Sorry for the lack of updates! This has been my first fanfic, and I thought I was going to abandon it after the first chapter! Then I saw all the lovely comments and just had to continue! I hope you like it; please let me know!

After they'd finished breakfast, Dani and Santana couldn't stop kissing.

"I think you have some maple syrup on your lip," Dani would say, and then put her hand gently on Santana's ribs for balance. She would lean in, slowly trap Santana's bottom lip between hers, pretending to suck off the maple syrup, and then release the other girl. Even though Dani was the only one bracing herself for balance, Santana should have been. Her head was spinning from a mixture of lack of sleep and ecstatic shock.

"-What do we have here?" Kurt exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen for the first time that morning. He knew something was up from the strange noises around the apartment early that morning, but he didn't expect the night-time guest to stay until so late. Usually when Santana brought home one of those tipsy college girls from NYU or Parson's, they left that same night.

"I'm Dani," the blonde said shyly. She wouldn't have been so forthcoming with Santana if she knew her roommate, whom she'd never met, was about to walk in. Usually she took things slower than this, but even still… She had no regrets.

"Hi Dani, I'm Kurt." He paused. "And you two are absolutely adorable." Santana was bright red.

"Alright, alright," she said, "we're all adults here."

"We certainly are," Dani said seriously. "Speaking of which, I've gotta start walking to my other job! I've already been late a couple of times, and I've only had it for a month!"

"'Bye Dani!" Said Kurt a little too enthusiastically.

"'Bye, you two," she giggled before kissing the top of Santana's head and dashing out the door.

As soon as she'd left, Santana allowed her grin to widen. "Is she not the best?" She asked.

"Judging from the sounds I heard last night, she's definitely way up there," Rachel joked as she emerged from her door.

"Seriously, San, can you buy a gag or something? Or is that too kinky?"

Santana sighed. "I'm serious, guys, I really like her. I've only been with bi girls before, or stupid college girls who want attention from potential boyfriends. I'm so sick of being with people who don't appreciate me and… and Brittany broke my fucking heart."

Kurt and Rachel were by her sides in a heartbeat.

"Remember when I didn't get called back for that showing of Les Mis at the community theatre? And I was convinced that if I couldn't get that show booked, I'd never be able to make it in anything bigger?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah…"

"Well Brittany is like the community theatre. Things didn't work out with her, but it doesn't mean that you don't have something even better coming along."

"Rachel's right, Santana, I saw the way Dani was looking at you. She wants to make you happy."

"So you don't think it's bad that she left so early?"

"Girl…" Kurt began, "She stayed longer than any of those other people you've been seeing. And it was clear to me that she didn't want to leave."

"Thanks, guys," Santana said before hugging both of her roommates. Just when she was feeling like she needed to be lifted up, they were always there to say the right thing. I have no idea what I'd do without these guys, she thought to herself before returning to her bedroom for a much-needed late morning nap.

Dani was shaking a little as she left the apartment. Seeing Kurt look at her and Santana like they were a couple gave Dani the instinct to run. But as she left the lobby of the dirty brownstone, her stomach started going into knots.

It was true that she had a second job to get to, but Dani had enough self-awareness to realise that there was also something else going on with her. Whenever she did that, whenever she slept with girls quickly, she couldn't help but feel like she was giving away a little piece of herself. Usually that ended in her leaving - not texting the girl back, cutting ties, and moving on. She told herself that it was easier that way. If love was a game, she never wanted to be the losing team. When Dani first met Santana and realized she was gay too, she thought that it would run its course like most other girls she was with. She wasn't sad about that process anymore, because it was first nature to her. She didn't like hurting them, but she also didn't want to get hurt herself.

But as Dani was walking down the steps, halfway across Manhattan, and up to the building of her next job, something in the back of her mind was telling her that this time it wouldn't be that easy. She couldn't stop thinking about Santana's eyes. She couldn't stop thinking about the tenderness with which Santana touched the dragon tattoo after knowing how much it meant to her. She couldn't stop thinking that if, in some crazy turn of fate, she got a girlfriend… well, she wanted it to be Santana.

Dani's other job was at a sports bar in the lower east side - a grubby little place that mostly served regulars. She would bartend there, fend off any creeps, and make a nice wad of cash in tips. It wasn't her favorite job, but it paid pretty well. Most of all, Dani thought that with bartending experience she might be able to get an entry job at a club she hoped to one day play at. Her parents accused her of being unstrategic when she told them she was quitting school, but Dani knew how the world worked. And she tried her best.

Usually when she was at work, another bartender would catch her eye. Her name was Natalie, and she had short, deep red hair and a cute body. Natalie enjoyed Dani's flirting routine, because even though she was straight, she'd never been one to mind attention. Besides, it made the shifts pass easier and the shadier customers always gave them better tips when they played up the lesbian act. Dani made it clear that there were boundaries - her sexuality was a serious matter, and it didn't belong to strange men - but she couldn't help but enjoy flirting with the beautiful younger girl.

"Hey Dani," Natalie purred when the blonde walked in. "Someone has sex hair…"

"Shit, yeah," Dani reached up to touch her long tangled hair. "I forgot to brush it this morning, I had an all-night shift at my last job."

Natalie closed the gap between where they were standing, reached out a hand, and brushed the hair out of Dani's face. She leaned in close and wet her lips. "Our regular is here," she said nodding to the doorway. "Stool five, and he said he'd buy us a couple of beers if I kiss you. You down?"

Dani's stomach turned. "No," she managed to croak, and pushed her way over to the bar. Grabbing the cloth and wiping down the inside of the bar, she tried to act normal. Just finish your shift, go home, and sleep, she told herself.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she blurted out, slipping her cell phone into the pocket of her bar skirt.

As soon as she'd closed the door, she pulled out the phone. Her first thought was to text one of her friends about the hookup last night, but she scrolled past their names on her contact list. Her finger hovered over Santana's for a few seconds, but then she scrolled up. She typed out:

I really like Santana, but I'm just not used to feeling like this about anyone. I don't know why I'm telling you this, I just had to tell someone.

With a sharp beep, she sent the text message to Rachel.