The Pezberry Secret: The Complete Collection

by ocfanatic2013

Every single chapter of The Pezberry Secret stories

3. The Pezberry Secret, Part I

The Pezberry Secret, Part I

Santana walked into the choir room after Cheerios practice. She had remembered that she had forgotten her backpack when she had left the room to hurry to practice. She saw her bag and walked over to it. She had just picked it up when Rachel walked in. "Hello Santana." Rachel greeted the other girl.

"Berry." Santana responded, looking around her to make sure no one would witness the two having a conversation. She watched as Rachel walked towards her.

"So I didn't really see you much today, aside from Glee." Rachel said.

"Yeah well, you must not have been looking hard enough because I was around." Santana replied, getting nervous as Rachel started stroking her arm. "Berry, what do you think you're doing?"

"Relax, Santana. No one's here. Everyone has left for the day. Even Coach Sylvester's gone." Rachel assured the other girl, smiling as she felt the taller girl fall into her touch.

"God, Rach. You have got to stop looking so hot during rehearsal." Santana said.

"I do it for you baby." Rachel smirked.

"Well its not fair to do that when I can't have you right there. Besides, Finn and Puck keep looking at you and soon I'm going to crack and beat the both of them into senior year of college." Rachel laughed.

"Santana, keeping this a secret was your idea in the first place, remember?" Santana sighed.

"Yeah, I know. But its just so frustrating. Sometimes I just want to slap myself for it. But then…" she trailed off.

"But then you think about what would happen. I get it San. I have almost told people like Kurt or Mercedes and then caught my tongue thinking about that. I mean look what happens to Kurt. And he's single." Rachel said.

"I am so sorry about it." Santana started to lean in for a kiss when she heard footsteps. She instantly jumped back. "When is your boyfriend going to get here Man-Hands?" Rachel, who didn't hear the footsteps, looked confused.

"What?" Suddenly, Finn entered.

"Hey Rach. You ready to go?" he asked, casting a suspicious look in Santana's direction.

"Actually, Berry and I have to work on a Chemistry project. She's coming home with me." Santana said, attempting to hide the anger and defensiveness creeping into her voice. Finn looked disappointed.

"Fine. But don't mess with her Santana. Just do your project and don't bother her."

"Look, Finnocence, do not tell me how to talk to my-" Santana cut herself off. "My project partner." She finished, catching herself.

"Yeah well, she's my girlfriend." She is mine too. She is actually more mine than yours Frankenteen, so back off! Santana wanted desperately to say that, but held her tongue as she watched Finn leave the room. She and Rachel then walked to Santana's car.

"Santana, you can't talk to Finn like that." Rachel said once they were in.

"What? Why not?"

"Why not? Because he's my boyfriend, Santana!" Rachel said.

"And what about me? I'm your girlfriend. Or do you forget that when your alone with him?" Santana snapped back, slightly wincing at Rachel's hurt expression.

"San, that's not fair. I offered to break up with Finn. You told me not to, so people wouldn't get suspicious." Rachel said.

"But you were not supposed to keep liking him!"

"Santana, there will always be a part of me that loves Finn. He was my first love. They say you never completely fall out of love with your first love." Rachel said.

"But you're with me." Santana countered.

"And I love being with you. But as long as I am with Finn as well, you can't go off on him every time the three of us are alone together. You have to pretend as if we hate each other." Santana looked out the driver's side window.

"Maybe I can't do that anymore. The more I fall in love with you, the harder its getting to pretend I hate you. I hate having to be so mean to you. I want to be able to just talk to you in public without having to insult you."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, can we please tell the Glee Club tomorrow?" Santana asked. Rachel thought about that.

"I think we should tell Finn privately first. Just so we don't completely put him on the spot." Santana nodded.

"Call him now." Rachel nodded and pulled out her cell phone.

"Hi Finn? Hey, it's me. Can you come over to Santana's house? We need your opinion on our project….Yes I actually want your academic opinion." Santana rolled her eyes. When Rachel hung up the phone, she spoke up.

"Really, Rach? That's the excuse you made up? First of all, we now have to find something to ask him about. Second, why on earth would someone ask Finn Hudson for help on a project?" Rachel just laughed as Santana drove to her house. When Finn got to Santana's house, he looked suspicious of something.

"So what do you need to ask me about?" he asked, speaking to Rachel.

"Actually Finn, we have something we need to tell you." The girls decided it would be better if Rachel did most of the talking.

"What's up?"

"Santana and I…I mean, we are….Santana and I are…" Rachel trailed off.

"Are you trying to tell me that you two have been dating since homecoming week when we sang that Britney Spears number?" Finn interrupted. Both girls looked at him.

"You know?" they asked in unison.

"Rachel, you're my girlfriend. I know you. I see you watching Santana when she isn't looking. And I see Santana watching you when you're not looking. And I see the looks you two share when you make eye contact. Plus, when's the last time Santana slushied you?" Finn reasoned. Santana and Rachel looked at each other.

"You're not mad?" Rachel asked.

"At first, I was. But then I realized I want you to be happy." Finn said.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Santana asked.

"I want her to be happy. She wouldn't be very happy if I outed her to the school. Besides, I figured if Rachel and I were together, nobody would suspect you two were together." Finn smiled. Santana nodded.

"Wow. Thanks, Finn." The two shared a smile.

"We were planning on telling the Glee Club tomorrow, but we wanted you to know first. We didn't want to blindside you. But it looks like we wouldn't have anyway." Rachel said.

"Thanks for respecting me enough to do that. Seriously, it means a lot. If anyone gives you guys a hard time about it, I'll be the first to beat them up. Yeah, even before you, San." Finn said.

"I don't doubt that Finn." Santana said.

"I really do hope you two are happy together." Finn said to his (now ex) girlfriend and her new (Well, not new technically, but for all intents and purposes) girlfriend. Santana was sitting with Brittany and Quinn in the choir room when Finn walked in. Santana smiled at him and he gave her a weird look, which caused Santana to be confused. Then she saw Rachel enter and started to move towards her, but the shorter girl quickly shook her head and sat down next to Finn. She started to think about what she could have to upset Rachel that quickly, but the entrance of Mr. Schuester and the rest of the Glee Club interrupted her thoughts. She quickly raised her hand.

"Yes, Santana?" the teacher asked.

"Mr. Schue, I have an announcement I'd like to make. Actually, I have a song that I'd like to sing." the Latina said.

"Sure. Go ahead Santana." the teacher replied.

"Ok so normally-" the girl was cut off by the shorter brunette quickly interrupting.

"Make it quick Santana, please. I need to discuss with Mr. Schuester what songs Finn and I should perform at Sectionals." Rachel gazed lovingly at Finn, leaving Santana both hurt and confused

"As I was saying, normally I would never go near a Justin Bieber song, but I feel that now is an appropriate time." Santana had originally chosen to sing U Smile, one of Rachel's favorite songs, but she quickly chose another.

"What song are you going to sing?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"Uh…That Should Be Me." Santana replied. Rachel glanced up, recognizing the song as Santana started singing, while looking at Rachel the entire song.

Everybody's laughing in my mind
Rumors spreading 'bout this other guy
Do you do what you did, what you did with me?

Does he love you the way I can?
Did you forget all the plans that you made with me?
'Cause baby, I didn't

That should be me holding your hand
That should be me making you laugh
That should be me, this is so sad
That should be me, that should be me
That should be me feeling your kiss
That should be me buying you gifts
This is so wrong, I can't go on
'Til you believe that that should be me
That should be me

You said you needed a little time for my mistakes
It's funny how you use that time to have me replaced
Did you think that I wouldn't see you out at the movies?
Whatcha doing to me?
You're taken' him where we used to go
Now if you're trying to break my heart
It's working 'cause you know

That, that should be me holding your hand
That should be me making you laugh
That should be me, this is so sad
That should be me, that should be me
That should be me feeling your kiss
That should be me buying you gifts
This is so wrong, I can't go on
'Til you believe that should be me

I need to know should I fight for our love or disown?
It's getting harder to shield this pain in my heart, ooh

That should be me holding your hand
That should be me making you laugh
That should be me, this is so sad
That should be me, that should be me
That should be me feeling your kiss
That should be me buying you gifts
This is so wrong, I can't go on
'Til you believe that that should be me, ooh

Holding your hand, that should be me
The one making you laugh, oh baby
Oh, that should be me, yeah.

That should be me, giving you flowers
That should be me, talking for hours
That should be me, that should be me
That should be me

Never should've let you go
I never should've let you go
That should be me
Never should've let you go
That should be me

Never should've let you go
Never should've let you go

Finn noticed Rachel beginning to tear up at Santana's performance. Santana was now standing right in front of the supposedly happy couple and sang the last line.

That should be me.

Everyone awkwardly clapped until Mercedes spoke up. "Ok, I think I am just gonna say what everyone else is thinking. What is going on right now?" Santana looked at Rachel.

"I, literally, sang my part. Its your turn, Rach." Rachel nodded and walked to the front of the room, Santana in tow.

"Guys, Santana and I are…well, we're dating."

"What?" Everyone but Finn exclaimed in unison.

"For how long?" Kurt asked.

"Since homecoming week, when we sang the Britney number." Santana answered.

"Wait, but Rachel has been dating Finn since Regionals last year." Quinn spoke up.

"Finn did you know about this?" Puck asked.

"Yea, I did. I kept it a secret to help out Rachel and Santana."

"But S," Brittany, who was too blonde for her own good, spoke up. "What about the time you slept with Finn? Does that make it awkward?" Finn and Santana's faces both instantly dropped, while Rachel's paled.

"You guys…you guys slept together? Santana opened her mouth to respond when Brittany continued.

"Yeah, Rachel. Santana and I make out all the time too."

"What?" Rachel exclaimed. Santana turned to face the shorter girl and attempted to explain herself. "You know what Santana? Don't even try. We're so over." Rachel stormed out of the choir room.

"Rachel! No!" Santana called after Rachel. Brittany attempted to consol the Latina, but she instantly pulled away. "No, Brittany. While I can't be mad at you for a long period of time, I can't be around you right now." Santana said.

"Go after her Santana." Finn said.

"She doesn't want me right now."

"She'll forgive you faster if you go after her. When she storms out, she wants someone to follow her. And right now, she wants that someone to be you. So go find her." Finn said. Santana nodded and walked out of the room in search of Rachel. She found her in the library after about ten minutes of searching.

"Took you long enough." Rachel said.

"This is a big school Rach. And you're kind of small." Santana tried to joke, earning the tiniest smile she had ever seen on Rachel. She barely saw it, it was that small. She crouched down by the chair Rachel was sitting in.

"Why did you sleep with Finn?"

"Rachel, we weren't together. You and Finn weren't even together. You were with Jesse. I am so sorry about it, but it just kind of happened. Nothing has happened since then, I promise." Santana said.

"With Finn, at least. What about Brittany?"

"She exaggerates. We haven't made out in months. It sort of stopped when we began, because I was unsure about us, so it didn't stop completely, but after about a week of us being together I put a complete stop to it. Then she started dating Artie." Rachel simply nodded. Santana was lost. "Do you…do you believe me, Rach?"

"Are you telling me the truth right now? Are you being completely honest with me?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.

"Of course. I would never lie to you, especially not about this, Rachel. I just need you to believe me. Just like you did during Sectionals last year when everyone else thought I gave Coach Sylvester the set list." Rachel smiled, remembering.

"I believe you, Santana." Santana smiled.

"You do?"

"Yes, I do. This isn't going to work without trust and I trust you." Rachel kissed Santana.

"Then we're okay?" Santana asked.

"We're more than okay." Rachel replied. A week after the big revelation, Santana and Rachel were still as strong as ever. In Glee Club, the two were practically inseparable. Mr. Schuester was beginning to find it annoying that he had to beg the pair to separate. It was becoming highly difficult to rehearse for the upcoming Sectionals competition. Suddenly he had an idea.

"OK guys. We're going to have another duets competition. You are each going to have three chances to impress the judges, each time with a different partner. I am going to pick the pairs for the first two rounds, but you are allowed to pick your partner for the final round." At that part of the introduction, Rachel and Santana looked excitedly at each other.

"Ok first round will be this week, second round next week, and the final round the week after that. Here are the pairs for the first round." The teacher went on to announce the pairs.

They were:

Mike and Brittany

Artie and Tina

Sam and Mercedes

Kurt and Quinn

Puck and Santana

and

Finn and Rachel.

If it weren't for the fact that Finn had been so cool about the new couple, Santana would have been furious that the two had been paired together and not Santana and Rachel. But Santana knew that it was only a matter of time before she could partner up with her favorite member of New Directions. The pairs got together and discussed what songs they were going to sing. "So Satana. What song do you want to sing?" Puck asked.

"I have a song in mind." Santana said with a smirk. Three days later, the two were performing.

"Okay, first up we have Santana Lopez and Noah Puckerman singing." Mr. Schue said. The two walked to the front of the choir room.

"Santana and I would like to dedicate this song to our favorite ladies." Puck said, smiling at Quinn. The song began to play.

[Santana]
I know you want me
I made it obvious that I want you too
So put it on me
Let's remove the space between me and you
Now rock your body
Damn I like the way that you move
So give it to me
'Cause I already know
What you wanna do

And here's the situation
Been to every nation
Nobody's ever made me feel the way that you do
You know my motivation
Given my reputation
Please excuse me I don't mean to be rude

By this time, Santana was standing in front of a now laughing Rachel.

But tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you

Santana was dancing around Rachel's chair

You're so damn pretty
If I had a type then baby it would be you
I know you're ready
If I never lied then baby
You'd be the truth

And here's the situation
Been to every nation
Nobody's ever made me feel the way that you do
You know my motivation
Given my reputation
Please excuse me I don't mean to be rude

Santana pulled Rachel out of her chair and started dancing with the smaller brunette.

But tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you

Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you

As Puck began to rap, Rachel went back to her chair, much to Santana's dismay. The girl spent the entirety of Puck's part attempting to convince Rachel to come back up with her.

[Puck]
Haha! Puck!
Tonight I'm gonna do
Everything that I want with you
Everything That you need
Everything that you want
I wanna honey
I wanna stunt with you

Puck was standing in front of Quinn and pulled her out of her chair.

From the window to the wall
Gotta give you my all
Winter and the Summertime
When I get you on the springs
I'mma make you fall

You got that body
That make me wanna
Get up on the floor
Just to see you dance
And I love the way
You Shake that ass
Turn around
And let me see them pants

Santana, victoriously convincing Rachel to rejoin her at the front of the room got ready to sing.

You're stuck with me
I'm stuck with you
Let's find something to do
Please excuse me
I don't mean to be rude

[Santana]
But tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you
Oh you know
That tonight I'm loving you

Everyone in the Glee Club clapped, including the two girls that had been pulled up to the front. Santana pulled a laughing Rachel into a hug and whispered, "I love you baby girl."

Rachel whispered back, "I love you too." and smiled as she remembered the first time they had said those three words to each other.

FLASHBACK

The two were making out in Rachel's room. Things were beginning to get heated when suddenly Santana pulled back.

"What's wrong baby?" Rachel asked. She got a little afraid as Santana just stared at her. A smile began to grow on the Latina's face. "Santana. You're beginning to scare me."

Santana's smile faltered a bit. "Sorry baby. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Then what's wrong?" Rachel asked.

Santana looked in Rachel's eyes. "I just…I love you Rachel." she said, smiling.

Rachel's eyes widened. "You…you what?"

"I love you Rachel. So much." Santana was getting a little scared. What if Rachel didn't love her back? What if she had just made a complete fool out of herself? Santana was going through many scenarios in her head, all which ended with her single, alone, and depressed, when her thoughts were interrupted by the girl in front of her.

"I love you too, Santana. I've wanted to say it for awhile, but I didn't know if you felt the same way." Rachel smiled.

"How could you ever doubt that?" Santana asked.

"Do the words 'slushie', 'dwarf', and 'God Berry. Quit being such a buzz kill and let people do what they want for a change.' ring a bell to you?" Rachel teased, unintentionally causing Santana's face to drop. "Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings…" Rachel trailed off as Santana lifted a hand.

"No. I'm the one who should be sorry. All that stuff I said and did to you, it was mean and wrong and unnecessary."

"Its okay Santana."

"No its not Rach."

"San, its fine. I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago. I know you've changed. The girl who did all that stuff? She's gone and she's been replaced by someone who I have fallen in love with. I don't even remember that Santana, because I have this one." Rachel smiled and kissed Santana again.

"I love you baby girl." Santana said.

"I love you too."

END FLASHBACK

The two were still hugging. Santana could tell something was on her girlfriend's mind. "What are you thinking about?"

"The first time you told me that you love me." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"That's probably my single favorite memory that I have."

"Its definitely mine." Rachel replied.

"Get a room!" Puck yelled, causing Santana to look away from Rachel for the first time since the song ended.

"Hey! You're hanging all over your girlfriend too!" Santana replied, pointing at Puck and Quinn who were in a similar situation to Rachel and Santana.

"Yeah, whatever." The Mohawked boy replied laughing. Santana rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Rachel, who was pulling her back to their seats. As Mr. Schue began to talk, she whispered to her girlfriend.

"Well, now I'm going to have thank you for that performance." Rachel said, sending shivers down Santana's spine. Granted, that happened almost every time Rachel whispered to her, but something about this time was different. As Santana and Rachel left Glee Club that afternoon, Santana began thinking about their relationship. She remembered the day they had decided to stop hating each other. The two had somehow got locked into a janitor's closet together. Santana had been assigned to clean that closet for her detention she received in English class that day and Rachel had been looking for something. At the time, Santana had not cared enough to find out what the other girl had been looking for and she never remembered to ask Rachel later. She smiled, thinking back at how the two had started that afternoon insulting each other, then ended it making out.

FLASHBACK

"Berry, will you please just shut up so we can both get out of here alive?" Santana growled.

"Santana, my talking will not kill us." Rachel said.

"No, but it may get you killed by me." Santana threatened.

Rachel shifted uncomfortably in her seat on the floor. Santana noticed this and decided to make small talk. "What are you thinking about?"

Rachel looked shocked. "Wha…What?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "What's on your mind Berry?"

"The Britney number. I'm so nervous. Last time we performed in front of the school, we almost got the club cancelled."

"That's because you guys sang 'Push It' and practically did it on the stage." Santana laughed.

"And the choreography isn't as risqué for 'Toxic'?" Rachel threw back smiling.

"Touché." Santana couldn't believe she was laughing with Rachel Berry. The two settled into a surprisingly comfortable silence, which was soon broken by Rachel.

"Are you nervous about your solo in 'Toxic'?"

"You know, ever since Mr. Schue gave me that solo in 'Don't Stop Believing' at Regionals, I haven't gotten as nervous about solos. I mean, I don't care what anyone says about me being in Glee Club anymore. I have fun." Santana admitted.

"Santana, you don't have to convince me. I meant what I said at Sectionals last year. I believe you didn't give Sue the set list and I believe that you love Glee Club." Rachel smiled.

"Thanks, Rachel. Surprisingly, that means a lot to me." Santana said.

"Oh my god." Rachel said.

"What?" Santana started glancing around. "Did you see a mouse or something?"

"No. You just…you called me Rachel. I don't think you've ever done that before." Rachel said.

"Hmm…you're right." Santana said.

"I mean, you don't have to back to calling me Berry. I was just making an observation." Rachel hurried on.

Santana laughed. "You're kind of funny, Rachel. I never noticed that before because you were too busy making me mad by yelling at us."

Rachel looked down. "I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Santana apologized.

"No. Its not you. I spent the summer trying to fix my OCD about perfection and stuff like that."

"Rachel, most of the time, the criticism you give is good. But that fact is overpowered by the fact that you spend 99.9 percent of rehearsal yelling at us or fighting for a solo in every competition. If you just chilled out a bit, the others may appreciate what you say." Santana said.

Rachel slowly nodded her head. "I think…I think you're right Santana."

"When am I not?" Santana smiled.

"I assume you don't want to hear my answer." Rachel said. The two girls laughed. Santana, who had been standing on the opposite side of the closet, sat down by Rachel.

"You know, when you aren't being all annoying, you're kind of cool, Rachel." Santana said.

"And when you aren't constantly insulting me, you are too." Rachel replied.

Santana looked down towards the girl. Slowly, she leaned closer and the last thing she saw before closing her eyes was Rachel leaning up with her eyes closed. Next thing she knew, the two were kissing. Santana didn't know who pulled away first, but in her head she was cussing them out.

"That was…" Santana trailed off.

"Unexpected." Rachel finished.

Santana looked away. "But it wasn't awkward." Rachel continued.

"That it was not." Santana agreed. "I don't know which scares me more. The fact that it wasn't awkward or the fact that I kind of want to do it again." Santana said. "Did I just say that out loud?"

Rachel laughed softly. "Yeah, you did. But I don't mind." When Santana turned her head to look at Rachel, Rachel kissed her. This time, Santana pulled away.

"What about Finn?" she asked.

"What about him?"

"Well, you are cheating on him, Rachel." Santana said.

"Well before I decide anything about Finn, I need to know what this is leading to." Rachel countered.

Santana swallowed both to clear her throat and to swallow her pride. "I am not so sure that I want it to end."

Rachel smiled. "I feel the same. But I do not want to hurt Finn."

Santana nodded. "There is no way that I can ask you to choose. Not after how horrible I have been to you and how good he has been." She got up to move, with Rachel stopping her.

"Santana, no. I do not want to hurt Finn, but I will if I have to. I know I felt something real there. Something that I never even felt with Finn." Rachel admitted.

"Really?" Santana asked.

"Santana, I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a liar." Rachel said.

"Rachel, I think I'm starting to really like you. And, honestly, it scares me." Santana said.

"Hey, this scares me too. Up until ten minutes ago, I couldn't stand you." Rachel replied.

Santana looked around. "Maybe its all the cleaning chemicals."

Rachel hit her, causing the other girl to laugh. "Santana! That's not funny. This is serious. I like you. You, supposedly," she said giving the girl a pointed glare earning a sly grin from Santana, "like me as well. What are we going to do about it?"

Santana nodded. "OK. Here's what we're going to do. You and I are going to start dating."

"You could try asking me." Rachel said, but Santana didn't hear her as she continued.

"But, you're going to continue dating Finn."

"Still waiting to…wait. What?" Rachel asked.

"Rachel, I'm sorry. I think we should keep us a secret, at least for now. I mean, I really do like you, but you get bullied enough. If people know we're dating, anyone who hates me is going to target you." Santana said.

Rachel nodded.

"And while I would totally fight for you, I can't be around you 24/7. However, that option does not sound so bad right now." Santana continued.

"That makes sense, Santana. But I'm still waiting to be asked something." Rachel said.

Santana gave her a blank stare. "What?"

"Maybe I don't want to date you. Maybe I just want to make out. But you wouldn't know, because you haven't asked." Rachel smiled.

"Rachel, will you please be my girlfriend? Please, with a cherry on top?" Santana smiled.

"Well, if you're going to throw in the cherry plea, I don't think I can say no." Rachel smiled and laughed. "Seriously though, I'd love to Santana."

Santana rolled her eyes and laughed as she leaned in for another kiss. However, Rachel saw her roll her eyes and hit her. Santana laughed. "Sorry, baby girl." Rachel kissed her new girlfriend.

END FLASHBACK

"Hey Rach?" Santana asked, coming out of her flashback.

"Yeah?" The smaller girl asked.

"Remember the day you and I got together, when we were trapped in that closet?" Santana started.

"Is this a trick question?" Rachel asked.

"Uh…no."

"Of course I do Santana. It was kind of the starting point of this." Rachel gestured toward the two of them. "What about it?"

"Why were you in the closet? I mean, I was in there for detention, but what were you looking for?" Santana asked.

Rachel grinned. "I wasn't looking for anything. I saw you go in there and followed you."

"Wait. What?" Santana asked, stopping in her tracks.

"In fact, I'm the one who locked us in there." Rachel continued.

"OK, so confused here." Santana stated.

"Baby, I'd liked you for awhile before the closet. I wanted to be around you. I had no idea this would be the result. Not that I mind, of course."

"You little sneak. You totally stalked me that day." Santana said.

"Are you mad? Because if I hadn't, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. In fact, I'd probably be somewhere with Finn, making out…" Rachel trailed off at Santana's glare.

"That's nothing to even hypothetically speak of." Santana said.

"Sorry." Rachel said. The two continued walking.

"No." Santana suddenly said.

"What?"

"The answer to your question is, no." Santana continued walking as Rachel stopped in her tracks, trying to figure out what Santana was talking about. Just as it clicked, Santana turned around.

"Are you coming or not?" She asked smiling. Rachel grinned and caught up to her girlfriend. "Good thing you aren't mad because you're kind of stuck with me now."

Santana rolled her eyes and Rachel hit her. "Sorry baby girl." The two girls smiled at each other and continued on to class. When Santana got home, her phone rang. She knew by the ring tone, Justin Bieber's song "Kiss and Tell", that it was Rachel.

Baby, i know that your cool with rockin' with me
But i can't have you tellin' everybody
That you got me all twisted with your lips like this so
Tell me, Tell me are you gonna kiss (kiss n tell)
Tell me are you gonna kiss (kiss n tell)
Tell me are you gonna kiss me
Then tell everybody
That you got me twisting with your lips
Girl are you gonna kiss n tell

Santana picked up. "Now that people know about us, I should probably change your ring tone, huh?"

"Yeah, probably." Rachel laughed. "Remember when I put that as your ring tone for me?"

FLASHBACK

The day after the two had started dating, Rachel and Santana were at Rachel's house. Rachel was singing 'Defying Gravity' along with a DVD copy of 'Wicked' and Santana was on the Internet on her iPhone.

"Hey Rach, what do you want your ring tone to be on my phone?" Santana asked.

"Well, what is it now?" Rachel asked.

Santana hesitated. "Uh…"

Rachel turned around. "Santana?"

"I don't remember what it is right now. What do you want it to be changed to?" Santana asked.

"I want to know what it is before I change it." Rachel picked up her phone and started dialing Santana's number.

"Rachel, I don't think that's a good id-" Santana was cut off by the sound of screeching cats filling the air. Rachel looked at her in disbelief.

"Really? That's your ring tone for me?" Rachel asked.

"Oh yeah. That's what I put." Santana unsuccessfully tried to play dumb.

"Why?"

"Because up until yesterday, that's what I heard whenever you spoke." Santana admitted.

"OK, we definitely need to change that." Rachel said.

"Wait. You aren't mad?" Santana asked.

"Nah. Your ring tone on my phone is the unedited version of 'Forget You.' Yours is not…completely untrue." Rachel said.

The two of them laughed. "Seriously though. What song?" Santana asked.

"Let me go through your songs." Rachel took Santana's phone. "Hmm…'Hate On Me'. No. 'The Boy is Mine.' No. 'I Wanna Sex You Up.' Definitely not." Santana laughed. "Justin Bieber song. Justin Bieber song. More Justin Bieber songs. Dang Santana. I didn't really take you for the type to like Justin Bieber."

"Uh…Brittany put it on there?" Santana said.

"Santana." Rachel said.

"Fine. I put them on there. Don't tell anyone that-" Santana started.

"You're a secret Belieber!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Rachel! Shut up." Santana said.

"Sorry. I won't say anything else about it. Right after this. Santana, I can't believe you like Justin Bieber." Rachel said.

"Just go through the songs."

"Wait a second. Just how against Justin Bieber are you? Because I think I found the perfect song for my ring tone." Rachel said.

"Its not 'One Time' is it? Because I don't think I can do that." Santana said.

"No. Its 'Kiss and Tell.' Want me to play the chorus?" Rachel asked.

"I don't need you to. Its perfect." Santana smiled.

"Yeah…just like me." Rachel said. Santana started to roll her eyes but Rachel held up her fist.

"Don't make me hit you again, Lopez."

"Hey! I thought we were calling each other by our first names." Santana said.

"I've never not called you by your first name. You've always called me Berry." Rachel said.

Santana scoffed, earning a slap on the arm from Rachel. "Just set up the song, Berr- Rachel." Santana smiled at Rachel's glare as Rachel set up the song.

"Can we please change my ring tone on your phone?" Santana asked.

"What song do you want?" Rachel asked. Santana took her phone back and scrolled down to find a song. "I got the perfect song in mind."

"Oh really? What song….oh my god. No, Santana." Rachel said.

"What?" Santana asked, grinning slyly.

"I'm not putting 'I Wanna Sex You Up' on my phone. Not even as a ring tone." Rachel said.

Santana grumbled. "Fine." She mumbled under her breath as she looked for a different song.

"Or 'I'm A Slave For You.' Santana, find a decent song, please." Rachel said.

"I was going to say 'Endless Love.' But 'I'm A Slave For You' works too." Santana said.

"That's a great song. But I sang that with Mr. Schue, remember?" Rachel asked.

"Oh yeah." Santana winced and shivered uncomfortably. "Never mind. 'Hello?' What about that one?"

"Sang it with Jesse." Rachel said.

"OK, what songs haven't you sang with other people?" Santana asked.

Rachel checked her play lists on her phone. "I think I found a perfect one."

"Who's it by?" Santana asked.

"Justin Bieber." Rachel said.

"Rach…."

"Hear me out." Rachel said.

"What's it called?" Santana asked.

"You're gonna love it. Its called 'Latin Girl.' What do you think?" Rachel asked.

Santana smiled. "I like it. Set it up."

"What about text messages?" Rachel asked.

"What's your favorite Justin Bieber song?" Santana asked.

"Its 'U Smile.' Why?" Rachel replied.

Santana messed with her phone for a second, then took Rachel's phone and sent herself a text. Suddenly 'U Smile' filled the air that Rachel's confusion had made silent. Rachel smiled and took her phone back, set something up, then did the same as Santana had done. Her phone notified her that Santana had sent her a text with Justin Bieber's 'Favorite Girl.'

"OK, I may find this cute right now, but don't text or call me at school." Santana laughed.

"Well, okay. I mean if you want to go eight hours without talking to me or hearing me say stuff like…" Rachel leaned over and whispered in Santana's ear.

"I'll keep my phone on vibrate." Santana quickly said. Rachel laughed.

END FLASHBACK

"Yeah. We probably should change that one. I have the perfect song in mind." Santana said.

"You still can't put I Wanna Sex You Up as my ring tone." Rachel said.

Santana sighed. "Fine. We'll talk about it later."

The next day when Santana arrived at her locker, Brittany was already at hers, which was right next to Santana's. "Hey B. What's up?"

"S, can I ask you a question?" Brittany said.

"Yeah, of course. What's up?"

"I thought Rachel was your girlfriend." Brittany said.

"Uh…she is. What's your question, B?" Santana was used to being patient with Brittany.

"Then how come you aren't stopping the hockey team from picking on her?" Brittany asked.

Santana's eyes widened. "What? Where?"

"In the front entrance. Didn't you see them when you came in?" Brittany replied.

"No, I came in through the side entrance by the cafeteria. That's usually where Rachel comes in. Britt, call Puck and Finn and tell them to come to the front entrance immediately. Please don't forget." Santana said before sprinting to the front entrance, completely ignoring the yells of the people she pushed out of the way and the yells from Ms. Pillsbury, requesting her to slow down to a brisk walk. Uh, no thanks crazy lady. She thought. As she approached the entrance she saw a big circle of jocks. "Hey!" she yelled. The jocks, including Karofsky, turned around.

"What do you want Lopez?"

"Why are you messing with Berry?" she demanded, stepping between the circle that had formed around Rachel, enclosing her between them and the wall. Santana stood protectively in front of Rachel, who was holding back tears. Santana glanced at Rachel, feeling her anger rising and her heart breaking. Rachel was covered in various colors of food coloring and ice, which could only mean one thing. Her suspicions were confirmed as she saw the empty cups in their hands.

"Oh, did you want in? I think we have one more slushie left." Azimio said.

"No, I don't want in. I want you to leave her alone. Why are you even bothering her anyway?" Santana yelled.

"We have solid proof that she has been messing around with a Cheerio. We don't appreciate her taken them away from us." Karofsky said.

Santana's eyes widened. "Okay, first of all, no sober Cheerio would ever be with any of you. And second of all, that's no reason to slushie her!"

"Why do you care? You can't stand her." Karofsky said.

"That's not true. And by the way, that Cheerio? Yeah, that was me. What are you going to do about it?" Santana said.

"San, what are you doing?" Rachel asked.

"Rach, its okay." Santana said.

"San? Rach? What is going on here?" Azimio asked.

"I'm dating Rachel Berry. And I want everyone to know! I'M DATING RACHEL BERRY!" Santana yelled.

"Santana." Rachel said.

Santana turned around. "Rachel. It's okay. This is all going to be okay, I promise." She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.

"What?" She asked.

"You're right, San. It is all going to be okay. Right after this." Karofsky grabbed the extra slushie and threw it in Santana's face. She screamed at the cold.

"San!" Rachel exclaimed.

"HEY!" the group heard Finn's voice. Puck and Finn quickly made their way to the circle.

"Britt, take the two of them to the bathroom and help them clean up. We're going to take care of these guys." Puck said. Brittany, Santana, and Rachel walked to the bathroom.

"Brittany, I could have used you before the slushie." Santana said.

"Sorry. I couldn't remember how to open my phone." The other two girls rolled their eyes.

"Its okay, Britt. We know you tried. Don't we, Santana?" Rachel said.

"Its okay, B." Santana said.

"I'm going to go find Artie, if you guys are ok." Brittany said.

"Go ahead, B." Santana said. When Brittany was gone, she turned to Rachel. She wiped some of the ice of Rachel's head.

"You do realize what just happened, right?" Rachel said.

"Yea. I do. And I'm okay with it. I'm tired of hiding, Rach. And now we don't have to." Santana said. Rachel started tearing up. "Rach, are you crying? Did I mess up?"

"No. I'm just so happy to hear you say that. But I'm mostly crying because I have food dye in my eye."

"Oh! I'm so sorry." Santana started helping Rachel clean up. After getting the dye out of Rachel's eye, Santana turned her around and pulled her into a hug. "I'm serious Rachel. Its going to be okay." Rachel started to hug back when they heard yelling. Suddenly, the door banged open and the two jumped at the sound. Santana heard Rachel gasp when she saw who entered.

"Karofsky! What are you doing in here?" Santana exclaimed. The boy ignored her and kept walking. "Karofsky. I said, what are you doing in here?" Santana said. She was getting uneasy at the look in Karofsky's eye. She began walking backwards, gently pushing Rachel back with her. At the same time, Rachel was also walking backwards, gently pulling Santana with her.

"It's going to be okay, San." Rachel whispered.

"No, I don't think so, Rach." Karofsky said.

"Don't talk to her." Santana said.

"Someone a little protective?" Karofsky said.

"Watch it, Karofsky." Santana said.

"I don't think so, Satan." Karofsky laughed. The three heard yelling outside the door. It sounded to Santana like Puck and Finn.

"Where did he go?" they heard Puck ask.

"Maybe he went in the girls bathroom. That's where the girls are!" Finn said. Karofsky pushed Santana and Rachel into the big stall and closed the door. "Lock the door or I'll hurt both of you."

"You touch Rachel and I'll hurt you." Santana countered.

"Just lock the door!"

"San, please just do what he says." Rachel pleaded, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder. Santana instantly relaxed under her touch.

"If you want me to, Rach."

"Please baby." Rachel said. Santana locked the door. She and Rachel backed up into the farthest corner. Santana remained in front of Rachel, who took one of Santana's hands. She put the other one in her Cheerios jacket. She felt her phone. She pulled it out and turned her head. "Rach." She whispered. She started writing a text message to Puck.

To: Puck

In the bathroom. Locked in a stall with Rachel. KAROFSKY HOLDING US HOSTAGE. HELP.

She soon had a response.

New Message

Puck

Be there in five seconds

How can Puck possibly be here in- Santana's thoughts were interrupted by the door opening again. "Karofsky get away from them!" Finn yelled.

"Hudson, how are you not mad that Santana stole your girlfriend?" Karofsky asked.

"Because I'm happy for them. But you aren't on my nice list!" Finn replied.

"Karofsky, if you don't get out of here, I will beat the crap out of you." Puck threatened.

"Hey! HEY! What is going on in here? Why are you three guys in the girl's bathroom?" Mr. Schue's voice filled the air. He entered the bathroom with Ms. Pillsbury.

"Mr. Schue!" Rachel yelled.

"Rachel? Is that you?" the teacher yelled.

"Mr. Schue!" Santana yelled.

"Santana? Are you guys in the stall? Together?" the teacher asked.

"Its not what you think, Mr. Schue. If you get us out of here, I can tell you everything." Santana said.

"Karofsky is holding the girls hostage, Mr. Schue." Puck said.

"David, go to the principal's office. Ms. Pillsbury will take you. You four go to mine." When they got to Mr. Schue's office, Santana was the first one to speak.

"Mr. Schue, this morning when I got to school, Karofsky, Azimio, and the hockey team were surrounding Rachel. They had all slushied her. I got in the middle and tried to stop them, but they slushied me, as well. Puck and Finn tried to break it up and Brittany took Rachel and I to the bathroom to get cleaned up. We were cleaning up and Karofsky came busting in. He threatened Rachel and I and then pushed us into the stall. He threatened us again if we didn't lock the door. I texted Puck and he came in and tried to help. Then you came in."

"Santana, I'm so glad you told me. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again." Mr. Schue said. That night, Santana went to Rachel's house, after telling her parents that she didn't feel up to going to dinner and to see the new local museum with them as she had planned. The two went up to Rachel's after saying hello to Rachel's fathers. Santana was the first to speak.

"Rachel, are you okay? You haven't really spoken since the whole bathroom scene." Santana said.

"I'm fine. Really. I just, I keep thinking about what could have happened. You know, if Puck and Finn hadn't come in to the bathroom when they did." Rachel replied.

"Rachel, you know I would never have let anything happen to you." Santana assured Rachel.

"I know, but what if you had gotten hurt trying to protect me?"

"Then I know that I would have had you to help me get better." Santana said.

"If he had touched you, I would have tried to protect you too." Rachel said.

"While that's extremely sweet…" Santana trailed off.

"Yeah, I know you're stronger than me. But you know how in Biology we learned that when a child is in danger, its like the parents get like super strength?" Rachel said.

"So I'm like your child?" Santana smirked.

"No. But it can be like anybody someone loves." Rachel said, chuckling.

"I know. I'm just messing with you, Rach." Santana said, hugging Rachel. They heard the house phone ring, but didn't pay attention to it since Rachel's dads were home. Rachel leaned up and started to kiss Santana. The girl began to kiss back, when there was a knock on Rachel's door.

"Girls? Rachel, Santana, can you two please come down here?" Leroy, Rachel's dad said.

"In a minute." Rachel replied, not letting go of Santana.

"Rachel, now please." Her dad insisted. Rachel and Santana exchanged a worried look at the strained voice.

"O…okay, Dad. We'll be right down." The two girls went down and saw Rachel's dads sitting on one of the two couches in the living room. Leroy motioned for the girls to sit on the other couch.

"Santana, we just got an interesting phone call." Leroy began.

"Wha…I….Mr. B, I didn't do anything wrong." Santana said.

"No, we know you didn't, sweetie." Hiram, Rachel's father said.

"Then what's going on?" Rachel asked.

"Santana, your parents…" Leroy began, trailing off.

"My parents what?" Santana asked, praying what she was thinking wasn't true.

"Your parents were at the new museum. They happened to be looking at an expensive piece of artwork when some robbers came to steal that piece. They tried to hurt your mother to get to the artwork and your father tried to protect her. They…they shot both of your parents, Santana." Hiram continued. All the color drained out of Santana's face. Rachel had never seen Santana look that way.

"Are they okay? They have to be okay. We have to get to the hospital." Santana rambled.

"Santana, they didn't…they didn't make it." Leroy said.

"No." Santana whispered.

"Sweetie, I am so sorry." Hiram said. Santana just shook her head. Rachel tried to grab her hand, but Santana pulled away. She stood up and walked out of the Berry house. She didn't know where she was going, but she kept walking down the street. She heard her name being called, but didn't turn around. She stopped when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Santana." Rachel said. Santana turned around, still not saying anything. If she said anything, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop crying.

"Sweetie, come here." Rachel said, pulling the taller girl into a hug. That gesture made Santana start crying. "Sweetie, I know its going to take a long time, but its going to be okay."

"No it won't Rachel. You don't get it." Santana said.

"Explain it to me, then." Rachel said.

"Without my parents, I have no one. Both of them were only children, so I have no cousins. I'm an only child, so I have no siblings. And both of my parents' parents are dead. I'm all alone and I'm only 16." Santana cried.

"San, you have me. I promise. I will help you get through this." Rachel said.

"Promise that you won't leave me, Rachel. I can't handle that. If you leave me, then I really do have no one." Santana said.

"I promise you. I will never leave you. You're stuck with me." Rachel said.

"Rachel, I don't even know where I'm going to live now. I can't live in that house and I can't afford an apartment." Santana said.

"You can live with me. My dads told me to tell you that after you left the house." Rachel said.

Santana nodded. "Thank you."

"For letting you live with me?" Rachel asked.

"For loving me." Santana said.

"Baby, you don't have to thank me. Its not like it's a chore or anything. But you're welcome." Rachel said.

"What am I gonna do, Rachel?" Santana said, her mind all over the place.

"We're going to go back to the house and figure it out. We are in this together. There's no I. There's no me without you and there's no you without me. I promise I'm not going anywhere and neither are you." Rachel said.

Santana smiled. "I love you Rach."

"I love you too San. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry won't make them come back. But thank you." Santana said.

The two girls walked back to the Berry house, both of their lives forever changed.

Over the next few days, with the help of the three Berrys, Santana planned her parents' funeral. She was going to speak at it. At first, she wasn't sure if she would be able to, but she knew it was what they would want. After the funeral, Rachel's fathers finally convinced her that it would never be a good time to go to her house and sort through everything and move all of her possessions to their house, so she might as well do it soon. Rachel and her fathers helped her move her stuff to the Berry household, but only Rachel remained to help Santana sort through her parents' stuff. Or so was the plan.

"Rachel. I can't…I can't do this. I can't just sort through this stuff as if my parents were never in my life." Santana said after boxing up everything else.

"Baby, it has to be done. And I think your parents would prefer that you did it, rather than the Bank or random people." Rachel said

"What kinds of people go sorting through random people's homes?" Santana said.

"Didn't you steal the lights on our Glee Club Christmas tree from your next door neighbor when she passed away?" Rachel asked.

"Oh…." Santana said. "Why don't you do it? It's the next best thing." Santana continued, before walking out of the house and getting in her car. The two had drove separate cars to make it easier to transport everything. Rachel followed shortly after. Later that night, after dinner (which Santana had skipped. In fact, Rachel had not seen Santana since she left the Lopez house earlier that day.), Rachel went up to Santana's room. She knocked on the door. "Come in." a muffled voice said.

"San? You okay?" Rachel asked.

"Yea. I'm fine." Santana tried to smile up at her girlfriend, but Rachel noticed the tear-stained face and blood-shot eyes.

"No you're not. Santana, talk to me. I want to help you." Rachel said.

"Can you make my parents come back?" Santana asked.

Rachel remained silent. "Exactly. You can't. if you can't do that, then you can't do anything for me." Santana said.

"San…" Rachel walked over and attempted to hold Santana, but the taller girl pushed her away. "Santana."

"Rachel, get away. You're the reason my parents are dead!"

"Wait, what?"

"If I hadn't gone to your house instead, I would have been with them. I was going to convince them not to go to that stupid museum and just go straight to dinner. But no! I was with you instead! If it weren't for you I'd be at home with my parents alive right now! I…I hate you, Rachel!" Santana exclaimed. Those last three words tasted bitter in her mouth after not having said them in such a long time.

"Santana, you and both know that you don't believe that." Rachel quietly said.

"I…I'm sorry, Rach. I don't even know why you're with me. All I've done over the past week is whine and cry." Santana protested.

"San, your parents just died." Rachel said.

"You think I need you to remind me? I'm not stupid!" Santana exclaimed.

"I never said you were."

"You're treating me like I am. If you want to be in a relationship with an idiot, then go back to Finn! Maybe we'd all be better off. You'd get to be the smarter person in your relationship and I get to back to being alone. Everyone's happy." Santana said.

"Is that what you want?" Rachel asked quietly.

Santana didn't hesitate. "Yes."

Rachel nodded. "Okay then. If that's what you want then its…we're over."

"Great." Santana said, bitterly.

Rachel, while trying to hold back tears, walked to the door. "San…tana? Can I say one last thing?" She began.

"What?" Santana said.

"You may hate me, but I still love you. And even if we are breaking up, you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you would like to."

Santana nodded. "Thanks, Rach…Berry."

Hearing Santana call her by her last name almost caused the tears to fall from Rachel's eyes. Somehow she managed to make it to her room without crying. As soon as her door closed and she had changed into her pajamas, a green tank top and matching pants, she went to her bed and cried into her pillow.

Unknown to Rachel, Santana was doing the exact same thing in the room down the hall. Rachel's dads had gone to see a movie, trying to give the girls some alone time. Santana had changed into her pajamas, a blue tank top and matching pants (she and Rachel had gone shopping together at Target), and laid down on the bed and cried. She felt terrible for what she said. She didn't believe any of it, but she had to revert back to her old ways to get Rachel to break up with her. She wanted to give the other girl an out. Rachel deserved so much more than her and she didn't want to hold her back. It had only been five minutes and she already missed her diva. Rachel Berry just broke up with me. The best thing that has ever happened to me broke up with me. I'm Santana Lopez. How did I let that happen? she thought. Well, she knew what she could do now, since she knew she couldn't take back the past.

Rachel was lying in her bed, thinking she had cried out all of her tears, when a new batch came out of her eyes. She already missed her Latina. She heard a knock on her door, but ignored it, thinking her dads were home early and wondering what happened. Another knock. Then another.

"Go away Dad, Daddy." Rachel said. Santana stood outside Rachel's door. "Go away Dad, Daddy." She heard from the other side of the door. She didn't say "Go away, Santana." So that can't mean that the "Go away." applies to me, can it? Forget it, who am I kidding? I'd go in even if she did say "Go away, Santana." The girl proceeded to open the door slowly. Rachel noticed the light from the hallway coming into her room. Annoyed, she sat up. "I though I…" she trailed off, noticing who was in her room. "What are you doing in here?" Santana shrugged, although she knew exactly what she was doing in there. She was there to get her baby back. "What do you want, Santana?" Rachel asked. Again a shrugged shoulder was the response Rachel received. "If you aren't going to give me a verbal answer, then can you please leave?"

"You." Santana said.

"What?"

"You asked me what I want. I want you."

"Then you shouldn't have broken up with me." Rachel said.

"Technically, you broke up with me." Santana replied. She walked forward and sat down next to the diva on the bed. "Nice pajamas." She said, attempting to lighten the mood. Rachel looked down, then looked at Santana, noticing for the first time Santana's eyes were even more red than they had been five minutes ago.

"Santana."

"Rachel."

"You came to me, remember?" Rachel said.

"Rach, I'm sorry. I was a jerk and I totally deserved to have you break up with me. I can totally understand if you don't want to take me back. But if that's how it happens, then I want you to hear this. I don't blame you for my parents' deaths. I don't think you're overbearing or try to be smarter than me, and, most importantly, while I do think you're too good for me, I don't want you to go back to Finn, because I'd rather have you myself. But if that's who you choose, then I'll support you even though I won't let you go without a fight." Santana said.

Rachel looked at Santana. "San…"

"Rachel, please. Just give me another chance. I'm sorry." Santana was pleading now. Rachel remained silent. Trying to lighten the mood again, Santana said. "If you'd told me at the beginning of the year you and I would be dating, I'd have thought you were even more crazy than I thought you were. If you told me you would be the one to break up with me, I'd have slapped you. If you told me that I would be begging for you to take me back, I'd have had you committed. But now we are here and all I'm doing is praying that you actually do take me back."

Rachel nodded. "And if I told you that I would take you back?"

Santana took a moment to process this. "I'd kiss you."

Rachel smiled. "Then come here."

Santana grinned. "Really?"

"Are you trying to talk me out of it?"

"No. Never." Santana leaned over and kiss Rachel. The shorter girl deepened the kiss and pulled the taller girl on top of her as she layed down.

"I love you Santana. Please don't ever blame me for something like that again. And especially don't tell me to go back to Finn." Rachel said.

"I love you too Baby girl. I promise I won't. You are my life and I won't do anything to lose you." Santana said.

"Would you really fight to get me back?"

"If I had too. You're my world Rachel. I don't know what I'd do without you." Santana said.

"Makeout with Brittany."

"Want me too?" Santana smirked.

"You do and your dead." After Rachel said that, Santana pulled away. "San…I am so sorry. That was a bad joke. I am so sorry."

"Rachel, its okay. Its going to take awhile for me to be able to hear the word 'dead' without that reaction, but its okay. I'm not mad." Santana said.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.

Santana nodded. "I'm sure." Santana leaned down to kiss her again. "Rachel, like I said, you're my world and my life. I love you. Its really hard to be mad at you."

"You didn't used to think that. Do you know what that means?" Rachel asked.

"What?"

"You, Santana Lopez, are totally whipped."

Santana mock-gasped. "Take it back." Rachel shook her head. "Take. It. Back."

"No. Its the truth."

Santana smiled. "You know what? It is. And I don't even care."

"Wow."

"What?"

"I just…I never thought I would ever hear that come out of your mouth." Rachel said.

"Yeah…tell anyone and I'll deny it, but I love you Rach."

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Yo'll deny that you love me?"

"What? No…wait a second." Santana stammered.

"I'm just messing with you, Satan." Rachel laughed.

"That's not funny, dwarf." Santana threw back.

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "What did you just call me?"

"I believe it was dwarf." Santana said.

"Wow…outside of Glee Club before we were out, you haven't made fun of my height in forever. I mean, you even stopped play-joking about it." Rachel said.

"Hmmm….I thought something was strange." Santana said.

"Santana!"

"Relax! I'm just kidding. I love your height. When I'm standing next to Finn during dance routines, and I'm feeling short, when you come around it makes me feel better." Santana smiled.

Rachel just raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm glad that my height makes you feel good about yourself."

"That's not the only reason it makes me happy when you come near." Santana said.

"Too late to try to get yourself out of that one." Rachel said. The two sat in a comfortable silence. Santana took that moment to simply look at the girl she was with. "What?" Rachel said after about two minutes of Santana staring at her.

"Nothing…just how did I get so lucky to get you?" Santana asked.

"My amazing skills to lock a janitor's closet." Rachel said.

Santana laughed. "Thank you."

Rachel was confused. "For…loving you?" thinking it was like last time.

Santana shook her head. "No…well yes, but that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant, thank you for stalking me that day." Santana smiled.

"Santana, I wasn't stalking you. I happened to be walking by – do not give me that look, Santana, it was coincidental – I happened to be walking by when I saw you go into the closet, and I took advantage of that opportunity. I didn't even know you had detention. That's not stalking." Rachel said.

"Rachel, you're in my English class, the class I got detention in. I got detention for making fun of you in class." Santana laughed.

"Okay, so maybe it wasn't a coincidence, but that's still not stalking." Rachel said.

"Whatever." Santana said. "Stalker." She mumbled under her breath

"Now that you have reminded me of why you were in detention in the first place, I'm wondering why on Earth I even followed you there." Rachel said.

"You love me and you wouldn't have me any other way." Santana said.

"Yea, I do love you just the way you are. Whipped." She added the last part under her breath.

"Girl, keep saying it and it won't be true." Santana fake threatened.

"You could never leave me. You already said you don't know what you'd do with out me." Rachel smiled.

"True, but then you gave me an excellent idea."

"You're not going anywhere near Brittany ever again." Rachel said.

"Relax, babe. You have nothing to worry about. I'm totally yours." Santana assured her girlfriend.

"You better be, or we'llhave a serious problem. Although I guess if you went back to Brittany, Quinn would be fun to pursue." Rachel said.

"You're never sitting by Q again." Santana said.

"Calm down, Santana. I'm just kidding. I don't want Quinn. I only want you." Rachel said.

"That's what I thought you said." Santana smiled. The shorter girl pulled the Latina down into another kiss. "I love you." the two girls whispered at the same time.

"Santana?" Rachel said after a few minutes.

"Yea babe?"

"Am I your first love?" Rachel tentatively asked.

"You know…I think you are. I mean, I told Britt I loved her, but it never felt like this. And I do love Brittany. As a sister." She quickly added at her girlfriend's glare. "But I definitely don't feel that way about you. So…yeah. You're my first love." Santana said. Rachel smiled. "You sounded kind of scared when you asked that." Santana commented.

"I was. I was afraid to hear the answer." Rachel said.

"What? Did you think I was going to tell you that you were my fiftieth love?" Santana teased.

"Well…" Rachel said.

"Rach!"

"I'm kidding, San. But you don't know how happy it makes me to know that I'm your first love." Rachel said.

"Am I your first love?" Santana asked, already knowing the answer.

"Santana…" Rachel trailed off.

"Rachel, its fine. I know that Finn meant a lot to you." Santana said, earning a smile (which, in her opinion, was the best part of Rachel's face), from Rachel. That prompted her to continue. "Which is why whenever I think of that, it makes me feel a million times better to know that you chose me over him." Santana smiled.

Rachel hit Santana, knowing that is what the taller girl expected. "Yes, I did. and I'm very proud of you. Since we told him, you haven't rubbed that in his face."

"He was cool about us. Its the least I could do. Especially after what he did for us with Karofsky." Santana said.

"Thank you for trying to protect me then, by the way."

"Of course. He wasn't going to get near you. But I don't want to talk about him." Santana said.

"What do you want to talk about?" Rachel asked, suspecting the answer.

"I'd rather not talk at all." Santana said.

"I figured as much." Rachel said, smiling into the kiss that the Latina not-so-much surprised her with.

Santana woke up the next morning with her arms around Rachel. Never in a million years would she have thought that she would perfectly okay spending a night simply cuddling. Yet here she was, doing that very thing. She looked down at Rachel. That girl had forever changed her, and for the better. "God, I love you," she whispered, hoping not to wake up the sleeping girl. She wanted to be able to watch Rachel sleep for a while. Rachel stirred. Santana held her breath, only to let it out when she realized the girl was not waking up. She smiled to herself. Yea. Santana may have been whipped, but she was completely okay with it. As long as she was with Rachel, she was going to be all right. After about fifteen minutes, Santana noticed Rachel beginning to wake up. As the girl opened her eyes, Santana smiled. "Hi." She whispered. Rachel smiled.

"Hi. How long have you been watching me?"

"Fifteen minutes. I was trying to put off waking you up until I absolutely had to. But I was about to. We have to get ready for school." Santana said. Rachel groaned.

"Do we have to go?"

"Today's the day Mr. Schue announces the set list for Sectionals. I'm sure you want to find out what songs you will be singing." Rachel nodded.

"Are you going to be okay with me singing a duet with Finn?" Santana nodded.

"I know that I'm the one you love. I guess I'm okay with sharing you for two minutes." Rachel smiled.

"Good. Because it wouldn't have made a difference anyhow." She joked. Santana pretended to be hurt.

"That's just rude."

"Whatever. We need to get ready." Rachel grinned and got out of the bed. "Keep acting like a baby and I'll wear what you like to call, a 'pre-Santana' outfit."

"That's not even funny. I thought I told you to burn those." Santana said.

"And when you did I said that if I were to get rid of those clothes, they'd go to a charity or something." Rachel said.

"No person in need would want those clothes. The charity would be fulfilled when they were a pile of ash." Santana replied. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Just go get dressed, Cheerio."

"Yes ma'am." Santana saluted. She proceeded to put on her red Cheerios uniform, straightened her hair (Rachel could never figure out why Santana felt the need to take the time to straighten her hair when she was only going to put in a ponytail, due to Cheerios rules), put her hair up, then applied her makeup, before brushing her teeth. She had just finished putting on her lip-gloss and putting in her earrings when she saw her favorite ring. It was a gift from Rachel and it had her name carved into it. She grabbed it and put it on her right ring finger. Rachel had her own certain (crazy, according to Santana) morning routine (which she had not done today, Santana noticed), but this was hers. Uniform, hair, makeup, teeth, earrings, and ring. She walked out of her bedroom, noticed Rachel had already gone downstairs, and followed. "Rachel?" Santana called out.

"Yea?" was the response she received. She couldn't tell which room it came from.

"Where are you?"

"What? You can't even go five minutes without being around me?" Rachel teased, coming in from the kitchen. Santana narrowed her eyes.

"No, I was just wondering if you needed help reaching the taller shelves." The two girls held defiant glares for a moment, until Santana broke the hold with a grin.

"Haha. Very funny." Rachel said.

"I know." Santana replied. Rachel was still glaring at her, so Santana took that opportunity to kiss her girlfriend. "Morning." She whispered.

"Good morning to you too. But we already said good morning." Rachel said, fighting the urge to smile.

"Yes, but I never got the opportunity to kiss you."

"You could've done that while you were staring at me when I was sleeping." Rachel said.

"I believe its called admiring the beauty in front of me." Santana said. That caused Rachel to give in. She had to smile.

"I couldn't fight it anymore." She said when Santana smirked.

"We need to get going. Are you ready?" Santana asked, grabbing her backpack and her Cheerios bag from the hallway. When she walked to the front door, she noticed that both of Rachel's dads had already left. The two got into Santana's car and drove to school. When they got to school, they went to first period, which was Glee Club; Santana sat down next to Rachel in the front row. Brittany soon came in and sat next to Santana, and Artie rolled in and stopped in the spot next to Brittany soon after that.

"All right guys. Its that time of year again!" Mr. Schue said, walking in. Everyone cheered.

"Mr. Schue, I have typed up a list of songs that I think would be appropriate for me to sing at Sectionals." Rachel said. Everyone, including Santana, looked at her. She could not possibly be serious. "What?" she asked.

"Rach, seriously?" Finn asked.

"What?" she asked again.

"Santana please talk to her." Mercedes said.

"Talk to me about what?" Rachel asked, clearly frustrated.

"Sweetie, don't you think that that is a bit much?" Santana asked, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.

"Santana, I'm only trying to help the club." Rachel said.

"You're trying to make this the Rachel Berry Show." Quinn said.

"Santana, are you going to let her talk to me like that?" Rachel asked.

"Well, no. I'm not. Q, please let me handle this okay?" Santana looked at the blonde, who nodded. "But Rachel, baby, she has a point. You automatically assumed that you would be getting a solo. What about the rest of us?"

"Why don't you want me to be able to perform?" Rachel asked.

"Rach, listen to yourself. Besides, no one said you weren't going to perform. We just don't like that you assumed it would be all about you and Finn with the rest of us in the background." Santana said.

"Guys, if I could interrupt." Mr. Schue said. Santana nodded, thankful for the distraction. "Rachel, you actually will not be getting a solo for this competition. Sam and Quinn, our duets competition winners, will be performing our ballad, and I was thinking that Santana would perform the solo." Mr. Schue said. Santana beamed, only to have her mood dimmed when she looked at Rachel.

"Sam, Quinn, and Santana? You want them to perform at Sectionals instead of me? Mr. Schuester, are you trying to throw Sectionals?"

"Really, Rachel?" Quinn asked. "Santana, I know you asked me to let you handle it, but come on. I mean she just insulted you."

"I know Q." was all Santana said.

"San, that's not what I meant." The bell rang. Everyone got up. "Santana, please don't be mad at me." Rachel said, trying to reach out to Santana, who pulled away.

"Rachel, right now I just need to cool off. If I don't , then I'll say something that I really regret." Santana said, before walking out of the choir room.

"San." Rachel said. Later that day, during Study Hall, Rachel looked all over for Santana. During lunch, the Cheerio had chosen to sit at the popular table, completely ignoring Rachel when she walked by her table. While this was normal, as they had been hiding their relationship for sometime, what was abnormal was that Santana didn't even cast a look in her direction. Rachel could tell that Santana was using all of her will power to not look at Rachel. Throughout the day, Rachel had tried to text Santana. She knew that her Latina was receiving these messages, because she saw Santana check her phone in English after Rachel had sent one. She eventually located the girl in question in the library. "Hi." She whispered when she reached the table Santana was seated at. Santana looked up, but said nothing. "San, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it the way that it came out. I was just upset." Rachel said.

"Berry, you practically said…well actually you didn't practically say it, you flat out said that my singing at Sectionals would cause us to lose. How do you think that made me feel?" Santana said, feeling bad when she saw Rachel wince at hearing her last name come out of her girlfriend's mouth.

"Santana, I am so sorry. I know that it came out wrong. I thought about what you guys were saying and you were all right. I was acting selfish. You deserve to be singing. You have an amazing voice. And the song you are going to sing is perfect for you." Rachel said. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Rachel, we don't even know what songs we're singing. We never got the chance to talk about that."

"Right…well whatever song we choose will sound amazing when you sing it." Rachel said. Santana sighed.

"Come here, Rach." She said, opening her arms and standing up. Rachel willingly went into the hug. "Do you want to know what I hate about you?"

"Do I really want to hear this?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, you do."

"Okay, then. What do you really hate about me?" She tentatively asked.

"That even when I desperately want to, you make it impossible to stay mad at you." Santana said.

"I really am sorry, Santana." Rachel said.

"I know you are. And you do need to apologize to Sam and Quinn too." Santana said.

"That was my next task. You were more important though." Rachel said.

"That's reassuring. By the way, party at Puckerman's tonight. Be my date?" Santana asked.

"There is no way that I would be anyone else's." Rachel smiled. "So are we good Santana?"

"Yeah, Rach. We're good." Santana smiled. "I love you baby girl Even when you irritate me beyond belief, I do love you."

"Um, thank you? I think." Rachel said. Santana laughed at the look on her girlfriend's face, earning the smile that she loved so much. "I love you too, San." Rachel said, smiling as the Latina kissed her. "Do you know what I hate about you?"

"What do you hate about me? And notice how I wasn't afraid to ask." Santana smirked.

"Whatever. Anyway, I hate whenever you get mad at me. It makes me sad to know that I have hurt you." Rachel said.

"Rachel, you don't have to suck up to me. I already forgave you."

"Santana."

"Sorry, baby girl."

"Know what I love about you?"

"What, Rach?" Santana asked.

"That you call me out on my crap." Rachel said.

"Someone has to. Know what I love about you?" Santana asked.

"What?"

"Everything." Santana replied. Rachel smiled.

"Awww…San. That's so sweet."

"I know." Santana smirked, before kissing her girlfriend again. If it weren't for the fact that they were in the library, it would have lasted longer than it did.

"You're the one for me, Rachel. You know that?" Santana asked.

"Santana, you've never said that to me before. You've told me that you love me, but you've never said that I am the one for you. I like it." Rachel smiled. "You're the one for me, too. There's no one else. Not Finn. Not Puck. Certainly not Jesse. There is only you."

"There could never be anyone else for me, even if you have turned me soft." Santana said.

"I haven't turned you soft. I simply brought your sweet side to the surface. It was always there." Rachel replied, laughing. "Who would have thought that I, Rachel Berry, would have landed the ex-head cheerleader?"

"No one, babe." Santana laughed Rachel hit her. "Hey, you asked the question, I just answered." That night, Rachel and Santana were getting ready for the party in their respective rooms. Santana reapplied her makeup and jewelry, straightened her hair, leaving it down, and put on her favorite pair of jeans, her favorite black and neon blue shirt, and her favorite black and neon blue tennis shoes. She grabbed her favorite leather jacket and put it on. Looking in the mirror, the only thought in her head at the moment was, I look insanely good. She didn't even care how conceited it sounded.

Down the hall, Rachel had just finished straightening her hair (pulling what she liked to call a "Santana," by putting her hair up into a ponytail after straightening it), putting on her jewelry and doing her makeup and was putting on her favorite jeans and black and red shirt. She then grabbed her favorite pair of black and red tennis shoes that Santana had bought her. She looked in the mirror. Before she could even form a thought her door opened and she turned around, smiling when she saw her girlfriend enter the room. "Are you ready to go yet, beautiful?" Santana asked. She came to a dead stop when she saw Rachel, her mouth completely agape.

"What?" Rachel asked, suddenly feeling extremely insecure. "Do I look fat or something?"

"No. Not a chance. You could never look fat, Rachel. You could never be fat. You look…" Santana trailed off as she walked across the room towards Rachel.

"What?" Rachel asked, turning towards her full-length mirror. Santana came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist.

"You look absolutely amazing. You are so incredibly beautiful, Rachel. You look perfect. You are perfect, Rach. Seriously. In every single way." Santana said, kissing Rachel's neck.

"Suck up." Rachel smiled.

"What? I can't think of any part of you that isn't perfect. How can you not what I see every single time I look at you?" Santana asked.

"I do see it. I see it whenever I look at you. How can you not see what I see?" Rachel asked.

"Because you love me. Of course you're going to think I look hot all the time. But what you see is not what Coach Sylvester sees. And she decides the pyramid order. I'm trying to leave the bottom of they pyramid, you know."

"Santana, you can't seriously take what that woman says to heart. She's crazy. She spent all of sophomore year trying to destroy Glee Club. She even tried to arrange for us to lose Sectionals." Rachel said.

"I know but…she's a good cheerleading coach, even if her methods are insane. You have to be good to have won six straight national championships."

Rachel gave up. "Hey, can you help me put this on?" she handed Santana a necklace. Santana looked at it. It was a gold star with an engraving on the back. She smiled.

"I remember when I gave this to you." Santana said.

"So do I." Rachel smiled. "It was at the homecoming dance."

"Yeah. That was fun. We got to sort of hang around each other, because the Glee Club hug out together the entire night." Santana said

"Yeah. And you managed to pull me aside at least seven times." Rachel laughed.

"Get your facts right, Berry. It was twelve. Not counting when we snuck off before the game, five times during the first half, before the half-time show, after the half-time show, six times during the second half, and after the game the night before." Santana said.

"Twelve times? Really, Santana? Twelve times. Well, actually, it was more like twenty-two." Rachel said, knowing exactly how many times it had been.

"Hey, it was a long game and a four hour dance. I needed me some Rachel Berry time and Finn was hogging you at the dance." Santana said.

"How weird, my date wanting to spend time with me." Rachel teased. "So you needed some, as you said, 'Rachel Berry time.' You needed it three times an hour? And we wonder how Finn caught on to us."

"Okay, so it wasn't my brightest idea, but you cannot seriously be complaining." Santana said.

"I never said that." Rachel said. "I needed some 'Santana' time too."

"That's what I thought." Santana smiled.

"But you were the one who pulled me away." Rachel continued.

"Girl, you know that if I hadn't, you would've." Santana countered.

"Maybe so. But you did and I didn't. So there." Rachel said.

"So there? What are you, five?" Santana teased.

"You're totally ruining the moment, Santana."

"Sorry, Rach. But seriously, so there? Who even says that anymore?"

"Can we get back to our sweet moment?"

FLASHBACK

It was the homecoming dance. The homecoming game had come and gone like every year, except that this year the team actually won the homecoming game. Not that Rachel had watched a lot of the game. She spent most of the game watching Santana cheering on the sidelines. Santana would occasionally, well more than occasionally, look over at Rachel. Rachel couldn't be positive, but she was pretty sure that whenever Santana was looking at her, Santana's smile was even bigger than it normally was. Rachel knew that hers was. She was telling Rachel with her eyes that she was really cheering at her, not everyone else in the stands. The two had been dating for about a week and a half. Earlier that day, Santana had been at Rachel's house. She had been extremely excited that she could actually look at Rachel in public and be allowed to smile without the two of them risking getting caught, even if it was only for one night. Occasionally, Rachel would have to cheer for Finn, since technically she was still dating him, but for the most part her eyes never left Santana. Whenever Santana saw her girlfriend cheer for Finn, her smile faltered a bit, even though she knew it was an act. Anyway, the dance would actually be a chance to be celebrating something, and not just a chance to get drunk and hook up. Rachel had gone with Finn, which seemed to upset Santana, even though she knew that that was how it was going to be. The entire Glee Club went to dinner together. The couples there were Mercedes and Kurt (as friends), Sam and Santana (as friends), Puck and Quinn, Tina and Mike, Brittany and Artie, and, much to Santana's dismay, Rachel and Finn. As Santana reached in her purse to pay for dinner, although Sam stopped her when he saw what she was doing, she saw the box that she had put in there before she had left her house that night. She smiled to herself and thought of ways to get her diva alone at the dance. When they all got to the dance, Santana gave Finn a reasonable amount of time with Rachel. Okay so she gave him all of fifteen minutes before she told him some lie to get him away from her. She waited until Finn was gone then leaned into Rachel.

"You know, Rachel, they say red is the sexiest color." Santana said, eyeing Rachel's red dress. "And I am definitely agreeing with that statement right now." Rachel shivered at Santana's breath on her neck.

"San, not out here." She said, fighting the smile that was threatening to emerge on her face.

"I'm sorry. But I need to talk to you though, Rach. I want some alone time." Santana grinned. Rachel looked around and nodded. Santana smiled and walked with Rachel to the hallway. The pair went to a deserted corner. When they were sure they were alone, Santana said, "I wish we could just leave right now."

"San, the dance just started. I think that would be just a little bit suspicious." Rachel said.

"Crap. This sucks that we can't even spend homecoming together." Santana said.

"I know, sweetie." Rachel pulled Santana into a hug, which the taller girl willingly fell into. "Baby what's wrong?" Rachel asked.

"I want to spend time with you outside of our houses. I hate that we can't." Santana said.

"How about you and I take a trip to one of the towns close to Lima? We can get away, have an actual date, at an actual restaurant." Rachel said. Santana looked hopeful.

"Can we find a Breadstix?"

"If that's what you want, then yes. We can find a Breadstix. But please, don't bring a wheelbarrow." Rachel said, causing Santana to laugh as both remembered their first date. They were going to pretend, if someone had caught them, that Santana's parents had forced her to take Rachel to dinner as an apology for the way she had treated Rachel. Santana brought a wheelbarrow to fill up and ended up getting the manager fired. Rachel still felt terrible. Santana kissed Rachel. Smiling into the kiss, Rachel hated to pull away. When she did, Santana opened her purse and pulled out the box.

"What's that?" Rachel asked. Santana handed it to her.

"Open it." Rachel opened the box and gasped.

"San." In the box was a necklace with a gold star pendant.

"Do you like it?" Santana asked, watching Rachel's every reaction.

"I love it. It's gorgeous. Thank you." Rachel smiled.

"You're welcome, baby girl. Turn it over." Santana smiled. Rachel was confused.

"Okay…" She turned it over. "Its engraved." Not wanting to ruin the moment, Santana fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Read it, Rach."

"Oh. Right. Ok. 'Rachel, Always remember that you are my star. –S.' Oh my god. Santana, that's so sweet."

"Thank you. I was really hesitant about putting the S. I had initially wanted to put my whole name on there, but it was too risky." Santana said.

"Do you really mean it?" Rachel asked.

"Do I really mean what?" Santana asked.

"That I'm your star." Rachel clarified.

"Oh that. Well, yeah Rachel. Of course I do. You're my star. And whenever you wear that, which I hope you will frequently do," she gestured toward the necklace. "I want you to…well I hope that you'll… think of me." Rachel had never seen Santana so nervous before.

"Of course I will. I wish that I could put it on right now, but…"

"I totally understand. I just wanted to give it to you." Santana nodded.

"I'm sorry." Rachel said.

"Don't be. It's fine, Rach." Santana smiled. Rachel looked around before she kissed Santana. This time, it was Santana who pulled away. "You look beautiful, by the way." Santana said.

"So do you, San." Rachel replied, smiling. Santana returned the smile.

END FLASHBACK

"That was the moment I fell in love with you." the two girls said in unison.

"Really? Why did you take so long to tell me?" Santana said.

"I could say the same thing to you." Rachel said.

"Hey, at least I told you first." Santana countered.

"Will you just put the necklace on?" Rachel requested.

"Sure." Santana smiled and told Rachel to move her ponytail out of the way. "'Always remember-"

"- That you are my star." Rachel finished with her. Santana smiled at her through the mirror as she kissed Rachel's neck again.

"I love you Santana." Rachel said, leaning back into the girl behind her.

"I love you too mi estrella." Santana replied.

"We should probably get going, huh?" Rachel said.

"You know, we don't have to go to the party." Santana said, grinning evilly.

"We're going, Santana."

"You want our first date as an out couple to be at a Noah Puckerman party?" Santana asked.

"Yes. I do. Now can we please go?" Rachel said, pushing Santana out of her bedroom door. When they got there, Santana and Rachel sat down on a couch. Soon Puck was over with them, handing them each a drink.

"Puck that's not a good idea." Santana said as he handed Rachel a drink. She knew from experience that Rachel was a lightweight and it didn't take much for her to get drunk.

"Lighten up Lopez." Puck said. Rachel smiled at her and took a sip. After about half a cup, Santana could already see her eyes start to gloss over.

"This is not going to end well." Santana muttered. "Baby, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rachel replied. Santana could tell she was all but fine.

"Oh my god." Rachel suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Santana asked.

"Everywhere I turn, someone is congratulating Quinn or Sam on performing at Sectionals. So Ken and Barbie get to sing at Sectionals. This doesn't make them better than me." Rachel said.

"Rachel, not this again." Santana could tell this was all thanks to the alcohol.

"Santana, quit rubbing it in my face that you get to sing a solo and I don't." Rachel said.

"Okay, I'm just going to blame this little outburst on the alcohol since I know that you'd never talk to me like that if you knew what was good for you." Santana said.

"What are you going to? Get mad at me and then storm off?" Rachel said.

"No, because that's what you do. But keep talking and girlfriend or not, I just might slap you." Santana said.

"Are you drunk?" Rachel asked.

"No, I actually haven't taken a sip. Someone has to drive us home tonight and it clearly won't be you considering you've had half a beer and you're completely trashed." Santana responded. She stood up and walked away.

"Whatever." Rachel mumbled. She smiled as Marshall Andrews, a football player in her Chemistry class, sat down next to her.

"Hey Rachel. I couldn't help but overhear your argument with Santana." Marshall said.

"Yeah, she's just being a baby." Rachel said.

"You know what would make her really freak out?" Marshall asked.

"What?" Marshall leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

"Marshall, I don't think that's a good idea. I don't really want to." Rachel said.

"Come on. It'll be fine." He said, pulling her with him as he left the room. Santana, who had been talking to Brittany and Quinn, turned around to make sure Rachel was still conscious.

"Wait…where'd she go?" Santana asked.

"I have no idea." Quinn said. Brittany shrugged.

"Crap."

"Santana, Rachel's capable of walking around a house by herself." Quinn said.

"Not when she's wasted." Santana said. "When she's trashed, Artie could walk better than she could. No offense, Britt."

"How much has she had to drink?"

"About half a beer, but she's an extreme lightweight." Santana explained.

"We'll help you find her." Quinn said. The three looked all around the house for Rachel. They finally stopped at the last room in the house, Puck's room. Santana opened the door, only to find Marshall on top of Rachel. Santana's eyes widened.

"Rachel? What are you doing?" Santana exclaimed

"Santana. I promise it isn't what it looks like." Rachel said.

"Get off of her Marshall." Santana said.

"No way. She said she wanted this." He said.

"Rach?" Santana asked.

"No I didn't. I said I didn't want to." Rachel said, crying

"Come on, Lopez. She is trashed. She does not know what she said." Marshall said.

"Get off of her. Now." Santana said, getting angrier as she saw Rachel trying to push him off.

"Fine. Whatever." He stood up and a crying Rachel immediately got off of the bed and went over to Santana, who pulled Rachel into a hug.

"Are you okay?" Santana whispered. Rachel shook her head. Marshall began to walk forward and Santana gently pushed Rachel behind her, into Quinn and Brittany, who pulled the girl into a hug at the same time.

"Is there a problem here?" Puck asked, approaching.

"Yea, Puck there is." Santana said. Puck took notice of Rachel crying.

"What did you do to her, Andrews?"

"How do you know it was me? Maybe it was Lopez."

"Santana would never do anything to hurt Rachel. What. Did. You. Do." Puck said.

"He tried to force himself on Rachel." Quinn said to her boyfriend. Puck looked at his girlfriend. Rachel was like his sister.

"I am going to kill you."

"Why? She's not your girlfriend." Marshall said.

"Oh, it would be the same scenario if it'd been Quinn instead of Rachel."

"Puck, don't. You don't need to go back to juvie." Quinn said.

"Noah. Its okay." Rachel quietly spoke up. Puck's face softened when Rachel spoke up.

"Get out of my house." Puck escorted Marshall to the door.

"We'll leave you guys alone." Brittany said. When Brittany and Quinn had left, Santana closed the door.

"Sweetie, what happened?" she asked. Rachel shrugged.

"We fought and then you left. Marshall came over and said he knew a way to really make you mad. I told him that I didn't want to and then he pulled me in here. Next thing I know, he was all over me, kissing me. Then you walked in. I promise Santana. That's all that happened." Santana nodded.

"I believe you. I'm sorry that I could not have stopped him. I shouldn't have left you when you were so drunk."

"Its not your fault, Santana." Rachel said.

"Are you sure?" Santana said.

"Yes. Santana?"

"Yes?"

"Can we please go home now?" Rachel asked.

"Of course we can baby." Santana made sure Marshall was gone, then drove Rachel home. When they were in the car, Rachel spoke.

"Maybe we shouldn't have had our first date as an out couple at a Noah Puckerman party." Santana looked over at her girlfriend, eyebrow raised, and smirked.

"Where did you hear that amazing idea from?"

"Oh shut up and drive."

"Fine. But do not throw up in my car. Or there will be a problem." Santana said. Santana took Rachel home and laid her down on her bed. She put a trashcan by the bed and went and got a bottle of water and aspirin from the kitchen. "Thank God that the Berry's chose this weekend to go on a weekend trip. They would definitely kick me out in a heartbeat if the saw that I let their daughter get drunk." Santana said to herself. As she approached up the stairs, she heard Rachel throwing up.

"Santana!" Rachel called. Santana ran up the stairs and down the hall. As she reached Rachel's door, she heard more throwing up. Cautiously, she opened the door. Rachel looked absolutely pathetic. What disturbed Santana was that even when Rachel was drunk and throwing up, Santana found her to be beautiful. The fact that she thought Rachel was beautiful didn't freak her out. It was just that the fact that she thought it when Rachel was puking her guts out.

"Poor baby." Santana said. She went into Rachel's bathroom and got a wet washcloth and cleaned off Rachel's face. "Do you need anything?"

"Tell me I still look good." Rachel requested.

"You look beautiful." Santana truthfully said.

"Thank you for lying to me." Rachel said.

"Rach, I'm not lying. I always think that you look beautiful." Santana said.

"Even when I'm throwing up?"

"Even when you're throwing up."

"Now I know why I don't drink." Rachel said.

"Considering you don't even have an entire beer in your system, yea. Drinking isn't for you." Santana agreed.

"I'm proud of you though." Rachel said.

"Why?"

"You didn't have anything to drink."

"I needed to be able to get you home, Rach. Thank God I was sober when I found you. Who knows how I could've reacted if I'd been drunk." Santana said.

"Thank you for finding me when you did. I was so scared." Rachel said. Santana thought she was starting to sober up a little bit.

"What did he try to do, Rachel?" Santana gently asked.

"Honestly?" Rachel said.

"I'd prefer it, yes." Santana said.

"Well, honestly I think he wanted to sleep with me. But I didn't want to. He pulled me into the room and started kissing me. I tried to push him away, but he's bigger than me. He pushed me down on the bed and wouldn't get off." Rachel replied.

"I'll kill him." Santana said.

"San, he didn't do anything."

"But he tried, Rach. He tried." Santana said. "And that's all that matters." They heard the doorbell ring. Rachel groaned. "Take the aspirin. I'll go see who it is." Santana walked downstairs and opened the front door. "Finn? What are you doing here?"

"Puck told me what happened. Are you okay? Is she okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. She's a little freaked out about it. Her main problem is that she's either drunk or in the early stages of a hangover. I can't tell which one it is right now. We were having a coherent conversation, but her eyes are still kind of glossed over." Santana said.

"Do you need anything?" Finn asked.

"I don't think so. Not right now, at least. But I do have a question I've been meaning to ask you." Santana said.

"What's up?"

"How did you find out about me and Rachel?" Santana asked. Finn laughed.

"Seriously, Santana?" Santana's eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"Santana, you guys mysteriously disappeared at the same time, like twelve times at the homecoming dance. When you guys thought no one was looking you couldn't keep your eyes off each other at dinner, even if the other wasn't looking back. But the final thing that made me figure it out was when Rachel left that night and you suddenly volunteered to give her a ride home."

"Oh yeah. I remember that now." Santana remembered.

"That wasn't exactly your best work ever, San." Finn teased.

"I got her to leave, didn't I?" Santana said.

FLASHBACK

Rachel walked up to Finn. "Hey Finn, I'm not feeling very well, so I think I am going to head home." Finn stood up.

"Okay, do you want me to take you?"

"No, no. I don't want to ruin your night." Rachel rushed.

"Rachel, you're my date and my girlfriend. Its fine." Finn said.

"You live in the opposite direction of my house." Rachel continued.

"I'm not going to let you walk home or hitch a ride with some random drunk person." Finn said.

"Well, actually…Santana offered to give me a ride." Rachel said.

"Santana? Santana Lopez?" Finn asked.

"Yes. We ran into each other in the restroom just now and she said she was about to leave. She lives about three blocks from me and she said that she could give me a ride if I wanted one." Rachel explained. Finn looked up as Santana approached.

"Are you ready to go, Berry?" Santana asked.

"This isn't some kind of prank, is it Santana? Because its not funny." Finn said.

"No, Finnocence. Its not a prank. I'm leaving and if Rachel doesn't feel good then there's no point of her staying here. She lives near me. I'm not going to do anything to your precious girlfriend. Don't worry." Santana said.

"Fine. But no funny business, Santana. Just take her home so she can rest, okay?" Fin said.

"That was kind of the plan, Frankenteen."

END FLASHBACK

"The old Santana wouldn't have cared if Rachel didn't feel good. She probably would've laughed and walked away." Finn said.

"I guess you're right." Santana said. "Finn, I really am sorry that we used you like that. We should've at least told you what was going on."

"Santana, its fine. As long as Rachel's happy, I'm happy."

"What about me?" Santana teased.

"Yeah, you too, I guess." Finn said, laughing

"Gee, thanks." Finn turned serious.

"Do you love her, Santana?" Santana nodded.

"Yes. I do. With all my heart." Finn nodded.

"I believe you."

"Thank you." Santana said. Finn hugged Santana.

"Santana!" Rachel yelled. Santana could hear the faint sounds of more throwing up.

"Coming!" she replied. "If you want to stay down here, I'll be right back." Finn nodded.

"Hey, Santana?"

"Yea?" She asked, turning around.

"I'm really sorry about your parents. I really liked them, and I know you loved them." Finn said.

"Yea, I did. Thank you, Finn. They really liked you, too." Santana said, showing a sad smile.

"They were great people and they did a terrific job with you." Finn said. "You're an amazing friend."

"So are you." Santana said.

"Santana!" Rachel called again. Santana rolled her eyes and smiled.

"I'm being summoned. I'll be right back." She turned and ran up the stairs.

"Yes, Rachel?"

"Who's down there?" Rachel asked.

"Finn. He came to check on you. Well, us." Santana said.

"He can't see me like this." Rachel said.

"Trust me babe. No one wants to see you like this." Santana said.

"You said I look beautiful." Rachel exclaimed.

"Yes, to me. But not to everyone else. Right now, when I look at you, I see the girl I'm in love with and want to help. Anyone else who would look at you right now would say 'Oh my god, she's throwing up. Get me out of here.' But since I'm in love with you, I'll stay and help you feel better." Santana said, sitting down on Rachel's bed.

"And you live here, so you have nowhere better to go." Rachel said.

"Well yeah, that does help make my decision a bit easier." Santana teased. She kissed Rachel's forehead. Rachel attempted to kiss her girlfriend on the lips, but Santana pulled away. "Maybe after you finish throwing up and brush your teeth about ten times." Santana said.

"I would've let you kiss me." Rachel mumbled.

"No you would'nt have. You probably would've required me to brush my teeth twenty or thirty times." Santana replied. There was a knock at Rachel's bedroom door.

"Rach? Santana?" they heard Finn's voice through the door.

"You said he wouldn't come up here!" Rachel said.

"Actually no I didn't. You said that he couldn't see you like this. And can he see you right now? No, he can't." She opened the door wide enough for Finn to be able to see the entire room. "Hey, Finn."

"Santana!"

"Rachel, you're buried under three blankets and a comforter. I think you're safe." Santana said. Finn laughed.

"Don't laugh at me Finn Hudson." Rachel's muffled voice said through the blankets.

"I would never laugh at you, Rachel." Finn said, smiling at Santana. Santana busted out laughing.

"You either, Santana Lopez." Santana rolled her eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me either!" Santana and Finn raised their eyebrows.

"Okay, how could you possibly know that that happened?" Santana asked.

"Because I know you. I know you rolled your eyes at me when you were downstairs too." Rachel explained.

"Okay that's extremely creepy. Go back to sleep." Santana said, smiling lovingly at the lump under all the blankets. "What's up, Finn?" Still smiling, he answered.

"I'm going to get going. Are you sure you don't need anything?"

"Yea, we are good for right now." Santana replied.

"Cool. Just call me if you do end up needing something, all right?" He said.

"Definitely. You'll be my first call." Santana said.

"Good. Take care of her. Make sure she drinks a lot of water." Finn said.

"Okay, Mom. Anything else?" Santana teased. Finn playfully thought. "I think I know how to treat a hangover. If memory serves me correct, I once had to help you, Puck, Britt, and Quinn all through a hangover while I was hung over too." Santana said.

"Oh yeah. I vaguely remember that day." Finn said. "Bye San."

"Bye." Santana laughed.

"Bye Rachel." He called out. He received a grunt in response. Throughout the rest of the night, Santana checked in on Rachel. Well, it was not really checking in on her, since Santana never left the room. The shorter girl was slowly recovering and by the middle of the next day, she was feeling completely better.

"Yeah, I'm never drinking again." Rachel said as her and Santana cleaned up her room.

"That sounds like a good idea. You and alcohol are not very good friends, Rach. You never have been and you most likely never will be either." Santana laughed.

"Why do Puckerman's parties always end in disasters?" Rachel said.

"What are you talking about?" Santana asked.

"At least they do for us, anyway." Rachel said.

"Like when?" Santana said.

"You don't remember?" Rachel asked.

Santana shook her head. "Obviously not, Rach."

"Well you were so drunk that night, so I guess it doesn't surprise me that you do not remember." Rachel said.

"How about you go ahead and tell me your story." Santana said.

FLASHBACK

Rachel was sitting on Puck's back porch when Santana came out of the house.

"Rachel!" Santana drunkenly slurred. "I am so happy to see you, baby."

Rachel looked around to make sure they were alone. "Hi, sweetie. How much have you had to drink?"

"Not that much." Santana was practically in Rachel's lap.

"Santana I left you fifteen minutes ago and you weren't nearly this drunk. In fact you had only had half a beer. What did you do after I came out here?" Rachel asked, running one of her hands through Santana's hair while using her other one to make sure the other girl did not fall off the stairs.

"Well, Puck challenged me to a game of beer pong. You know that I can't and won't back down from a challenge." Santana slurred.

"Do I even need to ask who won?" Rachel asked her girlfriend.

"No, but it would make me feel better if you did." Santana smiled up at Rachel.

"Let me guess. You won?" Rachel asked.

"Uh, yeah. Duh. God, you look so hot right now." Santana said, running one of her hands up and down Rachel's arm. She kissed Rachel, pushing her up against the post for the handrail on the stairs of Puck's porch. The taller girl continued to deepen the kiss and while Rachel wasn't fighting it, she knew how many people were at the party.

"Santana." Rachel said.

"What?" Santana said, not letting go of Rachel.

"San, come on." Rachel attempted to push Santana off of her.

"But, I love you Rachel." Santana said, sitting up. "Too fast. Way too fast."

Before Rachel could reply, they were interrupted. "How drunk are you Lopez?" one of the other jocks asked.

"Uh…I'm not sure. Pretty drunk, I guess. Why do you ask?" Santana asked.

"You just told the captain of the Geek Club that you love her."

Santana looked at Rachel, who quickly covered. "She's completely wasted. She has no idea what she's saying or what she's doing right now."

"Clearly." The jock said, walking away.

"Why did you do that?" Santana asked.

"Because letting you tell the truth in would have defeated the purpose of keeping us a secret Santana." Rachel explained.

"That is….really smart. Like, extremely smart. Did you know that you were smart, Rachel?" Santana asked.

"I had a hunch. I think I would appreciate that comment more if you were sober. Do you want to go ahead and get going?" Rachel asked.

Santana started to nod her head, but quickly stopped. "But what if Puck wants to play another game of beer pong?" Santana asked, suddenly looking worried.

"Then he'llmost likely be looking to actually win at the game, which he won't be able to do if he is playing against you." Rachel reasoned.

Santana slowly nodded. "Maybe you're right." She fell down into Rachel's lap.

"Yea, let's get you home." Rachel said.

"Can I spend the night at your house? Please, please, please, please, pretty please, Rachel?" Santana asked.

"I think you should. My dads are out of town and your parents are not going to like the fact that you are drunk." Rachel replied.

Santana nodded. The two walked to Rachel's car, with Rachel having to assist Santana sometimes. They were almost to the car when the same jock stopped them. "Lopez, are you so drunk you are going home with Berry?"

Rachel sighed. "This is not going to be good. Not at all.".

Santana yelled back. "Shut up, Rich! I'm in love with her!"

The jocks just laughed. "Wow, Berry. How much did you pay her to say that?"

"Shut up!" Santana yelled.

"Santana, ignore them. Please get in the car, okay?" Rachel said.

"But they have to know I love you." Santana protested.

"I know that you do."

"Rachel…"

"Now, Santana."

"Rich, you better shut up before I beat the crap out of you, got it?" Santana threatened.

"Whatever, Lopez. Have fun with Berry."

"I plan on it!"

"Santana!" Rachel hissed. "Get in the car already."

"Okay."

END FLASHBACK

"I drunkenly outed us? And you're still with me?" Santana questioned.

"Apparently I was the only sober person at that party, because no one said anything to me or you on Monday. I just kind of let it go since no one could remember it." Rachel explained.

"I can't believe that I did that. When was that?" Santana asked.

"During Thanksgiving Break. Right after we told each other that we love each other for the first time." Rachel said. Santana smiled as she often did when she thought of that day. In fact, she smiled whenever she thought of her and Rachel together or just Rachel in general. "You know, I love your smile." Rachel commented.

"Rachel, you don't have to flatter me. You already have me." Santana teased.

"Santana, I'm allowed to compliment you whenever I wish to. You compliment me all the time." Rachel said.

"That's to remind you that no one else could ever love you as much as I do. Just in case you ever think of leaving me." Santana said.

"I think there's a greater chance of you leaving me for someone else than there is of me leaving you." Rachel said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Santana said.

"I mean you could easily get someone else. I couldn't. Every other person I have dated either used me or I used them."

"Explain." Santana said.

"Puck was only dating me because I'm Jewish and his mom wanted him to date a Jewish girl. I had to wait an entire semester to get Finn to like me, and then broke up with him for Jesse, only to begin using him the next school year. And we all know what Jesse did. He used me to put us into a funk before Regionals."

"I thought your mom used him to get you to look for her." Santana said.

"And when I found her, she left me again. Thus, putting me into another funk." Rachel said. "Plus, the boy egged me."

"True."

"Anyway, you're Santana Lopez." Rachel said.

"And you're Rachel Berry. I'm aware of my surroundings, Captain Obvious. " Santana teased.

"What I mean is, you could walk into school and easily get someone new." Rachel said.

"You're completely right Rachel. I could just walk into school and get somebody else." Santana said.

"See what I mean? You could have anybody you want in that school."

"What do you think I have?"

"Huh?"

"I don't want anyone else, because I have all that I want and more right here. With you. What I'm afraid of is you realizing that you're too good for me and that you deserve more than someone who devoted most of her life to making yours miserable." Santana said.

"Sweetie, when are you going to stop thinking that? Its not going to happen. I'm not going to break up with you."

"Technically you did, last week." Santana said.

"For ten minutes. That doesn't count and you know it. Besides even if we do for some reason break up, I'll still be here for you. I'll still care about you and I'll still be your friend." Rachel said.

"So what you're saying is, there's a chance we will break up?" Santana teased.

"Santana."

"I'm sorry baby. I'm just messing around. And just so you know, even though I don't plan on us breaking up, I'd be there for you too if we did." Santana said.

"I know you would. That's why I love you."

"I thought you loved me for my insane hotness." Santana said.

"That helps." Rachel laughed and started to clean the room again. Santana stood there for a moment, watching her.

Rachel turned around. "What?"

"I really do love you, Rach." Santana said.

"I know you do. I love you too." Rachel replied.

Santana walked over and put her arms around Rachel's waist, who then put her arms around Santana's neck.

"You're kind of awesome, you know that?" Santana whispered.

"Yeah…" Rachel replied.

"And I kind of like you, you know that?" Santana whispered again.

"I kind of thought so." Rachel said. Santana leaned down to kiss Rachel. The two stayed like that for about two minutes. "You're pretty cool, yourself." Rachel said.

"Yeah, I know." Santana said, smiling. 'God, I love this girl.' both girls thought, as they so frequently did. That Monday at school, Rachel looked around the front entrance cautiously, hoping to avoid Marshall. Santana had had to go to early morning Cheerios practice, so she had come to school by herself. As she walked into the building, someone covered her mouth with one hand a pulled her into a closet with another. The door closed and her mouth was quickly uncovered. The closet was still dark so she could not see who she was in there with.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked. She was answered by a set of lips finding their way to hers. Rachel immediately pulled away.

"Chill, Rach. Its me." Santana said. "You'd think that after almost three months of dating, you'd know how it feels to kiss me."

"Santana, as much as I'd love to kiss you, I'd also prefer to talk to your face and not your voice." Rachel said.

"Uh…what?"

"Can you please turn on the light?" Rachel asked.

"Oh. Sorry." Santana blindly reached around for the light until she found the switch. She turned on the light and allowed Rachel to adjust from the dark. "Better?"

"Much. Now can you please tell me why you had to pull me into a closet?" Rachel asked.

"This isn't just any closet, Rachel." Santana said.

"Is it my murder sight too?" Rachel teased.

"No." Santana moved walked to the other side of the closet and sat down. "Does any of this look familiar?"

"Oh my god." Rachel said, a smile growing on her face. "This is the closet that I locked us into."

Santana nodded. "This is where we first got together. And just so you know, we'vebeen dating for exactly three months now."

Rachel quickly did the math in her head. "You're right."

Santana motioned for the other girl to sit next to her. "Happy anniversary."

Rachel sat down next to Santana. "Happy anniversary." Santana looked down at the girl next to her. Slowly, she leaned down. The last thing she saw before closing her eyes was Rachel leaning up with her eyes closed. Next thing she knew, they were kissing. Although this kiss was in the exact same spot as their first, this one lasted longer. Santana pulled away first. Rachel's eyes were still closed.

"What are you thinking about?" Santana asked.

Rachel's eyes opened. "Wha…what?"

Santana smiled and rolled her eyes. "What's on your mind, Berry?"

Rachel smiled, remembering how Santana asked her that the first time they had been locked in the closet. "You."

"Good answer." Santana said before kissing her again. "Wait…you didn't lock us in here again did you?" she asked.

"Santana, I didn't know who pulled me in here, I wasn't about to lock myself into a closet with some random person." Rachel replied.

"Good point. But we need to get to Glee Club. We have songs to choose and you have apologies to make. I know Quinn helped you out at the party, but you still owe her and Sam an apology." Santana said.

"Yea, I know. I also need to thank Noah and Finn. And Brittany and Quinn too." The two left the closet and walked to the choir room.

"Okay guys. Can we try to make our set list again?" Mr. Schue said. Rachel's hand shot up. Everyone attempted to suppress a groan, but some were not successful. Santana shot a glare around the room.

"Yes Rachel?" the teacher tentatively asked.

"Mr. Schue, I have an announcement I'd like to make." The diva said.

"Rachel, you are still not getting a solo for this competition." The teacher said.

"I know Mr. Schue. Can I please say what I have to say?" Rachel asked.

"Sure."

Rachel walked to the front of the room. "First, I would like to apologize to Sam and Quinn. I was out of line last Friday and I was very rude. I know you guys are going to do great at Sectionals and I am really happy for you guys."

"Thanks Rachel." Sam and Quinn said.

"What about Santana?" Kurt said.

"What about Santana?" Santana asked.

"I have already apologized to my girlfriend Kurt." Rachel said. "Anyway, I'd also like to thank Puck, Brittany, Quinn, and Santana for helping me at the party last Friday. And Finn for coming to make sure I was okay afterward." The four nodded their heads in appreciation.

"Wait, what happened at the party?" Mercedes asked.

Puck, Quinn, Brittany, and Finn looked at Santana, who looked at Rachel. "If you want them to know tell them." She said. Rachel nodded and walked over and closed the door.

"On Friday at Puck's party, Marshall Andrews tried to…." Rachel trailed off, looking to Santana for help.

"He basically tried to sleep with Rachel after her and I got into a small argument. Britt, Q, and I were looking for Rachel and found her in Puck's room, crying, with him all over her. He then tried to play it off as if Rachel wanted it, but I knew she didn't. We finally convinced him to get off of her and she immediately ran to me, which is how I knew she didn't want to be there. Puck came in and immediately kicked him out. I took her home and later Finn came over to make sure we were both all right." Santana continued.

Everyone who didn't know gasped. "Oh my god. Rachel, are you all right?" Mercedes asked.

Rachel nodded. Mr. Schue looked angry. "Rachel have you reported this?"

"It would be pointless, Mr. Schue. He didn't actually sleep with me and…" Rachel trailed off not wanting to finish.

"And…?"

"And I was drunk, so he could play that card." Rachel said.

"How much did you have to drink?" the teacher asked.

"Half a beer." She replied. The teacher looked at Santana.

"Extreme lightweight." She explained.

"Ah. I'm not condoning you drinking, or any of you drinking, but since you had at least one sober witness, it can withstand. And you," he said to Puck, "could get in serious trouble. Any of you that were there could get in serious trouble."

"Another reason why I don't want to report it. I'dget in just as much trouble, Noah would go back to juvie, and Principal Figgins would probably cancel the club. Its just not worth it, Mr. Schue." Rachel said.

"If that's what you want to do, Rachel. But I don't want to hear about any of you drinking again. You are all underage." The teacher said. They all nodded in agreement and Rachel sat down. "Okay, let's start talking about songs. What about the ballad?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"What about (I've Had) The Time of My Life? Its a great ballad and I think that Sam and Quinn would sound great singing it." Rachel said.

"That's a great idea, Rachel. Sam, Quinn, what do you think?" Mr. Schue asked.

Both nodded. "I like it." Quinn said.

Mr. Schue sighed. "Puck please quit glaring at Sam."

Quinn looked over and noticed her boyfriend glaring at her duet partner. "Puck its just a song."

"But why do you have to sing it with him? He's totally into you. How come you can't sing it with Artie? Or better yet, me?"

"Because Sam was my duet partner for the competition." Quinn said.

"When did we even have this duets competition?" Puck asked.

"When you were in juvie." Mike said.

"Oh." Was all Puck said.

"Dude, I'm not into Quinn like that anymore. I respect that you are with her. But if it makes you feel better, I'll withdraw from the duet." Sam said.

"Sam that won't be necessary." Mr. Schue said.

"Actually…" Puck said.

"Puck!" Quinn said, hitting him.

"OW! I mean its fine dude. You can sing the song with her." Puck said.

Sam nodded. Mr. Schue spoke up. "Anyway, what about Santana's solo?" When he said that, Rachel beamed at her girlfriend.

"Well, what's your favorite song, Santana?" Tina asked.

Santana grinned evilly. "BedRock." She said. Most of the club laughed. Rachel looked horrified and Mr. Schue looked uncomfortable.

"Uh…no." he said, causing more laughter.

"Seriously though, I'm a huge fan of the song Valerie." Santana said.

Mr. Schue nodded. "That is a great choice for you, Santana." He said, writing it down. "So now we have our set list. Mike, Brittany, let's get started on choreographing your dance solo. I think we are going to put it during Valerie." While the three were working on that everyone started looking at the sheet music Mr. Schue had passed out right before.

"San, I am so happy for you." Rachel whispered.

"Thanks, babe. I'm so proud of you for doing what you did up there. And even contributing. Even I didn't expect that." Santana said.

"You weren't actually serious when you suggested BedRock, were you?" Rachel asked.

"Of course I was." Santana smirked. "Its the song that plays in my head whenever you're around."

"Santana!"

"Relax, I'm just kidding. Of course I wasn't serious. We'd get disqualified as soon as the judges saw our set list. We wouldn't even make it to the stage." Santana said.

Rachel smiled. "We should probably get to work."

The two looked at the sheet music for Valerie. Santana already knew all of the words, so she did not have to memorize them. Soon, Mr. Schue called Santana up to the front so that she could learn where to stand while Brittany and Mike were dancing during her song. At one point in the song, Puck was to join the group at the front of the stage, Mike would twirl Brittany to Puck and Puck would simultaneously twirl Santana to Mike. Mike and Santana would dance for about thirty seconds, to give Brittany a breather. Brittany and Puck were to go back and do the group choreography, which wasn't as challenging. Then the group would repeat the twirls to give Santana a chance to catch her breath before singing again. Then they were ready for sectionals. Every single time Santana walked into a competition hall, she got a nervous feeling in her stomach. Not with Cheerios, because she knew that even if they lost (which they would not because Sue Sylvester just didn't lose. The word was not in her vocabulary if the subject was the Cheerios. Now, if it was the Glee Club that was an entirely different story), anyway, there would still be Cheerios. But with Glee Club, it was either win or Glee Club was over. Santana did not want to lose Glee Club. Over the past year and a half, it had become a part of her. It meant as much to her as Cheerios did. If it weren't for Glee Club, Santana wouldn't have Rachel. Even she could admit that she never would have talked to Rachel if they hadn't been in Glee Club together. But this time around, there were even more nerves in her. Last year at Sectionals, she had never sung in front of a crowd before, except for their invitational. At Regionals, she had never performed a solo in front of a crowd before, even if she just had a few lines. But this time, she had an entire song to herself, which had never happened before, with the exception of their assignments in Glee Club. That was extremely nerve wrecking. She knew Brittany was also extremely nervous about her dance solo. The only thing that was calming her was some comb that Artie gave her. No one really had the heart to tell her that it did not actually possess any magical powers. Rachel came up beside Santana.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yea. Of course." Santana lied.

"No you aren't. You're nervous." Rachel said.

"I don't get nervous." Santana said.

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "If you say so." She walked towards their green room. Santana noticed that the rest of New Directions had already walked in there and quickly followed. They had a little time to kill before they had to change into their costumes. Santana sat down in one of the more comfortable chairs. Rachel quickly sat down on the arm of the chair Santana was occupying. Santana gently pulled the smaller girl into her lap, causing both girls to smile. Suddenly, Jacob Ben Israel came into the room.

"What are you doing in here Jewfro?" Santana asked. Rachel, who was easily creeped out by Jacob as he was constantly hitting on her, leaned closer to Santana as Jacob approached the pair.

"Well, hello Rachel. You're looking extremely lovely today." Jacob said invading Rachel's personal space.

Rachel gave Santana a pleading look. "Back off, Jacob." Santana growled. Jacob ignored her and grabbed Rachel's hand. When she tried to pull it away he tightened his grip.

"Ow. Let go, Jacob." Rachel said. Jacob pulled Rachel to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked.

"Jewfro let go of her. Now." Santana said, standing up. Jacob continued to ignore Rachel and pushed Santana out of the way to sit in the now vacant chair. She stumbled back a good five feet. He pulled Rachel into his lap. Santana had had enough. "That's it." She said.

Santana walked back over to the chair. She grabbed Jacob's hair and pulled his head back. "Listen closely, because I am only going to say this once. I am telling you as nicely as I possibly can. Let go of Rachel right now or I will personally ensure that you are never able to have children. Got it?" Jacob, who was completely terrified, nodded and immediately released his grip on Rachel, who wasted no time getting up. She looked completely disgusted. Jacob quickly got up and left the room. Santana decided to move to a different chair. She motioned for Rachel to sit on her lap again. "What is it with guys wanting to hang all over you this week?" she asked as Rachel sat down.

"I have no idea, but its getting kind of irritating." Rachel replied, putting her arms around Santana's neck. Santana put one arm around Rachel's waist and rested the other on Rachel's legs, which were hanging over the arm of the chair they were in.

Santana mock-gasped. "Well, I never thought I would see the day when Rachel Berry didn't want all of the attention to be on her."

"The only person I want to hang all over me is you. And today is your day to shine." Rachel said.

"You were right, earlier. About me being nervous. I am." Santana said.

"I could tell."

"How?" Santana asked.

"Sweetie, you didn't really say anything on the bus ride here. You just looked out the window the entire time." Rachel said.

"Oh. I've never had an entire song before." Santana said.

"I know. Which is why when you completely kill it out there, I'm going to be extra proud of you." Rachel smiled at her girlfriend. Santana leaned in to kiss Rachel, but before she could they heard someone begin to cry.

"What the…" Santana trailed off. She finally realized it was Brittany crying. "Uh oh." Rachel got up off Santana so that the Latina could go to her best friend. "Britt, what's wrong, sweetie?" she asked, trying to comfort the blonde.

"Artie." Was all that Santana could understand.

"What about Artie? Is he okay?" Santana asked, worriedly looking around for Artie. "Guys, where's Artie?"

He rolled in. "I'm right here, Santana." He noticed his girlfriend crying. "Brittany? Baby what's the matter?" He looked at Santana.

"I asked her the same thing and all she said was Artie. At least, that's all I could understand." Santana explained.

Brittany spoke up again. "Magic….Comb…Gone….I lost….I lost the magic comb Artie gave me. Artie, please don't hate me."

Artie and Santana shared a look. "This has gone on long enough. Tell her the truth." Santana insisted.

"Britt, I don't hate you. Its okay that you lost the comb. The comb…it wasn't even a real magic comb. I found it on the floor and was going to throw it away."

Brittany stopped crying. "And you let me comb my hair with it?"

"Brittany, you don't need a magic comb. You're magic, Brittany." Artie said.

"Artie…that's so sweet." Brittany said. She leaned in and kissed Artie.

"Well, now that we have that all cleared up, can we please all focus now?" Santana requested.

"I agree." Rachel said.

Mr. Schue walked in. "How come not one of you in your costumes? Come on guys, get serious." New Directions started to get dressed. Soon they were all in the audience, watching their competition. Soon it was their turn to perform. As predicted, Sam and Quinn sang their ballad amazingly, as did Santana. Brittany and Mike's dance routine was great. After Santana's song was finished, Rachel and Santana smiled at each other through the applause and cheers. Next thing Santana knew, Rachel was at her side. Santana pulled her into a hug. Rachel whispered. "You did amazing San." Santana could only smile in response. After the competition, all the schools gathered on the stage. New Directions were announced the winners. This time, Rachel was the one to hug Santana. "We did it. We're going to Regionals!" Santana said. Over the next few days, Glee Club still celebrated their win at Regionals. Meanwhile, Santana planning for Rachel's upcoming birthday. Santana wanted to make Rachel's birthday special. She suddenly came up with the perfect idea. Mr. Schue had given them the day off from Glee practice and there was no Cheerios practice that day, so on Rachel's birthday, Santana ditched last period study hall to make sure she got home before Rachel did. She went and got all of the supplies she needed. Once she had them all, she went back to the house and set it all up. She checked her clock. Rachel was getting out of school at that moment. She sent her a text

To: Rachel

Rach, I left school early, so don't wait for me. I had an errand to run. When you get home, can you come straight to my room please? Oh and by the way, happy birthday, baby girl! Love ya!

She soon received a reply.

New Message

Rachel

San, what kind of errand did you have to run? And why do I have to come straight to your room? Oh and thank you! Love you too!

You ask way to many questions. Just come straight home, okay? –S

Santana, I'm on my way now. Unless you want me to get into an accident, I'm going to have to stop replying to you. :) –R

See you when you get here. Love you! –S

I love you too. Now, goodbye! –R

LOL bye babe. –S

GOODBYE, Santana! –R

Santana laughed at Rachel's text. She changed out of her Cheerios uniform, made sure everything was set up, waited for Rachel. Soon, Rachel's car was in the driveway and Rachel was coming up the stairs. She went straight to Santana's room. "Okay, San. I'm here. Where are you?" Rachel looked around. "Santana?" She saw a small box on Santana's bed with a note that said, 'Open Me' beside it. She opened the box. Inside was another note, which said, Hey birthday girl! Come to your room! –San. "What? Why couldn't she just tell me to go to my room?" Rachel said to herself. She walked to her room. "All right, Santana. What is your…"Rachel trailed off as she entered her room and saw Santana lying on her bed in her room.

"Hey." Santana whispered.

"Hi." Rachel whispered back.

"Happy birthday." Santana said, still whispering.

Rachel just nodded. Santana got off the bed and walked up to Rachel. "You look beautiful, San."

Santana looked down. "Um…thank you? I mean I'm just wearing jeans and a black wife beater. Nothing special. My hair is still in a ponytail from school today."

"You still look beautiful." Rachel said. Santana smiled, then turned around as Rachel leaned in for a kiss. "Uh, hello?" Rachel said.

"Do you want your present?" Santana asked.

"I want my Santana." Rachel said. Santana smiled at that.

"All in good time, my dear. Come on. I know how much you like getting presents." Santana picked up a box and held it out.

"This doesn't have another note in it, does it?" Rachel asked.

"No. Just open it, Rach." Santana said. Rachel opened it. Inside was a choker necklace. Hanging from the middle of the necklace was a charm with the initials SL and RB joined together.

"San…" Rachel said.

"I know its no engraved gold star necklace, but I got a choker style so that you could wear them both." Santana said.

"Its beautiful. Thank you." Rachel said.

"I have three other presents for you. I'll give you one of them later tonight, but you get the other two right now." Santana said.

"What are they?" Rachel asked.

"Well, first you mentioned something about wanting Santana?" Santana smirked, pulling Rachel in for a kiss. Rachel pulled away smiling. "And second?" she asked.

"Now Rachel, don't be so greedy."

"Hey, its my birthday. I get to be greedy if I want." Rachel said.

"Fine. Second, you get to take me to Breadstix for a lovely dinner." Santana said, smiling.

"Happy birthday to me." Rachel teased.

"Get your coat." Santana said. The two girls laughed. When they walked into Breadstix, Santana immediately pulled Rachel into the back room.

"SURPRISE!" all of New Directions exclaimed.

"Happy Birthday, Rachel." Quinn, Brittany, and Mercedes said in unison.

Rachel turned to Santana. "You did this?" Santana nodded.

"I know you usually hate surprises but I just…I couldn't resist. Are you mad?" Santana asked.

Rachel shook her head. "Of course not. Thank you, San."

"Hey Rachel!" Artie yelled.

Rachel turned. "Yea?" she looked in the direction he was pointing. "Oh wow."

There was a huge pile of gifts. "Are you going to open them or what?" Tina asked.

Later, after the party, Rachel and Santana went home. They went upstairs and decided to hang out in Rachel's room. While Rachel put all of her gifts on her dresser, Santana felt in the box in her jacket pocket. She took a deep breath. It is now or never, Lopez. Just do it already.

"Hey, Rach?" Rachel heard from behind. She remained facing the dresser. "Yea, San?"

"You want your third present now?"

Rachel smiled. "You should know me well enough to already know the answer to that, Santana."

"Then turn around." Santana said.

Rachel turn around to find Santana kneeling on down on one knee. "Santana?"

"Rachel, I love you." Santana began.

Rachel nodded. "Okay…"

Santana took a deep breath and took the box out of her pocket, opening it.

Rachel gasped. "Are you…are you proposing to me?"

"Well, I actually thought I would leave that up to you." Santana said.

"You want me to decide whether or not you are proposing?" Rachel asked, leaning up against the dresser for support.

"If you want me to propose, then that's what I am doing. But if you do not want me to, then this can just be a promise ring or a friendship ring or whatever you want to call it. But Rachel, I love you. And I totally plan on proposing to you someday, because I think I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I'll totally understand if you are not ready for that type of commitment yet, and I'll still love you. That's why I'm letting you make the choice of what this is." Santana said.

Rachel was tearing up. "Santana, I can't make that choice."

Santana nodded. "All right then. I will. Rachel Berry, will you marry me? Someday?"

Rachel bursted into tears. Santana remained kneeling down. "Rach…" Santana said, standing up. Rachel said something that Santana could not quite understand.

"What?" Santana asked.

Rachel calmed herself before speaking again. Santana waited patiently. "I said, yes."

Santana eyes widened. "Wha…What? Yes?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes." She kissed Santana. "San, I don't want to get married until after I graduate college though. I have always felt that way."

"I completely understand, Rachel." Santana said. "I'm just so happy that you said yes."

Rachel smiled, looking down at the box. "Uh…San?"

"What?" She asked. She followed Rachel's gaze. "Oh! Right. The ring." Santana took it out of the box and grabbed Rachel's left hand. The two girls smiled at each other as Santana put the ring on Rachel's ring finger. Rachel put her forehead to Santana's.

"Oh my god." Rachel said. "We're…engaged."

"Yea we are." Santana whispered. Santana kissed Rachel. They heard the front door open. "Girls! Santana? Rachel? How was the party?"

"My dads." Rachel said. "We have to tell them.

"I forgot about that part." Santana said, suddenly nervous.

"We'll be right down!" Rachel called out.

"Rachel!" Santana hissed. She covered Rachel's mouth with her hand. Rachel removed the hand. "Santana. We both live here. Its inevitable."

"And if they tell us we aren't allowed to be engaged?" Santana said.

"We'll cross that road when we get there. We won't know unless we tell them. Which we're going to do right now. Let's go." Rachel said, pulling Santana down the stairs. "Dad, Daddy, Santana and I have an announcement to make."

"What's up girls?" Hiram said.

"We…we got engaged." Rachel said.

"What? When?" Leroy said.

"About five minutes ago." Rachel said.

"Who proposed?" Hiram said.

"I did. Mr. B., Mr. Berry, I'm sorry that I did not talk to you about this first. But I love your daughter." Santana said.

"We know, Santana." Leroy said.

"When were you two planning on getting married?" Hiram asked.

"After college." Santana said.

"Soon." Rachel said at the same time.

"What?" three voices replied.

"Rach, you said that you have always wanted to get married after college. Not before." Santana said.

"I changed my mind. Why put off the inevitable?" Rachel said, smiling.

"Rachel, are you sure about this?" Leroy said.

Rachel nodded. "Dad, I have never been more sure of anything."

"Rachel you are sixteen." Hiram said.

"Actually, I am seventeen now. It is my birthday."

"Of course, sweetie. That's why we had initially had called you down." Leroy said.

"Anyway, Santana is already 17."

"Seventeen is still not an adult, girls." Hiram said.

"We need to talk this over. Can you girls go upstairs for awhile?" Leroy asked.

The two nodded and went back upstairs. When they were back inside Rachel's room, Santana leaned up against the wall. "They aren't going to let us get married. You do know that right?"

Rachel lay down on her bed. "You don't know that, San."

"They weren't exactly jumping for joy, Ray."

"But they didn't immediately say no, either." Rachel said.

"I was perfectly okay with waiting until after college. What happened to that idea?" Santana said.

"I thought you wanted to marry me, Santana." Rachel said.

"I do, Rachel. You know I do." Santana crossed the room and sat down on the bed. "I just think that we would have had a better shot of getting their approval if we had said we were going to wait until after college, you know?"

Rachel opened her mouth to respond, when they heard voices. "Girls! Can you please come down now?"

Santana looked at Rachel. "I guess its now or never, huh?"

Rachel smiled. "Yea. I guess that it is." Santana took Rachel's hand in her own, smiling as she felt the ring she gave Rachel. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Santana attempted to let go of Rachel's hand, but Rachel refused to let go. "No, Santana. We're engaged. Whether or not they let us get married now doesn't change that." Santana smiled and the two walked into the kitchen.

"Girls, we have made our decision." Hiram said.

Both girls looked at each other, but remained silent.

"And….we decided that….we're going to let you get married." Leroy finished.

Santana's eyes widened and Rachel squealed and hugged Santana.

"We can tell you two really love each other. And Rachel was right. Why put off the inevitable?" Hiram continued.

"But you girls won't be able to live here. If you're going to act like adults, you're going to live like adults. That means, getting an apartment and paying rent. Of course we will help you out since you're only seventeen, but you will have to help to pay it." Leroy said.

"Santana, since your parents death has made you a legal adult since you have no other living relatives, you don't need our consent. Rachel, we are giving you ours. You guys just need to choose a date." Hiram said.

"Rach?" Santana said.

"What about Saturday?" Rachel said.

"Saturday sounds perfect." Santana said.

"San, I want the Glee Club to be there."

"That sounds like a good idea. We can tell them tomorrow." Santana said.

"How about you girls go upstairs and talk about the details?" Leroy said. The girls nodded and went to Rachel's bedroom. The two girls walked into Glee Club the next morning and sat down. As soon as Mr. Schue walked in Santana raised her hand.

"Mr. Schue, Rachel and I have an announcement to make." She said.

The teacher nodded. "Sure, go ahead." The two walked to the front of the room. Rachel put her hand on Santana's shoulder, unintentionally, her left hand.

"Rachel is that a diamond ring on your finger?" Mercedes said.

Santana looked at the hand. "Really, Rach? You put your left hand up?"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to. Well, I guess there's no point in putting it off. Santana and I are….well, we are engaged."

"When?" Kurt asked.

"Santana proposed to me last night." Rachel explained.

"On her birthday. Good move, Lopez." Puck said.

"When are you guys planning on getting married?" Quinn asked.

"We were thinking Saturday." Santana said. Quinn and Brittany exchanged a look, causing Santana to raise an eyebrow.

"Wait, you guys are both minors. How are you getting married?" Mr. Schue asked.

"When my parents died, I automatically became a legal adult. And Rachel's dads are giving her parental consent." Santana explained.

"And we want you all to be there." Rachel said.

Everyone but Quinn and Brittany nodded their heads. Santana took notice in this. "Britt, Q, why do you guys not want to come?"

Quinn opened her mouth to respond when the PA system came on. Coach Sylvester began talking. "Everybody listen up. My Cheerios are going to Regionals this Saturday. Since most of you have no lives, come out and support."

Santana's face dropped. "Saturday is Regionals." She looked at Rachel. The bell rung. The two girls walked out of the choir room together. Rachel looked extremely worried.

"San, your Regionals is on the same day as our wedding."

"I know." Santana said.

"I want to be there for you and you want to be at our wedding." Rachel said.

"I have been trying to the math in my head. There's no possible way we can do both, Rach. There just aren't enough hours in the day. Regionals is about five hours away." Santana said.

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

"I'll go take care of it right now. I promise." Santana immediately went to Sue's office.

"Coach Sylvester? I wanted to talk to you about Regionals. I'm not sure if I can make it."

"Why would you not be able to make it, Lopez?" the coach asked.

"I'm uh…I'm supposed to get married Saturday." Santana stuttered.

"If you're on the Cheerios, you go to competition. You can't just miss. So you have to choose. If you miss Regionals, you're off the Cheerios. That is that. Now get out of my office." Sue said.

Santana left and immediately sought out Rachel. "So I was thinking, how about we move the wedding to Sunday."

"What? Why?" Rachel asked.

"If I miss Regionals, Sue is going to kick me off the Cheerios." Santana said.

"So you have to choose between me and the Cheerios." Rachel said.

"Pretty much." Santana said.

"And you're choosing the Cheerios over me?" Rachel asked.

"Rach, I never said that." Santan said.

"Santana, by asking me to move the wedding, you're choosing Sue over me." Rachel said.

"Ray, no I'm not. I'm trying to make is so we can do both." Santana said.

"No, you're trying to make it so you can get your way. San, that's not going to work." Rachel said.

"I guess I don't see the problem with moving the wedding." Santana said.

"I am not moving my wedding day for Sue Sylvester. The woman has been terrible to me. She has been terrible to you. She has always tried to ruin Glee Club. You know, the place we met?" Rachel said.

"Hey, its my wedding day too. I should get a say in when it is." Santana said.

"You did. When you said, 'Saturday is perfect.' San, we made so many plans last night. Now you want to change them?"

"So what are you trying to say, Rachel?

"I'm trying to say that normally, I would never agree with Sue Sylvester, but right now I do. You have to make a choice, Santana." Rachel said.

"Rach, the Cheerios have been in my life longer than you have. I can't just desert them." Santana said.

"But you're fine with deserting me?"

"You're putting words in my mouth." Santana said.

"Santana, you have to choose. The Cheerios competition or our wedding." Rachel said.

"Rachel I can't make that choice." Santana said. "I just can't .

Rachel nodded and took off the ring Santana gave her. "I think you just did." She said, handing Santana the ring and walking off.

"Yea, I did." Santana said to herself. She walked off. She had some business to take care of.

After school, it was time for afternoon Glee rehearsal. Rachel sat down in the front row. She was not looking forward to seeing Santana. When her ex-fiancée walked in, Rachel's mouth dropped open in confusion.

"Where's your Cheerios uniform?" Rachel asked. Santana was wearing sweats and a WMHS athletics t-shirt.

"I quit." Santana said.

"You what?" Rachel, Quinn, and Brittany exclaimed in unison.

"I quit." Santana walked over and stood in front of Rachel. She squatted down in front of her. "Rach, no Cheerios competition is worth losing you."

"San…are you sure you want to do that?" Rachel asked

"I am completely sure." Santana pulled out Rachel's ring. "Be with me?"

"Forever." Rachel said, putting on the ring and kissing Santana. Santana looked at Brittany and Quinn. "By the way, Coach said you guys have to choose between Regionals and the wedding, too. I totally understand if you choose Regionals."

The two looked at each other. "We'll definitely be there, Santana." Quinn said. Sue who had been walking by, overheard this. "What did I just hear you say Q?"

"Brittany and I quit Cheerios too. We choose our friends over someone who makes us choose and I definitely choose the people who stood by me in my time of need over someone who dropped me like a broken pen as soon as I was no use to them." Quinn said. "Come on Britt. We should go change." Soon, the two were back, wearing sweats, like Santana. Mr. Schue walked. "What happened to your Cheerios uniforms?"

"We all quit." Santana said.

"What? Why?"

"She wanted me to choose between Rachel and the Cheerios. I chose Rachel." Santana said.

"And she wanted us to choose between Santana and the Cheerios. We chose Santana." Brittany said.

Mr. Schue nodded. "At least I don't have to worry about anymore spying." Everyone laughed.

"So Santana, Rachel, your fellow Glee Clubbers have a surprise for you." Mr. Schue said.

"We're going to sing at your wedding." Mercedes said.

"Yea, you guys can too. If you want." Finn said.

"Gee, thanks Finn." Santana laughed, along with everyone else.

"You guys, that really does mean a lot to us." Rachel said. Santana nodded in agreement.

"Okay guys, let's get to work. We have a wedding to prepare for. Santana, Rachel, how about you two sing the leads? Its your wedding after all." Mr. Schue said. The two nodded.

"Hey beautiful. How was your night?" Santana asked. Santana had spent the night at Brittany's house.

"It was good. But guess who came over last night?" Rachel asked.

"Who?" Santana asked, not really in the guessing mood.

"Santana, you have to guess." Rachel said, looking for something in her locker.

"I don't know, Ray…Jesse?" Santana asked.

Rachel quickly pulled her head out of her locker and looked at the girl next to her. "How did you know?"

"I…I didn't. Are you serious? Jesse St. James? He came to the house? Why?" Santana asked, anger quickly clouding her face

"He's home for winter break already and he said he wanted to see me. We're hanging out tonight." Rachel explained.

"Over my dead body, you are." Santana said.

"San…"

"Rachel, there's no way that I'm going to let that happen. I'm not letting him near you. He's already lucky enough as it is that I wasn't home last night." Santana said.

"Santana, you can't control what I do." Rachel said.

"Rachel, he egged you. And you want to hang out with him?" Santana asked.

"He did help me meet my mother." Rachel said.

"Yes, but then she abandoned you two days later."

"Jesse didn't force her to do that. I'm hanging out with Jesse tonight." Rachel said.

"Why are you telling me this? You had to have known that I would get upset." Santana said.

"I wanted to let you know so that you could make plans with Brittany or Quinn if you wanted too." Rachel said.

Santana remained frustrated all day. That night, when Rachel left to hang out with Jesse, Santana stayed in her room and tried to concentrate on homework. She would have gone downstairs with Rachel, but the look Rachel gave her when she tried told her that it would be in her best interest to remain upstairs until Rachel left. Rachel and Jesse went to Breadstix for dinner.

"Isn't Santana, like, obsessed with Breadstix?" Jesse asked.

"Santana Lopez? Why do bring Santana up?" Rachel was beginning to think that Jesse already knew about her and Santana.

"Because when we walked in I happened to remember that she had some insane obsession with this place. Oh, I'm sorry Rachel. I forgot that you couldn't stand her." Jesse said.

"Actually, Jesse, there's something that I have to tell you." Rachel said.

"What's up, Rachel?"

"You see, Santana and I are together." Rachel said.

"Together together?" Jesse asked.

Rachel nodded. "We're actually getting married this weekend." Rachel said, putting her left hand on the table for the first time since they arrived. She had been wearing gloves before they reached the restaurant, since it was December.

"Married? But you're only seventeen."

"Parental consent. Santana's already a legal adult because her parents recently died." Rachel explained.

Jesse nodded his head. "Rachel, are you sure you want to get married so young? What about your dreams of going to Broadway? Or getting out of Lima at all?"

"I…I guess I didn't really think about those things. All I know is that I love her."

"Rachel, I'm not trying to talk you out of anything. I don't want you to think that for a second. Just…what about your future? The Broadway career that you're going to have? Getting married could change all of that. I just don't want to see you throw everything that you have always dreamed about away." Jesse said. Rachel nodded. The two then went on with their meal. Jesse kindly let the subject drop.

Later that night, the glow of headlights filled Santana's room. She hurried over to the window and saw Rachel get out of Jesse's car. Jesse soon followed and walked her to the door. It took all of Santana's self control not to bolt downstairs when Jesse kissed Rachel on the cheek. As she heard Rachel come up the stairs, she jumped back in her bed, thinking Rachel was going to come into her room. She didn't. Santana sat there for a while. Why is she not coming to see me? Santana thought. After about twenty or thirty minutes, Rachel came into Santana's room.

"Hey, San." Rachel said, offering a small smile.

"Hey, Rach. How was dinner with what's his face?" Santana said.

"You mean Jesse? It was fine. It actually gave me a lot to think about." Rachel said. Santana definitely noticed that Rachel wasn't coming any closer than she was when she walked in.

"About what? Is everything okay?" Santana asked, worry flooding her face.

Only then did Rachel sit down on the bed with Santana. "San, when you proposed to me, did you mean it?"

Santana did a double take. "Of course I meant it. Rachel what's wrong?"

"Santana, when you proposed, I was so shocked and happy that I didn't think about things like college and my dream to star on Broadway before I accepted." Rachel said.

"Rach, you can still have those things."

"What about college, San? What if we don't get into the same schools? What if we end up going to schools on separate sides of the country? How are we supposed to make that work?" Rachel asked.

"We could do it. I know we could." Santana said. Rachel finally looked her in the eyes. Santana could see hurt, sadness, and the unmistakable glisten of tears ready to fall in them.

"Rachel, what are you trying to say?" Santana said, dreading the answer that was sure to come.

"I just…I'm not sure if we're ready to get married." Rachel said.

"I thought you loved me." Santana said.

"San, I do. But this isn't just about love. We have our futures to think of." Rachel said.

"So you don't see a future with me?" Santana said.

"San, you're putting words in my mouth."

"No, I'm not. Rachel, if you didn't want to get married, why did you say yes?"

"I do want us to get married. I just think that we should wait. Like we had originally planned." Rachel said.

Santana nodded. "So you want to what? Stay engaged?"

"Not for now." Rachel said, looking down.

"Do you even want to keep dating?" Santana asked.

"Of course I do. But right now I'm not sure if we're going to be able to after this. I can tell you are mad at me and hurt by this. I'm not sure if being in a relationship is a good idea for us right now." Rachel said.

"So you spend an hour with Jesse and all of a sudden you do not want to be with me at all? Are you with Jesse now? Because if you are you could have just said so." Santana said.

"Santana, I'm not with Jesse. First of all, turns out he's gay." Rachel said. Santana raised her eyebrows. "Second of all, I would never leave you for him."

"So you're just leaving me." Santana said.

"San…"

"Rachel, where does this leave us?" Santana asked.

"I want us to remain friends." Rachel said.

"I don't know if I can do that." Santana said. "It would be to hard."

"San, I don't want you out of my life." Rachel said.

"Rachel, I still love you, but for now, I can't be your friend. Its not that I don't want to. Its that I can't . It would kill me to be around you, but not have you." Santana said.

Rachel nodded. "I guess I just have to respect that. But just know that if you ever do want to be friends, or you ever want to talk, I'll always be there for you."

Santana just nodded. Rachel took that as her cue to leave. As she walked by Santana's dresser, she paused and took off the ring. "Keep this. We may need it someday." Santana closed her eyes as Rachel closed the door. She quickly grabbed her phone.

To: Quinn

She left me Q

What? Who? –Q

Rachel. She broke up with me. –S

You mean she broke off the engagement? –Q

No, I mean she broke up with me completely. –S

WHAT? –Q

That's basically what I said. –S

Why? Where did all this come from? In school, she couldn't get ENOUGH of you. –Q

No idea. All I know is that she went to dinner with Jesse and then came back all worried about college and how us being married would affect that. –S

Wait…Jesse St. James? –Q

Yep. –S

Do you think he's after her? –Q

I don't think so…Rachel said he's gay. –S

Oh…do you need a place to stay? –Q

Yea…definitely for tonight, but Q, I don't think I can live here anymore. It hurts to much. –S

Hold on…–Q

Okay…–S

Asked my mom if you could move in with us. She said yes. You can even move in tonight if you want. She said she just needs a couple of hours, maybe three, to clear out the guest bedroom. –Q.

OMG….are you sure Q? –S

Of course S. You're my best friend. I can be there in fifteen minutes if you want to help you pack. –Q

Yea…I should probably go tell Rachel's dads that I'm moving out. –S.

You should probably go tell RACHEL that you are moving out. –Q.

Rachel? Why? –S.

She kinda lives there, S. I am not about to show up there to learn that Rachel hasn't been informed, and then have to deliver that blow. I'm not leaving my house until you tell her. –Q

…Fine. I'll go tell her. –S.

Good. Text me when you're done. –Q.

K. Thanks, Q. Really. –S.

No problem, S. –Q.

Santana left her room and walked down the hall. She knocked on Rachel's door.

"Come in." Rachel said. Her nose sounded all stuffy. Santana wondered if she had been crying. Santana had been crying while texting Quinn. She opened the door.

"Hey, Rach."

"Santana. What are you doing in here?" Rachel asked. Her voice did not sound mad, just confused.

"I…I have something to tell you."

"What's up?"

"I think I'm going to move in with Quinn. Her mom said it was okay." Santana said.

Rachel's face dropped. "You…You're moving out?"

Santana nodded.

"San…you don't have to do that. You know that right?"

"Yea, I do. And I totally appreciate you offering to let me still live here even though…" Santana trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence.

"I get it. I guess it would have been awkward." Rachel said.

"I just need time. I don't want you out of my life either, Rach. But right now it hurts to see you all the time." Santana said.

Rachel nodded. "I am going to miss having you around."

"You'll still see me at school and in Glee." Santana said.

"I guess I had gotten used to having you around all the time." Rachel said.

Santana nodded. "Well, I have to…go pack. So I guess I'll see you before I leave?"

"You better come say goodbye." Rachel said.

Santana gave her a sad smile. "Definitely. Well, first I have to go break the news to your dads."

"You better let me do that. They don't even know that we…" Rachel trailed off.

Santana nodded. "Okay." The two girls exited the room. One went downstairs, the other down the hall. Santana quickly texted Quinn.

About ten minutes later, Leroy came to Santana's room. "San, you know that you don't have to leave. We meant it when we said we wanted you to live with us."

"No, I know Mr. B. Its just…hard. I don't think that I can see her everyday without breaking down and crying. At least not for awhile." Santana said.

Leroy nodded. "Well, okay. Just know that you're always welcome here. No matter what."

Santana smiled. "I know, Mr. B. Thanks." They heard the doorbell.

"I assume that's Quinn. I'll tell her you're up here."

"Thanks." Santana was surprised when the man hugged her. She hugged back. "Thank you so much for all you did."

"No problem kiddo. And we're so sorry that it didn't work out between you and Rachel. We really wanted it to." Leroy said.

"So did I. But thanks." Santana said. Suddenly Quinn showed up at the door.

"Hey S. Hey Mr. B." Quinn said.

"Hello, Quinn. Did Hiram let you in?"

"Uh…no. Rachel did." Quinn said.

Leroy nodded. "I'll leave you girls to packing, then. Santana, make sure you come tell Hiram and I goodbye, or else we may not allow you back in to the house." He said with a smile. Santana nodded.

"Well, my interaction with Rachel wasn't at all awkward." Quinn said sarcastically.

"What happened?" Santana dared to ask.

FLASHBACK

"Hi Quinn." Rachel said.

"Hey Rachel." Quinn said, noticing the sad look in Rachel's eyes.

"I'm guessing you're here to help Santana?"

Quinn nodded. "Can you show me where her room is?" she asked softly. While she normally loved making Rachel miserable she could not bring herself to do it when she knew how much both girls were suffering. And it helped that she knew that even though the two were broken up, Santana would still kill her if she said anything mean to Rachel. Rachel nodded and led Quinn up the stairs. They passed Rachel's room. Quinn stopped.

"Is that your room?" she asked.

Rachel nodded. "Why?"

"Can I see it?" Quinn asked.

"Uh…sure." Rachel opened her bedroom door and the two walked in.

Quinn nodded. "Its…exactly how Kurt, Puck and Finn described it."

"And how's that?" Rachel asked.

"Very Rachel Berry…and pink." Quinn smiled.

"Santana's never liked my room. I'm sure she had something bad to say about it." Rachel said, trying to make a joke.

Quinn's expression turned serious. "Santana never said anything bad about you…you know, after you guys told us about you two."

Rachel stopped smiling. Quinn thought she was on the verge of tears. "You know, I think I can find the way myself from here. Thanks, Rachel." She quickly left the room.

END FLASHBACK

"Good going Q." Santana said.

"You know, let's just pack. This entire experience is awkward." Quinn said. "By the way, Brittany is spending the night and she fully expects you to cry your heart out."

"I was planning on it." Santana said. "I just can't do it here."

Dropping her voice to a whisper, Quinn spoke again. "Since you aren't with Rachel anymore, are you going to rejoin the Cheerios? I mean, that's why you quit in the first place."

Santana thought about it. "Do you think Sue would let us rejoin?"

"We're her three best cheerleaders and Regionals are this weekend. Do you think you'd be able to perform Saturday, considering…"

"I think that would be the perfect distraction." Santana said. As the two left, Quinn went downstairs first. Santana went to Rachel's room.

"Hey, I'm going to take off now." Santana said to her girl…well, ex-girlfriend.

Rachel nodded. "Goodbye, San."

Santana walked over to the girl. "Bye, mi estrella." She softly kissed the girl on the top of her head, smiling as her eyes closed. Rachel watched as Santana paused at the door and turned around. "Rach, I do still love you. And I do want to try the whole being friends thing."

Rachel nodded. "Of course, San." Santana smiled and left, saying goodbye to the Berry men as she did. Rachel watched from her window as Santana and Quinn loaded up her stuff. Before she got in the car, Santana turned around and looked at Rachel's window. She gave a small smile and waved to the girl indoors. Rachel waved back. Soon, Santana was gone.

The rest of the week went by rather fast for Santana, considering the way the earlier part had gone. Sue allowed the three to rejoin the Cheerios. Regionals came and went with yet another trophy in Sue's hands. Santana somehow managed to get through the rest of the weekend. Then Monday came. "Okay guys. Here's your assignment. You're going to draw a name out of a hat and then choose a song that makes you think of your partner. Half of you will draw." Mr. Schue said.

The six that got to draw were Brittany, Tina, Mercedes, Mike, Finn, and Rachel.

Brittany was first. "I got Sam." Mr. Schue wrote it down.

Next up was Tina. "Kurt." Again, Mr. Schue made a note.

Mercedes was next. "Artie."

Mike followed. "Quinn."

Then Rachel. "Santana…." Santana, who had been looking at her binder, slowly looked up.

"Is that going to be okay, guys?" Mr. Schue asked. Both girls slowly nodded, not looking at each other. "So I guess that leaves Finn and Puckerman." The bell rang, and Santana was the first one out of the room.

Later after the final bell rang, Santana saw Rachel at her locker. "Hey, Rachel. When did you want to practice for the assignment?"

"I don't know. Whenever you're free, I guess." Rachel said. She nodded towards Santana's Cheerios uniform. "Congrats on winning Regionals on Saturday, by the way."

Santana looked down. "Thanks."

"I was surprised Sue let you guys rejoin. Actually I was surprised you guys wanted to rejoin."

"Well, I quit for you and we broke up, so…yeah. I guess I just needed the distraction." Santana said.

"What about Glee?" Rachel asked.

"You mean the thing that you and I are both in? Yea, great distraction from losing you." Santana joked. Rachel slightly laughed.

"I guess you're right. I wrote a song to distract myself." Rachel said.

"I want to hear it sometime." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

She looked at Santana. "I miss you, Santana." She said quietly.

Santana looked down. "I miss you too, Rachel. But you should know that. You know that if this were going my way, we'd still be together." Rachel slightly nodded before, without warning, kissing Santana. The taller girl only slightly hesitated before hungrily kissing Rachel back. Gently, she pushed the smaller girl up against the wall that was right next to her locker for support. Rachel put her arms around Santana's neck, causing the other girl to wrap her arms around Rachel's waist in return. The smaller girl attempted to deepen the kiss, when suddenly Santana pulled away.

"I…Santana, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Not after everything I've put you through." Rachel apologized.

"Wait, Rachel, its fine. I probably should've pulled away before I did." Santana said.

"You must think I'm trying to mess with your head or something." Rachel said.

"If I wasn't so incredibly hot, yes I would." Santana joked, causing Rachel to smile. "Hey, I got you to smile again. Now everything's better."

Rachel looked around, then pulled Santana into the choir room. "What are you doing, Rachel?" Santana questioned.

"Santana, I didn't want to break up with you."

"Okay…but then why did you?" Santana asked.

"I just…I couldn't think of any other option." Rachel said.

"Rachel, I would've understood that you just didn't want to get married, but you wanted to still be with me." Santana said.

"I guess if I felt that even though you said you were okay with it, after awhile you would have grown to resent me or something. Especially if us being together prevented you from going to the college of your dreams." Rachel said.

Santana's heart broke. "Ray, I could never resent you."

Hearing Santana call her by her nickname made Rachel smile. "You say that now, but what about in a year, or two years?"

"Rachel. I could never hate or resent you. I love you too much." Santana said.

"Even after I broke up with you, then kissed you?" Rachel said.

"Yes. Even after that. We haven't exactly been broken up that long. I can't just erase a three month relationship overnight." Santana said. Rachel nodded.

"Right."

"So what exactly are you getting at Rachel?" Santana had to ask.

"I miss you, San. I love you. And I guess…I guess I'm trying to say that…I…I want you back, Santana. If you'll take me, that is." Rachel said.

Santana nodded. "You mean like…" she trailed off, hoping Rachel knew what she meant so she didn't t have to say it.

Rachel did. "I think we should go back to just dating for now."

Santana nodded again. "I think I'm okay with that."

Rachel looked in Santana's eyes. "So…"

Santana kissed Rachel. Slowly, the two pulled away. "Is that a yes?" Rachel asked.

"Rachel, you're a smart girl." Santana said, kissing her again.

"It's a yes." Rachel smiled.

"Hey, I still want to hear your song." Santana said, looking at her girlfriend (Santana could not believe she had Rachel back).

"Quick question first. Are you going to move back in?" Rachel said.

"Do you want me too?"

"Of course." Rachel said.

"I have to talk to Mrs. Fabray. I'll do it tonight, okay?" Santana promised.

Rachel nodded. "Okay."

"You. Sing. Now." Santana said.

Rachel laughed. "Okay, okay." She sat down at the piano.

She started to sing.

There you rest
With all the rest
Of my accessories
On my nightstand.

You're red or yellow
And like a good fellow
Sometimes you get lost in my mess.
But when schoolgirl pigtails won't do,
And I need to control my do
You're the only one I can count on.

My headband,
You're my headband.
Wrapped right around my melon,
You're a product like Magellan

Santana had to interrupt. "Wait…Rachel, did you write a song about your headband?

Rachel nodded. "Yes. Its called My Headband." Santana nodded. "So what did you think?" Rachel asked her girlfriend.

"Well…you know…it was…different…" Santana said.

"It sucks doesn't it?" Rachel said.

"Yea, pretty much." Santana admitted, hating the way Rachel's enthusiasm deflated. She walked over and sat down on the piano bench next to Rachel. "Baby its okay. You can practice and get better. Just write about something other than your headband." Santana said. She pulled Rachel into her lap. Rachel put her arms around Santana's neck to keep balance.

"Yea, that's probably good advice." Rachel said.

"You know what else is good advice?" Santana asked.

"What's that?" Rachel asked.

"Kiss me." Santana whispered.

"That's excellent advice." Rachel whispered back, leaning in. Before she could follow, the two were interrupted.

"Whoa. Did we go back in time or something?" Quinn asked, smiling.

"No, I simply realized that I made a mistake." Rachel said.

"So are you two, like, re-engaged or what?" Puck asked.

"No, we're just dating again." Santana said.

"You okay with that, S?" Puck asked.

"I'm totally fine with it. As long as I have her back, I'm good." Santana asked.

"So does this mean that you're moving out?" Quinn asked.

"I'm not sure. I hate to do that to your mom, after she went to all that trouble." Santana said.

"We can talk about it tonight. I'm sure she will be fine with it." Quinn said, smiling. The rest of the glee club walked in and began applauding. Rachel looked at Santana, who shrugged.

"Might as well give them something." She said before kissing Rachel. When they pulled away, Rachel rested her forehead on Santana's. "God, I love you baby girl." Santana said.

"I love you too San." Rachel said.

"You don't know how glad it makes me to hear you say that again." Santana said.

"About as much as it makes me to hear you say it to me." Rachel said. The two smiled at each other. Mr. Schue walked in.

"Ladies, we are all very happy for you, but can we please start practicing for Regionals?" he asked smiling. Santana opened her mouth to protest when Rachel put her hand over Santana's mouth to silence her.

"Of course Mr. Schue. I was thinking that we could…" It was Santana's turn to clamp her hand over Rachel's mouth, for the sake of the club's sanity.

"Oh Rachel. We've all missed your paragraphical speaking." Quinn said, earning a laugh from Santana, which earned the Latina a playful glare from her girlfriend. The two went to their seats, sitting very close to each other. The next morning, Santana arrived to the choir room early. She wanted to get there before Rachel so that she could find a song for her Glee assignment. She thought back to when Rachel sang The Only Exception to her. Yeah, they had only been dating for three days. And sure, she said it was for Finn, but eyes can't, won't and don't lie and Rachel's were on Santana the entire time. She smiled at the thought. Slowly, the Glee Club began to dribble in. Santana found it odd that Rachel was not the first one after her, but she let it go. Sometimes Rachel took forever to leave her house.

Rachel was walking down one of McKinley's many hallways to get to the choir room, when suddenly someone from behind her pulled her, ripping her shirt. She was pushed against the wall and found herself face to face with Marshall, with the boy practically choking her.

"Heard you broke up with Lopez." He said.

"Actually we're back together." She replied.

"Then I guess I better hope San doesn't find out about this."

"What do you want, Marshall?" she asked, terrified.

"To finish what I started, Berry." He leaned down to kiss her, but she slapped him in the face, causing him to hit her. She cried at the pain. "You shouldn't have done that, Berry." He raised his fist, and she closed her eyes to brace herself from the blow. Before he could hit her again, however, she felt him release her. She opened her eyes and found Puck holding him on the floor.

"Don't ever touch her!" he yelled. She was grabbed from behind again, and turned around to see Finn. He looked at her shirt and quickly took off his Hoodie to give to her. After she had it on, he pulled her into a hug. She began openly sobbing.

"Its okay, Rach. Puck and I are here. You're safe." Finn said to her. He looked up. "Puck. Rachel needs you more. She needs you to stay out of juvie." Those words got Puck instantly off the floor and he walked over to Rachel. He gently turned the girl around and the sight of her bloody and swollen face almost caused him to turn around again, but Rachel crashing into him with a hug stopped him. He wrapped his arms around her.

"You're safe, Rach. I would never let anything happen to you." he said.

Finn spoke up. "Marshall, you better get out of here before Rachel lets go of Puck." Finn advised. The other boy got up off the floor and went in the direction of the parking lot.

"Do you want to go to the nurse's office?" Puck softly asked. Rachel nodded.

"Rach, we have to stop by the choir room and tell Mr. Schue where we'll be, though." Finn said.

"Santana can't see me like this." Rachel insisted.

"She's going to eventually hear about it." Puck reasoned. Rachel eventually gave in and the three went to the choir room.

Santana was practicing dance steps with Mercedes and Brittany when they got there. Mercedes was facing the direction of the door when they walked in. Santana and Brittany were had their backs to the door, so Santana didn't immediately see Rachel. Everyone around her instantly paused.

"Oh my god." Quinn said.

"Rachel?" Mercedes said. Santana instantly turned around.

"Oh my god." She whispered. She immediately ran to Rachel. "Ray? What…how…who?" She gently inspected the girl's face. She turned to Puck and Finn. "What happened?"

"Marshall was beating her up and Puck and I stopped him. Well, Puck stopped him. I made sure Rachel was okay." Finn explained.

"And you couldn't have gotten there before he hit her?" Santana exclaimed.

"San, they helped. It could've been a lot worse." Rachel whispered. Santana looked down at her girlfriend.

"You're right." She turned to the guys. "I'm sorry. Thanks for helping her."

Rachel hugged both guys again. "He's lucky I didn't beat the crap out of him." Puck said.

"Rachel, this needs to be reported. Regardless about the other situation. He physically hurt you this time." Mr. Schue said.

"But-"

"Last time doesn't even need to come up. It won't be relevant."

Santana's face clouded with anger. "Q, take Rachel to the nurse's office." She turned to walk out of the room, ignoring everyone's protests. Then one voice spoke up.

"Santana." She heard Rachel say. She turned around and slowly walked back to the girl.

"Yes baby girl?" she softly said.

"Please don't go."

"I can't let some guy beat you up and let him get away with it! I need to make him pay." Santana said.

"I need you. I need you here with me. I need you to help me get better." Rachel said, touching her arm. Santana instantly relaxed.

"Of course. I'm sorry." She wrapped the girl into a hug. "Why are you wearing Finn's jacket?" Rachel unzipped the jacket to reveal her ripped top. Santana's face instantly clouded with anger again. Rachel grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving.

"Rachel, you need to go the nurse's office." Mr. Schue said.

"I'll take her." Santana immediately said. Mr. Schue nodded. The pair left the choir room.

"I think he was following me from my house." Rachel suddenly said.

"What?"

"I was pretty sure I saw his car across the street when I left. I just didn't think much about it." Rachel said.

"That's it. I'm definitely moving back." Santana said. Rachel attempted to smile, but winced in pain. "Be careful, baby." Santana said. The girl kept looking around as the pair continued to walk.

"He left, San."

"How do you know?"

"Because Puck scared him so bad he ran towards the parking lot." Rachel said.

"Thank God for Puck." Santana muttered under her breath. "Baby I am so sorry that I wasn't there."

"San its okay. You're here now and luckily Puck and Finn were there too." Rachel said. They reached the nurse's office. "Can we talk about this later?" Rachel asked.

Santana nodded. "Of course." She gently kissed Rachel's not swollen cheek before taking her into the nurse's office. The nurse took one look at Rachel before immediately grabbing the first aid kit.

"What happened to you?"

"She was beat up. What does it look like happened to her?" Santana snapped.

"San." Rachel chastised under her breath.

The nurse looked at Rachel. "Did she do this?"

Santana all but blew up. "Why would I bring her to the nurse's office if I was the one to beat her up? Why would you automatically assume that? Is it because I am Latina?"

"No, its because I know about your reputation. I don't know how many times I have had students come to me because they "fell" down the stairs as Santana Lopez was passing."

"Santana!" Rachel said.

"That was the old me, Rachel. Let it go." Santana said. She turned back to the nurse. "Can you just help her? Please?" She added after the glare Rachel gave her. The nurse glared at Santana for a moment. "Glaring at me is not going to help my girlfriend." Santana remarked.

"Okay, I am going to have to ask you to leave." The nurse said.

Santana looked at Rachel. "Yea, no. I'm not going anywhere." She sat down in one of the chairs.

"Santana, please just shut up." Rachel mumbled through the ice pack on her face.

Santana nodded. "Okay." She did not say another word. The nurse was trying to put Neosporin in Rachel's cut.

"Ow." Rachel hissed. Santana glared at the nurse, but said nothing.

"Okay Rachel. You're good to go. It doesn't look like you need stitches and nothing is broken. But you do need to report this to the principal." The nurse said.

Rachel nodded. "Thank you." She looked at Santana, silently telling her to do the same.

"Yea, thanks." She grumbled. Rachel rolled her eyes and pulled the other girl out of the office.

"San, that was so rude." Rachel said, trying to hide her smile.

"You knew how I was when we got together." She replied. "And I have been nothing but sweet to you since."

"Except, you know, everyday in Glee Club before we came out." Rachel countered.

Santana shook her head. "Doesn't count."

Rachel stopped and took Santana's hands in hers. "I know." Santana stood there staring into Rachel's eyes for a moment before leaning down and kissing her forehead. Rachel looked up. "What is with you avoiding my lips?"

"I don't want to hurt you, Rach." Santana protested.

Rachel leaned up. "You kissing me could never hurt." She whispered before softly kissing Santana who wasted no time before softly returning the kiss. "I love you." Rachel whispered against Santana's lips, wrapping her arms around the other girl's neck.

"I love you too." The taller girl replied. She pulled away, put her arms around Rachel's waist and pushed away a strand of hair that had fallen in Rachel's face.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Santana asked.

"I have you to take care of me. And now that you're moving back in, I'm extremely okay." Rachel said.

Santana nodded. "I'm not leaving your side, babe."

"What about Cheerios practice?"

"You can sit in the bleachers and watch." Santana said. "And most, actually all, of our classes are together. So I will be with you practically 24/7."

"That might get a little tiring after awhile." Rachel said.

"Psh. You wish you didn't want me around all the time." Santana smirked.

"Never." Rachel said before kissing Santana again. Santana proceeded to drag Rachel to the principal's office. She texted Finn and told him to meet them there and to bring Puck. When they arrived, they found the two, plus Mr. Schue. The group walked in.

"Ah, William, you requested to meet with me?" Principal Figgins asked.

"Yes sir. Rachel why don't you explain?"

"I was walking down the hall towards the choir room when I was attacked by another student." Rachel said.

"What student?"

"Marshall Andrews." Santana said.

"Mr. Andrews has already been to see me. He told me that Mr. Puckerman was hitting Rachel and he tried to stop him." Figgins said.

"What? That's a total lie! I was protecting Rachel!" Puck said.

"Wait. You said that he left." Santana said to Rachel.

"I thought that he did." Rachel said.

"Sir, I saw the whole thing. It was the other way around. Besides Puck would never hit Rachel." Finn said.

"Mr. Andrews has bruises on his face from Mr. Puckerman hitting him. There's no physical evidence that Mr. Andrews hit Rachel." Figgins said.

"No evidence? Are you completely blind? Look at her face!" Santana exclaimed.

"Ms. Lopez, I think that you need to calm down." Figgins said.

"You think that I need to calm down? I think that you need to calm down!" Santana replied.

"Schue, control your students."

"No. Not when they're right. Puck would never do that to Rachel and you have a witness." Mr. Schue said.

"Who happens to be the friend of the suspect." Figgins said. There was a knock on the door. Everyone turned to look. The person entered.

"Karofsky? What are you doing here?" Santana asked.

"Principal Figgins, can I say something? It has to do with the incident." Karofsky said.

"Sure."

"Sir, I saw Marshall hit Rachel first. She was walking along, minding her own business when he grabbed her from behind and choked her. He tried to kiss her, but she stopped him. He got angry so he punched her. He tried to hit her again, but Puck stopped him. Puck let him go about thirty seconds later. Puck was only protecting Rachel." Karofsky said. Will, Santana, Finn, Rachel, and Puck's mouths all dropped. Rachel winced at the pain, but the shock did not leave her face. Figgins nodded.

"There. You have an unbiased witness." Santana said.

"Is that enough?" Will asked.

"Mr. Andrews will be expelled.. Mr. Puckerman, I'm sorry. You're all free to go." Figgins said. The group left.

"Thank you David." Rachel said. Karofsky nodded.

"Rachel, Santana, I'm sorry for what happened a while back. It wasn't cool and neither of you deserved it." Both girls nodded. Karofsky walked away.

"Rachel are you sure you're okay?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"Yes, Mr. Schue. I think I just need to rest." Rachel replied.

"Santana, how about you take her home?" the teacher said. The girl nodded.

"Come on Rach." The two walked out to Santana's car. "We can get your car later." Santana said. Rachel nodded and got in the car. After about five minutes, Santana spoke. "Baby, I am so sorry you had to go through that."

"Santana, its not like you are the one who hit me." Rachel said.

"I know, I just…I wish that it had been me that he had hit." Santana said.

"Why?"

"Because I hate when you get hurt. It makes me hurt. And it makes me want to punch whoever hurt you." Santana said.

"And you think that I don't feel that way whenever you're hurting? Do you know how much willpower it takes not to punch Sue Sylvester whenever I see her?" Rachel reasoned. Santana laughed. "What's so funny?"

"The thought of someone punching Coach Sylvester."

"The thought of someone or the thought of me?" Rachel asked.

Santana thought about it. "Now that I think about it, you punching her would be epic."

Rachel laughed at the thought. "It would be, huh?"

Suddenly, Santana turned serious. "Hey, in my bag is an envelope. It has your name on it. Can you find it please?" Rachel nodded and looked for it. After a few minutes she found it.

"What is it?" she asked, looking at it in her hands.

"Open it, silly." Santana said. Rachel pulled out a letter. "I wrote it to you the day after we broke up. I was trying to build up the nerve to give it to you, but then we got back together."

"You didn't cuss me out in it did you?" Rachel warily asked.

"Rachel, why would I give it to you after we got back together if I did?" Santana reasoned.

"Good point." Rachel read it out loud.

Dear Rachel,

As happy as I am that we ended things on good terms, words can't even begin to describe how sad and upset I am that we ended things at all. I love you so much, but I completely understand where you're coming from with all this. I would never want to be the one to hold you back from what you are destined to do, which is star on Broadway. And even though we aren't together, I'll still fully support you and do whatever I can to help make that dream come true. My dream is that all of your dreams can come true for you. Well, that and to be able to still look this good in twenty years. That was added for humor, by the way. But seriously, as long as all of your dreams come true, than my dream will have come true as well. And I want you to know that I will be in the front row for you Broadway debut. I will always be here for you baby girl, you will never have to doubt that. I'll always support you, and I'll always love you. If you ever need anything, I will help you and I will always fight for you and defend you. And if you do decide that you want me to be apart of your dream, I will drop whatever I'm doing and I will come running because I love you. Anyway, I just wanted you to know that.

Love, Santana

As Rachel read the last part of Santana's letter, Santana looked over at her. She noticed that the other girl was tearing up. "Rachel, it wasn't intended to make you cry."

"Was the goal of this letter to get me back?" Rachel asked.

"No. It was to let you know that I would always be your friend no matter what you decided." Santana said.

"That's too bad…it would have worked." Rachel said.

Santana smiled. "Well, I didn't need it. You came running back to me."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "You didn't exactly put up a fight."

"That's because I love you." Santana said.

"This is kind of weird isn't it?" Rachel asked

"What?"

"Us being nice to each other." Rachel said.

"Uh…no? We're together and in love…" Santana said.

"No I mean so much has changed since last year. Since the beginning of this year, even. Four months ago, you hated me. And now…" Rachel said.

"And now I tell you that I love you at least twenty times a day?" Santana said. Rachel nodded. "Rach, you can't exactly help who you fall in love with. I mean, I certainly would not have picked you." Santana said.

"Excuse me?" Rachel said.

"I mean the old me. The new me doesn't want anyone else." Santana quickly said.

"Nice save Lopez." Rachel said.

"You know you love me." Was the reply she received.

"That I do." Rachel smiled at Santana, who was concentrating on driving. "That I do." When they reached the Berry house, Santana helped Rachel inside. She gently led Rachel to the couch and instructed her to lie down. Santana went upstairs and got Rachel's favorite blanket and her pillow. She went back downstairs.

"Do you need an ice pack or anything?"

"I could really use some aspirin." Rachel said.

"Coming right up." Santana said and went into the kitchen. She quickly returned. After Rachel took the pill, Santana sat down and grabbed the remote. "What do you want to watch? And just know that if you say High School Musical, I'm totally going back to school."

Rachel sighed. "Fine. I guess we can watch I Love You, Beth Cooper if you want." Santana smiled and put the DVD in. Halfway through the movie, they heard a car door shut. The two looked at each other. Before either of them could say anything, the front door opened. "You did remember to lock the door, right?" Rachel whispered.

"Yes…well, I think I did." Santana whispered back.

"Santana!" Rachel hissed.

"Rachel?" they heard. Rachel knew that voice.

"Daddy?" she replied. Both of Rachel's fathers soon entered the room.

"Rachel, sweetie, are you okay?" Hiram said. Santana got out of the way so that both of them could sit next to their daughter.

"I'll be fine Daddy." Rachel replied.

Leroy looked over at Santana. "Are you okay, Santana?"

Santana nodded. "Yes sir. I actually wasn't there when it happened."

Hiram looked over. "Where were you? You're supposed to protect our daughter!"

"Daddy!"

"Hiram, that was uncalled for." Leroy said.

"Was it Leroy? Rachel never got beat up until she started dating Santana. The worst that happened was a slushie. Now we get a call in the middle of the day saying she went home because a boy hit her?" Hiram exclaimed.

"Mr. Berry, if I'd been there he wouldn't have touched Rachel. As soon as I heard, I tried to go after him. Rachel stopped me." Santana said.

"Yes, well, all I know is that Finn and Noah were there to help her. And her so-called girlfriend wasn't." Hiram said.

"So-called? Daddy, stop it! You'are being mean to Santana when all she has tried to do is help take care of me." Rachel said. "She even offered to move back in so we can come to school together and she can make sure that he does not stalk the house or wait for me at school." Rachel said.

Hiram scoffed. "There's no way I am letting her move back in here." Santana's mouth almost dropped open. She had always thought Hiram had liked her.

Rachel's mouth actually did drop open. "Dad, please do something."

"Hiram, that is enough. Since Santana and Rachel have gotten together, she has done nothing but love our daughter. Rachel's safety has been her top priority and I believe that if she had been there, Rachel would have been safe." Leroy turned his attention to Santana. "But I do have to ask, where were you? Rachel told me that you usually wait for her outside."

Santana nodded. "I went in early today. Our Glee assignment is to find a song that makes you think about your partner and I was trying to find the perfect song for my partner, which happens to be Rachel. I didn't want her to overhear and ruin the surprise, so I came to school early. I wish I hadn't."

Rachel nodded. "She even told me that she wished she had gotten hit instead of me."

Hiram shook his head. "Nevertheless, I don't think it is appropriate for Rachel to continue to spend time with Santana. Not when all she does is bring Rachel pain."

"Mr. Berry, with all due respect, since I started dating her, when have I ever caused Rachel pain?" Santana asked.

"Well, you proposed to her, then broke up with her."

"Daddy, I broke up with her! She didn't break up with me. And we got back together less than a week later." Rachel interrupted. Her father held up a hand.

"And now this."

"You can't honestly believe that this is my fault." Santana said.

"She got beat up because of you."

"She got beat up because…" Santana trailed off, knowing this was Rachel's story to tell her dads. "You know what? There's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise right now. I think I should go before the relationship I thought we had is completely demolished and while there is still a chance I can still be allowed to see Rachel. But I have one thing to say. You can stop us from seeing each other, but you can't stop us from loving each other, Mr. Berry. In the past couple of weeks I've learned that my relationship with Rachel can withstand pretty much everything." Santana leaned over and kissed Rachel on the forehead. "I love you, baby girl," she whispered.

"I love you too. Please call me later." Rachel said.

Santana grabbed her phone and wallet from the table and started to walk towards the hall. "I will. Bye." She turned towards Leroy. "Bye Mr. B."

"Goodbye sweetie." Leroy said, hugging the girl.

She turned towards Hiram. "Goodbye Mr. Berry. I wish I could convince you that I would've done everything possible to protect her if I'd been there. I really do hope that you forgive me for allowing this to happen and continue to allow me to see your daughter." She extended her hand and he shook it. Santana waved to Rachel, shot her a small smile, then left. Only then did Rachel blow up.

"How could you do that? Santana tried to help me! Santana loves me!" Rachel yelled.

"Rachel, if she loved you, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"She wasn't there! She didn't know! You didn't see her when she found out. I did. She was furious. She got mad at Finn and Puck for letting him do this to me. She tried to go after him. When we went to the nurse's office, she got mad at the nurse when the Neosporin she put in my cut stung me. When the nurse requested Santana leave, Santana flat out said she wasn't leaving me and sat down in a chair. Now try and tell me she doesn't love me." Rachel said.

Hiram nodded. "I guess I did overreact. Santana has always been a lovely girl and she has always been sweet to you, at least, since we've known her."

Leroy nodded. "Rachel, I have to ask. What did Santana start to say when your daddy accused her of being the reason that you got beat up?"

Rachel swallowed. "The guy who beat me up…he tried to sleep with me at a party, but Santana stopped him. Whether or not he wanted to get revenge on Santana or what, I'm not sure, but he was definitely planning on trying again."

"I'm going to the principal." Her dad said.

"I already did. Mr. Schue, Finn, Puck, Santana, and I did. Principal Figgins said that he was going to be expelled. But I won't feel safe unless I have the one person, other than you two, that I know I can count on with me. And I think you know who that is." Rachel said.

"Santana." Hiram said.

"Daddy, please let her move back in. I love her. She loves me. And she loves you guys." Rachel said.

They looked at each other. "Okay." Hiram said.

"O…okay?"

"Santana can move back in. You can call her now. Knowing Santana, she didn't go back to school. She wouldn't have been able to concentrate." He said. Rachel smiled and ran upstairs to make the call. She quickly dialed her girlfriend's number.

"Hello?" Santana said.

"Oh my god, Santana!" Rachel said excitedly.

"Well, hello to you too."

"Sorry. Hi!" Rachel said.

Santana laughed into the phone. "Hey there, pretty girl. How did the inquisition go?"

"Pretty good. Considering you get to…wait for it…move back in with us!" Rachel said.

"Wait…what? You actually convinced them to let me?" Santana said.

"Uh…yeah! That is what you wanted, right?"

"Of course. Anything to be around you all the time." Santana said.

"I thought that you wanted to protect me." Rachel teased.

"Uh…yeah. That too." Santana laughed. "Seriously though. That is so cool."

"I know right? Are you coming back right now?" Rachel asked.

"Do you want me to?"

"I always want you here, San."

"Then I am on my way." Santana said, smiling even though she knew Rachel could not see it.

"Awesome." Rachel said.

"Hey Rachel?"

"Yea San?"

"I do love you. You know that right?" she asked.

"Santana, of course I do. My dads do too. Daddy just overreacted to me being hurt." Rachel said.

"As long as you know, that's all that matters, right?"

"Yes." Santana moved back into the Berry house that weekend. That Monday, she had early morning Cheerios practice. She woke up at six in the morning and got ready. Before she got ready she went into Rachel's room.

"Ray? Rachel, honey, wake up." Santana whispered.

"What? Is it time for my Grammy? Do I look okay?" Rachel said.

Santana giggled. "You look beautiful, pretty girl. And no its not time for your Grammy. Not yet, anyway. Its time to wake up."

"Wha…San? What's going on? Is it seven thirty yet?" Rachel sleepily slurred.

"No baby. Its six in the morning. Wake up." Santana smiled.

"What? Why?" Rachel whined.

"Early morning Cheerios practice. You have to come with me." Santana explained.

"But…Santana!" Rachel said.

"Not interested in hearing it. Get up and get ready. You aren't leaving this house without me." Santana said.

Rachel sighed. "Fine."

The two got ready and Santana drove to the school. Rachel went into the gym while Santana went into the locker room to put her stuff in her locker. While she was there, a Cheerio named Amy walked up to her. "So Lopez, heard you're dating Rachel Berry."

Santana turned around. "What's it to you? You have a problem with me dating a girl?"

Amy shook her head. "No, we have a problem with you dating Berry."

"Excuse me?" Santana said.

Amy walked closer and put her water bottle in Santana's face. "You heard me."

"I was hoping I hadn't." Santana hit the water bottle out of Amy's hand. "Don't ever do that again." Amy pointed a finger in Santana's face.

"You can't date her and stay on the Cheerios, Lopez." Santana hit the hand. Amy stepped back a step. Santana tried to lunge forward, but was caught by Quinn and Brittany.

"S. S, calm down." Quinn said.

"No way! She told me that I couldn't date Rachel."

"Whoa! Amy that's so not your place." Quinn said.

"We can't have a Cheerio dating a geek like Rachel! Its bad for our reputation." Amy said.

"You know what else would be bad for our reputation? If the school found out who you are dating, Mrs. Lead Tuba." Quinn said. Santana held back her laughter.

Sue walked in. "What is going on here?"

"Amy's telling Santana who to date." Brittany said.

"Who's Santana dating?" Sue asked.

"Rachel Berry." Amy said.

Sue nodded. "Alright, listen up. I don't care if you're white, black, orange, or blue. I don't care if you are straight or not. If you can do a triple flip in the air, you're on the Cheerios. Unless you're discriminating against your teammates. Then you're off. Amy, I want you out of that uniform, now. Everyone else, get out into the gym. Now!" Sue stormed out of the locker room.

"What just happened?" Amy said.

"I think you just got kicked off." Quinn said. Santana nodded.

"Buh-bye!" she said.

"Whatever. Like I need the Cheerios." Amy said and walked out. The remaining Cheerios went to the gym and had practice.

"Lopez! You'll be taking Amy's spot on the pyramid." Sue said.

Santana looked up. "What?"

"You heard me."

Quinn looked at her. "S, Amy was in the second tier on the pyramid with Britt. You're back at the top of the pyramid. Sort of."

"Oh my god. I am." Santana looked up at Rachel and smiled. Rachel smiled back.

"Alright, practice is over!" Sue said.

Santana went to the locker and got her stuff. Rachel was waiting in the hallway when she came out. "Rachel! You aren't supposed to be in the hall by yourself. What is Marshall came back into school?"

"But he didn't. Everything's good. Especially now that you're back at the top of the pyramid! I'm so happy for you! But…why did Amy lose her spot?"

"She uh…told me that if I was dating you, I couldn't be on the Cheerios. Sue got mad and kicked her off of the squad." Santana said.

"Really?" Rachel stopped smiling. "San, I am so sorry."

"Why? Its not like I'm the one who got kicked off. And if I'd gotten kicked off because of that, it wouldn't have mattered. Because I love you more than the Cheerios." Santana said.

"Aw…San! That's so sweet." Rachel smiled.

"Rach, people are always going to tell us we cannot be together. But I think that we've proven that we can outlast them. We defy the odds. We shouldn't work as a couple, but we do." Santana said.

"We do, huh? I think we make a pretty good couple." Rachel said.

"Good? Sweetie, I think we make an amazing couple." Santana said.

"Yea. I think you're right." Rachel smiled and walked to the choir room.

"Alright, guys. Who's ready to sing their song?" Mr. Schue said.

No one raised his or her hands. "No one? Seriously guys? What's going on?"

"In our defense, Mr. Schue, Finn, Puck, Rachel and I have been a little distracted." Santana said.

"Okay, you four are off the hook for today but what about the rest of you?" Mr. Schue said.

No one said anything. "Guys, come on. Regionals are soon. I thought you guys wanted to go to Nationals."

"Of course we do, Mr. Schue." Mercedes said.

"But we 've all kind of been distracted with the whole Rachel and Marshall incident. No one, not even Karofsky, ever went this far." Kurt said.

"You guys are all pretty shook up about this, huh?" Mr. Schue said.

Every single member nodded. "It scared us when we saw her the other day." Tina said.

"Seriously." Artie agreed.

"Guys, what happened to me had nothing to do with being in Glee Club." Rachel said.

Everyone looked at her. "What?" Mike said.

"Marshall wanted to sleep with me. He didn't want to punish me for being in Glee Club." Rachel said. She could feel Santana start to get angry at hearing all of this again. Rachel put her hand on Santana's knee to comfort her. "Sorry, sweetie."

"Baby, don't apologize. He should apologize to you." Santana said.

"Rachel, we're so sorry that you had to go through that." Mr. Schue said.

"Seriously. We're going to give you, like, a human perimeter wall when you walk down the hallway. No one is going to get close enough to hit you again." Puck said.

"Guys, I appreciate that, but you don't have to do that for me." Rachel said.

"Baby we know that. We want to. You know I do." Santana said.

"Did you put them up to this?" Rachel asked Santana.

"No. No one did. Mike and Sam came up with it. And everyone quickly agreed." Quinn said.

"Guys, I really appreciate this, but I feel that a perimeter is just going to bring more attention to the situation." Rachel protested.

"Fine. But we're all walking with you." Sam said.

As they walked down the hall, Rachel received many weird looks. The other Glee members reluctantly disappeared at their classrooms. Eventually it was just Rachel and Santana. Finally, someone said something. "Aren't you the girl who got beat up?"

As Rachel began to stammer out an answer, Santana stepped in. "Is that really any of your business?" she asked, protectively stepping between the boy and Rachel.

He quickly shook his head. "You're Santana Lopez, aren't you?"

Santana looked taken aback. Everyone in McKinley knew who she was. "You must be new here if you don't know that." She said.

"Its my first day. Sorry about my comment earlier. I'm Drake Wyatt, by the way." He said.

Santana looked him over. He wasn't bad looking. In fact, he was actually pretty hot. "Santana Lopez." She offered. "But you apparently already knew that." Drake smiled. Rachel cleared her throat. Santana looked back. "Oh. Sorry. This is my friend Rachel Berry."

'Friend?' Rachel mouthed. The other two did not notice and Drake gave Rachel a small smile. Rachel didn't like the way Santana was flirtatiously twirling her hair and leaning closer to Drake than she was to Rachel. "So Santana, maybe you could show me around sometime?" Drake asked. Santana eagerly nodded. "Sure, of course. How about during lunch?"

"San, I thought we were eating lunch together today." Rachel said.

"Oh…well can we eat together tomorrow, Rach?" Santana asked.

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "I guess." She said in a short tone.

Santana nodded. "So lunch?" she said to Drake, putting a hand on his arm. Rachel watched with narrow eyes.

"Definitely." Drake smiled again. "See you then." He walked away.

Rachel turned and continued down the hall. When Santana turned around, Rachel was gone. "What did I do?" she asked herself. "Rachel!" she called. Sighing, the diva stopped, but did not turn around. Santana ran to catch up. "Rachel."

"Yes, Santana?" Rachel asked in the same tone she had had earlier.

"Did I do something wrong?" Santana asked.

"I don't know. Did you?" Rachel asked.

"Uh…do you want to clue me in?" Santana said, getting annoyed.

"You seriously don't know." Rachel said. She turned around and walked into the bathroom. Santana followed. Rachel's back was facing the door, but Santana could tell she was crying.

"Rachel, what's going on? What did I do?" Santana asked. She gently turned Rachel around.

"Santana, you stood there and flirted with someone else right in front of me." Rachel said.

"What? Rachel, I wasn't flirting with him."

"Oh come on. Santana, I know you. I know how you flirt. You block out everyone and you twirl your hair around your finger to look interested in whatever they're saying. And you don't ever show new students around." Rachel said.

Santana looked down. "Rach, I am so sorry." She looked back up. "But there's something else. Something that you aren't telling me."

"You introduced me as your friend Rachel Berry." Rachel said.

"Okay…"

"So now we're just friends?" Rachel asked.

Santana closed my eyes. "Oh my god. I was totally flirting. Rachel, I am so sorry."

Santana tried to pull Rachel into a hug. "I can cancel if you want me to."

Rachel fell into the hug. "No, its okay. I trust you. Show him around."

"Are you sure?" Santana said.

"Yes I'm sure that I trust you." Rachel smiled.

"No, silly. Are sure you want me to show him around?" Santana said.

Rachel nodded. "Yes." Santana leaned down and kissed Rachel.

Lunch came. Rachel walked to the cafeteria alone and ate with Mercedes and Kurt. Santana walked down the hallway with Drake. She found herself quite bored really fast. All he did was talk about himself. She did not think it was possible for him to shut up. She pulled out her phone and texted Rachel.

To: Rachel

Save me!

What's wrong? - R

New kid won't SHUT UP! –S

Aw…poor baby. :) What's he talking about? –R

Himself. If he were talking about ME then it'd be a different story. –S

If he were only talking about YOU he and I'd have a little problem –R

Now, Rachel, I thought you trusted me. ;) –S

I do trust you. I just don't know if I trust him. –R.

OMG. He's so unbelievable boring. –S

I'll come find you. –R

OMG. THANK YOU! By the stairs close to the choir room. I love you for this. –S

Just for this? –R.

Well, no. Not JUST for this. :) –S

Santana received no reply. She assumed Rachel was on her way. Suddenly, Drake (miraculously) stopped talking about himself. "Are you okay Santana?" he asked.

"Huh? Yeah, of course I am." Santana replied. She leaned up against the wall outside of the choir room. He stood in front of her. She tried to push him out of her personal space, but he was stronger than she was.

"What? You don't like me?" Drake asked.

"I'm in a relationship." Santana said.

"With who?"

"Rachel."

"That geeky looking girl you were with earlier?"

"Excuse me?" Santana said.

"I mean, come on you can do better than that." Drake said.

"Like what? You?" she asked disgusted.

Drake nodded. He leaned in and kissed her. She heard a gasp from behind as she tried to pull away. "Santana?"

"Rach. No. Its not…I didn't…he kissed me." Santana said.

"Santana, I trusted you!" Rachel said.

"Rachel, I didn't do anything." Santana said as Rachel ran away crying. She turned around and slapped Drake. "Hope you can find your way back on your own. Tour is over." She ran after Rachel. She knew Rachel could not be in the choir room. That only left one place. Santana sprinted to the auditorium. As she entered, she heard Rachel playing the piano and faintly heard her singing the chorus of That Should Be Me. Her heart broke, remembering when she sang it to Rachel.

That should be me holding your hand
That should be me making you laugh
That should be me, this is so sad
That should be me, that should be me
That should be me feeling your kiss
That should be me buying you gifts
This is so wrong, I can't go on
'Til you believe that that should be me
That should be me

When she reached the front row, she realized Rachel was done singing. In fact, she heard Rachel begin crying. She started clapping. Rachel looked up, saw Santana, and turned away. Santana took that as her cue to walk onstage. "That was awesome baby."

"Don't call me that." Rachel said.

"But you are my baby." Santana said.

"Are you sure its not Drake?" Rachel said, turning towards Santana.

"Rach, that's not fair. Drake kissed me. He's self-centered, annoying, and an all around jerk. And even if I didn't hate him, I wouldn't kiss him. I love you. I thought you trusted me." Santana said. She reached the piano bench, kneeled down between Rachel's legs, and gently forced Rachel to make eye contact with her.

"So did I." Rachel said.

"Rachel, you know you can trust me. Its been three months and I haven't once cheated or given you reason to think I cheated." Santana said. Rachel looked down. "Have I?" Santana said. Rachel shook her head. "So why don't you believe me?" Santana asked.

"Seeing you with him broke my heart." Rachel said.

"How do you think seeing you with Marshall felt? Before I knew what had happened, I mean." Santana said.

"But I was drunk. You're sober." Rachel said.

"You're right. I'm sober. Which means I'm coherent, which is how I know that he kissed me. Not the other way around." Santana said. "Rachel, I just got you back. Why would I try to mess that up?" Rachel shrugged. She still refused to look Santana in the eyes. "Rach, sweetie, look at me." Santana requested.

Rachel looked up. "San…" she whispered. "Are we crazy?"

"I know you are, but…" she jokingly trailed off, causing Rachel to smile. "What's this about?"

"Are we crazy to think this…we could work? The former head cheerleader and the captain of the Glee Club?" Rachel said.

"Yes…maybe at first, we were crazy to fantasize that…but now we aren't living in a fantasy, Rachel. We're living reality. You and I? We're meant to be together. I think that's, although unknown to me then, why I joined Glee. So that I could meet you, so that I could meet the one. Well that, and Quinn was trying to stop you from getting to close to Finn and Sue wanted us to spy." Santana said. "Sweetie, I love you. I want to be with you. If I didn't, I wouldn't be with you. And I know you love me too."

Rachel nodded. "I do love you."

"Do you trust me?" Santana said.

Rachel looked at Santana. "Yes." She whispered.

"Do you believe me?" Rachel nodded again. "Then we're going to be fine. And we're not going to worry about Drake anymore, okay?" Santana said. Rachel nodded once again. "Are you just going to nod?" Santana said with a small smile.

Rachel shook her head. "There. I didn't nod." She said smiling. Santana grinned and pulled Rachel into a hug. Rachel pulled back and kissed Santana. "Sorry I didn't believe you, S." Rachel said.

"Its okay baby. I probably, more like definitely, would've freaked out too. Only difference being I would've punched him." Santana said.

"I almost did." Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I thought about it, anyway." Rachel corrected herself.

Santana nodded and smiled at the other girl. "That's what I thought. Rachel, you could never punch anyone."

Rachel tried to look tough. "I could too!" The two girls looked at each other, then bursted out laughing. Rachel had not been successful.

"While I admire you enthusiasm baby girl, that appearance isn't for you." Santana said.

"I could so punch someone." Rachel said.

"Uh-huh. Right. Prove it. Punch me right now." Santana dared.

"Punch…punch you?"

"Yep. I want you to punch me." Santana said.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Yes, Rachel, I'm very sure. Punch me. Right now." Santana said.

Rachel looked unsure. "Are you going to punch me back?"

"Of course not. Come on Rachel. Punch me." Santana said, getting impatient.

"O…okay…if you're sure…" Rachel said. For a second, Santana thought she was going to wimp out, when suddenly she felt a stinging pain in her shoulder.

"OW!" she yelled.

"Oh my god! Santana I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Rachel rambled.

"I…I'm fine, Rach. Since when do you have muscle?" Santana asked.

"Using the elliptical every morning gives one muscle." Rachel said.

Santana nodded. "Okay so maybe you could punch someone."

"Told you." Rachel said.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side anymore." Santana said.

Rachel smiled. "I'm so sorry, San."

Santana shook her head. "Its fine Rach. Really, it is. I mean, I told you to hit me."

"Yea, that's right. You did tell me to hit you. So, in conclusion, your pain is technically your own fault." Rachel said.

"Shut up, Rachel."

Rachel raised her fist. "Watch it, Lopez." Santana rolled her eyes and pulled Rachel's neck down to kiss her.

"You're so lucky that I still love you after that stunt, Berry." Santana said.

"I think that you are lucky that you love me." Rachel said.

"Yea I am." Santana whispered. Later that day, in afternoon Glee Club, Santana prepared to sing her song to Rachel. She thought back to their duets competition they had done when Puck was in juvie.

FLASHBACK

Santana was watching Rachel in Chemistry class. She found herself getting extremely turned on as Rachel raised her hand every time the teacher asked a question. Suddenly, the bell rang signaling the start of free period. She saw Rachel bolt from the room. Knowing where her girlfriend was off to, Santana slowly headed towards the choir room, hoping Rachel would be alone. As she neared the room, she heard the final notes of 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart.' She smiled as she heard Rachel's voice, but quickly scowled when she heard Finn's. She stood outside the door, watching them. She saw them have a conversation and she saw Finn kiss Rachel. As Finn walked out of the room, Santana hid. Once he was gone, she entered and closed the door.

"Nice song, Berry." She said, keeping up the act in case someone was to walk in.

Rachel, keeping up her role as well, did not turn to face Santana. "Thank you, Santana."

Santana slowly walked towards Rachel. When she reached the piano, she stood so that their feet were alternating. Rachel was very happy for the fact that doors had no windows. "I just had one problem with it. I felt like Finnocence was standing just a bit to close to you."

"You mean, kind of like you are now?" Rachel countered.

"Yea, but see, there's a difference." Santana said, softly kissing Rachel's neck. "You actually like it when its me." She whispered. She expertly hid the way she was playing with Rachel's fingers with one hand while subtly pulling Rachel closer to her with the other. Rachel turned her head up to respond and Santana took that opportunity to kiss Rachel. The two stood like that for a few moments before Rachel slightly pulled away.

"Santana, someone could walk in.," she said.

"Don't care. Need you." Santana managed to get out, kissing Rachel again. She lifted the smaller girl up onto the piano. Santana moved to stand between Rachel's legs, never breaking the kiss. Rachel instinctively wrapped her legs around Santana's waist. Rachel pulled away to look at Santana.

"I missed you today." Rachel said. "I mean, I know I saw you in every class, but we couldn't really talk. I was only able to look." She started to say more but was interrupted with Santana kissing her.

"Rach, I've heard you talk all day. Its time for silence." Santana said. Rachel simply nodded and kissed Santana again. Suddenly, they heard the unmistakable sound of Kurt and Mercedes laughing. Santana quickly jumped back a good five feet, but not without causing her forehead to hit Rachel's mouth. Santana silently swore and Rachel held back a scream in pain. Santana didn't have time to apologize before having to get back into character. Not less than thirty seconds after she put her HBIC face back on did Kurt and Mercedes enter the room.

"Whoa. Okay, hold up. Santana and Rachel in a room, together, alone, and Rachel is still alive. Did we enter the Twilight Zone or something?" Mercedes asked.

"Wait a second. Rachel, are you crying?" Kurt commented. "What did she do to you?" he asked.

"I didn't anything to her Hummel. Man-hands was practicing one of her many solos that she dreams Schue is going to give her and I guess I startled her when I came in because she tripped and hit her mouth on the cymbal of the drum set. Why would I hurt our best chance at Sectionals?" Santana asked, backing up even further.

"What are you guys doing in here anyway?" Rachel attempted to ask while holding her mouth.

"I forgot my bag." Mercedes answered.

"Wheezy, I need to talk to you later about our duet." Santana said. During one of the few times she wasn't watching Rachel, Santana had figured out who she wanted as her duet partner, since Rachel was clearly out of the question.

"Can we talk about it tonight on the phone, Satan? I have a lot to do right now." Mercedes said.

"Whatever." Santana said, rolling her eyes. 'That girl had better be prepared to work, because I am winning me some Breadstix.' Santana thought. Mercedes grabbed her bag and the two left.

"You guys want the door closed? No one really wants to witness if Santana kills Rachel, so…" Kurt trailed off.

"Just close the door, Kurt." Rachel said. The door soon closed.

"Oh my god. Are you okay?" Santana asked after making sure they were alone.

"I think I'll be fine. How's your head?" Rachel asked.

"Well, I'm not bleeding, so that's a good sign." Santana replied. "I am so sorry. I heard the two of them and I panicked."

"San, I'm fine. But we've never come that close to getting caught before." Rachel said.

"No, we haven't." Santana agreed.

"We should probably be more careful."

"Yea…no, definitely. I totally agree, Rach." Santana said.

"Why do you have that look in your eye?" Rachel asked.

"What look?" Santana innocently asked as she slowly walked closer to Rachel who was still on the piano.

"The look in your eye. The one that says you're about to kiss me." Rachel said as Santana approached.

"Maybe because I am." Santana whispered, pulling Rachel into a kiss.

"Santana…"

"Yes?" Santana said, smirking at the fact that Rachel could not form a coherent sentence.

"San…tana. We…have to…stop." Rachel said.

"Do you want to?"

"Of course…not. But we…have to." Rachel said.

Santana pulled away, causing Rachel to groan even though she had just said they had to stop. She leaned up and whispered in Rachel's ear. "I would never want to force you to do something you didn't want to do, Rachel." She smiled as she felt Rachel shiver.

"Do you think we'd be missed at Glee?" she quickly asked, causing Santana to laugh.

"You wouldn't, but I might be." She teased.

"Just get your stuff." Rachel said. They ended up making lame excuses and sneaking back to Santana's house.

END FLASHBACK

Santana was knocked out of her daydream by the girl she had just been thinking about sitting down next to her. She instantly smiled, as she always found herself doing when Rachel was around.

"Hey." Rachel said.

"Hey."

"You were deep in thought when I came in. What were you thinking about?" Rachel asked.

"The first time we almost got caught." Santana said. Rachel smiled. "Which quickly turned into the first time we slept together." Rachel's smile grew even wider.

"Okay guys. Who wants to go first today?" Will asked. Santana was about to raise her hand when Principal Figgins came in.

"Schue, this young lady is looking for one of your students."

Everyone looked at the girl. Santana immediately recognized her. "Alyssa?"

"Santana!"

"How do you guys know each other?" Rachel asked as she watched her girlfriend get up and hug the other girl.

Santana snapped out of her happy moment at that question. "We uh…hung out over the summer." She told her girlfriend.

"Hung out? Gee, thanks a lot Santana." Alyssa said. She looked at Rachel. "Santana is my girlfriend."

"Wait, Santana is your what?" Rachel asked. Everyone else was silent.

"Oh…San, I am so sorry. Do they not know…?" Alyssa trailed off.

"They know." She replied, not looking at either girl.

"Then what's the big deal?" Alyssa asked.

"Alyssa-"

"Santana's actually my girlfriend." Rachel said, trying to meet Santana's eyes.

"Excuse me?" Alyssa asked. "San, what is going on?"

"Alyssa, I broke up with you at the end of summer." Santana explained.

"I don't remember that." Alyssa said.

"I couldn't find you, so I wrote you a letter. Your brother was supposed to give it to you." Santana said.

"I guess it never made it home, because I never got it." Alyssa replied.

"Well, its been over for months. I…I moved on. I have been with Rachel since the beginning of October." Santana said.

Alyssa nodded. "Okay…well I probably should've called before coming here, because this is extremely awkward."

"Well, I mean, we could still hang out while you're in town." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds great. Rachel, you could come too. We could all hang out at Santana's house." Alyssa said.

"Thank you for inviting me to my own house." Rachel snapped. Alyssa looked confused.

"Rachel, chill. She doesn't know." Santana turned to Alyssa. "My parents died about a month ago and Rachel's parents are letting me live with them. Anyway, why don't you come over around 7?" she gave Alyssa the address of the Berry house. The girl soon left.

After Glee Club, Rachel hurried out to her car. Santana continuously apologized the entire way home. At 7, Alyssa was at the house. Rachel's dads were at a work conference for two weeks. Soon, they were all hanging out in the living room. Santana went upstairs to look for something. Alyssa came and sat on the couch.

"I want you to know that I have every intention of getting her back." She said.

"Excuse me?" Rachel said.

"You heard me. Santana will be mine by the end of the week, I guarantee you."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Rachel asked. Hearing Santana come back downstairs, Alyssa suddenly kissed Rachel. When she heard Santana abruptly stop she pulled away.

"Rachel! You are Santana's girlfriend you cannot kiss me!" Alyssa said.

"Rach, what the hell?" Santana said.

"Santana, no. Think back to earlier today. Remember the talk we had? About Drake?" Rachel said.

"Yea I do. Why did you kiss Alyssa?"

"I didn't kiss her!" Rachel could not bear to look at the hurt in Santana's eyes "She said she wants you back and she has every intention of getting you!"

"Rachel, there's no way that is true. Alyssa, why don't you come up to my room? We can hang out there." Santana said, going back upstairs. Rachel decided to go for a ten-minute drive.

"I can't believe her." Santana said.

"You know, if you were still with me, it never would've happened." Alyssa said, sitting extremely close to her.

"Excuse me?" Rachel pulled into her driveway, feeling a little better. She walked up the drive, looked up into Santana's room, and saw Santana and Alyssa kissing. What she did not see as she ran inside, was Santana pull and away and slap Alyssa. "What do you think you are doing?" She said.

"I'm just saying, maybe Rachel isn't the one for you after all." Rachel ran up the stairs and started to head for her room to cry, but stopped outside her door when she heard yelling.

"Oh my god! She was so right about you. Yes, she's the one for me! Alyssa, get something through your head and then get OUT! I am in love with Rachel. Not you. I was never in love with you and never will be in love with you. I'll be with her for the rest of my life. And I never want to see you again. Now get out!" Santana screamed. Rachel heard the door open and jumped inside her room just in time. She saw Alyssa get pushed out of the room and Santana follow her downstairs. She flinched when she heard the door slam, and closed her door and jumped in her bed when she heard Santana run back up the stairs. Santana did not even bother knocking on the door before coming in. She quickly laid down next to Rachel and pulled her into a hug. "I am so sorry I did not believe you." she said. "If it makes you feel better, I slapped her."

Rachel smiled. "A little bit, actually."

"I can't believe that even after we just had this happen earlier today, it happened again." Santana said.

"Yeah, well. No matter how many tests the world throws at us, we're just going to keep beating them. Once we're out of Lima and living in New York together, things will get better." Rachel promised.

"You want me to go to New York with you?" Santana asked.

"Of course…you didn't know that?"

"We've never really talked about it."

"Santana Lopez, I want you with me everyday for the rest of my life." Rachel said.

"I wants you too Rachel Berry. I wants you bad." Santana smiled.

"You do realize you're ruining this with your fake gangster talk, right?"

"You see, you say that, but I think that it actually just turns you on." Santana smirked.

"Maybe." Rachel said, hiding her smiled. Santana smirked and kissed Rachel. "Thank God your dads aren't home tonight, because I'm about to have me some Rachel Berry." Santana whispered.

Rachel woke up. She took a moment to wake up, then smiled at the girl next to her. She leaned down to kiss Santana, only to realize that Santana wasn't breathing. "Santana?" she whispered. When she did not receive an answer, she quickly checked the girl's pulse. Nothing. "Santana!" she yelled. Nothing. "No. Santana, please wake up!" Rachel said. Santana didn't move.

Rachel woke up and covered her mouth with her hand. She quickly looked down at the girl next to her. "San?" she whispered. She didn't receive a response, so she quickly went to check the other girl's pulse. Apparently she'd been too quick, because Santana jumped at Rachel's touch.

"What happened?" she muttered sleepily.

"Just checking to make sure you had a pulse." Rachel said.

Santana looked at her incredulously. "I have a pulse, Rach."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because I'm talking to you." Santana said. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry. I just…I had a nightmare. I woke up and you weren't breathing and you had no pulse. It scared me, that's all." Rachel explained.

"Rachel, its okay. I mean, it was just a dream. I'm still here." Santana comforted her.

"You 're right. I overreacted, that's all." Rachel said. They heard a car door slam. "What was that?" she asked, leaning closer to Santana.

"No idea. Your dads aren't supposed to be home for two more weeks." Santana said, getting up. "I'll go check."

"There is no way I am staying up here by myself. I'm going with you. Grab that bat." Rachel said.

Santana looked at it. "Uh…you don't play sports. What are you doing with a baseball bat?"

"Over the summer, Finn took me to the batting cages. I went about six times and used six different bats, convinced it was the bat, not me. I hit exactly one ball and I was using that bat, so Finn bought it for me." Rachel explained.

Santana nodded. "Yea, it was definitely the bats." She grabbed it.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Just go." They carefully walked downstairs, Santana in front. They walked to the front hallway and saw a figure outside the front door.

"Santana!" they heard a voice say.

Santana recognized the voice. "Wait…Alyssa?" Rachel rolled her eyes. Santana went and opened the front door. "What are you doing here? I told you to leave."

"Well, you pushed me out so fast, that I left my purse." Alyssa said.

"I'll go get it." Rachel said. Alyssa attempted to walk in, but Santana pointed the bat in her direction.

"Stay." she said. The girl obliged.

Rachel soon returned with the purse. "Here." She handed it to her. Santana attempted to close the door. "Wait." Alyssa said.

"Yea, I don't think so." Santana said.

"Wait, San. Let's hear what she has to say." Rachel said.

Santana gave in. "Fine. But only because Rachel wants to." She said.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I did." Alyssa said.

"Okay…" Santana said.

"But, just so you know, I wouldn't be opposed to being in a relationship with both of you." she continued.

Santana and Rachel looked at each other. "OK, goodbye." Rachel said. Santana closed the door. Rachel reached up and played with the top of Santana's ponytail. "Please tell me that that was just some summer fling." She said.

"I needed someone to make out with over the summer." Santana said.

"Am I just some fling?" Rachel asked. Santana shook her head. "What am I then?" Rachel asked, smiling.

Santana pulled her close. "You're my Rachel."

Rachel smiled even wider. "I like that."

"I like you." Santana said.

"I love you." Rachel countered.

"I love you too."

"I thought you just liked me." Rachel teased.

"Shut up." Santana said.

Rachel sighed. "Fine." She dropped her hand from Santana's hair to her neck.

"Are you tired?" Santana asked.

"What makes you say that?" Rachel asked.

"Because first, you never let me get away with telling you to shut up, and second, you never give up our flirty fighting that quickly or that easily." Santana said.

Rachel nodded. "A little bit." She admitted.

"Okay. Let's go to bed." The two started walking down the hallway, but Rachel quickly walked into the wall. Santana bit back laughter. "Oh my god. Are you…are you okay?" she asked, trying not to laugh.

Rachel nodded. "Yea. That just really hurt."

Santana looked at the girl in front of her. "Come here." She said. Rachel walked over to her. Santana pulled her onto her back.

"What are you doing?" Rachel yawned.

"Giving you a piggy-back ride upstairs. I don't want to explain to your fathers why you broke your neck falling downstairs." Santana said. Rachel nodded. Santana made her way up the stairs and to Rachel's room. She gently lowered the now sleeping girl onto the bed and pulled the comforter on her. She decided to go check her phone. She instantly regretted it. She had three missed calls and about ten text messages. They were all from Alyssa. They said:

Can't we talk about this?

Come on, Santana. It was just a joke!

Santana, I love you!

Please talk to me.

This isn't how its supposed to be.

We're supposed to be together.

One day you're going to realize your mistake!

You're going to regret this, Lopez!

I'm totally willing to wait for you!

The last one really set Santana's anger off.

Santana, how can you choose the ugly little Glee Club geek over me? I mean, I'm way hotter and way more in your league than she can ever even think of dreaming about. Come to your senses, San!

Oh she did not just insult my Rachel that way. Santana thought. If she hadn't been in the same room as Rachel was sleeping in, Santana would've called Alyssa and yelled at her. As soon as she looked over at the sleeping girl, she instantly calmed down. Suddenly, Rachel's eyes fluttered open.

"San? Are you okay?" she muttered.

Santana nodded. "Yea, Rach. I'm fine."

"You look angry."

"Just some stupid texts from Alyssa." Santana said.

"What do they say?" Rachel asked.

"Nothing important. Just that I'm going to regret not choosing her." Santana said. Rachel held out her hand for the phone. Santana reluctantly handed it over. She watched Rachel's eyes move, knowing which message she was reading.

"So are you going to?" Rachel asked.

"Huh?" Santana said, genuinely confused.

"Come to your senses." Rachel clarified.

"I did, Rachel. When you and I first got together." Santana said. She climbed into the bed. "Look, she doesn't matter anymore." Rachel nodded, drifting back to sleep and turned over to her other side, her back to Santana. Normally, Santana would have been offended, but she knew that was the only comfortable way for Rachel to sleep. Santana leaned over. "Always remember that you are my star." She recited quietly in Rachel's ear.

"I am your star." Rachel repeated, smiling.

"Te amo, mi estrella." Santana said in Spanish.

"I love you too, my love." Rachel said.

"Go back to sleep, baby." Santana whispered. Rachel nodded and pulled Santana so that the taller girl's arms were wrapped around her waist.

"I want you here." Rachel muttered

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." Santana said. Finals week went by extremely slowly for Santana and Rachel. Mr. Schue cancelled Glee Club rehearsal until the new semester started. Of course, Rachel pitched a fit, saying they needed to rehearse for Regionals. On the last day of the semester, Santana and Rachel pulled up to the house. They were surprised to find that Rachel's dads were home. There was also an unfamiliar car in the driveway.

"I wonder who's here.' Rachel commented. Santana shrugged her shoulders and followed her girlfriend inside.

"Dad? Daddy?" Rachel called.

"In the living room, girls." They heard Leroy say. They went into the living room.

"Girls, this is Mr. Smith. He was Santana's parents lawyer." Hiram said. Santana looked up at the mention of her parents.

Mr. Smith looked at Santana. "Ms. Lopez, we recently learned that your father's mother is actually still alive."

"She is? I thought she died years ago." Santana said. Rachel gave her a weird look. "My dad didn't get along with her." She explained.

"Anyway, while she realizes that it would be better for you to remain in Lima for the duration of your high school years, she would like it if you were to come spend a week with her before Christmas." Mr. Smith said.

"As in, next week?" Santana asked.

"As in, tomorrow." Mr. Smith said.

"I…I guess I could do that. If its okay with the Berrys." Santana said.

"Of course its, sweetie." Leroy said. Santana went upstairs and packed. The next day, Santana got in her car and drove the three hours to her grandmother's house. When she got there, she hesitated before going inside. Finally, she got out of her car and walked to the front door. Before she could even ring the doorbell, the front door swung open. Standing in front of her was her grandmother, who she hadn't seen since she was about eight years old.

"Santana, you're all grown up." Her grandmother said.

"Hi, grandma." Santana said, smiling shyly. She was ushered inside and she and her grandmother spent the rest of the night catching up. That night before she went to bed, she texted Rachel.

To: Rachel

Hey beautiful. I miss you so much. :)

OMG! Hi! –R

Oh wow. I guess you miss me too? –S

Of course I do. How's it going at your grandmother's? –Rach

Its fine. Its going great, actually. We literally just spent like four hours talking. -San

I am so glad you're getting the chance to reconnect with her. –Rach.

So am I, Rach. The only bad thing is that I'm away from you for a long time. –San

Its just for a week, San. Not eternity. –Rach

Yea, but I needs my Rachel Berry fix! And anyway, it feels like eternity! And its only been ONE day. –San

I'm sure you'll be fine for a week, Santana. You're going to be having so much fun, you won't even remember to think about thinking about me. –Rach

I'm always thinking about you, Rachel. –San

Awwww…..that's so sweet. Does…does your grandmother know about us? –Rach

No. I didn't tell her. I haven't seen her in years. Please don't be mad. –San

I totally understand. Baby steps, right? –Rach

Yea. I want to tell her, I just want to give her time, you know? –San

Yea. –Rach

You okay? –San

Yea, I'm fine. I just…. –Rach

You just…..what? –San

I wish you were here to kiss me. ;) –Rach

Me too, baby girl. Me too….ugh! Rach, I hadn't even thought of that. Thank you so much for bringing that up. Now I may have to cry myself to sleep! :) –San

Awwww…poor baby. I'm sorry. :( –Rach

Its okay. –San

I can make it up to you when you get home… ;) –Rach.

You better, little girl. –San.

Can't wait. ;p –Rach

Me either ;) Ugh…I should probably go to sleep, huh? –San

You've had a long day, baby. –Rach

But I don't want to stop talking to you :( –San

I don't either, but you do need your sleep lol. –Rach

All right. I guess you're right…fine I'll go to sleep then. I love you :) –San

:) I love you too baby. Good night! –Rach

Night baby girl. –San

When Santana woke up the next morning, she decided to go out for a run. She left her phone on the kitchen counter. Her grandmother was in the kitchen when Santana's phone went off. Curious, her grandmother picked up the phone. The text message said:

New Message

Rachel

Woke up this morning and completely freaked out when you weren't next to me. I miss you and I love you baby!

When Santana returned from her run she entered the kitchen. "Hey Grandma. What are you cooking?"

"I was going to make you pancakes. I remembered you like them. Is there something you would like to tell me?" Santana saw the phone in her hand.

"What are you doing with my phone?" Santana asked.

"You left it on the counter and it went off. I looked over to see what it was and saw this text message." Santana took the phone and read Rachel's message. She closed her eyes.

"I was going to tell you." Santana said.

"When?"

She opened her eyes. "I wanted to give you time to get to know me again before I dropped that bomb."

"Santana, you can't be in a relationship with another girl."

"But I love her."

"Don't say that!" her grandmother yelled. She calmed herself down. "You're going to call that girl right now and tell her that you don't want to speak to her for awhile." She said in a quieter tone.

"I can't do that. It'll break her heart, which means it'll break mine." Santana protested.

"This is not a discussion, Santana. You are under my roof."

Santana stared at her grandmother for a second. She looked down on her phone and walked over and sat on the couch. "Fine." She dialed Rachel's number. Please don't pick up, Rachel. She thought. She had no such luck

"Hey San!" she heard the cheery voice of her girlfriend say.

"Hey Rach." Santana said. Her grandmother made a 'get on with it' gesture. Santana swallowed.

"What's up baby?" Rachel said.

"Rach, listen. I was thinking…maybe we should like cool off for a bit." Santana said, closing her eyes.

"Wait…what?"

"Maybe we should use my trip as a chance to see what its like without each other. And like, not talk while I'm gone." Santana said.

"Santana, where is this coming from?" Rachel asked.

"I just…I think its what's best, Rachel." Santana said.

"…Fine. I guess I'll see you when you get back, then." Rachel said, hanging up the phone.

"Happy?" Santana said to her grandmother.

"Sweetie, I know you hate me right now, but I'm doing this because I love you." her grandmother said.

"Fine. Whatever." Santana walked to her room and cried. The next few days went by really slowly for Santana. Her grandmother took away her phone and her computer so she couldn't talk to Rachel. Santana was furious. She would have called Rachel on her grandmother's house phone, but there was no long distant calling. Plus, Rachel never picked up the phone if she did not recognize the number.

Finally, it was time for Santana to go home. As her grandmother handed over the phone and computer, she said something. "Now, sweetie, just because you're back in Lima doesn't mean you have to talk to that girl."

"Okay, I was totally excited about seeing you again, but this kind of ruined the trip. You've been back in my life for all of a week. You don't know me and you can't tell me who to be or who to date." Santana said.

"I'm only trying to help."

"I think you honestly believe that. But that's not how I see it." Santana said. She hugged her grandmother goodbye and got in her car. She had considered calling Rachel on the road, but doubted the girl would even pick up. She just had to wait out the three-hour car drive. The drive gave her time to think about what she would do when she saw Rachel again.

Rachel hadn't stopped crying since her phone call with Santana. Various Glee Club members, such as Kurt, Mercedes, Quinn, Tina, and Brittany had come over to try to comfort her. No one could say anything to make her feel better. She looked at her clock and realized that she had about two hours until Santana was supposed to be home. She decided that she needed to make herself look extremely hot so Santana would feel bad. She sat on the edge of her bed when she heard Santana's car pull into the driveway. She listened as she heard her dads happily greet the girl. Traitors. She thought as she heard Santana noisily climb the stairs. There was a knock at her door.

"Come in.," she said, trying to sound as if she was busy. Santana entered.

"Hi." Santana whispered Rachel saw her eyes go up and down checking Rachel out. Santana leaned up against the door, subtly locking the door, and slightly raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, hello Santana. I had no idea you were back already." Rachel said. She began to feel uneasy as Santana stood there, staring at her. Suddenly, she felt Santana's weight on her. "What are you doing?" Rachel said, attempting to push Santana off of her. Santana proved to be stronger, however, and hungrily kissed Rachel.

"I missed you baby girl." Santana said.

"What?" Rachel asked. This was not the attitude she had had on the phone.

"Never wanted to make that call." Santana muttered.

"Then why did you?" Rachel asked.

"Grandma's a homophobe. She read our texts and made me make the call. She was in the room and everything. Then she took my phone and computer away." Santana said. "I never wanted to hurt you. It broke my heart knowing I'd caused you pain and that I couldn't do anything to fix it then. I hated myself for it." Santana said.

Rachel was silent for a moment. "She read the message I sent you? I am so sorry, San."

"Don't be. She needed to find out somehow." Santana said.

Rachel buried her head in Santana's shoulder. "I thought you'd met someone else or something."

"Never." Santana said, holding Rachel. "You are my star, baby."

"And you are my…Cheerio…that sounded really lame." Rachel laughed.

"Yea, it did. But it was true. Because you best not be having another Cheerio unless its in cereal form, woman." Santana said.

"I would never even allow the thought to cross my mind." Rachel said.

"Good." Santana said. She sat there for a moment looking at Rachel. She leaned down and gently kissed her. Rachel smiled up at her.

"Hi." Rachel whispered.

"Hey there, pretty girl." Santana whispered back.

"Have you noticed how you have so many nicknames for me and I only have 'San' and 'baby' and the occasional 'sweetie' or 'honey' for you?" Rachel asked.

"That's because Santana Lopez doesn't do being called many nicknames. But she definitely likes calling you names." Santana said.

"Is she going to stop talking in third person?" Rachel asked.

"Sure. Anyway, that's all the nicknames I need. I don't generally do nicknames. But you like my nicknames for you, right?" Santana asked, suddenly worried.

"Of course I do, San. I love it when you call me 'mi amor' or 'pretty girl' or 'beautiful'. My favorites are probably 'baby girl' and 'mi estrella'" Rachel said.

"Mine too." Santana agreed, smiling down. Rachel leaned up and kissed Santana softly. Santana and Rachel stayed on Rachel's bed making out for a while. Not letting go of Rachel, Santana rolled over so that all of her weight was not on Rachel. "Hey, Rachel, what was up with the Christmas tree I saw in your living room? I thought you were Jewish." Santana said.

"I am. Well, I'm half-Jewish. My dad is Christian. We don't generally do that much for Christmas, but since you're here, we're doing a bit more than usual." Rachel explained.

"You guys don't have to go to all that trouble." Santana protested.

"Whatever. Its not like I mind. More presents for me." Rachel joked.

"Speaking of presents, it is Christmas Eve." Santana said.

"Yes, I got you a present, San. You don't need to worry." Rachel teased.

"That's not what I meant. Do you want yours now?" Santana asked. Rachel eagerly nodded. Santana briefly left the room and came back with a bag. Rachel took it when Santana offered it to her. She took out the tissue paper and looked inside. There was a book in it. She pulled it out. On the cover was a picture of herself and Santana with the caption 'Rachel and Santana forever.' Rachel looked up at Santana. "I had originally wanted to make it myself, but then I had to go to my grandmother's house, so I asked Q to make it while I was gone." Santana said.

"I think a scrapbook is an amazing idea for a gift. It really allows one to express how much a person means to them and-" Rachel was cut off by Santana kissing her.

"So much more effective than slushies." Santana whispered. Rachel nodded in agreement. Santana smiled and kissed Rachel again. "Why don't you open it?" she whispered. Rachel nodded opened the book. Inside were a bunch of pictures. Most of them were of Santana and herself that they had taken through the course of their relationship, but some were pictures that Santana had taken during Glee rehearsal. There were even some of Santana and Rachel arguing in Glee Club.

"Britt took those with my phone for no reason at all." Santana said.

"I think its cute." Rachel said.

"In that case they were taken on purpose." Santana said. Rachel rolled her eyes and smiled.

"There's one more thing." Santana said. She handed Rachel a picture frame. It was one of those picture frames with two sides available. One side was a picture of Santana giving a Rachel a piggyback ride. The other was of the two of them sitting together. Rachel was sitting between Santana's legs and Santana was holding her closely. They looked as if they were deep in conversation. Neither girl was looking at the camera in either picture, but they were looking into each other's eyes. Both girls were smiling and laughing in both pictures.

Rachel looked up at Santana. "When were these taken?" she asked. They looked to be taken on the same day.

"Remember that outdoor concert we went to with your dads and my parents about a month after we started dating?" Santana explained. Rachel nodded.

"Where did you find them?" Rachel asked.

"I found them when we were cleaning out my parents house after they died." Santana said softly.

Rachel smiled softly. "Thanks, sweetheart." She whispered. Santana smiled and sat down next to her.

"I made copies. They're going on my wall in my room." She said, kissing Rachel.

"They're adorable." Rachel said. "I love it, San. Thank you."

"No problem, baby." Santana smiled. She leaned down and kissed Rachel. Rachel got up and opened her closet.

"Okay, so you're going to think I am really cheesy." Rachel said. She pulled out three picture frames. One had a picture of the two. The second was the same picture, but it had been drawn in black and white. The third was another drawing, but this one was in color.

"Sorry they are'nt wrapped. I was thinking you could hang them in your room, if you wanted." Rachel said. "Its totally cheesy isn't it?"

"Rach, I love it. Where did you get these drawn?" Santana asked.

"Mike Chang."

"Mike can draw? Since when?" Santana asked. Rachel shrugged.

"I have something else." She went back into her closet and pulled out a multi-picture frame. Every picture frame was filled with a picture of the two girls together in various places, like Rachel's car, Santana's car, and each other's rooms.

"I love them, Rach. Thank you." Santana hugged her girlfriend.

"Merry Christmas, baby." Rachel said.

"You too, sweetie." Santana replied. "Wow. My wall is going to be filled with pictures of us." She said.

"Are you okay with that?" Rachel said.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Santana said, hugging Rachel. "By the way, I'm taking you out to dinner tonight if you don't have plans with your dads."

"I'd love too. We can even go to Breadstix if you want." Rachel said. Santana smiled. "And on an unhappier note, what did you say to your grandmother when you left?" Rachel asked.

"She told me that going back to Lima didn't mean I had to talk to you and I told her that she totally ruined my trip and that after being out of my life for eight years she had no right to tell me how to live my life." Santana said.

Rachel nodded. "I'm sorry that you didn't get the chance to tell her."

Santana shook her head. "Its not your fault. She shouldn't have been looking through my phone."

"True." Rachel agreed.

"And anyway, I don't want to keep us a secret. Not anymore." Santana said.

Rachel smiled. "Baby, you 'e so awesome."

"I know." Santana smiled. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"How did I end up with someone so modest?" She asked sarcastically.

"You got incredibly lucky." Santana said.

"Whatever. I believe you promised me a dinner date?" Rachel asked.

"And I believe you promised me Breadstix." Santana said.

"Well, I'm hungry." Rachel said.

"Ok. We can go now if you want. Are you going to change first?" Santana said.

"Why would I change my clothes?" Rachel asked.

"I mean…" Santana trailed off.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" Rachel asked. "I thought it looked good."

"It does. Trust me, it does." Santana said.

"Then why can't I wear it?"

"Because I don't want anyone else to see you look this hot." Santana said.

Rachel smiled. "Why not?"

"Because you're mine. Duh." Santana said.

"San, you have nothing to worry about." Rachel said.

"I know, but I really don't want to have to beat the crap out of anybody who checks you out." Santana said.

"Baby, if it makes you feel better, I'll change my outfit." Rachel said.

"Good idea. I'll go change out of my sweats." Santana said. "But, uh, don't completely throw that outfit of your wardrobe. Its definitely a favorite of mine." Santana smirked and left the room. About thirty minutes later, they were on their way to dinner. As Santana was a regular at Breadstix, and she was Santana Lopez after all, they were seated pretty quickly. "So what did you while I was gone?" Santana asked.

"Well, the day before you called me, I hung out with Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes. The days after you made the call, I cried." Rachel said.

"Rach, I am so sorry." Santana said.

"Santana, please. I know it wasn't because of you and I really don't want to ruin our Christmas Eve dinner with sour memories. You're here now and that's all that matters." Rachel said.

"You're the best thing that has ever happened to me." Santana said.

Rachel smiled. "You're the love of my life."

"After all the stuff we've gone through this past semester, I know that you're the love of my life, too." Santana said. She reached across the table and grabbed Rachel's hand. They sat there in a comfortable silence for a few moments, Santana playing with Rachel's fingers. Rachel opened her mouth to speak when they heard someone clearing their throat

"Are you guys ready to order?"

Santana looked up. "Drake?"

"Santana." He said.

"You work here?" Rachel asked, not even bothering to hide her disgust.

"Yep. Anyway, Santana, I was thinking maybe when school starts up again, you and I could finish that tour."

"Hmm…let me think. How about no?" Santana said.

"Come on, Santana. Are you really going to waste your time with her?" he asked, gesturing towards Rachel.

"You are so out of line." Santana yelled. The manager came over.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked.

"Yea, your waiter over here is trying to talk about things that don't involve him. And I'd appreciate it if he didn't insult my girlfriend in front of us. I'd like another waiter please. Otherwise, we're leaving." Santana said.

"Drake, go work on your other tables. You don't mess with Santana Lopez here." The manager said. Santana smirked at him.

"Whatever." Drake said walking away. As he walked away he "accidentally" knocked a pitcher of water on Rachel. "My bad." He said.

"You son of-" Santana said.

"San. Please don't. It is fine. Can we please just leave?" Rachel said.

"Sure." Santana said, getting up.

"Ms. Lopez, I am so sorry."

"Its okay, as long as he isn't working here next time I come in." Santana said, walking out.

"I can say with certainty that will be the case." He said.

"Excellent." Santana said. As they got in the car, Santana looked at Rachel. "Are you okay?" Rachel nodded.

"Guess its a good thing I didn't wear that other outfit." She said.

"Why not?"

"Because a, the pants was expensive, and b, the shirt was yours." Rachel said sheepishly.

"I thought that the shirt looked familiar." Santana said, rolling her eyes and smiling.

"Are you mad at me?" Rachel asked.

"No. It looked good on you." Santana said.

"Good. Because I wouldn't have given it back to you anyway." Rachel said.

"Rachel Berry, you're such a little brat." Santana teased.

"Santana Lopez, I am offended by that." Rachel said.

"Awesome." Santana said, not the least bit worried.

"What? You don't care that you offended me?" Rachel said.

"Rachel."

"Yes?"

"Did I really offend you?" Santana asked, throwing Rachel a side-glance.

"Yes." Rachel said, looking out the window.

"Rachel." Santana was met with silence. 'Did I actually offend her?' Santana thought to herself. "Rachel?" More silence. Santana looked at Rachel. "Rach, baby, come on." When Rachel still would not respond, Santana began to get worried. She stopped at a red light.

"Rachel, sweetie, come on. Talk to me." Santana said. "Please baby." Rachel continued to look out the window and shook her head. Santana gently turned Rachel's head back towards her to find that the girl was smiling. "What the...?" Santana trailed off. Rachel kissed her.

"Santana, you've called me worse than a brat. Do you really think that that is going to offend me?" Rachel said.

"Rachel Berry. Its Christmas Eve. That's just mean." Santana said.

"Santana, come on. I didn't get my date. I just wanted to have a little fun." Rachel said.

"It's not my fault that you didn't get your date, little girl. Don't take it out on me." Santana said.

"But it's so much fun, sweetie." Rachel smiled.

"You are a devious little diva." Santana smirked.

"Oh please, you love it." Rachel said.

"Yea…yea I do." Santana said. She started driving again. "Its actually kind of hot."

"Really?" Rachel said, smirking.

Santana looked over at Rachel. "Do you want to go to another restaurant?"

"Are you kidding?" Rachel asked. "No. Go home. Now." Santana just laughed. "Baby, we have to go to sleep." Rachel said as Santana kissed her. The two were in Rachel's room. Santana had pushed her up against her wall as soon as the door was closed.

"Why?"

"Because the faster we go to sleep, the faster we can wake up and it'll be morning." Rachel said. Santana pulled away quickly and gave her a weird look. "What?" Rachel asked.

"The faster we go to sleep, the faster we can wake up in the morning?" Santana repeated

"Yeah and…? It's Christmas Eve, San." Rachel replied.

"Rachel, please do not tell me you still believe in Santa Claus." Santana said.

"What if I were to tell you that you are my Santa Claus?" Rachel said.

Santana just looked at Rachel. "Uh…no." they said at the same time, laughing.

"But seriously, Rachel, do you believe in Santa Claus?" Santana asked.

"Is that such a big deal? Your best friend does." Rachel said.

"You do realize you are comparing yourself to a girl who believed a comb had magic powers, right?" Santana said.

"Relax, Santana. I don't believe in Santa Claus." Rachel said.

"Thank God." Santana said, and she began to resume kissing Rachel. She frowned as the smaller girl pulled away.

"However, I do plan on waking up early in the morning." Rachel continued.

"I haven't done that since I was about ten years old, Rachel." Santana said.

"Well, you're going to be doing again tomorrow." Rachel replied

"Rachel, if you wake me up with your insane morning routine, your Christmas won'tt be so merry." Santana threatened.

"Please, all I have to do is kiss you and you'll be happy." Rachel said.

"Try me." Santana said. "And I can guarantee you that I can hold out longer than you can."

"Oh really?"

Santana nodded. "We broke up. You came running back to me."

"Homecoming. You pulled me away from Finn, a.k.a. my date, every time." Rachel countered. The two held defiant glares. Santana looked away first and Rachel took that opportunity to sit on her bed. "San?" Rachel asked. Santana had not looked back "San, baby what's wrong?" Santana sat down on the bed, still not looking at Rachel. Rachel began to get worried.

"Do you miss it?" Santana asked.

"Do I miss it…miss what, baby?" Rachel asked.

Santana mumbled something Rachel could not hear. It had sounded like she had said 'Tinsel' but Rachel knew that was not the case. "Baby, I'm sorry, but what did you say? I couldn't hear you."

"Finchel." Santana said simply, looking at her finally.

"Finchel? Of course not. I mean, Finn and I are still friends, but I don't like him that way anymore."

"What about Puckleberry? Or even St. Berry?" Santana asked.

"No, I don't miss…wait. You guys actually named Jesse and I St. Berry?" Rachel asked.

"Well we couldn't think of a way to put Jesse and Rachel together. Thus, 'St. Berry' was born." Santana explained.

"Well, what do they call us?" Rachel asked.

"Pezberry." Santana replied.

"Well, no, I don't miss Puckleberry or St. Berry." Rachel said.

"What's your favorite couple name that you've had?" Santana asked. "Note that I'm not asking you what your favorite relationship you've had."

"My favorite relationship name was probably 'Puckleberry.' It reminded me of my favorite book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Rachel said. "But this," she began gesturing towards them. "Is my favorite relationship by far."

Santana raised an eyebrow. "Your favorite book is Huck Finn? I thought it would have been the complete biography of Barbra Streisand."

"That's my second favorite book." Rachel said, pointing at her bookshelf.

"Wait a second. You…you actually own Barbra Streisand's biography?" Rachel nodded. "Oh my god. I was totally just teasing you. But you actually went out and bought Barbra Streisand's biography." Santana said.

"And her autobiography." Rachel said.

"Wh…why?" Santana asked.

"What? You don't?" Rachel asked.

"N...no. Not…not really. And I would expect most people don't." Santana said, smiling slightly. 'Barbra Streisand isn't in anyone else's wheelhouse.' She thought.

"Jesse has them." Rachel said. Santana arched an eyebrow at her girlfriend.

"Do I look like Jesse? No, I don't. He has a mini Jerry curl thing going on and frankly he looks an awful lot like Mr. Schue. I definitely don't. Plus, I'm way hotter than St. James. " Santana said.

"Oh baby you know I'm just kidding. Well not about Barbra. He actually does have both books." She said.

"How did we not know he is gay?" Santana asked.

"Shut up." Rachel replied. The two were silent for a moment. "You know, I actually kind of like the name Pezberry."

"Yeah well, you better like it, because its the couple mash up name you're going to be stuck with for a really long time, little lady." Santana said.

"It sounds as if you've been thinking about this." Rachel commented. Santana shrugged. "Do you think that we have a future outside of high school and outside of Lima?" Rachel asked.

"Of course I do, Ray. I totally want to go to New York with you if you want me there." Santana said.

"Sweetie, you know I want you there with me every step of the way." Rachel said.

"Mi bonita mi bebé, mi princesa,mi estrella, mi amor de mi vida, my Rachel. I wouldn't go anywhere else." Santana said, smiling. Rachel smiled back. She loved it when Santana lovingly called her names in Spanish and she loved it when Santana referred to Rachel as hers. Santana was very much aware of this fact, which is why she so often did it. "But it is nice to be asked, once in awhile. At least, that's what you told me when we got together." She continued. Rachel rolled her eyes and got down on one knee. "I didn't appreciate the eye roll. It makes me feel as if you are mocking me." Santana said.

Rachel ignored her and took Santana's hands in her own. "Santana Lopez, when we graduate, will you go to New York City with me?" Rachel asked.

"Of course I will you goof." Santana said, laughing. Rachel stood up and kissed her.

"Te amo mi niña bonita." Santana said.

"Yo tambien te amo mi Cheerio" Rachel replied. Santana pulled away and looked at her.

"Since when do you speak Spanish?"

"You're always saying you love me in Spanish. I always have to reply in English. I learned that so that I could say it to you for a change." Rachel said.

"Well keep doing it porque es muy caliente." Santana said. Rachel smiled and kissed her again.

"I'll do my best." Rachel said. Rachel allowed Santana to sleep in on Christmas morning, which Santana greatly appreciated. Two days before New Year's Eve, Puck sent Santana a text.

New Message

Puck

Mom won't leave the house this year. Need a place to hold party!

'I can't have New Year's Eve without a New Year's Eve party.' Santana thought

Let me talk to Rachel. –S

'Time to turn on charming Santana.' She thought. She walked down the hall to Rachel's room. She smiled a genuine smile as she saw Rachel leaned over a notebook while sitting on her bed. "Hey baby." She said, kissing the top of Rachel's head and pushing a strand of hair out of the smaller girl's face. Rachel looked up and smiled brightly.

"Hey." She said. She looked back down to her notebook.

"What are you working on?" Santana asked, sitting down in Rachel's desk chair. She was purposely sitting far away from Rachel.

"I was just writing another song. I was thinking we could do original songs at Regionals this year." Rachel said.

"I think that that's a fantastic idea, Ray." Santana said.

"All right. What's going on?" Rachel asked.

"Uh…what?" Santana asked.

"What do you want, San?" Rachel said. That threw Santana off a bit.

"Wha…What? What are you talking about?" Santana asked.

"You obviously want something, Santana."

"What makes you say that?"

"Since when do you say the word fantastic without certain other word that begins with the letter 'F' which I am not going to repeat." Rachel said.

Santana looked down. She had been caught. "Okay…Puck's mom won't let him have his annual New Year's Eve Party at his house this year. I figured that since your dads are going to that party and will be gone that entire weekend, we could hold the party this year." Santana said.

"San, I don't think that is a good idea." Rachel said.

"Rachel…come on. Its just one little party."

"A Noah Puckerman party. Noah Puckerman parties are never little. Last time we went to one, I practically got…" Rachel trailed off.

Santana knew exactly what she meant. She walked over and sat down on the bed. "I know sweetie. But Marshall won't get anywhere near this house. And if he somehow does, I will drop kick him so hard he won't be able to remember his middle name."

Rachel looked down. "San, I still don't know if this is a good idea."

"Rach, I promise, it'll be fine." Santana assured her girlfriend.

Rachel sighed. "I…I guess its okay."

Sensing the girl's hesitation, Santana pulled Rachel into a hug. "It'll be fun, Rachel."

"San, you promise Marshall won't be there?"

"Of course I do, honey. There's no way he's getting anywhere near you." Santana said.

"Okay. I guess as long as I have you there to protect me, I can be okay with the party." Rachel said.

"Is that what you are scared of?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded. "My sweet girl, of course I'll protect you. I'll never let anything happen to you. You know that." Santana reassured Rachel.

"Yea, I know, but sometimes things happen when you go to the bathroom or things like that. I'm not worried about what will happen when you and I are together. I'm worried about what would happen when one of us steps away for a second." Rachel said.

"Baby, how long have you been feeling like this?" Santana asked.

"Since it first happened." Rachel said.

"With Karofsky?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded. "Baby, that was about a month ago. Sweetie, why didn't you tell me that all this time?"

"I didn't want you to think I was weak." Rachel said.

"Oh mi estrella, I could never think that. Ray, you are one of the strongest people I know, if not the strongest. The way you lived with all those comments we put on your MySpace page and said to your face? I never would have been able to stay strong with those comments. But you never let those get to you. In fact, I think they made you stronger." Santana said. Rachel smiled.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"So…we can have the party?" Santana asked.

"San!" Rachel laughed. "Yes…we can have the party."

"Sweet! I have to go text Puck." Santana got up to leave the room, but Rachel reached up and pulled her back down. She immediately kissed Santana and pulled her on top of her. "Puck can totally wait." Santana said, smiling against Rachel's lips. Rachel smiled, before gently pushing Santana off of her. "Wha…what? What happened?" Santana asked.

"I just wanted to make sure you had me in your mind at all times." Rachel smiled evilly.

"Rachel Berry, how can you?" Santana said.

"Because I love you and I know that you won't get mad. But aren't you supposed to be texting Puck?" Rachel smirked.

"You little tease." Santana joked.

"I love you, Santana." Rachel said.

"I love you too, Rachel." Santana replied.

"Go text Noah. We have a party to get ready for." Rachel said.

"Please. All we need are a couple of kegs and wine coolers and we'll be good to go." Santana said.

"Just go text him." Santana left the room.

To: Puck

Rachel said we could have the party here. –S

It only took seconds for the boy to reply.

New Message

Puck

Awesome. Wow, you're really changing her, S.

A little bit, yeah. –S

Whatever. See you New Year's Eve. –Puck

Santana rolled her eyes and fell onto her bed. She thought back to her conversation with Rachel. She felt like such a jerk. How could she have gone a month without noticing that her girlfriend was terrified beyond belief? She lived with the girl after all. She pulled out her phone.

To: Puck

Puckerman, I need you to help ensure that Marshall does not come within ten miles of this house during the party. Rachel doesn't feel safe when he's around or even when she thinks he's around. –San

Anything for Rachel. Will do, S. –Puck

Gracias. –San

"Hey Cheerio!" Santana heard as she put her phone down. Rachel was calling her from down the hall. She walked over and opened her door.

"Yea?" she replied.

"Come back." Was the response she received. Santana wasted no time in getting back to the room.

"What's up love?" Santana said.

"I just wanted to apologize." Rachel said.

"Apologize? What did you do?" Santana asked, genuinely confused.

"I didn't mean to make you feel bad about what I said. About feeling scared." Rachel said.

"Rachel, you have nothing to apologize for. I should have been more attentive." Santana said.

"San, you love me. I can't ask for anything more."

"I want to protect you from jerks like that." Santana said.

"San, listen to me. No one could have stopped Marshall that day in the hall. He would have found a way to hit me one way or another." Rachel said.

"Please don't say that. I don' even want think about that." Santana said.

"San, we both know its probably true." Rachel continued.

"Rachel shut up!" Santana yelled. Rachel instantly winced. Even when Santana and Rachel had hated each other, Santana had never yelled at her like that before. Santana felt bad, but she did not back down. "God! Why can't you ever just shut up once in awhile?" She tried to ignore the hurt and tears in Rachel's eyes and left the room, knowing that Rachel jumped when she slammed the door. She walked back to her own room, allowing the tears to fall as she thought about what could have happened if Puck and Finn had not shown up when they did. She fell back onto the bed, sobbing. 'God, I am such a jerk.' She thought. She turned her back away from the door as she heard it being opened. "What do you want, Rachel?"

"I'm so sorry. I should not have pressed the subject. You asked me to stop talking about it, but I continued." Rachel said, not coming any closer than she thought Santana wanted her too.

Back still turned, Santana shook her head. "I shouldn't have yelled."

"No you shouldn't have." Rachel agreed. Santana turned her head and glared at Rachel. "Sorry."

"I shouldn't have yelled like that. I just get so angry when I think about what could have happened to you. I don't know what I would do without you." Santana said.

Rachel walked over to the bed and pulled Santana into her arms. "Baby, I'm not going anywhere. How many times do we have to have this conversation?"

"Everyday until we're out of Lima and in New York together." Rachel laughed. "I'm the one who is supposed to comfort you. I'm the tough one in this relationship." Santana said.

"Well sometimes even the toughest people need comforting." Rachel said. Santana nodded and they planned New Year's Eve together.

Parties. They were the basis of Santana's entertainment before she joined Glee Club. And before she started dating Rachel. Throughout the first hour, she kept an eye on the door and an arm around Rachel. There was no way she was letting her girl feel unsafe ever again. Suddenly, she saw someone who wasn't supposed to be there. She tried to keep Rachel from looking over there, but Rachel could feel the anger boiling up inside of Santana and looked in the same direction as the other girl.

"San, what's he doing here?" Rachel asked. Santana looked over and saw the fear in Rachel's eyes.

"I don't know baby girl. But I'm going to go get rid of him." She quickly searched around for Puck. "Puckerman!" she hissed.

"What Satan?" he asked.

"I thought I told you to make sure he didn't show up!" she said. Puck looked over and saw Marshall.

"San, I'm so sorry. I'm going to get rid of him."

"No let me. You stay with Rachel." Santana said. She got up quickly walked to the boy. "You need to leave." She said.

"No way, Satan. Its a party. People show up, even when you don't invite them. Look, you won't even know I'm here." Marshall said.

"Yeah I will, because now that my girlfriend knows you are here, she won't be able to enjoy herself all night and I am not going to allow you to terrify her in her own house. She should be able to feel safe in her own home." Santana said. As soon as she saw his eyes light up, Santana knew she had made a mistake.

"So…your girl's scared of me, huh? Guess I better go make sure she's okay."

"Stay away from her." Santana said.

"Whatever you say, Satan." Marshall said walking into a different room. Santana turned back and went to Rachel.

"Where did he go?" she asked.

"To the other side of the house." Santana said.

"NO! San, I want him gone." Rachel said.

"Baby, it'll be fine. Just don't think about him." Santana said.

"Don't think about him? Santana, he's in my house." Rachel said.

"Well, I'm sorry. I should have kicked him out. If he comes near you, I'll make him leave, okay?" Santana asked.

"You know, if he wasn't here, I would have stormed off long ago."

"If he wasn't here, you wouldn't have a reason to storm off, now would you?" Santana countered. Rachel, who was fighting a smirk, looked away. Later in the night, Santana had Finn do a lap around the house. It looked as if Marshall had left the house, so Rachel decided to go find Kurt and Mercedes and hang out with them for a bit. The moment it seemed as if Santana couldn't see Rachel anymore, Marshall came out of his hiding spot.

"Well, well, well, look who it is." He said. She turned around.

"Mar…Marshall. What are you doing here? Finn said you left." Rachel said, looking around for Santana.

"Your girl can't see you." Marshall said.

"Do you think she would be able to hear me?" Rachel threatened.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Marshall said. "Now, be a good little girl and talk to me. Otherwise, I may have to hurt you and your girl."

"Don't touch Santana."

"Then shut up." He said. Rachel looked away uncomfortably and Marshall took that as an opportunity to slip an anesthetic in her drink. 'She'll be passed out for hours. She will be lucky if she lives.' He thought. He smiled as he saw her take a hearty drink in the awkwardness.

"HEY!" They heard. They both looked in the direction of the voice. Marshall smiled.

"Fabray. How are you tonight?"

"I'm doing fine. You however won't be if you don't get away from her and out of this house." Quinn said. Marshall threw his hands up in surrender and backed up.

"Not a problem. My work here is done anyway." Marshall said. He immediately left the house.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Quinn asked Rachel. When she didn't get a response, she looked over at the girl, who was passed out on the floor. "Rach? Rachel?" She dropped to her knees and tried to shake the girl. "Somebody get Santana!" she screamed.

Upon hearing her name, Santana walked into the room, she looked for whoever called her name and saw Quinn on the floor. Upon further inspection, she noticed the person on the floor next to her, unconscious.

"Rachel." She whispered. She sprinted across the room. "Rachel, baby, its me. Its Santana, sweetie. Wake up. Honey, you have to wake up." Rachel barely stirred. "Quinn who was she with?" Santana asked.

"I found her with Marshall and kicked him out. As he left he said that his work here was done. Oh my god. S, do you think he drugged her?"

"If he did, I'll kill him. Call an ambulance. Now." Santana said. Quinn pulled out her phone.

"S, the ambulance will be here shortly. I also texted Puck. He and Finn are out looking for Marshall." Quinn reported.

Santana nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Rach, come on. Please baby girl stay with me." She could hear the faint sirens. "Crap. Q, there's alcohol here."

"Mike and Sam were already working on clearing it out." Quinn assured her.

"Good thing Rachel was drinking soda." Santana said.

"I'll go tell them where you guys are." Mercedes said. Santana nodded. An hour later, Santana was in the waiting room, waiting for news on Rachel. Finally a doctor came out. "She's ready to see you, Santana." She wasted no time getting in there.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry. I should have kicked him out." Santana looked into Rachel's eyes and saw the anger.

"You promised me nothing would happen." Rachel said.

"I know. I'm sorry. I was wrong." Santana said.

"You let him into my house, Santana." Rachel said.

"Can you forgive me?" Santana asked.

"I honestly don't know if I can. You didn't kick him out and he almost killed me!" Rachel said.

"Baby, I didn't know he was going to do that!" Santana said.

"Santana, I almost died because you just blew it off. I told you how I felt about him being there and you let him stay." Rachel said.

"What are you trying to say?" Santana asked.

"Get out."

"What?" Santana asked, unable to believe it.

"I want you gone. I'm done with this, done with us, done with you. You can continue to live in my house, but do not talk to me. We're over, Santana." Rachel said.

"Rachel, baby, please don't do that. I'm sorry, I love you." Santana said.

"If you loved me, you'd have kicked him out when I asked you to." Rachel said. "Santana, please leave."

Santana let the tears flow freely from her eyes, not even bothering to mask them. "Rachel…"

"Please, San." Rachel said, looking away.

"Rachel, you know that you and I are meant to be together."

"I'm not so sure of that anymore." Rachel said.

That made Santana angry. "Fine. Whatever, Berry. I'll leave." Santana turned and walked out of the room, ignoring her friends as she left the hospital. She didn't need Rachel Berry. She was Santana Lopez. Santana Lopez didn't need anyone. Santana watched from her window the next day as Finn and Puck brought Rachel home. Rachel looked up into the girl's window and caught the other girl staring. They shared a look for a few moments, before Santana walked away from the window. She knew that the break up was her fault. Rachel had every right to be mad. Santana had almost gotten the girl killed. But just because Santana knew she was at fault didn't mean she was going to go running back begging for forgiveness. At least, not yet. She knew eventually she was going to, because she wasn't sure she wanted to be without Rachel just yet. She'd really liked the sound of their plan to go off to New York together after high school. As she sat on her bed, she heard the commotion of the three people and then the sound of the two boys leaving. Suddenly her phone vibrated.

New Message

Puck

What's up with you and R?

She broke up with me. End of story. –San

Bummer. And that totally'll make the living situation awkward, just FYI. –Puck

Yea, thanks, Puck. As if I didn't already know that. –San

Sorry. –Puck.

Santana decided to ignore that text. Part of her wanted to walk down the hall and convince Rachel to take her back. But she had made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with Santana. And Santana couldn't exactly blame her. She also wasn't sure she could talk to Rachel without crying. She decided to text her to be polite and ask if she needed anything from downstairs.

To: Rachel

Going downstairs. Do you need anything? Are you hungry or anything like that?

Santana received a reply quicker than she had anticipated.

New Message

Rachel

Water?

Sure. –S

Santana went downstairs and got Rachel a bottle of water and some aspirin just to be on the safe side. She got a bottle of apple juice for herself and made her way back up the stairs. She paused as she stood outside Rachel's room. She had been in there countless times, but now she couldn't decide if she should knock or not. She decided to knock.

"Come in." Rachel said. She was sitting on her bed with her laptop. Santana walked over to her table and put the water.

"I got you some aspirin just in case." Santana said. She was afraid to meet Rachel's eyes.

"Thanks." Rachel said.

Santana stood there for a moment. "Rach…" she trailed off.

"San, please don't make this harder than it already is." Rachel said.

Santana could feel tears threatening to fall. "I just wanted to apologize for what happened. I'll leave you alone now."

"Santana, wait."

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't love me anymore." Santana dared.

Rachel looked into Santana's eyes. "I still love you, but what you did makes me want to try to stop." Santana's heart broke at those words.

"Fine. I'm sorry that I put you through all of this pain and I'm sorry that I wasted the last four months of your life. You're free, Rachel. You don't have to worry about me trying to get you back because I know that is not what you want. And don't worry. I won't follow you to New York after high school. You're free, Rachel."

"San…"

"Did the last four months even mean anything to you?" she asked.

"Of course they did, Santana."

"Obviously not much otherwise you wouldn't have ignored my apologies."

"Santana, I asked you to make him leave. You ignored me and let him stay there and I almost died because of that."

"Rachel, I didn't know that was going to happen. You're right I should have kicked him out and I'm sorry! I don't know how else I can say it!" Santana turned and left the room. The next few days, Santana did her best to either stay out of the house or stay in her room. Finally, school started up again. Santana never thought she would have been so happy to be back at school. First period Glee Club, she sat with Brittany, Quinn, and Artie. Rachel sat on the other side of the room. As Mr. Schue walked in Rachel raised her hand.

"Yes, Rachel?"

"Can I sing a song?" Rachel asked.

"Uh…yeah. I guess." Rachel walked up to the front. She looked at Santana the entire time.

We've run out of words

We've run out of time

We've run out of reasons

Really, why are we together?

We both know it's over, baby

Bottom line

It's best we don't even talk at all

Don't call me even if I should cross your mind

Hard enough, I don't need to hear your voice on my messages

Let's just call it quits

Its probably better

So if I'm not returning your calls its cause

Cause I'm not coming back

I'm closing the door

I used to be tripping over missing you

But I'm not anymore

I got the picture phone

Baby, your picture's gone

I couldn't stand to see your smile

Every time you dial

Cause it's over

Girl, you know it's over this time

So when you call I'm pressing 7

Don't wanna hear your messages, messages

I'm tryin to erase you from my mind

Cause it's over

I swear it girl

It's over this time

So don't be callin leavin' messages

Don't wanna know where you've been

Baby cause it's over

I still wake up every morning

Quarter to ten

I still eat my cereal

Right at the kitchen table

I can't even remember how long it's been

With no trouble staying occupied

They ask about you whenever I come around

I do what I can not to put my business in the streets

Last thing I need is another episode

Keep conversations short and sweet cause

Cause I'm not coming back

I'm closing the door

I used to be tripping over missing you

But I'm not anymore

I got the picture phone

Baby, your picture's gone

I couldn't stand to see your smile

Every time you dial

Cause it's over

Girl, you know it's over this time

So when you call I'm pressing 7

Don't wanna hear your messages, messages

I'm tryin to erase you from my mind

Cause it's over

I swear it girl

It's over this time

So don't be callin leavin' messages

Don't wanna know where you've been

Baby cause it's over

You know that its over when the burning and yearning inside your heart

Ain't there anymore

And you know that you're through

When she don't do to you and move you

Like the way she moved you before

And you wanna pull her close

But your heart has froze

You kiss her but her eyes don't close

Then she goes

Out of your heart forever

And it hurts you but you know that it's better

Girl it's over

Girl, you know it's over this time

So when you call I'm pressing 7

Don't wanna hear your messages, messages

I'm tryin to erase you from my mind

Cause it's over

I swear it girl

It's over this time

So don't be callin leavin' messages

Don't wanna know where you've been

Baby cause it's over

Cause it's over

Girl, you know it's over this time

So when you call I'm pressing 7

Don't wanna hear your messages, messages

I'm tryin to erase you from my mind

Cause it's over

I swear it girl

It's over this time

So don't be callin leavin' messages

Don't wanna know where you've been

Baby cause it's over

As Rachel stopped singing, Santana's mouth dropped open. "Really, Berry? That was awful!"

"Santana! Apologize to Rachel." Mr. Schue scolded.

"No way. I'm not about to apologize to her. That was totally uncalled for." Santana argued.

"Rach, that was kind of mean." Finn said.

"Seriously, Rachel, that was cold." Mercedes said.

"Yea, I was there. She did nothing but try to help you." Quinn said.

"Guys, its fine. She's obviously over us. Let her do whatever she wants. I don't care anymore." Santana said.

"Well, I just needed to express my emotions. Sometimes they come off that way." Rachel said. She then stormed out of the room. Mr. Schue looked at Santana.

"What?" she asked clearly irritated.

"Are you going to go after her?"

"Why would I go after her after she dumped me, then sang that song to me?" Santana asked.

Karofsky watched Marshall enter the school. "You're not supposed to be here, Marshall. You need to leave."

Marshall raised his gun. "Karosky, just shut up for once in your sorry life." The other boy backed off and let him past. He quickly pulled out his phone.

To: Santana

Marshall is in the school building.

Santana felt her phone vibrate. Even though Mr. Schue was looking right at her, she checked it anyway. She read Karofsky's message. Her eyes widened. "Santana please put your phone away. That message isn't that important unless someone's life is in danger."

"Rachel's might be. Karofsky just texted me and told me Marshall is here." Santana said. She received a new message.

New Message

Karofsky

He has a gun with him.

"Oh my god." Santana said.

"What is it?" Mr. Schue asked, worried.

"He has a gun. I think he's looking for Rachel or me. Most likely Rachel." Santana said. She couldn't let him get to Rachel. Wait, they were broken up. She wasn't supposed to care. Was she? Forget it, she had to admit it to herself. She still loved Rachel. "Finn, give me your phone. Now."

"Why?" the boy asked.

"Because she won't pick up if I'm the one calling her. Give me your phone!" Santana caught the phone that was tossed to her and dialed Rachel's number.

"Finn, you're not going to get me to come back to the choir room." Rachel said.

"Rachel, its not Finn. Its me."

"Santana?"

"No, the Tooth Fairy. Yes, Santana!"

"What do you want, Santana?"

"I need to know where you are."

"Why? I told you we're over."

"Rachel, will you please just shut up and listen!" Santana yelled into the phone.

"I guess. Fine, you have two minutes, Santana. Then I'm hanging up." Rachel said.

"Rachel, don't hang up. Listen, Karofsky just texted me. Marshall is in the building and he has a gun." Santana said.

"He has a what?" Rachel said. Santana could hear the fear.

"He has a gun, Rach." She said, her voice softening.

"I'm headed towards the auditorium." Rachel said.

"Don't go there. It'll be the first place he looks. Go to the library. I'll meet you there." Santana said. She hung up the phone, tossed it back to Finn and took off running. She sprinted until she saw Rachel's figure in the distance and then kicked up her speed even more. She had almost caught up to Rachel when she saw Marshall in the distance. She saw him lift up his gun. Rachel had opened the door and Santana lunged forward and pushed Rachel into the library. The two went rolling in there as they heard a gunshot.

"Oh my god. Are you okay?" Rachel asked, looking at her ex-girlfriend.

"I'm fine. Go to the back and stay low and stay quiet." Santana whispered. Rachel obeyed and the two quickly made their way to the back corner.

"Santana, I'm so sorry for singing that song." Rachel whispered.

"Is now really the time for this, Rachel?" Santana whispered back.

"Yea, actually it is. If we're going to die-" Rachel was cut off.

"We aren't going to die. He's not coming near you." Santana said.

"That's you said last time." Rachel muttered. Santana glared at her.

"Is this going somewhere or are you just going to keep trying to make me feel guilty?" Santana hissed.

"It's going somewhere. As I was saying, if we're going to die," Santana opened her mouth to protest again, but Rachel put her hand over Santana's mouth. "If we're going to die, I don't want to die fighting with you."

Santana nodded, taking the words in and gently removing Rachel's hand. "What are you trying to say?"

Rachel looked into Santana's eyes and saw the love behind the anger and the hurt. "I …I don't know."

Santana looked at the other girl. She knew what she had to say and she knew that Rachel had a point. They didn't know if they were going to live past today. She needed to say what had been on her mind since Rachel broke up with her. She needed to say how she truly felt and she knew that Rachel needed to hear this. She took a deep breath.

"Rachel, I need you. Okay? I can deny it as much as I want, but I need you. All right? I desperately need you. I desperately need you the way that Kurt desperately needs designer clothes. I desperately need you the way that Sam desperately needs a smaller mouth to face ratio. I desperately need you the way that Tina desperately needs to wear black all the time. I desperately need you the way that Finn desperately needs his weird Grilled Cheesus. I desperately need you the way that Puck desperately needs his guitar. I desperately need you the way that Quinn desperately needed anti-stretch mark cream. I desperately need you the way that Mike desperately needs to dance. I desperately need you the way that Matt desperately needed to talk more. I desperately need you the way that Mr. Schue desperately needs to wear a vest every single day. I desperately need you the way that Miss Pillsbury desperately needs cleanliness. I desperately need you the way that Artie desperately needs his wheelchair. I desperately need you the way that Brittany desperately needs ducks. I need you…" she took a breath. "I need you the way that you need me. The way that I know that you need me." Santana said, looking into Rachel's eyes. "I just…I need you. I've tried to fight it, and I've tried to deny it, but I'm at the point where I just…I don't want to fight or deny it anymore. I want to need you. I want to have you in my life. I want you to be my life, my heart, and my world. I want you to be mine. Okay? And I really am sorry for what happened, but you know in your heart that I would never do anything to intentionally put you in harm's way, because I can't live without you. I'd never do anything to lose you." Santana said. "I just -"

She was cut off by Rachel's lips on hers. Rachel pulled away and started to say something when they heard a voice.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I am only going to have to make one trip around the school." Marshall said.

"Marshall, I swear if you hurt her, I'll use that gun on you." Santana said.

"I can always get rid of you first, Satan." He raised the gun.

"Santana, no." Rachel cried.

"Rachel, he won't hurt you. I'd rather he kill me than you." Santana said.

"NO!" Rachel yelled. Both girls closed their eyes and screamed as they heard the gunshot. They heard Marshall groan as he hit the ground. They both opened their eyes. Karofsky had tackled him to the ground. Rachel grabbed Santana's hand. There was a pool of blood around Marshall.

"Is he dead?" Rachel asked.

Karofsky nodded. "He can't bother you guys anymore." He went off, saying he was going to get a teacher.

Santana pulled Rachel into a hug. "Its over, Rachel. He can't hurt you anymore."

"San…San, I need you too. I'm so sorry." Rachel cried. She kept repeating herself.

"Shh…its okay. Its okay." Santana said, stroking her hair..

"Please…please take me back, Santana. Please. Take me back. Please. Please love me again. Please just take me back." Rachel sobbed.

The sound of Rachel crying nearly put Santana over the edge. "Always." She kissed Rachel's forehead. "Its okay. You're okay. I'm here, baby girl. I love you."

"I don't want to lose you. I love you to much." Rachel sobbed.

"You won't lose me. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you." Santana said, rocking Rachel back and forth. Rachel held on to her girlfriend. Santana just let her cry in her arms. When Karofsky returned with Mr. Schue, Rachel was still crying. Santana's Cheerio uniform had tearstains on it, but she didn't care. She continued to comfort Rachel.

"Santana, are you guys all right?" the teacher asked. Santana nodded. Mr. Schue noticed Marshall. "Oh my god."

"That would be us if Karofsky had not shown up." Santana said, instantly regretting it, because Rachel began to cry even harder. "Crap. I am so sorry Rachel."

Mr. Schue looked at the boy. "David, you're a hero."

"Thanks, Karofsky." Santana quietly said. He nodded, clearly shook up about the whole thing.

"Santana, how about you take Rachel back to the choir room? She'll feel most comfortable there." Mr. Schue suggested. "But do be prepared for when the police show up."

Santana nodded. "Come on, Rach." She whispered. Rachel's crying at quieted down. They walked back to the choir room.

"Oh my god. Are you guys okay? Karofsky came in and said that there was a shooting." Quinn said.

"We're fine." Santana said.

"What about Marshall?" Finn asked.

Santana looked down. "He…he's dead."

"Rach, you okay?" Puck asked. Rachel nodded. She buried her head in Santana's chest to quiet her crying.

"Its okay baby. You're safe." Santana whispered, tearing up herself.

Ms. Pillsbury walked in. "Santana? They're ready for you and Rachel."

Santana nodded. "Baby? We have to go talk to the police now. Okay?" Rachel nodded. They walked to the front office.

"Ms. Lopez, why do you think that the victim-"

"Hold up. Marshall isn't a victim. He tried to shoot my girlfriend and I. He beat up my girlfriend awhile back and he drugged and almost killed her on New Year's Eve. In no way is he a victim." Santana interrupted.

"Okay, fine. Why do you think that the deceased tried to shoot the two of you?" the officer said.

"Because he was crazy?"

"San, please cooperate." Rachel said.

"Okay." Santana softly said. "Because he wanted to finish what he started. He didn't successfully kill Rachel on New Year's Eve so he wanted to finish it off. I wasn't going to let that happen so he was going to kill me too."

The officer nodded. "Ms. Berry, why were you in the hallway?"

"I stormed out of Glee Club rehearsal. Santana called me and told me not to go to the auditorium because Marshall was sure to head there, so I went to the library."

"So you knew he had a gun?" they asked Santana.

"I was warned by another student, which is why I went to find Rachel." Santana said.

The officer nodded. "I think we have enough for now."

"Santana, how about you take Rachel home." Ms. Pillsbury suggested.

Santana nodded. "Come on Ray." The drive home was silent. Rachel had finally stopped crying. When they got home, she immediately went to her room. Santana gave her some time alone before going in there to check on her.

"Hey. How are you doing?" she asked.

"Better." Rachel said. Santana walked over and gently kissed Rachel's forehead.

"What do you think are you doing?" Rachel asked.

Santana was confused. Rachel had said she wanted her back. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you kissing me?"

"You said you wanted me…us…back." Santana said.

"I was caught up in the moment." Rachel said.

"Wait…what? So you don't want me back?" Santana said.

"No." Rachel looked away. Santana nodded.

"Fine." She walked to the door, before turning around. "By the way, I'm enlisting in the Army the day I turn eighteen. Have fun in New York." With that, she walked out of the room.

"Wait…what?" Rachel said to herself. This was not what she wanted. She immediately followed Santana and went into the girl's room. "You're doing what?" Rachel asked.

"I'm enlisting in the Army. I told you I wouldn't follow you to New York, and I'm not going to." Santana said.

"But you've always dreamed of going to Columbia." Rachel said.

"Yea and I dreamed that we were going to be together forever but some dreams die, huh?" Santana said bitterly. Suddenly, Rachel was kissing her. "What are you doing, Rachel?"

"I do want you back. I want you to go to New York with me and I want you to be mine again." Rachel said. Santana kissed her back.

"Rachel, I have always been yours." Santana said. "But I still want to enlist in the Army."

"But San…"

"Rachel, this is something that I had been considering that for a long time now." Santana said.

"Can we compromise about this? I just…I can't live everyday wondering if you're okay or even if you're alive. San, I just can't do that. What if you studied Criminal Justice and became a police officer or federal agent or something." Rachel said. "At least then I can see you everyday and know you're okay."

Santana considered this. "I guess I could be okay with that."

"No, Santana. You can't be okay with the idea. If you're just okay with it you'll resent me later on." Rachel said.

Santana smiled. "As long as you are there with me, I love the idea."

"I'll always be there." Rachel said. Santana kissed her again.

"No more breakups." She said.

"No more breakups." Rachel agreed. "You and me together forever."

"Forever." Santana whispered.

"So the plan is we graduate from high school, go to New York, me at Julliard and you at Columbia. We graduate college and then you go on to be a police officer and I go on to be on Broadway. All the while we are completely happy and in love. Deal?" Rachel said.

Santana chuckled. "Deal." She and Rachel shook on it. Rachel grinned and pulled Santana in for another kiss. Santana pulled away and rested her forehead on Rachel's.

"I love you." Rachel said.

"I love you too baby girl. I never want to come that close to losing you again. Twice in the course of about a week is plenty for me for a lifetime." Santana said.