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Summer Paradise

The ground below can barely be seen through the thick fog of clouds. As the plane rises higher and higher into the air, Rachel can feel her heart sinking even more. She was leaving California to go back to New York, she had been in Long Beach for six weeks and her vacation had come to an end.

When her latest show had finished on Broadway she had easily found a new role in an upcoming show, it was a new musical and usually Rachel stuck to well known pieces of musical theatre, but she decided she wanted to do something different and when she read the script she fell in love with the story.

She had an eight week gap in between the end of her last performance and rehearsals for her new show and she wanted to get away from New York and Broadway for a while. So she rented an ocean view villa in Long Beach for six whole weeks.

All she wanted to do was to relax on the beach and de-stress, what she didn't expect was to have her world turned upside down.

It all started three days into her vacation. She was lying on the beach soaking up the sun when all of a sudden a shadow blocked her light. Rachel opened her eyes to find a woman standing in front of her holding a surfboard. The woman was facing away from Rachel, admiring the sea before her.

"Excuse me" Rachel called out.

The woman turned to face Rachel, she had sunglasses covering her eyes, but that didn't stop Rachel from admiring her beauty.

"You're blocking my sun" Rachel explained.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there Tiny."

"Well mistakes happen."

"I'll get out of your way then and go catch some waves."

That was the first moment they met, any other time a brief encounter like that wouldn't be significant, but in this case it was. It was the start of many brief encounters that eventually lead to much more.

The second meeting was quite similar; Rachel was once again lying on the beach catching a tan. This time she was disturbed by cold droplets of water hitting her face and body. Rachel was surprised by the cold liquid hitting her skin and jumped up into a sitting position.

Rachel noticed a pair of bare legs standing just in front of her. Her eyes followed the legs and up the bikini clad body to find the woman from a few days ago standing before her. She wasn't wearing sunglasses this time, but she was wearing a smirk that Rachel knew meant the shower of water was no accident.

"I'm sorry Tiny; once again I didn't see you there."

"That's very hard to believe since you don't actually look sorry."

"Okay you got me, it was no accident. I thought I was helping, you look hot and I was trying to cool you down" the woman smirked.

"The only thing you achieved was testing my patience. I came here to relax not to be the victim of a stranger's juvenile pranks."

"I'm sorry okay and we can easily solve the stranger problem. I'm Santana."

"Rachel, Rachel Berry."

"It's nice to officially meet you Rachel Berry, but unfortunately I have to go."

"Unfortunately for you maybe, at least now I can get back to relaxing" Rachel said, lying back down on her beach chair.

"I'll see you around Berry."

Santana was true to her word and they did see each other again. Rachel had decided to adventure out the next night to explore the nightlife. A lot of the clubs in the area were a little too rowdy for Rachel's taste so she was glad when she came across a lounge with a more relaxed feel.

Rachel was standing at the bar when she heard a voice ask her if she could be bought a drink, she really shouldn't have been surprised when she turned around to find Santana there.

"Call it a peace offering after the incident on the beach" Santana added.

"Oh yeah? Do you make a habit of going around and getting girls wet?"

As soon as the sentence left her mouth Rachel realized the unintentional innuendo in her words. She covered her face in embarrassment. Santana laughed at her words, but didn't make a comment for which Rachel was thankful for.

"So how about that drink?" Santana asked.

As they shared a drink Rachel found out that Santana owned the bar they were currently in. It was the type of place Rachel liked and that's why she spent most of the summer nights occupying a seat at the bar.

It did help that Santana was working at the other side of the bar and supplying her with free drinks. A week after their first meeting at the bar, on one of Santana's nights off, she asked Rachel on a date and Rachel accepted.

They went out for dinner and after Santana took her to the beach, they walked down the golden sand holding hands and watched the sunset. It was the first of many times they watch the sunset together on the beach, it became somewhat of a night time ritual for them.

They would sit on a blanket with the sand beneath them, listening to the waves crash against the shore.

Santana had a devious side to her, something Rachel learnt when she was being chased around the sand before being thrown into the ocean. It felt nice to be silly and carefree for a change. She's usually so serious, especially after making it on Broadway.

They shared their first kiss on the beach too. They had shared many kisses since then, but the first is the one Rachel remembers with the most fondness. It was one of those kisses where she didn't want to leave Santana lips, she could get lost in that moment forever, but now she isn't sure when she would get to kiss Santana again.

The last time they kissed was at the airport over five hours ago. Santana drove her there and they had tearful goodbye. The tears mainly coming from Rachel, she had grown attached to the other girl and she wasn't ready to leave her just yet, but her life was waiting back in New York.

Santana promised that it wasn't a goodbye, she said that it was more of a see you later because this wouldn't be the last time they saw each other. She already made Rachel promise to keep her a front row ticket for her opening night.

The New York skyline was starting to come into view through the thick clouds. Rachel had always loved New York, but in this moment she wanted nothing more than to be back in California with Santana. She wanted to be back at their spot on the beach where they watched the sunset together, back to where Santana drew their names encased in a heart in the golden sand.

She wished she knew how she could get back to Santana, if she did know she would be there in a heartbeat. They may have only known each other for a few weeks but she's never felt this strongly about anyone before.

When the plane finally arrives as Newark, Rachel is eager to get off the plane. She promised to call Santana when she landed so she decides to do it whilst she waits for her luggage.

They spent the next two weeks talking to each other on the phone everyday. They had a routine where Rachel would call Santana after rehearsals for the new musical she is working on and today was no exception.

"Hey Tiny" Santana greets through the phone.

"Hey."

"You okay?"

"I just miss you is all."

"I miss you too. How was rehearsal?" Santana asks.

"It was good. We had our first dance class today and it was a lot of hard work. I've just come straight out of the dance studio, I didn't bother to change, I look a mess."

"Well you look beautiful from where I'm standing."

"What are you talking about?"

"Turn around."

Rachel turns around, but what she see's in front of her can't be possible, Santana can't really be here can she? Rachel doesn't waste anymore time contemplating the situation and instead she runs over to where Santana is standing.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asks wrapping her arms around the other girl.

"Well I was thinking about expanding the business and buying a new bar, so I thought that maybe New York would be a great place to open one."

"You're buying a bar here?"

"Hopefully and obviously someone will need to run it and since I only trust myself, I guess it'll have to be me."

"You're moving to New York?" Rachel asks.

"It looks that way."

"What about your bar in Long Beach?"

"Tony will take over, don't worry I've thought everything through. The only thing I need to know is that if I move here my girlfriend will be here."

They hadn't officially labelled their relationship since they were across the country from each other, however, they both knew that neither of them had been seeing other people.

"I don't want to be presumptuous, but you are talking about me right?"

"Of course I'm talking about you" Santana laughs.

She wraps her arms around Rachel, pulls her close and does something she's been dying to do for weeks. She kisses her. It's like they're transported back to one of those summer nights back on the beach in California but this time it felt different knowing that their time together wasn't going to end soon.

"So how about tonight I take my girlfriend out to dinner and then we can watch the sunset together?" Santana asks.

"That sounds like paradise."

A/N I wrote this months ago and only just remembered about it.

Song: Summer Paradise by Simple Plan