A/N: Well the muse has been nice to me and I managed to churn out another chapter :-) thanks for the lovely feedback on the last chapter I really appreciated it!
Santana shows up again a few days later...
-G-
It was Wednesday night when Rachel heard the loud thump upstairs. Her heart immediately jumped into her mouth and she leapt up off the couch.
"FUCK!" a familiar voice echoed through the house and Rachel let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding in with a loud whoosh. As her fear dissipated, anger set in and Rachel made a beeline for the stairs. She stomped up and threw open her bedroom door angrily, which only served to give Santana such a fright that she fell off the bed.
"Santana Lopez!" Rachel yelled angrily, ready to rip the girl a new one for trying to give her two heart attacks in the space of a week. Santana looked up at her, blinking owlishly for a moment. Then her lips began to tremble and her forehead pinched. "Oh no. No don't cry," Rachel pleaded, but she was too late. Santana let out a pitiful drunken wail and then started sobbing from where she was still sprawled on the floor. "Oh Santana," Rachel sighed. "Come on," she dragged the taller girl up off the floor and managed to get her seated on the bed. Rachel could tell just by looking at her that Santana was a lot drunker than last time and when Santana lurched toward Rachel on the bed, the smaller girl caught the smell of black licorice on her breath. "Who had a party on a Wednesday night?" Rachel questioned with a grumble as she manhandled Santana back onto the bed.
"Nobody," Santana slurred, her crying had stopped as abruptly as it had started and Rachel vowed to try and keep from setting her off again.
"Wait," Rachel shook her head. "If no one had a party, where were you drinking?" she asked Santana, who was leaning heavily against her side now.
"At my house," Santana slurred in reply, attempting and failing to glare at Rachel.
"Who was there?" Rachel asked, confused.
"Me...," Santana lurched dangerously toward the floor again, managing to correct herself with Rachel's help. "Myself, and I," she finished. "We had fun," she added. "Obviously."
"You were drinking alone?" Rachel clarified. Santana turned to face her and nodded and Rachel caught the licorice smell on her breath again. "What were you drinking? You smell like black licorice," Rachel told her.
"Galliano," Santana replied. "Black Sambuca."
"Santana why did you get drunk by yourself? That's kind of pathetic," Rachel regretted the words as soon as they came out. Sure enough the forehead pinched, the lips trembled and then Santana was a sobbing mess again. She somehow managed to coordinate herself enough to throw herself into Rachel's lap, wrapping her arms tightly around her neck. Rachel was taken aback, never having been this close to the taller girl before and unsure if Santana would get upset if Rachel hugged her back. She settled for resting her hands lightly on Santana's back and almost immediately Santana relaxed, her cries tapering off to soft sniffles and she lifted her face from Rachel's shoulder to nuzzle her nose against the skin next to Rachel's ear. If she hadn't been so completely unnerved by the unfamiliar, unlikely situation she would have found it incredibly cute.
"I'm...not...path...path...pathetic," Santana sniffled.
"No, you're not pathetic honey. I'm sorry," Rachel soothed nervously.
"I'm just lonely," Santana slowly and unsteadily extricated herself from Rachel's lap and sat next to her, looking embarrassed and incredibly sad. It tugged at Rachel's heartstrings, even though for the most part she only really tolerated Santana because she had to. She had always told herself that there was too much water under the bridge for them to be friends and that Santana would never want it anyway. But seeing her here, so lost and vulnerable, it almost made Rachel want to wipe the slate clean and start over. Put the past behind them and look to the future because she could see in the drunken girl's surprisingly expressive eyes that they weren't all that different on the inside. She could see that Santana needed a friend as much as she did.
"Come on," Rachel said softly. She stood up and carefully tugged Santana to her feet, making sure to keep her steady.
"Where we goin'?" Santana asked, wobbling and paling a little as she tried to find her balance.
"Downstairs. I'm going to make you some food and some coffee. Have you eaten anything today?" Rachel asked.
"Yes," Santana replied indignantly. "I had chicken salad," her voice slurred in the S consonant and it almost made Rachel giggle.
"When?" Rachel asked.
"I dunno? Lunchtime?" she asked.
"Why are you asking me? I wasn't there," Rachel teased. She laughed lightly when Santana nearly fell over backwards as she tried to push her long black hair out of her face. "Oh Santana, sit down a minute," Rachel sat her on the bed again, making sure she was steady before darting over to her dresser to grab a hair tie. She stood in front of Santana and awkwardly scraped her thick hair back into a ponytail, securing it with the tie. "You have so much hair," Rachel commented as she pulled back.
"Mos' of it's not mine," Santana told her, her slurring seemed to be getting worse and she yawned.
"Yeah you've told us that before," Rachel told her, hauling her back to her feet. She helped the taller girl down the stairs with some difficulty, letting out a sigh of relief when they were both safely at the bottom. "In here," Rachel led Santana into the lounge and sat her on the couch.
"You're watching Anchorman?" Santana asked, squinting at the TV that Rachel had paused when Santana had broken in.
"I was about to when you broke into my house again," Rachel told her. "Wait here," she instructed. "And you tell me if you have to throw up!" she called warningly over her shoulder.
"Yes Sir," Santana called back drunkenly. Rachel laughed and quickly made Santana a cup of coffee, loading it, two water bottles and some crackers and popcorn onto a tray and carrying it out to the living room. "Oooh," Santana clapped her hands like an excited child and Rachel was reminded suddenly of Brittany. She wondered where the blonde dancer was and why Santana wasn't with her. They were best friends and it seemed strange to Rachel that Santana would come to her and not go to Brittany. Something told her not to go there though and so she left it alone.
"So, eat, drink, watch the movie with me and we'll go from there?" Rachel asked, setting the tray on the coffee table and sitting down next to Santana.
"You're nice to me," Santana smiled at Rachel drunkenly and with more fondness than Rachel thought Santana actually possessed. "You're a crazy woman," Santana's expression never changed and Rachel burst out laughing.
"Well, you're actually kind of a sweet drunk Santana," Rachel told her and Santana once again attempted and failed to glare, only managing to screw her face up drunkenly.
"Push play," Santana ordered, settling against the back of the couch. "Smart ass," she was still slurring her S's pretty badly and Rachel just smirked and handed her the coffee before doing as she was told.
Santana fell asleep about two thirds of the way though the movie after finishing her coffee and a whole bottle of water and some popcorn and crackers. Rachel had been worried that it was too much for her stomach and she would throw it all back up, but when she told Santana that the girl had scoffed and claimed that she wasn't a 'throwing up drunk'. When Rachel had brought up their disastrous performance of Tik Tok at the school assembly Santana had blushed and muttered sulkily that that was only because Brittany threw up first and she had thrown up in sympathy. Soon after that Santana had slumped back against the couch fast asleep. Rachel had managed to shift her to lie down and had covered her with a blanket. She finished watching her movie and tidied away the dishes before going back to wake her up.
"Santana," she said softly. "Santana wake up," she shook her lightly and Santana slowly opened her eyes.
"Rachel?" she croaked out.
"Yeah. You fell asleep watching the movie with me. Do you want to stay here or do you want me to drive you home?" Rachel asked gently, aware that Santana was a bit more sober now and likely to get defensive.
"Home, please," she said softly. "I can walk if you don't-," she started but Rachel interrupted.
"It's fine, Santana," Rachel assured her softly. "Do you want some more water for the drive?"
"Yes please," Santana's eyes darted around the room, not making contact with Rachel's.
"Ok. You put your shoes on and I'll get the water and my keys," Rachel headed back out to the kitchen and when she came back a wobbly, sleepy looking Santana was standing by the couch waiting for her. "Lets go," Rachel led Santana through a door into the adjoining garage and unlocked the car, opening the door for the tired and still fairly tipsy girl. They were quiet on the drive over and when Rachel pulled into the driveway Santana didn't immediately get out of the car.
"I don't feel so good," she whispered. Rachel looked at her for a long moment, she wasn't pale or clammy and she didn't look sick and Rachel suspected that maybe it was Santana's way of asking her to come in.
"Are your parents home?" Rachel asked.
"No," Santana replied quietly.
"Want me to come in for a bit?" Rachel asked.
"Only if you want to," Santana replied immediately, strengthening Rachel's earlier suspicion. Rachel just climbed out of the car and moved around to help Santana out. Santana led them to the front door and opened it, letting Rachel go in first.
"Wow. Your house is beautiful. Kind of sterile though," she commented honestly. She turned around just in time to see the tiny smile on Santana's lips. Santana led Rachel silently upstairs to her room, needing Rachel's help to steady herself a few times on the way up. Rachel looked around Santana's slightly messy room and smiled. "This is more like it," she told Santana. Santana just set her water bottle down on the bedside table and disappeared into the hall and into the bathroom. She came back five minutes later, in her pajamas with no make up and smelling like toothpaste. Rachel smiled at her as she moved to sit next to Rachel on the bed. Rachel looked at Santana for a long moment waiting for her to speak and idly wondered who would bother to put on make up when they looked as beautiful as Santana did without it.
"Rachel...I...," Santana started and then stopped with a sigh. She turned her head to face away from Rachel. "Thanks," she said softly.
"It's ok, Santana," Rachel replied. She lifted a hand and hesitated before resting it between Santana's shoulder blades. "I was kind of lonely too," she confessed softly and she felt the slight hitch of Santana's breath under her palm. "I'm going to go home, ok? You need to sleep," Rachel told her. Santana nodded wordlessly and stood leading Rachel downstairs to the front door.
"See you," she said awkwardly.
"Bye Santana. Be careful going up the stairs by yourself," Rachel warned gently.
"I will," Santana promised.
"You can come over anytime Santana," Rachel told her, looking away as she said it.
"Thank you," she could hear the tiny smile in Santana's voice and smiled back at her before heading to her car, leaving Santana to lock up her house and sleep it off.
On the way home Rachel wondered if she would get another surprise visit from Santana any time soon and she found herself hoping against hope that she would.
-G-