LbN: Sorry about the wait! Two chapters for the price of one this time. :) When R & B sing, Blaine is in bold, Rachel is in italics, and when both are singing it's both. Happy reading!

"Moving out so soon?" Hiram asked as the girls walked downstairs.

"Unfortunately," Santana said, setting one of her bags by the door. "My parents are coming back tomorrow, but we have Mike Chang's party tonight. We're doing a movie night at my place after that with Britt and Quinn, so I figured it would be easier to dump my stuff before I drag Rachel shopping."

"Shopping?"

"For swimsuits."

"Godspeed, brave warrior…."

Santana laughed as Rachel descended the stairs, scowling at her father.

"I'm not that much of a tyrant," the diva said.

Hiram held up his hands in surrender, winked at Santana, and called Leroy. "Honey! Santana's leaving!"

"So soon?"

"Leroy, I've been mooching off you guys half the summer," Santana said, smirking. "My parents get in tomorrow."

"Well, know that you're welcome back any time you want," Leroy said.

"Thanks. Come on, munchkin. We've got shopping to do."

"Have fun, girls!"

"Thanks Daddy!" Rachel said. She made to follow Santana out, but stopped. "Oh! Is it okay if I just stay over at Santana's tonight?"

"I guess that's okay," Hiram said. "No drugs, no alcohol, no ritual animal sacrifices of any kind…."

Santana laughed as Rachel rolled her eyes and pulled her out the door.

"No."

"Princess."

"It's far too revealing!"

"That's what you said about the last seven!"

"Because it's true."

"You just don't want to go in a swimsuit. I'm not letting you rock board shorts and a t-shirt this time, baby."

"You just want to ogle my body, for some odd reason."

Santana quirked an eyebrow and sat down on the dressing room bench. She pulled Rachel gently into her lap. "Years of having Q psychoanalyze me has given me a knack for latching onto hidden meanings. What do you mean 'for some odd reason'? You're beautiful—why wouldn't I unrepentantly stare at you?"

"While I realize that you and Puckerman find me aesthetically pleasing—"

"Remind me to kill him…"

"I'm harboring no delusions that the rest of anyone agrees. Hush," she said, seeing Santana about to interrupt. "It's not just gleeks at this party. Mike's friends with Cheerios, because they go to his dance school, and kids from other schools too. I just don't want our less evolved classmates to have a reason to make me the entertainment of the evening."

Santana huffed. "That shit's going to stop for good this year…. You know that, right?"

"I have no doubts about your protective instincts, Santana. Just find me something tasteful that won't have the Cheerios making fun of my lack of abs."

Santana picked up all of the discarded swimsuits and kissed Rachel. "Two minutes. I'll be back."

In the end, Rachel decided on a black two-piece. It was cute, and suited her body shape, and it was a tank so she felt properly covered. She laughed as Santana grumbled about "not getting to ogle properly".

"Just think of it this way," she said as they walked to the front of the mall. "No one else will be perving on my body either."

"Silver linings, I suppose. Hey, can I talk to you about something?" she asked as they made their way to the car.

"Of course! What's up?"

"My mom…kind of wants to meet you. She wants you to come to dinner on Sunday."

"Oh! Well, I'm sure that will be fine. Anything you'd like to warn me about before I get there?"

"Dad's a history buff, so brush up on your knowledge of…everything, if you want to make an impression."

"Got it."

"Mom's just really taken with you already. Apparently she remembers you from freshmen orientation."

Rachel was quiet as she got into the car. She gasped and looked over at Santana as the cheerleader backed out of the parking space. "She was the one who helped me after that idiot smacked me in the face opening his locker!"

"She says you were just so polite the whole time," Santana said, grinning. "Anyway, it's no big deal. You get to meet the elusive Lopez parents, and then we can cuddle and watch movies."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Hello, girls!" Mr. Chang said brightly. "Everyone's out back."

"Your home is gorgeous, sir," Rachel said, looking around.

"Thank you! You must be Rachel."

"Er…yes."

"Mike told me how to identify everyone on his guest list. Last time he had a party like this, some…uh…unsavory characters showed up. Anyway, the note next to 'Rachel Berry' reads 'Will either compliment you or babble incessantly'. You're the only compliment I've gotten all night, so…." He smiled and shrugged.

The girls laughed.

"Rachel! Santana!" Mike said, coming in through the back door. "Great, you guys made it!"

"Sorry we're late," Santana said. "This one had to change her outfit 76 times."

"It's cool," he said, laughing. "We're all in the pool. Dad, when do you want me to wrangle everyone for cake?"

"Give it another hour or so."

Santana and Rachel followed Mike out to the back lawn. Rachel, who'd never been there before, looked on in total shock. The yard was huge—probably half to three-quarters the size of a football field, with a large pool in the center.

"Drinks and sandwiches are over on the patio," Mike said. "Most of the Gleeks are congregating by the karaoke machine, but a bunch of people are swimming too. Mom made virgin strawberry daiquiris and piña coladas—she's guarding them though, after Puck tried to spike them. Have fun!"

With a smile at Santana, Rachel made her way across the yard past the people playing Frisbee and over to the karaoke machine. "Hey guys!"

"Hey Rach!" Blaine called from the stage. "Come help me out?"

"Leave it to Mike's parents to build a stage for his party," Tina said, sipping her drink.

"Well it is their pride and joy's 18th," Santana said. "At least they didn't get a smoke machine for when they roll the cake out like at his 13th."

"No…they just borrowed Sue's confetti cannon," Quinn said, running over from the pool.

"Ay…dios mio…."

"Come on, S, let's go swim."

Santana nodded toward the pool and got a smile from Rachel. "Race you, Q!"

"Come on, Warbz!" Sam called. "Either sing, or let me up there."

"Wait your turn, Trouty Mouth."

"Oh god, Santana's had a bad influence on you," Rachel said. "Oooh! Let's do this one." She grinned as the music started.

We didn't care if people stared
We'd make out in a crowd somewhere
Somebody'd tell us to get a room
It's hard to believe that was me and you
Now we keep saying that we're OK
But I don't want to settle for good not great
I miss the way that it felt back then I wanna feel that way again

Been so long that you'd forget the way I used to kiss your neck

Remind me, remind me
 So on fire so in love. Way back when we couldn't get enough
Remind me, remind me

Remember the airport dropping me off
We were kissing goodbye and we couldn't stop
I felt bad cause you missed your flight
But that meant we had one more night

Do you remember how it used to be
We'd turn out the lights and we didn't just sleep
Remind me, baby, remind me
Oh, so on fire so in love
That look in your eyes that I miss so much
Remind me, baby, remind me

I wanna feel that way
Yeah, I wanna hold you close
Oh, if you still love me
Don't just assume I know

Baby, remind me, remind me

Do you remember the way it felt?
You mean back when we couldn't control ourselves
Remind me
Yeah, remind me
All those things that you used to do
That made me fall in love with you
Remind me, oh, baby, remind me

Yeah, you'd wake up in my old t-shirt
All those mornings I was late for work
Remind me
Oh, baby, remind me

Oh, baby, remind me, baby, remind me
Yeah, you'd wake up in my old t-shirt
Oh, yeah, remind me
Baby, remind me

A ton of people clapped at their performance. Rachel passed the microphone off to Mercedes and jumped down off the stage. "I'm going to get a drink. You want anything, Blaine?"

"Just a water. Thanks."

She walked back to the patio and picked up two water bottles.

"Holy. Shit."

She spun around to see two Cheerios staring at her. "Uh…it's Carlie and Jess, right?"

"We thought people were pulling our legs when they said you and Lopez were an item. Holy fucking shit."

"As amusing as I find your shock and horror," Rachel said dryly. "I'd like to get back to the party."

"Time out, Berry," Carlie said, sniggering. "We're just…a little confused. We honestly thought last semester was a sympathy thing, but…we saw you come in with her. Holding hands. What the actual fuck?"

Rachel hesitated. They hadn't actually talked about coming out. It wasn't exactly a secret, but still….

"Lord Jesus, as long as Lopez isn't fucking you, I can ignore it. I really don't want your brand of crazy rubbing off on her."

"I resent that," Rachel snapped. "For various reasons, but near the top of the list is the fact that I'm not crazy."

"And I'm not a Cheerio," Jess said. "Don't think this changes anything. We're still slushieing the shit out of you every chance we get."

"Why?" Rachel bit back. "Mike's in glee too, and you're here at his party. You can't hate us that much."

"Mike may be in glee, but he's not an overbearing, pretentious, self-absorbed loser like you and Hummel. No matter how much charity work Lopez put in over the summer, I don't think even she could fix that."

Rachel's mouth fell open at this, but before she could gather a suitable response, Mike called them all together for cake. She hung at the back of the crowd, willing herself not to cry.

An arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"What happened?" Santana asked. "I saw you talking to them, but Azimio tossed me back into the pool when I was trying to get out."

"It's nothing. They just…asked about us."

"What else?"

"Please, Santana…I don't want to ruin Mike's party by crying. Can we do this later?"

"Sure." She pulled Rachel into a hug and winked at Quinn over the shorter girl's shoulder.

Quinn just smiled.

Rachel managed to make it home without breaking down. She'd been relieved that the rest of the girls (except Quinn) had taken a rain check on the sleepover. She really wanted to be alone with Santana for now.

"Where did you say Quinn went?" Rachel asked.

"She had an errand to run, but she'll be here. You want to talk about earlier?"

"Not really," Rachel said, cuddling into Santana's side.

Santana sighed and smiled.

"Not the reaction I was expecting," Rachel admitted.

"Don't worry, Princess. You don't have to talk if you don't want to. I'd much rather hear it from you than through the grapevine, though."

"They were just…being assholes about us. No big deal."

Santana leaned over and kissed her. Then she grumbled, hearing her phone ring. "It's Q," she told Rachel. "Hello?"

"Put your girlfriend on the phone, Santana."

"Oh shit, you've got your psycho-Quinn voice on," Santana said, passing the phone to Rachel. "She wants to talk to you."

"Hello, Quinn. What can I do for you?"

"You can listen for a second. Going to tell you something, so zip it for a few minutes, okay?"

"Okay," Rachel said nervously. She knew that voice. That voice, on anyone else, would have been charming, cheery—possibly discussing puppies or a sunny picnic in the park. That voice on Quinn? It meant death.

"You've got two options here. One is that you tell Santana what these bitches said to upset you, and I'll deal with them now. Two is that you hand the phone back to Santana, I tell her, and then she comes and deals with them with me. Either way, she's getting information, and I get an outlet for my extremely repressed sadism."

"Is that them crying in the background?" Rachel yelped.

"Don't worry about that. And in the immortal words of Sue Sylvester, I have a lawyer and an alibi."

"I do not condone violence Lucy Quinn Fabray."

"Oh I know. I never said I was going to physically harm them…. So what's it going to be, Berry? And you should know that if Santana comes over here, Jesus himself is going to have to come down off the cross to save them."

"I'll tell her!" Rachel said, and quickly reported the story to Santana.

The older girl just smirked. "Figured it was something like that. Can I talk to her?"

"Please don't kill them, Quinn," Rachel said seriously, before handing the phone to Santana.

"You got it, Q? Right…See you in fifteen then."

"Oh god, she's going to kill them, isn't she?" Rachel asked when Santana hung up.

"Nah…but they won't bother you again. And that shit they said—"

"I know…" Rachel said, smiling slightly.

Fifteen minutes later, Quinn strolled into the living room whistling merrily. Rachel was slightly relieved to see that the blonde wasn't covered in blood.

Slightly.

LbN: Hope you liked it! I'm leaving the Glee poll up for a couple more days, for those of you who haven't voted. Also, I'm officially taking requests for the Gleeks' Halloween costumes :). I've already got an idea for Santana, Britt, Quinn and Rachel, but I'm still open to suggestions.