Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the characters. It would be a completely different show if I owned it.

AN: Okay, so first, I am amazed by the response I have gotten for this story. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorite, and followed. You are all so awesome! The songs in this chapter are, in order: (1) Demi Lovato – Together, (2) Kate Voegele – It's Only Life, and (3) Florence and the Machine – Shake it Out.

After dinner, Santana helps Dani with the dishes and then asks if she could use the dance studio. Dani agrees and shows Santana how to connect her phone to the sound system before leaving for her recording studio.

Santana grabs her phone and chooses a playlist that has some original songs, some cover songs, and some popular songs.

She lets the music flow out through the speakers and through her body. She gets lost in the dancing, in her movements, in the music.

Dani comes back to check on Santana a couple hours later and sees her dancing, eyes closed. Dani is about to leave, but something is keeping her rooted to her spot by the door. She just stands there and admires Santana's dancing. The music catches her attention, the current song is one she knows well - but it's a cover by someone with an amazing voice.

Before she knows what she's doing, she knocks on the door frame alerting Santana of her presence.

Santana's eyes fly open and she stops dancing mid-step. "H-hey." She stutters.

"I'm sorry. You're a beautiful dancer." Dani offers a shy smile. "I just wanted to see if you were ready to see which room is yours? Then you can come back and dance some more if you want, or whatever."

"Yea. Sure. Thanks." Santana says breathing deeply, walking over to grab her phone from the plug-in.

Dani waits until Santana's at the door before leading her up the stairs to the third floor and to the room diagonally across from hers, next to the recording studio.

"That last song…who was singing?" Dani asks hesitantly, even though she doesn't know why.

"Oh…umm…that was me." Santana says quietly, just realizing the song was a Dani Torres original.

"You're amazing." Dani says with wide, bright eyes.

"Not really. You're much better." Santana disagrees shaking her head.

"Seriously? I think your version was so much better. Your voice has this raspy quality that…it's amazing." Dani tells the darker woman sincerely.

Santana smiles but shakes her head. "Thank you, but we'll have to agree to disagree."

Dani smiles and nods. "I guess so." She's about to leave, but pauses. "Do you read music?"

Santana nods and raises an eyebrow.

"Will you come sing something for me?" Dani asks pointing toward the recording studio.

"I guess." Santana shrugs. "Do you mind if I shower first?"

"No, that's fine." Dani says. "When you're done, just come to the recording studio. That's where I'll be." She says leaving the other Latina to her shower.

Santana nods as Dani leaves. She turns to look around the room and grabs her suitcase off the floor. She shakes her head and smiles appreciating that Dani had brought it up here for her.

She gathers her bathroom stuff, brings it into the bathroom, and places it either in the shower or on the counter. She looks at the shower for a minute, figuring out how it works, and then turns on the hot water. She strips out of her clothes and combs out her hair as she lets the water heat up.

As she gets into the shower, she reflects on her day. It definitely did not turn out how she thought it would when she woke up that morning. When she woke up, she had her day all planned, first she was taking Rachel to the OBGYN, then she was going to confront Brody at NYADA, and finally she had her job interview at the Coyote Ugly bar. She never would have planned that Brody would tell on her like a child nor Rachel and Kurt choosing him over her, and then, as a result, kick her out.

However, everything definitely seems to be looking up. Never in a million years would she have imagined meeting Dani Torres. But, here she is, in her home. Staying with her.

She places her fingers on the wall under the showerhead and just breathes as she lets the water rain down over her, almost as if washing the day and all that came with it down the drain. She didn't want to take too long, but she needed a little time to relax, to stop…just for a few minutes. She gets out of the shower, massages her lotion into her body, and then puts her pajamas on. She combs her hair, works her hair products into her hair, and combs it again before shaking it out.

...

"Okay. I'm ready." Santana says as she walks in the room.

Dani just watches as Santana walks toward her before shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

"Awesome." Dani smiles. "I've been trying to figure out what's missing forever, but I can't find it. I'm hoping hearing you singing it, will help me figure it out." She picks up some papers and hands them to Santana. "Okay. Here's the song. Just go in there, put the headphones on, and I'll play the music through. Then I'll play it back again and you can sing along. Sound good?"

Santana nods looking at the song. "Sure."

The brunette walks into the recording booth and sits on the stool. She places the papers on the music stand and grabs the headphones to put them on.

Dani pushes a button to talk. "Ready?" When Santana nods, she presses the playback button and the music flows.

Dani watches as Santana listens to the music and reads along with the lyrics, heel tapping, eyes closing occasionally. When it ends, their eyes meet and Santana nods for her to play it again. This time through Santana sings along. There are a couple of mistakes, but at the end, Dani knows what was missing. The song is supposed to be a duet, not a solo.

"Okay." Dani says pushing the button. "I'm going to start it again and then we'll both sing. I'll let you know when it's your turn." Seeing Santana nod, she starts it on a 30-second lapse so she can get into the booth to sing.

Dani starts with the oohs and then the first verse and chorus. As she's singing the ohs after the chorus, she makes sure Santana knows it's her turn for the next verse. When the chorus comes up again, Dani joins in and they finish the song together.

When the song ends, Dani rushes out to stop the recording, and then rushes back to Santana. "Oh my gosh! Thank you so much!" She exclaims with a wide smile. "That's exactly what I was missing, I needed it to be a duet, but…I couldn't hear it. Thank you!"

Santana raises her eyebrows at the hug and the rush of words. "Umm…you're welcome?"

Dani shakes her head. "No. You have to listen to it back." She says pulling Santana out of the booth and to the panel. "Sit here." She says motioning to one of the rolling chairs as she sits in the other. "Now, listen."

She presses play and they both let the song overtake them.

Santana nods. "It's good. It'll be even better when you find someone to sing the other part."

Dani looks at her with an are you joking? expression. "Find someone?" She mumbles. "What?" She asks Santana. "Wait…no…I think you misunderstood me. Your voice was what was missing. I want you to sing that part. It's your part."

Santana looks at her as though she's grown another head. "What? No…I can't…no. I'm not…what?"

Dani turns to look at Santana and takes her hands in her own. "Santana, I've been messing around with this song for a few months, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I have had a couple other people sing it, but nothing clicked until you sang it. It's your part."

"But…" Santana tries to get her thoughts together.

"No buts. It's yours." Dani says with a sense of finality and relief.

"Okay. How…how does that even work?" Santana asks.

"I'll talk to my manager and label and have them draw up the contracts." Dani tells her. "Then you'll read them over, have a lawyer or someone look them over, and if it's all good, we'll sign them and you'll be the featured artist." She finishes with a smile as if it's no big deal.

"Dani, I…don't you need to think about this? I mean…I'm a nobody." Santana says. "Don't you want a big name or someone you actually know?" She asks.

"What's there to think about?" Dani shrugs. "We just heard what you sound like, and even some of the people with experience that I've worked with before can't nail a song that quickly. Sure there are a couple of things we'll have to fix, but that should take maybe an hour, tops. It sounds great as it is now. Do…do you not want to?" Dani asks realizing that she never actually asked the other woman if she wanted to be part of it.

"No, no, no." Santana shakes her head quickly. "I would love to. I just…I've had a lot of disappointment in the last year, today especially."

"Well, if I have anything to do with your future, it'll only be looking up." Dani says so nonchalantly that Santana is speechless for a minute.

"Thank you." Santana smiles. "I…I don't know how I'll ever repay you, but…thank you."

"You don't have to repay me." She sees Santana about to protest. "If you really want to do something, do like I'm doing, pay it forward. Help someone else."

Santana nods. "I'll try." She smiles. "Would you mind…can I use your piano? I want to see if the song I was writing earlier is any good."

"Sure." Dani gestures to the piano. "Go for it. Do you mind if I stay and listen?"
Santana shakes her head as she sits at the piano. "No, just don't be too harsh, okay?" She grins widely.

Dani just nods with a smile.

...

Santana starts with a chord, but it's too low so she moves higher until she finds the right chords and nods to herself. She plays a few measures and starts singing.

Dani can hear the pain in her voice, but the song doesn't seem sad. When Santana hits the chorus, her voice is stronger and more powerful, even a little angry. Dani realizes the song is about staying strong when it seems as though nothing is going right.

When Santana pauses, Dani speaks. "Wow. Santana…that…" Dani shakes her head trying to come up with words. "That was beautiful."

"Eh. It's okay." Santana shrugs as she begins playing a random melody. "The verses are choppy and some of the words don't fit well."

Dani nods. "Yea, okay, but you wrote the song, music and lyrics, in an hour. Of course it's going to be rough."

Santana continues playing lightly. "Yea, but I don't know where I'd even start to try to fix any of it. I mean, I know what's wrong, but I don't know how to make it right."

"I…I can try to help you with it, if you want." Dani offers hesitantly.

"If you have time, that would be great, but you really don't have to do that." Santana says as if it's no big deal, but she's freaking out inside.

"I have plenty of time right now. I'm currently taking a break. I'm still writing, I'm always writing," she smiles at Santana, "but I'm taking a break from all the public stuff. The appearances, the red carpets, the performances…I just needed a break."

Santana nods. "I want to say I understand, but I know that I don't. I can imagine it though, having to be on all the time. That was high school for me. Always on, never let your guard down." She shakes her head. "But it's probably a hundred times worse than that." She smiles widely and sends Dani a wink.

Dani shakes her head with a smile, trying to hide the blush sweeping over her face. "No. Maybe a little worse, but it's probably pretty comparable."

Santana tilts her head to the side thinking over the blonde's words. She nods briefly, eyes closing as she recognizes the song she's unconsciously started playing.

"And I've been a fool and I've been blind

I can never leave the past behind"

Santana opens her eyes and looks at Dani with a sad smile. She stops playing and walks back over to where Dani is sitting at the recording panel.

"I think I need to try to sleep." Santana says with tired eyes.

Dani nods. "I think that's a good idea. It's been a long day."

Santana nods at that. "It sure has…thank you…again." She rolls her eyes at herself. "Goodnight. See you in the morning."

Dani shakes her head with a smile. "Really, it's not a problem. Goodnight. See you in the morning. If you need anything, feel free to…do whatever, use whatever…or you know where I'll be." She says pointing at her bedroom door.

Santana nods before turning and walking the few feet to her door, she looks back at Dani and they make eye contact before slipping into their rooms.

Please review and let me know what you think. :)