Santana's P.O.V.
"Are you sure you can handle everything while we're away?" My father asks me for the millionth time today. I roll my eyes and sigh as I get out of the car. I walk over to the trunk and he comes to meet me, along with Puck.
"For the last time Papi, everything will be fine. Cookie and Darrel are helping me. Nothing bad will happen." He nods his head as I pull out one of his suitcases and he grabs the other.
"Okay. We should be gone two weeks at the most." He says and I sigh.
"Papi, do try to enjoy yourself. Don't work all the time and worry so much, it's not like you're leaving this to Puck." I say and Puck bumps me with his shoulder as he gets his own suitcase from the trunk of his truck. He's letting me take it to New York, even though he doesn't know it.
"I will mija, but if you need anything or anything happens -"
"Call you, I know." He nods his head quickly and I grab one of his bags and begin to walk towards the doors of the airport. He follows my lead and sits the suitcase he has in his hand down.
"I'll see you soon Tana." He says and I almost smile at that. My dad hasn't called me that endearing nickname since I was a child. Had the situation been different and he wasn't trying to control my life or threatening me, I probably would have smiled at that but my lips remain in a line on my face.
"Yeah, tell abulea I said hi and I'll try to visit her soon enough." He nods his head and we hug briefly. He kisses my forehead before we break apart though. I give him a fake smile and he grabs his things and walks into the airport. I sigh and run my hand through my hair as Puck comes into my view.
"You alright?" He asks and I nod.
"Yeah. I'm ready to get the hell out of here." I say and he nods.
"When are you leaving? I don't want you getting hurt trying to leave."
"I'm leaving tonight. Dave and a few other guys are going to escort me out I guess." I say and he nods.
"They don't know why you're leaving?"
"Dave does. The rest don't and I doubt they care. He probably covered for me." Puck nods and adjusts the strap of his duffel bag over his shoulder.
"So how long before Rachel pops out the twins?" He asks.
"We've got about 3 months. How long do you think you can stall?" I ask.
"I'll try for at least three months. If not, you know I won't tell him where you are." He says and I nod.
"Just make sure you take care of my nieces and send me pictures." He looks through the glass door of the airport and I turn my head. Our father is looking at us so we better wrap this up.
"I will and once everything settles, maybe we can meet up somewhere so you can see them in person. I'm sure they'll love an uncle." He nods and extends his arms to hug me. I love my brother. He may be an asshole a lot of the time but he's always there when I really need him. I hug him tightly around his waist and he kisses my forehead.
"Be careful alright?" He says as we break apart.
"Of course." He picks up his suitcases from the ground and walks inside.
I go back to Puck's truck and start my drive home. Papi did have some men follow us here for protection so they're following me back to my house. I decided to leave at night just being cautious. Most of the time, in the day, I have a huge fucking target on my head. I said goodbye to Rachel this morning and she's already gone with Q. I'll text her later to be sure.
I'm not really happy that I have to go slow with Rachel. She's forgiven me but still just wants to take her time with the relationship. I guess I kind of understand but she's still friends with Quinn. Yeah I lied to her our entire relationship but her best friend kissed me. Isn't that just a little worse? Maybe not but whatever if they're friendship recovered so fast then our relationship should too.
When I get to my house, I wave to the guys as they leave and go inside. I don't really have anything to do. It's only noon and all my shit is packed up, well most of it. Maybe I shouldn't have packed so early. Luckily I didn't pack my Xbox yet though. I play my game, text people and watch a little TV before I fall asleep. When I wake up it's pretty much around 9:20. I didn't think I was that tired but I did get up at 5 am with Rachel and I fell asleep around 3. I just had a really long nap. I call Dave and text Rachel. I get a text back from Quinn saying she's sleep and I go put my stuff in Puck's truck. I'm out of Lima by ten and I'm on the road for the next fucking ten hours.
I didn't want to stop for anything besides gas and some coffee. I guess some paranoia got to me and I felt like if I stopped for more than a few minutes, I wouldn't make it to my destination. When I finally do get to Rachel's, I basically passed out on her couch. When I wake back up it's around 3 in the afternoon and I can hear a TV coming from a room in the back.
"Rachel?" I call out. I hear light footstep then I look behind me and see Rachel walking towards me. She has on pink shorts and a tank top and she's wearing her glasses. She smiles at me then comes to sit next to me on the couch.
"I was wondering when you would get up." She says and I stretch.
"I've been driving for hours. I'll fucking fly next time." I say.
"You could have stopped to get some sleep. You should have. Driving while tired is just as dangerous as driving while under the influence." She says.
"I was fine. Just a little paranoid."
"Paranoid of what?"
"Someone following me. Hudson's flunkies, or your dad or -"
"My father?" She says with a confused look on her face. I forgot I didn't tell her about that.
"I didn't tell you about that?"
"What did he do?"
"He told me to stay away from you and threatened to put me and my family in jail."
"He what?!" Maybe now wasn't the best time to say that.
"Relax. It's not a big deal."
"It is a big deal! He had no right doing that to you!" She gets up and goes back into the back room. It's silent for while but then I hear her yelling at her father. I wonder if it's the hormones of if she's really that upset he started fucking with me. After awhile she comes back out but she's still on the phone.
"My father has something he'd like to say to you." She says as she stands in front of me then puts her phone out to me. I look at her curiously but she moves the phone closer to me, urging me to take it. I grab it then put it on speakerphone.
"Hello?" I say.
"Hi Santana. I want to apologize for my behavior. I acted out of anger and was completely out of line."
"Um...It's fine Mr. Berry. No hard feelings."
"Great. I hope we can start over?" I nod even though he can't see me.
"That's fine." I say and he says okay and goodbye before he hangs up.
"You have him completely wrapped around your finger." I say as Rachel sits next to me and I hand her, her phone.
"Maybe but once my dad overheard the conversation, he stepped in and you got your apology."
"So I just got a fake apology because he was forced by his daughter and husband?" I ask and she shakes her head.
"No. My father won't do anything he doesn't want to. You're both stubborn in that way." She says and I shake my head.
"Well at least I know he's not out for blood anymore." I lean back on the couch and Rachel turns towards me and folds her legs underneath her.
"He never should have been. This was none of his business." I nod and she runs her hand through her hair.
"So...you're in New York now. What do you want to do?"
"Sit here with you unless you want to go out." I say and she shakes her head.
"You should probably go see your apartment." She says and I shrug.
"It'll be there tomorrow. You want me to leave?" I ask.
"No but that seems like the most logical thing to do."
"That may be true but I don't care at the moment." She nods and grabs the remote from the coffee table and cuts on the TV.
I go take a shower and we watch a movie before I cook dinner for us. Rachel insisted on helping so I let her make the salad. I miss cooking with her. When we used to cook together it was a lot more intimate but this is better than nothing.
"Remember when we burned dinner and had to order out?" Rachel says as I stir the alfredo sauce that's warming in the pot. I chuckle to myself and look at her over my shoulder.
"Yeah. That was entirely your fault by the way." I say.
"What? That was your fault."
"You kept teasing me."
"That didn't mean take me on the counter." She says with a smirk and I turn towards her.
"We both enjoyed that." I say and she nods.
"True but that lasagna would have been really nice." I lean against the sink and watch her.
"We could try again tomorrow?" I say and she nods.
"I'd like that." She looks at me with a small smile then goes back to the salad.
We eat dinner and watch movies on her couch. I'm finally fucking here. I'm in New York with the mother of my kids and I can finally be here to help her. I feel guilty for not being here for so long but I plan to make that up. Now that I'm here and no longer a criminal...I should probably get a job. Maybe I could actually put my degree to use. Ironically I went into law. I thought it was pretty interesting and figured it could be good if I needed to get a family member out of trouble. I would just need to take the bar exam...yeah I'll look into that later.
Rachel fell asleep on the couch and I picked her up and carried her to her bed. I just slept on that couch and my back hurts so I don't want her to sleep on it. She should probably invest in another one, this looks nice but it's comfort level sucks. Rachel's place is pretty moderately sized so I think it'll be enough space for the twins.
I really hope Puck comes through for me. I really need my father as far away for as long as possible. I know I have to call my father and tell him some bullshit about what's going on but Cookie should cover most of that for me. I'm hoping that if my father sees the business is doing well with out me, he won't be mad and won't try to make me come back. I'm not coming back anyway but he won't stop trying to get me back. I don't want to have to lose my father over this but if I have to...then I have to. I just don't want it to come to that point because no matter what, it's still my dad and I want him in mine and my childrens lives. I lie back on the couch and close my eyes. I need everything to work out.