Are you ready? You say you are, but after this chapter, I'll bet you'll have too many questions and not enough answers.

Santana's POV:

When I awoke I felt like I was in a cloud. It was cheesy and surreal, but everything felt right, everything felt perfect, just like it should be. I rolled over and was immediately met with Rachel's warm smile. "Good morning sunshine." I smiled because, who would've even guessed that Rachel Berry would be laying in my bed right now. I got to wake up to her smile, it was really happening.

Was it supposed to be like this? Was I supposed to feel okay? We almost had sex yesterday and now we were just laying there. I was an idiot for not going all the way with her, but it was also the smartest thing I've ever done. This isn't Quinn here, Rachel is not a safe choice, but she means something. She truly means something and I hope that she's able to understand that.

I looked over my shoulder at the empty spot and ruffled covers on my other side. "Brittany woke up like four hours ago; talking about ducks and bread…I dunno." Rachel said with a smile. "Your mom is making us breakfast, but I got really nervous when she came in here, like when we were cuddling last night you got an…" She lifted up the covers and looked down at my pajama pants.

"That's embarrassing." I muttered before rolling out of the bed.

"No, it's not…it's-it's okay, really." She assured me. I pulled on my sweatshirt and sighed.

"It's weird, talking about it." I told her truthfully. "I mean the only time it was mentioned was when I was going swimming or, buying new clothes, never…like this." And I was being serious. Just because Rachel didn't run for the hills, it didn't mean I was any less of a freak. And besides she hadn't seen me yet, there's still time for her to run.

"If you don't want to talk about it then that's okay, but…" Rachel walked over towards me. "Don't be ashamed."

That was easy for her to say. She had nothing to be ashamed about. Even if she was the loser of our school, she still wasn't deformed. She didn't have a genetic mutation that can't be ignored or fixed. "Did my mom say what she was making?" I asked her quietly.

"Pancakes." Rachel said with a smile. "Chocolate chip." That sparked my interest even more. I loved pancakes. "Let's go." Rachel said pushing at my shoulders and rushing me down the steps.

We were laughing when we entered the kitchen and my mom already had our plates out for us to take. "Thank you so much Mrs. Lopez." Rachel said. My mom smiled as Rachel sat down, but I went to grab us glasses so we could have orange juice.

"Just call me mom." My mother whispered in my ear followed by one of her signature I know all smiles.

"Keep dreaming." I told her as I sat down next to Rachel. "Did we finish Funny Girl last night?" I knew we started the movie, but I wasn't sure if we all stayed up till the end. I remember Brittany messing with my hair, but nothing after that, so I assumed I was the first one asleep.

"Brittany and I finished it while you were sleeping." Rachel told me. "Then we went through your baby photos, and wrote our names all over your school journals." I laughed because that's totally the kind of trouble that Brittany and Rachel would get into together.

"I'm off to pick up some groceries, do you guys need anything?" My mom asked.

"Nope, bye ma." I told her trying to rush her out. She was making me uncomfortable by looking between Rachel and I numerous times. I know she was happy that I had a new friend, but she didn't have to be so obvious about it.

"Your mom is adorable." Rachel said nudging my side.

"If by adorable you mean annoying then, yes, she is." I said taking a bite of my pancakes. "She's thinks you're cute though."

"What?" Rachel said with a blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Yea, yesterday when she took me aside, she told me that you were cute." I explained to her. "But I want to talk to you about something."

"Anything." She responded.

"You and I…" I looked over at her, trying to see how she was reacting. She looked interested and then nervous, and I was sure I looked the same way. "I want something, between us I mean, but…"

"But what?" Rachel asked.

"We can't." I told her. "There's a lot of…complicated things that you might not understand-."

"What's to understand Santana? You and I like each other. I'm not after you for some other motive, I like you, I like being around you and most of all, I accept you, every part of you. So what's the problem?"

"I don't know if it'll work." I said quietly.

"We can work. This works." She leaned in and kissed me, deeply, without warning or suppression. It was one of those needing kisses. Not like before, that was want, this was need. And it was beautiful, it took the breath right out of my lungs, it took the air out of the room. "Don't run away from this. There's nothing to be afraid of, okay?"

"Okay." I said still trying to catch my breath.

"Let's take things slow."

…

Rachel's POV:

Brittany and I already had the plan of meeting up after I left Santana's house. It seemed like overnight we'd become fast friends. She was kind to me, and she accepted and respected Santana completely, which is why we were meeting. Last night after Santana went to sleep we started talking about her, and I realized there was so much more to the story that I didn't know, and Brittany was willing to tell me.

I know what it looks like. If feel like I'm going behind her back, betraying her trust, but in truth, I'm learning more about her so I can help protect her.

I arrived at the park and walked right up to Brittany. "Hi."

"Hey." Brittany said with a smile. "Let's go sit." She was intelligent, caring, and somewhat…magical? That was the word, that was spot on. "What time did you leave Santana's house?"

"At around 1, we had breakfast and then took another nap." I explained.

"A nap? You mean you two didn't…you know?" I laughed and shook my head no. "Dammit, you mean I missed out on pancakes for nothing?" I cocked my head to the side at her and wondered what exactly she meant. "I left early because I assumed you two were going to have morning sex or something so I left early."

"You are crazy." I told Brittany.

"No, I'm looking out for my friend…I mean friends."

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" I asked after a long silence. Brittany played with the strings on her hoodie. She was uncomfortable now, and I thought about offering to walk around, but she didn't look like she wanted to move. "Sorry, too forward-."

"No." She said furrowing her eyebrows. "It's okay."

"Did someone hurt her?" I asked Brittany, her eyes still downcast.

"Yes."

"Badly?"

"Yes." My heart skipped a beat. Who had hurt Santana? Who would even think to wound such a sweet person? "It was terrible."

"You were there?" I asked quietly.

"Yea." Brittany eyes began to water up and she stood abruptly and looked out towards the playground. "I thought…"

"You thought what?" I asked. There was so much more to this story. So much more I didn't know. Who had hurt her? Why? And what was Brittany doing there?

"That I could handle talking about this, but it's hard." She said looking at me for a quick second and then looking away. "I don't…it shouldn't have happened. And I've never seen Santana so…so…"

"So what, Brittany?"

"So brave." Brittany said. "She was scared, and after I've never seen her cry so much afterwards, but in that moment she was just…brave." She wiped her tears away and shoved her hands into her pockets. "I told her to run and she saved me. I told her to leave and she stayed."

I hope I've got you all curious now, review faithful readers.