"…so we pretty much don't graduate until we turn nineteen, right?"

"Well," Sam answered Rachel, sipping at his coffee and running a hand through his hair, "the Doctor said that by nineteen we'll have matured enough to be able to actually have full control of our powers. So no, graduation isn't until nineteen."

"So we have another year here?"

"That's right."

Rachel groaned and cradled her forehead in her hands, propping her elbows onto the table they were seated on inside, due to the snow relentlessly falling in the courtyard. "I thought I would be rid of school this year…"

"Yeah, well…" Sam shrugged and wrapped the scarf tighter around his neck. "We're not normal enough to finish school with all the other people in this world. But I don't mind. I like being a hero."

"You're not a Hero yet, Sam."

"I will be. One day."

Rachel looked up to smile at him and his enthusiastic features and how he just seemed to know that everything would be fine for him. She felt her friends join them and sit next to them, and turned her eyes to look at them. Finn squeezed in next to her, Quinn sat opposite her, Mercedes next to Sam, Artie at the edge of the table next to Tina, Mike opposite his girlfriend, Kurt and Blaine next to Quinn. Every one of them had clasped firmly in their hands a bowl of tomato soup and a bread roll, and Finn handed Rachel the extra bowl he had.

"For you."

"Thanks."

She looked around the canteen and smiled to herself. The teachers didn't feel it necessary to sit and eat with their students normally, opting to stay in the staff room. The teachers were of all ages and social groups, all with powers of their own. They were a pretty impressive bunch, and actually very understanding of their students. Rachel's favourite was Margaret Bocelli, who had no relation to the Italian singer, but was a wonderful Siren to work with.

Today of course, was no exception, as the teachers weren't there when chaos struck.

Nobody saw it coming when Santana pounced onto their table and stared Finn right in the eyes, crouching down low over his plate, her face inches from his own. Her canines had grown to extraordinary lengths, almost scarily long, and she was baring them with a wicked smirk on her face.

"Hey there, Finnocence."

"Santana, what are you doing?" he growled at her, breathless. She shrugged and used her arms to sommersault over his head and land on her feet with feline grace behind him.

"Just gauging you guys out. Not so tough without us, are you?"

"Santana, why are you being such a bitch?" Kurt asked, biting hard into his piece of bread. She shrugged again, and was joined by Puck at her elbow, who was clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Hey there, wimps."

"Noah, leave," Quinn shot out, getting up and pointing to the door. "You too, Lopez. We don't know what's gotten over you guys lately, but it has to stop and it has to stop now."

"No can do, Fabray," another voice sounded out. The whole cafeteria had turned by now giving their full attention to the scene playing before them. Ivy and her crones joined Santana and Puck, who nodded greetings in their direction. Horatio and Grayson looked like they would much rather be doing something else, but it didn't stop Horatio from waving his arm over his head, causing the lights to flicked uncontrollably.

"You better get ready for the face off of a lifetime…" James laughed, cracking his knuckles menacingly in Rachel's ears as he leaned over her, stinking of sweat and cigarettes. She gagged uncontrollably, and would almost have lashed out had it not been for Brittany interrupting.

"What's going on, guys?"

The two opposing groups turned to look at her, a pale distraught shell of her former self. She was clutching a mug of coffee tightly to her chest, and when she noticed how James was threatening Rachel, or how Ivy was staring distastefully at her, she suddenly knew.

But when she turned her eyes to Santana, every muscle in her body seemed to relax, and she dropped the mug to a pool of ceramic and brown warm liquid to the floor.

"Well, look what we got here. Fresh. Meat." Ivy pounced forward and stood directly in front of Brittany, staring her right in the eyes and blocking her view of everyone else. "So, Brittany, surprised to see us?"

"B-back off."

"You were never much of a fighter anyways."

"I'm serious Ivy…"

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" The girl extended her index finger, bringing it slowly up to Brittany's face and touched her on the forehead, poking her, hard.

"I can touch you, Britt. And you can't do anything about-"

She never finished that sentence, as a slap caught her mid way.

Everyone was shocked to see Santana deliver the slap. She was holding Ivy by the collar of her shirt, her hand hovering a few inches away from her cheek.

"Do not make me do that again. We had a deal, alright? You don't touch Brittany. You never touch Brittany. You keep your end of the deal, I keep mine."

Ivy growled before twisting her way out of Santana's hold and spitting at her feet before walking away, the rest of the group in tow. Santana stared at Brittany, her brown eyes boring into grey, before she sighed and walked off too, hands shoved deep into her pockets and head hanging.

"Well…that was weird."

"Shut up, Rachel," Quinn mumbled, her back pressed firmly against the tiny brunette's. They had occupied the empty common room, lit the fireplace and sat in front of it, enjoying the quiet because it would let them do some reading, but so far they weren't really managing.

"But don't you agree? I thought Santana didn't love Brittany anymore. And now…there she was defending her."

"You don't just stop loving someone, Rachel. It takes time."

"But if the emotions were fake I'm sure they would have died down by now, wouldn't they?"

Quinn blinked. She had a point.

"I dunno…"

"Do you think those two really love each other?"

"I think they do, yeah. Santana's just being an idiot and not admitting it."

Rachel turned the page of her book and nodded. "I agree. It's not healthy to suppress feelings like that. Speaking of which…" Quinn groaned, putting her own book down and feeling Rachel turning around to rest her chin on Quinn's shoulder. "Am I forgiven over the kiss last time?"

"Yes, of course!"

"So it would be highly inappropriate if I kissed you right now?"

Quinn rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yes, it would."

Rachel pouted, moving her lips up to Quinn's ear and crooning into it.

"When are you going to let me in, Quinn?"

Quinn shook her head. "I'm not ready for this, Rachel. Please. Just…just a little bit longer."

Rachel nuzzled her nose into the back of Quinn's ear and breathed out. "OK…I'll wait. But only because it's you."

Next thing she knew, Quinn was pining her down on the carpet, her faces millimeters away from hers.

"You fucking temptress."

"I try my best," Rachel laughed, craning her head up to meet Quinn's lips with her own. Quinn kissed her softly, almost as if she was trying to savor the moment. When she pulled away, it was reluctantly and Rachel knew it.

"Rach, please, I really do need time to think."

Rachel sighed and slid out from underneath the blonde.

"OK. Really, I get you. I'll stop." She gathered the book and left the room, smiling a goodnight in Quinn's direction before she closed the door. Quinn slammed her fist down to the ground and winced as the pain shot up her wrist.

Rachel Berry was not going to be the one who got away from her. She was sure of that.

Brittany hated knowing that people were upset in any way.

She hated it even more when she knew that the person upset was her own Santana.

Her Santana. Even when they weren't talking, even when they weren't having any contact whatsoever, Santana was hers. Still was hers. Santana could never be anybody else's, it was a known fact. Everybody at the school knew that it was her and Santana and nobody else.

So why weren't they still together? It still didn't make any sense to her at all…

She had only used her powers on Santana once, very unintentionally, way before she knew what they were, about a year before anything happened. They were alone in the brunette's room, going over some verbs for Spanish, and she had locked her eyes with Santana's and just…stared.

She had felt an adrenaline rush start somewhere in her gut and travel up to her brain. She suddenly felt as if every pore in her body was excreting some sort of…scent? That was the only accurate word. And then Santana's eyes had glazed over, her jaw had gone slack, she was staring at Brittany with an intensity she only saw when boys stared.

"Santana?" she had asked. The other girl shook her head, breaking the spell and the adrenaline rush, and then everything was over before it began.

Brittany was sure that the effect had never been lasting. Santana never really paid attention to her again until two weeks later, when Brittany was complaining about rough boys were during, and Santana had got up off the floor where she was lying, plopped herself on the bed next to Brittany and proceeded to kiss her. Brittany hadn't pushed her away, hadn't tried to stop her. She let the Latina's hands roam over her body, she let her explore every inch of her, and that first night was their first real hook up.

Over the years they started to do it more. Whenever one of them was bored of the boys, or just stressed and tensed, somehow everything always led to them having sex. Brittany never minded, she loved being so close to her best friend. And Santana always treated her in a way the guys didn't, much more caring and loving.

It was only until a year later that Santana finally confessed that she loved her. And Brittany had to admit that, yes, she was in love with her best friend too.

But, what if Santana's love for her had started because of that accidental brush with her? But then…if there was one thing Brittany knew, is that Santana was very animal-like, and that her powers didn't work on animals…

"Britt, are you asleep?" Tina asked as she entered the room and found a very wide awake blonde and a fast asleep dog on different sides of the room.

"No."

"Are you OK?"

Brittany nodded and Tina quickly changed into her overly baggy William McKinley High shirt (Mike's old football shirt) before crawling into bed with her.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Just hoping Santana comes around soon."

Tina squeezed Brittany's shoulders and smiled sadly. "She will, Britt. She will…"