Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any songs performed in this story. This is purely a work of fiction.

A/N: Thank you so much for your patience. I'm sorry this took so long!

Weeks went by and Santana hadn't heard much from Brittany. She tried not to think about it as she helped Des make cookies for a parent night at her work.

"Tell me again why you couldn't just buy something? I mean, it's not like you like any of these people," Santana said grumpily.

Des smiled patiently, as she always did.

"Be that as it may, they have the power to get me fired and I kinda need this job; therefore, I need them to like me."

Santana crossed her arms over her chest and tried not to be so pouty but it wasn't working.

"What's eatin' you?" Des asked, spooning another drop of cookie dough on the baking sheet.

"Brittany hasn't called in weeks," Santana admitted.

"Call her," Des replied.

"I have. She won't answer."

Des frowned but kept working.

"Honestly, I'm worried about her. What if they're doing some weird experiments on her because she's so smart?" Santana continued.

"Don't be ridiculous! MIT is a highly respected institute. Look, I'm sure she's just busy. Try her again and if she don't answer, leave a message."

Santana frowned doubtfully.

"Listen, I really love having you around, but you're being a Negative Nellie and it's really bringin' me down. Call her or don't, but have got to brighten up."

Santana stalked off to her room to call Brittany.

"You've reached Brittany S. Pierce. I can't answer the phone right now because I'm either working on my time machine or solving world hunger so leave me a message and I might call you back."

BEEP!

"Hey, Britt. It's Santana. I haven't heard from you in a while and I was just...anyway, call me back. I miss you."

She felt stupid. Chasing after Brittany when she had clearly moved on. Why was it so damn hard to let go? She flung herself face down on the bed. She grabbed a pillow and screamed into it in frustration.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Santana didn't say anything and eventually Des went away.

While Santana was alone the next day, she got a call. Hoping it was Brittany, she jumped up and grabbed her phone. Without looking at the number on the screen she answered quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Santana, it's been a while."

The voice on the other line was definitely masculine and familiar.

"Finn?" Santana asked.

"Yeah, hey," he replied.

"Wow. Hi," she said, confused.

"What have you been up to?" he asked awkwardly.

"Why don't we cut the crap and you tell me why you're calling," Santana replied, frowning.

"I need your help. I want to surprise Rachel at the opening of Funny Girl and I'm kind of freaking out."

"What's there to freak out about?" Santana asked.

"What if she totally rejects me and doesn't want me there?" Finn asked.

"Oh my God, Finn. Grow a pair."

"Excuse me?"

"Look, as disgusting as I find the two of you together, everyone knows you're going to end up together. It's inevitable. But I guess if you need help, and if you're planning some big romantic gesture, you do, I will help."

"Thank you, Santana. Um, I do have an idea in mind," Finn said.

"Okay, let's hear it."

"I want to ask her to marry me..."

"No."

"What?"

"No. That's a terrible idea," Santana told him.

"I don't think you get to decide..."

"Shut up, Finn. I'm trying to help you. Just because everyone in the universe knows you'll get married someday, doesn't mean it needs to be any time soon. We're way too young to be getting married anyway..."

"It's not about age, Santana. I love her."

"And I get that. But you need to understand that if the two of you get married now you will ruin her life."

It took a minute for that to sink in.

"How can you say that?" Finn asked, sounding hurt.

"Finn, I didn't mean it to be mean. Rachel is my friend, you are my friend. Rachel is destined for stardom but she won't get there if she doesn't find out who she is on her own. And I think that if you're going to be a good husband to her someday, you need to find who you are on your own."

She was starting to sound like Des and she didn't know whether to be happy about that or scared.

Finn didn't answer, so Santana explained further.

"Rachel is worse than Quinn about letting a man define her. She needs to learn to be a strong, independent woman before the two of you should do anything serious. And your entire high school career was spent trying to make one girl or another happy. You need to figure out who you are and who you want to be...without a woman."

"I'm scared, Santana," Finn admitted.

That surprised Santana.

"Of what?"

"What if this is my last chance? I can't see my life without her. What do I do if I blow it?"

Santana sighed.

"You're not gonna blow it, Finn. It's going to take time, but you'll end up where you were always supposed to be and then you'll laugh at yourself for being such a scaredy-cat."

"So what do I do?"

The weekend of opening night, Juliana had gone to the Hamptons with her parents. Des was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to prepare for the huge dinner she would be cooking for everyone.

"Oh my God," Des groaned as she unloaded groceries as fast as possible.

"I told you, we could just go out."

"No, it's fine. I just forgot the arugula for the salad!"

"There's spinach in the fridge, just use that. No one will mind," Santana said, trying to calm her friend.

"Eleven people," Des sighed, running a hand through her copper waves.

"It'll be fine. Just remember..."

"Rachel is vegan. I know."

Santana nodded.

She had offered to help countless times but Des insisted on doing it all herself. Santana had never seen Des stressed out before. Des was always laid back and only serious when trying to help someone. The past few days, however, Des had been freaking out.

Santana watched as Des prepared the meat-eater's part. Des pulled out her crock pot and put in the roast. It was massive. She put in the seasonings and water and moved on to rinse potatoes and carrots.

"Are you sure I can't help?" Santana asked one last time.

"I'm sure. But thank you. You're an angel."

Santana smiled.

Des cut out a few minutes early to start the potatoes before everyone got there. When Rachel was finally able to reach them, her dads each hugged her tight and beamed with pride.

"Our little princess!"

Finn handed her a bouquet of roses and she took them graciously.

"Finn, I wasn't expecting you..."

She sniffed the roses and looked at Finn. Santana rolled her eyes when no one was looking.

There they go with that mushy crap, she thought.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he told her.

Their grins lasted for what felt like ages.

"Okay, can we go now? Des is slaving away in the kitchen," Santana said, leading them out of the theater.

When Santana led the group into the apartment, the scents that hit them were glorious.

"Oh God that smells good!" Santana said.

Des smiled.

"Thank you."

Rachel looked slightly uncomfortable.

"She made something special for you," Santana told her.

"Please, everyone, make yourselves comfortable. I made a cheese ball and there's hummus and mushroom poppers. So, just help yourselves and dinner will be ready shortly. Can offer anyone a drink? I have water, sweet tea, lemonade, Coke, beer, and wine."

Most of them just took water. Kurt's dad had a beer, Finn's mom and Rachel's dads took some red wine. When the drinks were served, Des finally sat down with the rest of them.

"Rachel, I have to say that you were...amazing," Des gushed.

Rachel beamed.

"Thank you so much," she said.

"I mean, amazing doesn't begin to cover it. I got chills every time you sang."

She turned to Rachel's dads.

"You two must be so proud of her."

They held each others hand and smiled at each other.

"We couldn't be prouder," they agreed.

Though Des was smiling as wide as any of them, Santana could sense something underneath. Des tried, but she was never good at hiding her emotions. Her eyes were too expressive. But Santana would have to wait to talk to her.

Dinner started with a salad.

"I wasn't sure what everyone liked so I thought we could do a mini salad bar type thing," Des announced.

Everyone loved the idea to Des' relief. After salad and small talk came the main courses.

For the meat eaters, Des had made a huge pot roast with carrots and roasted potatoes. For Rachel, Des made a vegan stir fry with rice, vegetables, and teriyaki seasoned tofu. Santana thought it looked like barf but Rachel insisted it was delicious and even asked for the recipe. Des had beamed and promised to write it down before they all left.

As Des poured more wine, Rachel's dads (who had clearly had a bit too much already) got all teary eyed as they discussed their daughter's most brilliant moments on the stage.

"Your rendition of Don't Rain On My Parade was flawless, baby girl."

Rachel had the decency to blush and act modest.

"You really think so?"

"Please, Rachel. You know it was," Santana interjected.

Rachel smiled.

As the night wore down, Des made sure to help everyone hail cabs if need be and graciously refused any offer to help clean. Calli and Natalie were the first to leave.

"We had a great time," Calli told them.

"Thank you for inviting us," Natalie added.

"It was my pleasure. I'm glad you had a nice time," Des replied.

As Calli hugged Santana goodbye she whispered, "I can see why you like her."

Santana smiled awkwardly and waved as they walked out the door. Burt, Carole, and Kurt were next.

"I had wonderful time! It was so nice to meet you," Carole said as Burt and Kurt led her to the door.

"It was wonderful meeting you as well, Mrs. Hummel," Des replied.

"Please, call me Carole."

Des smiled.

When they were gone, Rachel led her dads and Finn to the door.

"I'd love to hang out again some time," Rachel told Des, hugging her.

"Me too. We'll all have to get together again soon. Maybe go to Callbacks."

"That would be fun!" Rachel agreed.

"Great. Just let me know. Oh, and here. It's the recipe for the stir fry."

"Thank you. I'll talk to you soon."

She nodded.

"Finn, it was nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Finn replied, shaking her hand.

Finally Des and Santana were alone. Des got started cleaning the kitchen while Santana cleared the table.

"Des, can I talk to you about something?" Santana asked, loading the dishwasher with the plates she'd cleared.

"Of course," Des replied.

"There was a moment during dinner...You were smiling but you seemed...I don't know. Not happy."

Des frowned.

"I don't know what you mean," she said.

"It was when Rachel's dads were saying how proud they were of her..."

"Oh..."

Santana bit her lip.

"That was nothing. Sometimes I just get a little envious of people whose parents are proud of them for doing what they love."

That made Santana feel a deep sadness all the way to her core.

"Aren't your parents proud of you?" she asked quietly.

"Sometimes, I guess."

Santana could see that it was really bothering her, so she decided to drop it for now. She finished loading the dishwasher in silence and then helped wipe down the counters. After the kitchen was clean, Des stretched her muscles and yawned.

"I'm exhausted," she said.

"Me too," Santana agreed.

"I'll see you in the morning," Des told her.

Santana nodded and watched her make her way to her bedroom, noticing how dejected she looked.

Thank you sooooo much for your patience. I know this one took forever to get out and I appreciate all of you who read it.