Morning hit Lima, it was a bright sunny Monday, birds were chirping, people getting ready to go to work, everything looked so peaceful. Mrs. Lopez was making breakfast for Santana to eat before school, the Lopez household filled with the aroma of spices and the gracious scent of crisp bacon. Santana's mom finished cooking then walked up the stairs to see Santana hugging her pillow, talking in her sleep.
"N-No Rachel.. I forgive you.. Yes I will marry you.." Santana smiled in her sleep, quietly giggling for some unknown reason "No Rache.. That tickles.."
Mrs. Lopez gently tip toed over by Santana's bed leaned over to do what looked to be whispering. "How about you... WAKE UP!" she yelled in her daughters ear which alerted her awake.
Santana rolling off the bed "Oh god what happened!?" panicked the younger Lopez, she looked over at her mom whom was cackling at her.
"Mija you're going to be late for school if you don't wake up on time, take a shower and get some decent clothes on, I made breakfast for you downstairs, I am driving you to school today since I took the afternoon shift at the Walmart today." she explained as she walked downstairs to serve a plate for her and her daughter.
"What the fuck.. I should be in a hotel room.." Santana, confused as to why she was home, and why she was going to school and not work "Unless.." she pinched her arm, tightening the grip of her fingers til it hurt "Ow, ow okay I am not dreaming. I am awake and am still in high school." her eyes widened with a bit of a smile "That means either what happened in my dreams never happened.. Or they may happen depending on if I do something to stop it.."
Within 30 minutes Santana was clean, dressed and downstairs eating her food, faster than before as she was trying to figure out if her dream was a vision for something. Mrs. Lopez gently swatted Santana's hand trying to make sure Santana didn't choke on any food.
"I understand you're a growing young woman, but if you don't ease up you will cause more harm than good." Mrs. Lopez stated obviously, walking away from the table to get her purse ready. "Did you do your history homework? Ms. Corcoran called me last night saying you haven't been turning your work in."
Santana smiled over at her mom "I wanted to make sure I got it done before I turned it in.. Artie helped me out a couple nights ago." she expressed standing up walking towards her backpack.
"Oh by the way, how are he and Brittany doing?" Mrs. Lopez asked walking back in the kitchen.
Santana raised a brow then suddenly she started remembering more of her reality and less of her lengthy dream. "Uhm.. According to Britt, they are doing great, so far they haven't gotten into anymore arguments. Can uh.. Can we get going now mom?"
"Of course dear." the older Lopez replied with a smile on her face.
Santana was walking down the halls of McKinley looking for a specific someone, whom she found in the form of Finn Hudson.
"Frakenteen, did I do anything completely wrong within the past week?" Santana asked curiously, biting on her lip due to how nervous she is.
"Uhm.. I honestly stopped caring about who you spend your weekends with just as long as you were careful during." Finn replied nervously before walking away.
Santana was overwhelmed with excitement, she had no burdens to bare, the events of what she did were just a dream. "Yes! Fuck yes! Snix didn't fuck me over!" she happily marched in place before walking to her locker, realizing that Rachel's locker was across from hers.
Rachel was looking into her locker, rearranging it from things she idolized to her dream location to live in, New York. She made sure to set her stack of gold star stickers in the door area of her locker, Rachel then looked at her phone checking her to-do list for the day "I thought I had a dentist appointment.. Oh that's next Monday.." she spoke to herself reassuring what she had planned.
Santana couldn't help but admire the girl across the hallway from her, mostly because of her dream she found a hidden appreciation in Rachel Berry, Santana bit her lip and slowly walked over to Rachel, gently tapping on the diva's shoulder. "Berry." she calmly called out.
Rachel nervously turned to Santana "Oh, hey Santana.. Uh what is it you need?" she parted some of her hair behind her ear nervously, giving Santana a gentle gaze.
Santana smiled at Rachel, softly chuckling to herself "You look beautiful today, I just wanted to be the first person other than you and your dads, to tell you this." she nodded slowly, looking at how Rachel was dressed, which was really no different than what she normally wears.
"San, I wear the same style all the time, how is it today of all days I look beautiful?" She asked with a blush on her face, feeling a tad more nervous than before.
Santana took a few moments to think about it but focused her attention towards Rachel "I guess, something hit me.. It taught me to love and cherish the people around me a bit more, because I never know when things can make a turn for the worse." she softly explained before reaching out to Rachel for a hug. "Come on, hug your favorite Latina." Santana said as she gently wiggled her fingers followed with shaking her hips from left to right.
Rachel rolled her eyes as she leaned in for a hug, gently moving her arms around Santana's chest "That made my day better San.. Thank you for the compliment." a tear fell from Rachel's cheek as she smiled "For that, I am gonna give you a gold star, yes I still am into those." she admitted before turning herself to grab one of her sheets of gold star stickers "Where do you want it?"
"One on my cheek, and one more on yours." Santana requested with a brighter smile on her face. Rachel slowly placed the sticker on Santana's cheek then placed one on her cheek. "Now we match, and I have a golden area to kiss." the Latina winked at the diva before walking away.
Later that day Rachel was dancing in the auditorium, trying to get more practice on her routine before nationals, it was one of the few things on her mind, the other two being New York, and Santana's compliment.
"You look beautiful today.." Rachel breathed in and out smiling at those specific words, she hummed a melody to go along with her dancing. She jumped up doing a twist, then landed on one foot, having complete balance within her steps and her twirls. "I find it so strange.. Santana is never nice to me, yet she called me the perfect compliment a girl could ask for. I know it shouldn't mean all that much coming from another girl but with Santana.. It's something different.. In all fairness I wasn't always that nice to her either.."
Rachel thinking to herself about the moments her and Santana had shared in the past, not many moments were good, they were either arguing with each other or not paying attention to one another.
One comment Rachel remembered clearly was when Santana was trashing Rachel's talent, and Rachel dropped a pipebomb upon Santana "The only job you will end up getting is working on a pole!" the diva flinched at the comment "Wow.. That is one of the few times I felt badass.."
After 15 minutes of constant practicing of choreography Rachel walked to the piano, started to do vocal range tests starting from the lowest key of the piano to the highest, matching each pitch with sheer perfection.
"What did you tell her!" Santana yelled out at Finn.
"I just told Rachel how great I thought you did.." he calmly replied.
"Uh-huh sure you did.." Santana barked fiercely.
"Santana, he literally just told me that you were great." Rachel said in defense of her boyfriend.
"Shut it man-hands!" the Latina adverted her aggression towards Rachel.
"Santana I really did think you were-" Finn tried to explain but got interrupted.
"Liar!" CRACK! Santana slapped Finn, to the point his face was red with Santana's hand print.
Rachel sighed a bit giggling softly at that memory "God, it's so weird how much people change over little time.. Finn is back with Quinn.. Santana, strangely enough is a nice person now. Come to think of it, seeing how much passion she had with being a lesbian.. To the point where she would have done something like that to anyone who crossed her because of it, is rather endearing.." she blushed while admitting her admiration in her head.
Santana slowly walked into the auditorium, watching as Rachel was working hard on perfecting her talents, it warmed her heart as to how hard Rachel works. Santana walked down the auditorium, her eyes getting more adjusted towards Rachel's body, once she got onto the stage, she gently tapped Rachel on the shoulder.
"Yo, Berry.. Can we talk?" Santana tilted her head innocently "By the way, you don't need to practice so much, you're great on your own." she further complimented before sitting at the edge of the stage.
Rachel joined her, blushing more at the compliment "Okay Santana, what is your deal.." Rachel sat close to Santana, observing the Latina carefully "So.. What's up?" she asked with a smile.
"Rachel, I have had a very.. Very fucked up dream.. It heavily involved you." Santana confessed "It uh.. I was mentally damaged from an injury I took, and I was blind to my surroundings, and.. I raped you." She continued to explain, hearing the rape part made Rachel flinch. "You were helping me be better later that week, we ended up being together and moving to New York... And you cheated on me with someone at a Halloween party.." Santana softly chuckling towards the end of her explanation. "You tried to make it up with.. Some sweet.. Oh god!.. Sweet sex.." she leaned towards Rachel, placing her hands on the diva's shoulders.
Rachel's face lit up a bit, she grab a hold of one of Santana's hands "W-What else happened in the dream?" she softly asked, gently grazing Santana's hand.
Santana smiled a bit more "You proposed to me.. And I said yes.." she held on to Rachel's hand slightly "I happily said yes.. One thing that remained true to my dream.. You're still beautiful even outside my dream." Santana lightly bit her lower lip with a smile.
"So.. You're nice to me now because your dream taught you how to be more nice to others?" Rachel asked, slowly hopping off the stage, looking up at the young Latina.
"I guess so, but specifically you.. For some reason I feel that if I don't end our school year with us close.. That I will regret it for the rest of my life." Santana hopped off moving closer to Rachel, keeping a calm blush upon her face.
Rachel smiled at Santana as she gently placed her finger on Santana's cheek, right where the gold star was, she leaned up and kissed her cheek close to the gold star. "Thank you Santana, I know it wasn't easy to tell me your dream, I appreciate that of you.. I'll see you around." she uttered before leaving the room, leaving Santana with one hand upon her cheek.
"Y-Yeah.."
Santana spent the rest of her day, feeling warm from Rachel's friendly kiss. She was going on an evening jog, trying to piece together what all happened in her dream, trying to pinpoint the good moments, for some reason it was the one thing that made Santana consider being with Rachel.
"Am I in love with Rachel Berry?" she softly asked herself before her phone buzzed, it was a text from Puck "Hey San, I got some girls here, one of them is into some sweet lady lips. Wanna get drunk and partake in what I call the Puckerman's 4th meal?" seeing this text almost made Santana fall forward in laughter, she tucked her phone back in her pocket and walked towards a hill to gaze at the stars in the sky. She lightly touched her cheek and smiled brightly, feeling the gold star that Rachel placed on her cheek. "I think they are starting to become my thing too.." she said to herself, unknown to the fact that Rachel was right behind her.
"H-Hi San." Rachel greeted as she held on to Santana's hand gently "How did you know I come over here?" she asked biting her lip.
"Honestly, I had no clue Rache.. I just wanted to come up here and think about my dream.. And the kiss you gave me on the cheek.." Santana explained then turned towards Rachel "What did that kiss mean? Was it just a friendly kiss? Or did you want more out of.. Whatever we are?"
Rachel was speechless for a few moments, she didn't expect Santana to ask her such a question. To be frank, Rachel didn't have an answer for Santana, she honestly could not tell her what it meant. But she had to be honest about it "I don't know what it meant, but I liked the contact.. More than anything." her face lighting up at the thought of their encounter earlier that day.
Santana slowly moved up close to Rachel, their faces close to each other "Would you like some more contacting?" a smirk was seen on Santana's face as she lightly touched Rachel's lips with her own.
Rachel's eyes widened from their lips touching, her mind racing as to what she should do "I'm not.. I-I'm not.." she was nervous for a few seconds, her blush calmed down as she began to kiss Santana, wrapping her arms around the waist of the other girl. "I'm not gonna let this perfect kiss go to waste.."
Santana's tongue lashing against Rachel's softly, carefully positioning Rachel over a bench, laying her down as she pushed deeper into the kiss, causing Rachel to moan quietly.
"S-Santana.." Rachel was able to say in the midst of their kissing.
"Yes Rachel?" Santana slowly stopped the kiss, keeping her nose lightly touching Rachel's.
Rachel wrapped her arms around Santana's neck, keeping a slight smile on her face "Will you be my girlfriend?"
Santana bit her lip holding in her excitement, it was the 5 words that she has been hoping to hear that entire day. "Yes Rachel.. Of course, I will be your girlfriend.." she happily nodded, Santana stood up with Rachel against her, placing one more kiss on her lips "You're staying the night with me." Santana had a hold of Rachel's hands and started walking with her.
Rachel rolled her eyes and smiled "No sex Santana, make out sessions with clothes on only." she demanded as they rushed to get to Santana's house.
"A dream that felt like reality.. It can fuck with your head or it can be the thing that motivates you for the better. My dream.. The only thing I could call it was.. Crazy.. But my reality.. That is something special."
"San.. It's better than special, feeling that I am not sure exists just yet."
"Then what would you call it Rache?"
"Love.."
A/N: I decided to make this the beginning chapter, of Living It Up Again. I really was uncomfortable with how I made the original story, I re-read it and came to the realization that some stories are worth writing about and some aren't.
