A/N – One quick disclaimer, I'm English so I have no idea about school grades or phone numbers in the US so go with it, and take any errors as poetic license : )

As promised some Pezberry goodness, this was a lot of fun to write Santana and Rachel are my favourite thing to write and I'm loving trying to get in Santana's head. Enjoy…and prepare for more Pezberry next with a little angst!

Chapter Ten

Santana finally managed to catch up with Quinn as she entered the hotel lobby, and giving the blonde a gentle slap on the arm she grinned. She had missed Quinn, before all the baby drama and the issues with the cheerios the two had been really close, and Santana felt bad when she realised how much their friendship had been affected the last few years. She had wanted so badly to create this persona where no one would dare mess with her that she had ended up pushing away one of the few people who actually cared about her. She knew she wasn't entirely to blame; Quinn had her own reasons for wanting to rise to the top of the social hierarchy and the two had kind of fallen into an unspoken pact to stride to be the head bitches in charge. They had worked hard to form their popular image, to rule the school as cheerios, but the thing was somewhere along the line the two had stopped being friends and their relationship had twisted into something Santana no longer recognised. Even though they didn't realise it at the time, joining Glee had been the start of them rediscovering their friendship and Santana could only hope that they would be able to find a way back to how they had been before.

Looking up at the blonde Santana was glad to finally catch her breath as she muttered, 'You have a filthy mind'

Quinn shook her head in mock-out rage 'I do not, but I have been waiting for months to say that'

'Months?' Santana asked 'This is how you spend your time, thinking of dirty sex puns?'

'No. I spend my spare time helping Britney devise plans to push you and Rachel together, have you never noticed you end up standing next to her in like, every song we perform?'

Santana rolled her eyes, but hesitated as she looked at her grinning friend. The more she thought about it, she did seem to end up spending a lot of time slotting in next to the diva, especially considering she didn't really sing all that much.

'Is that your eureka face?' Quinn asked sweetly, grabbing the brunettes hand and dragging her towards were the rest of the group were assembling.

Santana allowed herself to be propelled towards the dining room as she replayed the events through her head, 'How did you manage to do it?'

'No one can say no to Britney' the blonde replied wisely, 'It's like kicking a puppy'

Santana nodded at this, she knew from experience that the blonde could pretty much get her way whenever she wanted something; she was so genuinely friendly and innocent that people never assumed she had ulterior motives. Everyone underestimated the dancer, but when she wanted to Britney could put together a plan that would make the great escape look like child's play.

As the two cheerleaders entered the room they were greeted with a range of hellos from the other members who already surrounded their table. Pulling up two chairs the girls squeezed themselves in around the circular table. They had only been sat down for a few moments when Rachel came bounding into the room, a huge smile on her face as she spotted Santana.

Trying to retain a degree of secrecy the diva pulled up a chair opposite, 'Hey guys'

The rest of the group briefly acknowledged the singer before turning back to whatever it was they were doing, but Santana found herself mesmerised by the other brunette. Whipping out her phone under the table she tapped a quick message to the diva, then realised she didn't actually have her number stored on her phone, frowning she was broken out of her dilemma by her phone buzzing. Glad she had set it on silent; she glanced down smiling as she read the message.

1-458-258-3458 Q x

Santana let out a quiet chuckle to herself as she looked up and mouthed a quick thanks to Quinn. Then tapping in the number she prayed that Rachel had the decency to set her phone to silent, otherwise they were about to get busted. She let out a sigh of relief, then another chuckle, as she watch the brunette jump as her phone vibrated in her pocket. As the singer took it out Santana saw her break out into a huge smile. Seconds later her phone buzzed again.

You're sexts might be too hot to delete Santana, but it will take more than that to convince me to sneak away with you x

Santana re-read the message, and then looked up to see the unmistakable challenge on the diva's face. The Latina bit her lip in concentration, she had a lot of experience sexting but this was different. This was Rachel. The cheerleader racked her brains for something appropriate to send. She knew the diva wouldn't be as easily flattered by the kind of messages she had sent Puck or Britney, her previous message had proved that. No, Rachel wanted and deserved something romantic. The problem was Santana couldn't think of a damn thing, she wasn't exactly the dating type and had never thought of herself as someone who would send sappy texts. But for Rachel, she was willing to try. And then it struck her, she knew exactly to right thing to send even if it did make her want to gag at little.

There are a million stars and a million dreams…you are the only star for me, the only dream I dream x

Santana hesitated as she held her finger over the send button. She briefly wondered if she was coming on to strong, she didn't want Rachel to feel as though she was pressuring her or trying to move to fast. But on the other hand, she had been challenged and Santana Lopez never backed down from a challenge. She snuck a quick look at the girl opposite her and saw she was making a gesture for her to send whatever she had been typing. Taking a deep breath she hit send.

She couldn't watch to see Rachel's reaction; she couldn't quite believe she had sent such a sappy message and half of her wondered if the diva wouldn't go storming from the room in protest. But if Santana was honest with herself she was also pretty proud at working in a musical lyric and a mention of stars to her romantic texts that way Rachel would know the message was for her and her alone.

Santana was so wrapped up congratulating herself on her hard work that she almost missed Rachel's sudden exit from the room. The group had become so accustomed to the diva's storm outs that they paid little attention, if fact the cheerleader wondered if anyone had even noticed her leave. For once she was glad for the regularity of the diva's quick exits, no-one noticed her leave and no-one noticed the look of pain that flashed across the cheerleaders face.

Running a hand through her hair the brunette sighed, she had been worried since the first time Rachel had shown her any kind of friendship that she'd screw this up but this was a record even for her. The sound of her phone buzzing drew the cheerleader away from what was fast becoming a full blown pity-party and she looked down at the screen uncertainly.

Meet me by the fountain. We need to talk.

Santana's heart sank as she read the short message; in her experience 'we need to talk' never led to anything good. She debated ignoring the message, but eventually figured that if she was about to get her heart stomped on she might as well get it done quickly. She was no coward after all. With a heavy heart the Latina made some half-hearted excuse, ignoring Quinn's concerned look, before leaving the table and heading off in the direction of the fountain.

She had barely made it any distance down the hallway when she felt a hand encircle her wrist and she was dragged into a nearby cupboard. Santana was momentarily disorientated as panic welled within her and she tried to work out what was happening, the sound of door slamming shut making her focus on the girl in front of her. Or she would have done, had she not found herself pressed tightly against a wall of the cupboard.

'What are you-' Santana tried to ask, but her words were silenced quickly.

The feel of Rachel's lips upon her own was different this time, before their kisses had been hesitant and tentative but as the singer wrapped her arms around the cheerleader Santana felt their bodies melt together the fierce intensity of the embrace setting her skin on fire. As her mind caught up she felt her body spring into action, her own hands grasping at the smaller girl urging her closer as they each tried desperately to lose themselves in the other. Santana let out a low moan as she felt Rachel's thigh slip between her legs, pushing upwards into her centre her hips grinding down as she mirrored the action. They moved together, hands roaming under shirts, tangled in hair the sounds of their ragged breath filling the room.

Oxygen quickly become an issue as the two girls battled for dominance, and it was Rachel who broke away first, her face flushed as she smiled at the cheerleader she had managed to pin against the wall. Santana returned the smile, her heart pounding in her chest as she leant forward drawing the singer into another kiss. It was tender this time, slow and caring as the Latina took the time to memorise the way Rachel moved against her.

Breaking the kiss Santana gazed at the smaller girl as she cupped her cheek, her voice little more than a whisper 'You're beautiful'

Rachel's smiled faltered for a second as she glanced down, it was so small that Santana would have missed it had she not been focused so intently on the smaller brunette, dipping her head to catch the singers eye Santana searched the others girls face for some kind of clue, 'Rach, what's the matter?'

'Nothing' she replied, her voice sounded strained 'Its…it's nothing'

Santana bit her lip as she looked at the quiet girl in front of her, tucking a stray hair behind the singer's ear she whispered 'You can tell me'

'I'm not beautiful'

The words were uttered so quietly Santana had to strain forward to hear them, even in the silence of the cupboard. She almost wished she hadn't heard though, as the belief behind the small statement cut right through the cheerleader because she knew she was at least part of the reason Rachel truly believed what she was saying.

'Pretty, maybe…but I'm nothing special'

Santana's heart clenched as the small girl continued, her tone so accepting of her own lies that the Latina couldn't stand it and when the singer began to edge away from their embrace it was more than she could take.

Grasping a one hand around the smaller frame she pulled Rachel closer, her other hand moving to the back of the diva's neck pulled her in so their lips crashed together once more. She wanted to show the other girl how beautiful she was, how much she wanted her. Breaking apart the Latina stared down at Rachel, the guilt evident in her eyes as she reiterated 'You. Are. Beautiful'

She punctuated each word with a short kiss, her hand drawing gentle circles on the small of Rachel's back as it snuck under her shirt and was met with smooth skin.

'Santana…'

The defeated tone only served to reinforce the cheerleaders resolve. It had been stupid to think that Rachel had managed to go so long enduring the taunts and abuse of the popular crowd without it affecting her. In so many ways she had stayed strong, she had faced most of the horrors the popular kids had thrown at her but hearing Rachel say she wasn't beautiful hurt Santana more than she could ever have thought.

Tilting the singers head so they were eye-to-eye the cheerleader began 'I don't make a habit of telling people they're beautiful everyday okay? When I say it, I mean it-'

'But-'

'Shut up' the cheerios said softly 'I know that I've spent a lot of time putting you down, insulting you and you have no idea how guilty I feel right now. But I swear to you I would do anything to go back and change it because there is no way you should ever think you're anything other than stunning. All those things I did because-'

'Because you didn't want people to do them to you?' Rachel supplied.

Santana half-nodded as she agreed that much was true, it sounded a whole lot worse hearing someone else say it out loud but a lot of her bitchiness had been about deflecting away any insults direct towards her, she had admitted as much the day before. But there was more to it, Santana just wasn't sure if she was ready for Rachel to know.

Leaning her head back against the wall Santana sighed, 'Do you remember when we went on that stupid field trip in sixth grade?'

Rachel nodded slowly, a strange look crossing her features.

'And now you're remembering me pushing you in the sand pit, right?'

Rachel nodded again.

'Do you know why I did it?' Santana asked, her breath catching in her throat when Rachel shook her head. She had been hoping the singer would remember at least some of what had happened 'I was with Britney and you were by yourself, and you looked sad. I…I heard one of the boys making fun of you, and I wanted to punch him so bad because he was making you cry, just like he used to do to me. When I came over to you he left pretty quickly, I'd already started scaring people by then…you were so upset…'

'It was my first week' Rachel added, not sure where the Latina was going with her story.

'Yeah I remember' the cheerleader acknowledged a guilty look on her face as she continued 'I asked you if you were okay and…and I offered you some of my slushie but I didn't…I mean you…'

Rachel frowned as if trying to remember that day, then it was if a light had been switched as she sighed 'Oh my god'

Santana nodded when she realised they were both on the same page.

'I corrected your grammar' Rachel murmured.

'And my pronunciation actually' the cheerio pointed out with a shrug, before adding 'Still hate watermelon slushies'

'I didn't know' the singer stammered 'I would never-'

Santana held up her hand to silence Rachel's babbling 'You also said…that even though I messed up my words, I had a nice voice and pretty eyes'

Rachel nodded as she remembered; her nostalgia was cut short as she recalled the next part 'Why did you push me?'

Santana sighed, 'Because you confused me. I wanted to be this badass that no-one would mess with but straight away you picked up on the one thing I was trying to hide. But you were also nice. You liked my accent, my eyes, all the things that made me different that I was ashamed off. And…I liked you. I was trying so hard to be this other person and then there you were, reminding me who I was. I'd only just started putting my walls up and you were already smashing them down'

'I'm sorry' Rachel said hesitantly.

'God, don't apologise' Santana said loudly 'I'm the one who should be apologising…how can you even stand to be anywhere near me?'

Rachel didn't hesitate 'Because I see you. You think I never noticed all the little things you did even when you were trying to be head bitch?'

Santana frowned, 'What are you talking about?'

'You never once slushied me when I was wearing white, you always conveniently covered me in your drink when you knew a bathroom was near-by and you always, always use grape'

'It's your favourite flavour' Santana mused, snapping back to reality when she realised she'd been busted 'Why didn't you ever say anything?'

'I figured you had your reasons and eventually things would change. I never thought it would happen like this' Rachel admitted, gesturing between there closely locked bodies 'I guess sometimes it takes something bad to make you see things differently'

'Except maybe it wasn't a bad thing' Santana began, trailing off as she took in Rachel's confused look 'No, I mean it was bad…but maybe I deserve all that crap, y'know payback for all the times I made your life hell. You might have noticed I'm not exactly a nice person'

'No-one deserves that Santana' the singer stated adamantly 'I'm not saying I understand everything you did, but it doesn't mean you're not a nice person. I'm willingly to put the past aside-'

'Why?' the cheerio blurted out unable to wrap her head around the idea that someone other than Brittany wanted to be around her. Generally people didn't opt to spend extended periods of time around her, especially people who had spent a good amount of time having drinks thrown at them 'You were nothing but nice to me and I threw it all back in your face because…because…'

'Because you were scared' Rachel stated confidently 'I'm not saying I will ever completely understand your actions but I know that under all that front, there's the girl who offered me a slushie and wanted to protect me. You're worth it'

Santana blinked, that was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. A smile played at her lips 'I am?'

Rachel nodded with a playful grin 'As long as you promise not to push me in the sand it this time'

'Promise' Santana said, her eyes fluttering shut as Rachel placed a soft kiss on her cheek 'I meant what I said you know'

'Mmmm?' Rachel mumbled, as she placed a row a kisses across Santana's neck.

'You are beautiful, and not just because you're smoking hot…you're not like everyone else'

'And that's a good thing?' the singer queried as she pulled back to look at the Latina.

'It's a great thing, it's just taken me a long time to realise it' Santana replied honestly, hoping Rachel would catch the double meaning behind her words.

Rachel simply smiled in return and leant forward to catch the other girls lips 'You know, the others are going to wonder where we are'

Santana sighed contently as she pulled the smaller girl closer 'Let them wonder'