A/N: Just quickly for those who are curious, a lot of people have asked me what Rory looks like…let's just say she kind of looks like Sophia Bush circa 2003 (during the first season of One Tree Hill)…so basically she's hot.

Enjoy!

"I say we've only known each other a year."

"I say I've known you longer, my dear," Santana chimed in, her hands ghosting over the keys.

The girls were in the choir room, Santana behind the piano and Rachel leaning on the shiny surface across from her. Their voices filled the open space as they sang coyly to each other in the empty room. They could hear the hum of voices coming for the crowded hall, their peers all rushing to go home for the weekend. They had gotten to the choir room early that afternoon, their fellow glee club members yet to arrive.

Rachel knew they didn't have long before the room filled up, so she slid around the side of the piano and sat down on the small bench next to Santana, smiling lovingly at her.

"I thought I knew myself, somehow you know me more," Rachel sang softly, all the while keeping her gaze on the darker girl and her cheeky grin.

"I've never known this, never before," Santana sung back, their voices melting together. She leaned over and captured Rachel's lips in a soft kiss, pulling back only to place another to the tip of her nose, her fingers not stopping their constant motion.

"You're the first to make up whenever we argue."

"I don't know who I'd be if I didn't know you," Santana crooned, Rachel's eyes glued to those lips as the Latina turned back to the keys.

And those eyes, she could get lost in those eyes and it was something that happened frequently over the past week. She would be concentrating on Mr. Schuester lecturing them about Nationals and song selection then she'd look over at Santana, into those intense brown orbs and the next minute she'd be on her bed looking up into those same eyes and kissing those same lips.

It was fast becoming a problem, but one Rachel had no intention of fixing.

"You're so provocative."

"You're so conservative."

"You're so adventurous."

"You're so very cautious."

The girls batted back and forth, daring each other, pushing themselves to be better. When they sang together it was electric, a point that hadn't gone past Rachel's notice. If they were to have the best chance at Nationals, it would have to be them up on that stage but Rachel knew it wasn't realistic. New Directions had never done a same sex duet in competition before.

She'd seen it done though; other show choirs would try it and fail miserably, their performances and chemistry always falling short of the bar and the judges' praise.

But that was them and this was her and Santana. They were the exception. She knew if she could show Mr. Schue what they could do, the beautiful music they could make, he'd change his trend of only featuring her and Finn as leads in a heartbeat.

"Combining, you think we would and we do," they both sang in unison. "But we do, but we do, but we do. Walking with each other, think we'll never match at all, but we do."

A slow clap started from behind the girls, the sound breaking their intense bubble. Both girls turned around at the interruption finding their teacher with a huge smile on his lips and a clipboard under his arm.

"Very nice, ladies," he enthused while their friends forwarded into the room. "But if you could take a seat, I have a few announcements to make."

Rachel took Santana's hand and led her to the two spare chairs in the front row. The rest of the club had already taken their seats, Rachel realizing Mr. Schue might not have been the only one watching their impromptu performance. This zoning out on her girlfriend was really becoming a problem.

"First up guys, I have the rooming arrangements for New York," Will told everyone, holding up his clipboard. "There will be three and four to a room, girls with girls and guys with guys, alphabetical."

There were groans mixed amongst the excited chatter of the twenty-eight kids sitting on the choir room steps. Rachel did a quick math in her head, her heart sinking when she realized B didn't come anywhere near L. She looked over to Santana who was sporting a huge grin, but she didn't have time to read into it when Will started to read off the list of names.

"Rachel, Tina and Quinn-"

"Oh shit."

"Language Rory," Will scolded, looking up from his clipboard.

Rachel swiveled around in her seat to look up at the snarky brunette along with everyone else in the room. Her face was completely drained of color and the most defeated expression graced her features.

"Guess what comes between Lopez and Pierce, Rory," Santana taunted, turning around as well. "Olsen."

Brittany who was sitting beside Santana let a giggle escape her pursed lips, not being able to contain herself. Will looked on in utter confusion, completely unaware of the hilarity of the situation that was the three girls sharing a room together.

"Just keep your hands to yourself," Santana teased, turning to the front and lacing her fingers with Rachel's. "I take no responsibility for my actions and if you decide to cop a feel."

"Kill me now."

"Is there a problem here?" Will asked, looking between the three girls.

"No problem at all, Schue," Santana replied sweetly. "We're going to stay up all night painting each other's nails and talking about boys. Oh wait-"

"Shut the fuck up, Lopez," Rory seethed, interrupting her before she could humiliate her further.

"Rory, I'm not going to say it again," Will reprimanded, staring the girl down. She huffed and slouched back in her chair. "As I was saying, Rachel, Tina and Quinn. Mercedes, Becky and Claire. Santana, Sugar, Rory and Brittany-"

"Sugar as well?" Rory screeched. "I'm not cool with this, Mr. Schue. Can't I just switch with Rachel?"

"That's not very nice Rory," Santana jested. "What did Sugar ever do to you?

"I told her she was fat last week," Sugar admitted.

"I can't just switch you," Will told Rory, ignoring Santana and Sugar's jibes and the snickers that followed. "Not without a formal complaint."

All eyes were on the brunette as she turned to Quinn who was eyeing her skeptically than down to Brittany who just smiled at her. Her nose still had a faint cut across the bridge and her eyes still held faded dark rings. She turned back to the teacher with a defeated slouch of her shoulders.

"Its fine," she said in a small voice.

Rachel didn't want to admit it but she was starting to feel something a kin to sympathy toward the girl. The cheerleader seemed be stuck in this never ending cycle of keeping her mouth shut or speaking up and getting kicked off the squad. Rachel knew if Quinn found out about the bathroom episode at prom, she would be off the team and out of Glee club if she told the truth to Mr. Schue, but it was nothing but her own doing. So the feeling was fleeting, fading as soon as Mr. Schuester continued reading the names off the list.

"Now on to Nationals-"

"Actually Mr. Schue, I was hoping to talk to you about me and Santana singing a duet for the competition."

Santana elbowed Rachel softly, gaining her attention. She looked at her with wide eyes and a questioning set to her brow.

"What?" Rachel mouthed, confused as to why she looked so shocked. They'd talked about this the week before and Rachel was under the impression that she was all for it. But the look she was giving her now seemed to say the exact opposite.

"I don't think that's very appropriate," Finn spoke up from a few rows back before the teacher could get a word in. "It should be me and Rachel. We won last year and we have proven harmonies."

"Please," Santana scoffed. "Rachel has more proven harmony with my dead cat Pooter and don't act like you weren't listening to us earlier, Hudson."

"I have to agree with Finn on this one," Will digressed, mediating the storm that was brewing between the two teens. "Rachel and Finn are a winning formula."

Rachel turned around and eyed Finn who sported a small smile but her attention was brought back to the front when Santana laughed humorlessly.

"The theme is love and you think it's appropriate he sings a duet with my girl?"

Rachel's heart fluttered and her cheeks flushed, loving the sound of 'my girl' coming from those lips. She squeezed Santana's hand that lay in her lap, the Latina's hard expression softening at the gesture.

"I just don't think the judges will favor two girls," Finn said innocently to murmurs from the rest of the club, some in agreement others in disgust.

"New York just passed gay marriage," Santana retorted, starting to get visibly unsettled by the boy. "They'd probably score extra for it this year."

"Guys, Finn's right on this one," Mr. Schue interrupted. "We don't want to give those judges any reason to deduct."

"Then why not Kurt?" Santana suggested, surprising Rachel as well as half the club.

"Me?" Kurt said in astonishment, more than a little shocked to hear his name.

"I've heard him sing with Rachel, heck we all have," Santana said, addressing the rest of the room. "So why not Kurt? All in favor?"

Rachel watched as one by one everyone bar Finn put up their hand. She moved her gaze to her best friend who couldn't contain his joy, a grin stretching across his face as he looked back at Rachel.

Santana turned back to Mr. Schuester with a smug grin and a cock of her head, her hand still raised.

"I guess that's settled then."

x

"Thanks for what you did in there," Rachel said, taking Santana by the hand as they exited the choir room after rehearsal. "I know how much it means to Kurt to get his moment in the spotlight. Just sucks that it's not going to be me and you."

"I'll still be up there with you."

"It's not the same and you know it."

"I know," Santana nodded in understanding as they walked down the empty hall toward the parking lot. "You're not angry, are you?"

"Angry?" Rachel retorted. "For what?"

"The rooming arrangements."

"Rory sharing a room with the girl she has a crush on and the girl who punched her in the face for it." Rachel stated with amused eyes. "That's hilarious. Kind of sad I get to miss it."

"I wasn't talking about Rory, though that will make my time in New York more enjoyable," Santana jested before turning serious. "I was thinking of a different cheerleader."

"I've buried the hatchet on that one," Rachel told her, as they neared the double doors. "Just like you have with Finn."

"Except I buried it in his neck," Santana said with a little too much ferment.

"True," Rachel agreed before remembering something Santana mentioned earlier. "Hang on, I didn't know you used to have a cat?"

"I didn't," Santana laughed. "I'm actually allergic."

"Good to know."

x

"So I was thinking the other day," Holly began from her spot on the classroom floor. "At the beginning of the year I gave you a role playing assignment that had interesting results to say the least. So I thought for your final drama lesson of the year we'd try it out again, except this time you're going to have an audience. So partner up and let's see what you've learnt. Prove to me I wasn't just talking to myself for the past nine months."

Rachel turned to look at Santana, the girl looking back at her with the same skeptical eyes. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little nervous for this assignment considering how disastrous it was the last time.

She remembers the rain, the heated words they exchanged, and then months later finding out where Santana had run off to that night. Her heart clenched painfully at the memory. Not because of what Santana did but because Rachel was the one to cause it. Her words drove her away, so Rachel had every right to be skeptical of Ms. Holiday's lesson.

But that was nearly a year ago, both of them had changed, they were different people. But still, doing this in front of the class sent butterflies the size of Mothra to her stomach. Rachel knew better than anyone what happens when Santana has the opportunity to get a rise out of someone and here their teacher was serving up twenty someones on a silver platter.

"Who wants to start us off?" Holly asked, getting to her feet and pacing around the circle of chairs. She eyed the class pair by pair until her gaze skimmed over the two girls.

"Going first would be something you'd do, right?" Santana whispered, quirking a daring eyebrow, her signature smirk gracing her lips.

"Who said I was pairing up with you?" Rachel quipped back.

"That's the spirit."

Rachel shook her head with a smile, catching Kurt's eye. He looked at her with a mix of concern and amusement from his seat next to her. He reached up and grabbed her hand when she made a move to join Santana.

"Are you sure you don't want me to be your partner, Rachel?" Kurt asked "You know how she is when she has an audience."

"I think I can handle it," Rachel told the boy, keeping her eyes on Santana who sauntered into the middle of the circle.

"Cocky much?"

"Bring it baby," Rachel challenged, her confidence growing. Santana cocked an eyebrow, stretching her arms as if she was warming up before a track event.

This could actually be a lot of fun, she thought. It was their last day of Drama, why not go all out?

"Keep it PG, girls."

x

"Where are you taking me?"

As soon as the bell had rung, Santana had grabbed Rachel by the hand and dragged her down the crowded hallway. They received curious glance from their peers, the taller girl completely ignoring their questioning looks and continued to pull her in the direction of the choir room.

"And why are we running?"

Santana kept her mouth shut until they reached a door opposite Mr. Schuester's office. She pulled it open and pushed Rachel inside, closing the door behind her. She didn't get a chance to question the dirty floor or the smell of cleaning products, when those perfect lips attached to hers and those perfect hips crashed her into the shelf behind her back.

"San?" Rachel mumbled against her lips, the girl's hands grabbing at her waist. "San, we can't."

"But that was-" the rest of the girl's sentence was lost in Rachel's mouth, her soft tongue pushing past even softer lips.

Rachel had to admit she may have taken the role playing exercise a bit too far. But when Holly's outline for the assignment was 'make the other blush' she got a little overzealous with the theatricality of it all. The task was made a whole lot easier on Rachel's part considering her girlfriend had to act like her the whole time, and for once Rachel got to give the audience a show.

And she also can't deny that she was thinking about doing just this the rest of the hour as her classmates performed, Santana practically undressing her with her eyes the whole time.

But that was where Rachel and Santana differed; thinking about something and acting on it were two completely different thought processes, a process which Santana easily did in under three seconds most the time.

"We have to stop," Rachel urged, pushing at her shoulders firmly. "I can't get caught-"

"But Santana is all for sex in the janitor's closest," she hummed into Rachel's neck as she pepper it with opened mouth kisses.

"While that's very tempting," Rachel said, finally getting Santana to look at her. "I stopped being you about a half hour ago."

"You're no fun," she pouted, folding her arms over her chest and leaning back into the shelf opposite.

"See you bright an early tomorrow," Rachel bade as she reached for the doorknob.

"But it's only lunch?"

"I know, I'm going to avoid you the rest of the day," Rachel told her in a matter-of-fact tone. "Because your Dad catching us is one thing, Figgins is another. So I will see you tomorrow."

"You're such an asshole."

"You love it."

x

Leroy threw his Audi into park just outside the school, the yellow bus waiting by the side of the road. Rachel unbuckled her seatbelt as Hiram unloaded her suitcase from the boot of the car, the cool morning air whipping her loose hair around her face.

"Rach, please tell my Dad that I'll be fine," Santana said, coming up beside her with a duffle bag in her hand. "He seems to have this notion that I'll end up in cell before I get on stage."

"So many couches," Roberto stated with a comically straight face.

"And I told him it's no fun if his not there to bust us."

"Ew, San," Rachel cringed, turning around to make sure her parents were out of earshot. "Too soon."

"Kidding," she chirped, placing a kiss to her temple. "Not really."

Rachel shook her arm off playfully and walked over to where her Dads were standing with wet eyes and nervous smiles. Rachel's heart wrenched at the sight, missing them already.

"I love you," Hiram breathed, wrapping his arms around his daughter and holding fast. Rachel just let him hug it out, knowing it was hard for him especially to see her go, even if it was only for a few days.

"Be good," Leroy murmured into Rachel's hair when she turned to him. He held her tightly, his massive arms comforting her nerves. Rachel let a tear escape, realization hitting her that this would be the first time she'd be away from her family for more than a few hours. In that moment it dawned on her just how young she still was and how much she still needed them.

"But most of all have fun," he choked out, letting his arms go loose.

"But don't do anything I'd do," Roberto jested, giving his daughter a warm embrace and a kiss to the forehead.

"That's limiting," Santana muttered, stepping out of her father's arms.

"If you need anything, anything at all," Hiram said, a tear slipping down his cheek as his husband put a comforting arm around his waist. "Just call and we'll be on the first plane out."

"Daddy," Rachel scolded playfully. "We'll be fine."

"Use your one phone call to call them," Roberto told his daughter, pointing to the two Berry's who both gave tear filled laughs.

"Noted, Dad," Santana deadpanned, pulling Rachel toward the bus where their teacher was calling to them. "I can just feel the fatherly love emanating off you."

"Honesty, mija."

"Love you too, Dad."

Rachel gave one last look to her Dads and Roberto before heading up the steps and settling into a seat halfway down the bus, Santana sitting down next to her.

The bus was already full, their friends chatting excitedly amongst themselves. Puck was strumming along on his guitar in the back row, Blaine singing along to the familiar tune to the rhythmic clapping of their peers.

"Is it always like this?"

"Yep," Rachel said with a grin, looking around the bus, the atmosphere tangible. "The rides to and from the competitions are half the fun."

"Okay everybody," Will yelled from the front of the bus, trying to be heard above the noise. "It's an hour and half to Dayton International, then it's on to New York."

Applause and whistling rung out in the limited space, the guys stamping their feet and rattling the back of the seats. Rachel snuggled in closer to Santana, leaning her head on her shoulder.

"New York here we come."

The song they sung at the start was My Same by Adele, it's so Pezberry it hurts, well my Pezberry anyway.

I know many of you would have loved to read the entirety of what went down in Drama class…believe me I tired to write it but it just wasn't working the way I'd hoped, so I guess what happened will always be one of life's mysteries…to you guys anyway.

Next and final chapter (other than the epilogue) will be called Blueprints For Future Homes and it will be more about the time they spend off stage than on.