.

It seemed word had spread and even the therapist knew about her bladder incident. He tried to sympathize to her and asked her "how she felt" about it.

Rachel never said a word and just looked at the drawing in her hand.

Santana had eventually scared off everyone from picking on Rachel by the end of the week. The last time someone took away her toys and made her cry, the bully had a black eye and Santana's free time was restricted.

It didn't matter though, because everyone else was too afraid of getting beat up by the Latina that Rachel's bullying stopped.

It was also by the end of the week that Rachel found out she had a mother in New York she couldn't take her. The social workers said that she was busy but was trying her hardest to take in Rachel but she had to wait for a bit. They assured her that no strangers were going to adopt her, since she had her mother.

Not that it mattered to Rachel, she was never pretty. Not like Santana.

That night Santana and Rachel went the bedroom earlier than usual and they sat on Rachel's bed in comfortable silence. They had the yellow ball and were attempting to roll it between each other when Rachel grabbed the ball and held it for a moment.

"Santana?" Rachel's voice was hoarse and it hurt to talk, and it was barely a whisper but enough for Santana to nearly fall off the bed in surprise. She didn't even know Rachel knew her name. She gaped at Rachel longer than she intended before collecting herself.

"Y-yeah?" Santana mentally scolded herself for sounding just as surprised as she looked a few seconds ago. Rachel didn't seem to notice though.

"Thanks." Santana smiled.

"No problem." Santana was silent for a moment, before speaking up again. "Hey…what's your name?"

"Rachel."

"Okay, mine's Santana." Rachel grinned.

"I know." And Santana grinned back.

"Yeah."

As the days went by and the social workers were trying to get Rachel taken in by her mother, she slowly started to speak more and more to Santana. Unlike the therapist, Santana never pushed her and the silence when neither talked was comfortable.

Eventually a month went by, all with being protected and cared by Santana and every therapist session was in silence. They were sitting on Santana's bed this time, by themselves in silence when Santana spoke up.

"You remind me of Goldilocks." Rachel paused her drawing and furrowed her eyebrows at Santana.

"What?" Santana shrugged.

"I don't know. You're small and bouncy sometimes and loud sometimes, and you have long hair." Rachel jumped up from the bed and crossed her arms.

"Not." She said. "I'm not that… bouncy and loud." Santana grinned and shook her head.

"You are."

"Not!" Rachel repeated loudly, jumping up a bit. Santana's grin widened and Rachel blushed.

"Yup. But you're not blonde… I got it, Brownilocks!" Rachel scrunched up her nose. "That's your nickname." Santana muttered quietly about how she almost forgot about it as Rachel rolled her eyes.

"That makes no sense!"

"Find a Goldilocks one day, kay?" Santana teased. "Then it'll be perfect."

"You find a Goldilocks." Rachel snapped back. Santana looked up as if in though and looked back to Rachel with a grin.

"Okay," Santana got off the bed and stood in front of Rachel. "Let's both find our own Goldilocks." Rachel frowned for a second before giggling, and soon Santana was joining her.

"Okay."

It had been nearly a year that she had been in the building waiting to be taken in by her mother. She thought she should have minded, but she didn't, because she had Santana.

She had a friend.

But then it all came crashing down on Rachel. Apparently, her birth mother had finally met the requirements to take Rachel into her home and be a part of her family. The day she found out, they told her she was leaving the next day. Rachel knew she should have been happy; she was going to have a family again. But she didn't want to leave the only friend she had.

After being excused from the office that they had called her to, she slowly walked to the bedroom and walked to her bed. She sat down trying to hold in the tears, and it wasn't long before another brunette ran in the room.

"There you are!" Santana yelled from the doorway and made her way in, grinning. "Hey, wanna mess with…" She stopped dead in her tracks when she really took in Rachel's appearance. "What's up?" Santana sat down on the bed, and as soon as she did Rachel threw herself in her arms.

"I'm…" Rachel's voice broke. "Tomorrow, I'm leaving." Santana froze and looked down at her friend sadly.

"Leaving?" Rachel nodded against her shirt. "For good?" Another nod. They sat there while Rachel cried, and eventually Santana somehow brought them both under the covers. The bed was hard and small, but they fit easily as they held each other. Rachel started to doze off when Santana spoke up.

"Make sure to find a Goldilocks, you trouble maker." She murmered, and Rachel smiled at the new nickname.

"I am not a trouble maker," Santana laughed softly. "And you too." She felt Santana nod and they both fell into a peaceful sleep.

The next day, she met her mother, Shelby Corcoran. She smiled warmly at the girl as Rachel slowly made her way to the woman. Rachel smiled up at her nervously, and Shelby gave her daughter an awkward hug. When Shelby released Rachel, she offered her hand and Rachel slowly took it.

"Ready to go?" Shelby asked, and with a nod, the two left the office. As they made their way down the hall, they stopped when Santana came out of nowhere and stood in front of Rachel. Shelby raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, instead watching her daughter and allowing her to say her last goodbye.

"Um…" Santana held out the yellow ball she carried around everywhere. "Here." Rachel let go of her mother's hand and grabbed the ball with both of her own. She gaped at it, and rolled it around in her hand to find it covered with stars.

"Santana…" Santana just shrugged off Rachel's response.

"I thought I needed to give you something." Santana said. She had never really said goodbye to anyone before, but she heard giving gifts were something people did. She didn't have anything, just the ball she had since she was little. She didn't even know where it came from, but it was the one constant in her life. She never had friends, mostly because she didn't like people in general, and they all left anyway. Rachel was her first friend here, and she didn't even know why she bothered befriending the girl.

But she was glad she did.

They stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do next, before Rachel ran into Santana's body so abruptly that the Latina almost fell backwards. Rachel hugged her tightly and smiled when Santana hugged back.

"Don't forget about our Goldilocks deal." Rachel only hugged the Latina harder.

"What if I don't find one?" Santana smirked and whispered in her ear.

"Then I guess you'll just have to deal with me." If I see you again… Rachel thought in her head, but didn't dare to speak it out loud. Santana gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek so light and quick Rachel almost thought she imagined it. Santana let go and ran down the hall, around the corner without looking back.

Once outside Shelby packed Rachel's belongings into the trunk of her car as Rachel waited at the front seat. Rachel stared at the building, it didn't look so menacing anymore as she stared at it and remembered her times with Santana. Shelby got into the car and looked at Rachel.

"Ready to go to your new home?" Rachel nodded silently, and the car drove off. Building got smaller and smaller, and once it was out of sight Rachel wondered if she'd ever see Santana again, or meet anyone else she could call a friend.

And so Rachel lived in the small apartment in New York with Shelby. It was difficult, to say the least. Shelby wasn't sure of how to be a proper mother, and even though she had originally spent less time at the theatres acting and more time at home to care for Rachel, she started to revert back to her old ways.

Rachel didn't talk much about her fathers. She would say little things they did for her here and there when Shelby looked lost on how to care for her and she was feeling some pity for her mother. She didn't make many friends either, and she was more often than not picked on for her looks.

By the time she was a sophomore, her mother wasn't even around the house anymore. When the social worker checked up on Rachel and saw her alone, they threatened Shelby to take her away again. It was then that Shelby thought that the city itself was too much of a distraction, and decided to move somewhere less distracting.

To the small town of Lima, Ohio. Where Rachel would attend McKinley High and Shelby would teach at another school.

"It's going to be great." Shelby said on the drive there, to their new house. She smiled, but the smile never reached her eyes and there was a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I know." Rachel replied as she leaned her head against the window. They pulled up to their new home, it seemed too big for just the two of them, but at least it wasn't overlarge like the three story houses she saw a few blocks back. Rachel walked in to her bedroom and looked out the window facing the backyard.

This was her new home.