A/N: For those of you waiting for Quinn to do something nice for Santana, you're about to get your wish. Quinn's never been in a positive relationship, in my opinion. Taylor got her ready for Santana, but Quinn's never been the one to do the whole romantic gesture thing. This is new to her so I wanted her to take her time. This is just the start though.

Chapter 25:

The party was filled with academics and Santana who had dressed appropriately for the event by covering up her dress, which wasn't as tight as some of her others, with a jacket. She even wore flats, which Quinn knew killed her because she hated being shorter than her already and Quinn had on 2-inch heels for the event. Quinn was introduced around by the doctor and she took Taylor's advice to heart, making sure to connect with the right doctors and avoid the spit talkers. She introduced Santana as her girlfriend without care or concern for what people might think and that, for her, was a huge thing. Old Quinn always worried about perceptions. New Quinn just wanted to make a good impression on them academically and when they shook hands with Santana and welcomed her into the conversation despite her not saying much the whole evening, she was happy.

After the party, Quinn and Santana hopped on the train to head back to the apartment. They'd only briefly stopped by after Quinn arrived to drop off her stuff before they headed out for dinner. Santana unlocked the door and pushed it open so Quinn could walk in behind her.

"What the-" Santana took in the apartment. The lights were dim and there were candles placed around the living room and open kitchen. There were some on the dining room table along with a bottle of wine and two empty glasses and flowers. "What is this?" She didn't turn around to face Quinn.

Quinn walked up behind her and wrapped Santana in her arms.

"You did something nice for me tonight. I wanted to return the favor."

"Q…"

"Rachel is staying at Jesse's this weekend. She helped Kurt set this up for me while we were out."

"No wonder it looks so good. She had the gay help her."

Quinn laughed and kissed Santana's neck.

"I thought we could drink that." She pointed with one hand at the wine." "Eat those." There were chocolate dipped strawberries next to the wine. "You can keep those where they are, but read the card." She pointed at the flowers. "And then we could go into your room…"

"Yes?" Santana turned around to face her. "I brought this massage oil with me and-"

"Go on."

Quinn laughed at her again.
"I was thinking I could help you release some of the songwriting tension with that and then…" She leaned in and got close enough to graze her lips against Santana's. "And then we could use the other things I brought and I could massage something else."

"You brought the- "

"Yes, I did."

Santana had a wicked smile on her face.

"I fucking love you."

Quinn kissed her slowly. They'd only briefly kissed in the train station due to their schedule so this was more deliberate and intentional. Quinn opened the wine while Santana read the card on the flowers to herself through a smile. They sat on the sofa and relaxed into the evening surrounded by the bouncing light of the candles and the sounds of the city outside the window.

"How was it seeing her again?" Santana asked Saturday morning while sitting in between Quinn's legs on her bed.

"Honestly?"

"No lie to me."

"It was weird at first for obvious reasons, but at the end it was kind of okay."

"Oh yeah? What changed?'
"I don't know. There was a funny moment and then we just clicked back into a rhythm."

"What kind of rhythm there, Quinn?" She turned her head sideways as if to look at Quinn who just rested her head on Santana's shoulder.

"Not that kind of rhythm, babe." She thought about how best to describe it. "Like a maybe we could be friends one day in the future kind of a rhythm."

"How soon is someday, Quinn?"

"I don't know. It's really up to her, I guess."

"Because you're completely happy in your current relationship and feel no pull back toward your ex?"

"Something like that." Quinn teased. "I broke up with her. I think it's protocol to give her the time, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Anyway, she's moving on, which is good. I want her to move on too."

"Yes, I want that too. Lesbians and their complicated exes." She said. "I know. I have one too."

"She has a date next week, San. Remember?"

"I remember." Santana seemed pleased.

"I can tell you the whole story later, but for now, just stop worrying about it. I'm completely and totally in love with you and only you. There are no lingering feelings for Taylor and I want her to be happy with whoever she ends up with. Okay?"

"Okay." Santana nodded and then rested her head all the way back. "How would you feel about Brittany and I being close again one day?"

"How close?" Quinn's voice got deep. Santana noticed.
"What's up pit bull?"

Quinn laughed at that and it eased the tension.

"Well, Taylor and I dated for a couple of months. You and Brit were together for half a decade and-"

"Got married. Yeah, I know. I just meant that we're sort of long distance friends right now. She emails every once and a while and I wanted you to know about it."

"Oh, well thanks."

"And if we get to a point where we can hang out together, would that be okay with you?"

"San, I know you guys were friends even when you weren't a couple, so yeah. That would be okay."

"And one day, maybe the unholy trinity could have a reunion that isn't related to which one of you I'm dating." She said. Quinn slapped her shoulder. "Ouch!"

"You deserved it."

Santana laughed and then tucked her face into Quinn's neck allowing the girl to tighten her already wrapped arms around her more.

"I hate to break this to you, babe, but Rachel Berry and the Anderson-Hummels want to hang out with you while you're here. She asked if we could go to the bar after the show tonight."

"I figured that would happen."

"And we can't exactly get out of it because you went and asked them for a favor like a fool expecting they'd want nothing in return."

"Whatever. You enjoyed that favor."

"I did enjoy that favor. You're right." She laughed into Quinn's neck. "And I'll enjoy it more tonight after the bar."

"Hey, next weekend I can't come here and you can't come to Yale."

"Yeah, so we'll have to do it up right tonight since I won't see you until Thanksgiving."

"Maybe when I come back, we can talk about next semester."

Santana leaned up and turned around halfway.

"Like where you'll be next semester?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"And maybe we can start thinking about the summer."

"Like 7 months in advance?"

"Yeah, so?" Quinn asked her.

"I'd say that was a sign that you must really love me, but you plan everything at least 6 months out so…"

Quinn leaned forward and pushed Santana back on the bed.

"I must really love you to put up with comments like that." She reached under Santana's shirt and ran her hand up her side. Santana just stared up at her. "I'm going to miss this."

"It's only a couple of weeks." Santana tried to sound okay with that.

"A couple of weeks without you is painful, Santana. Trust me. I know." She paused. "At least this way you won't get bored with me too quickly." She lifted Santana's shirt up to reveal her flat stomach. Quinn was trying to smile through her feelings of missing Santana even though she was still technically in front of her.

"You joke, but Quinn, I think you were made for me." Santana professed. Quinn dropped the smile and stopped moving her hand. She stared down at the beautiful woman below her and had no words. "When you're not around, it's like a part of me is missing."

"San…"

"I've never felt that before."

And that was when Quinn knew that this was a forever kind of love. She'd always wondered and worried that Santana and Brittany had shared everything, that there was nothing Quinn could offer Santana that she hadn't already felt before or after they got married, but what Santana just revealed told her that even though she loved Brittany enough to marry her, there was still something missing that only Quinn could provide her with. She recalled her feelings for Taylor and how happy she was in the beginning, but that also something was missing between the two of them the whole time.

"Neither have I." She replied and leaned down to kiss her feverishly.

Quinn: San, where are you? It's time for our Facetime session.

Quinn sat on her sofa with her laptop at the ready. It was their first Saturday night apart since they became a couple and Quinn missed her even though she hated to admit it since it had only been a week.

She didn't get a response back right away so she turned on the TV to pass the time. 10 minutes later, her phone buzzed.

Santana Lopez: Shit! Q, I'm sorry. I went out with people from school and I lost track of time. I'm heading home now. I'll call you when I get there.

Quinn was disappointed. This time each night was sacred. They always talked and most of the time, they fell asleep together.

Quinn: Don't worry about it. We can do it later. Have fun.

She wanted to talk to her girlfriend, but she also wanted Santana to have a life outside of their relationship and felt it was unfair of her to try to keep her from it despite the fact that it hurt that Santana forgot.

Her phone rang.

"Hey, I'm sorry." Santana offered up. "I'm outside the bar. I'm going to get a cab back to the apartment."

"You don't have to. Stay and have fun with your friends."

"I'm sorry, babe. We worked in the studio today and decided to go out after. I honestly just lost track of the time, but I want to Facetime with you."

"It's okay. Just have fun." She paused. "San, I want you to be able to go out when you want too. It's not your fault I'm basically studying all the time these days."

"No, Q. It's not like that. I'd rather be talking to you."

"Yeah?"

"Quinn, these people are going to be in my life for maybe the next few years… if they're lucky. You're going to be in my life forever."

Quinn smiled into the phone.

"Okay. Are you sure?" Quinn questioned. "Because I promise I'm not going to like hold this over you or anything. Hang out. Get drunk." She paused. "Be safe though. Don't like go crazy or something and maybe don't get too drunk because you get flirty when you're drunk." She was rambling. "When you say friends… who are they again exactly?"

Santana laughed.
"Jealous Quinn again. Hilarious. Can you give me 30 minutes to get home and change and then I'll see your face?"

"Yeah, I guess I can do that." Quinn agreed in a mock exasperated tone while smiling.

"Hey, Q?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I am so sorry."

"It's okay. It was bound to happen eventually." Quinn replied finally staring into Santana's eyes on the screen.

"You're upset, aren't you? I can always tell when you're upset. You crunch up your nose in this cute little way. Really used to drive me crazy."

"I'm not upset with you. I was working on a paper and it's pissing me off, but I'm not upset with you. I don't want you to feel like you can't go out with your friends because we do this."

"I told you it's not like that."

"I know, but maybe we should just change these up. Like sometimes we don't do it at night or-"

"Quinn, I love our nightly talks. I don't want to change them."

"But what happens when you want to go out with your friends or I want to go out with my friends?"

"I don't know, but I don't want to give this up."

"Let's just make sure to tell the other person if we need to reschedule."

Santana looked less than pleased.

"I don't want to have to schedule my relationship with you, Q."

"Well, I'm not going to tell you not to go out at night when your friends invite you somewhere and I can't promise I won't want to go out sometimes."

"Yeah right, you're in bed by 10 every night. You're worse than Sandy from Grease."

"You're spending way too much time with Rachel." Quinn warned.

Santana smiled. She was lying sideways in her bed. Quinn wanted to badly to reach out and touch her.

"See? This is what I don't want to miss. I like our verbal sparing. You keep me sharp, Fabray."

"Someone has to do it."

"Hey, get in bed for me, Q."

Quinn was sitting on the sofa when her legs outstretched.

"Why?"

"Because I want to watch you sleep again tonight."

"If anyone else heard you say that…" Quinn teased and grabbed her laptop to walk into her bedroom.

"I know. I'd never hear the end of it. What are you wearing, by the way?"

"I'm wearing the Yale shirt I actually bought for you a while ago, but then in my nervousness about the lecture, forgot to actually pack."

"You got me a Yale shirt?"

Quinn arrived in her bedroom and sat down the laptop on the bed so she could get it ready to sleep in.

"Yes, at the bookstore. I thought you could use it since I basically stole that NYADA one from you."

Santana laughed.

"Look at us. College girls." Santana looked up at Quinn who was leaning over the laptop setting up a place for the laptop to rest next to her while she slept. "I'm enjoying the view, Q."
"Stop it." Quinn scolded and then left the frame entirely so she could reach her power cord and plug the computer in. She usually just left it by her bedside since they did this so often these days. She walked back around and propped the computer up and adjusted the angle so her face was in the frame.

"You good now?"'

"Yeah, I think so." She adjusted herself again.
"Still a really nice view." Santana remarked as she stared at Quinn's face.

"I wish you didn't have that recording session and I could have missed my study session so we could be doing this in person right now."

"The more you study, the more likely you are to pass and graduate from that place, Q."

"You know I'm spending Christmas with my mom, right?"

"I guess I kind of figured that."

"Are you going back to Lima too?"

"The Lopez clan has requested my attendance, yes."

"Good."

"Why? You wanna spend Christmas with me, Q?" She mocked.

"It would be nice to spend Christmas with my girlfriend, yes."

"It would definitely make Lima a better place to have you there to occupy my time."

Quinn smiled, but it was a tired smile.

"I'm sorry you came home for a short talk, but I'm exhausted, San."

"It's fine. I'm actually pretty tired too. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I might be past the whole go out every single night and party phase."

Quinn stared at her.

"This is my favorite part anyway."

Santana's smile beamed through the screen until she gave Quinn an air kiss and started to close her eyes.

"Good night, Q."

"Night, S." Quinn opened her eyes after a moment. "Say it." She instructed and closed her eyes.

"I love you."

"I love you too." Quinn replied.