A/N: Sorry I didn't update yesterday, my best friend and I went on like 3 road trips and crashed at a friend's. Got some partying to do tonight. I've missed Memphis. Ahh love. Ok, I hope yall enjoy this. I may update again today, but don't hold me to it ;) Thanks for the reads, reviews, and alerts. Means the world to me 3

Chapter 26

Santana's P.O.V

Brittany and I met Raquel, her boyfriend Antonius, Puck and Quinn at a small diner. We all sat down at a booth and ordered our drinks.

"How's that ankle feeling B?" Puck piped up.

"It's alright still hurting, but not enough for it to matter." She giggled and scooted closer to me.

We all fell into comfortable conversation.

"Quinn, when are you going home? I know you said you would be here for another week. "Puck asked.

"I'm not sure really, I think it's going to be next Thursday." She answered and I saw her look at Puck and look down. I had been around them for about fifteen minutes now, and I knew that she was crushing hard. Quinn didn't do this. She was the flirty confident girl, and now she was acting bashful.

"That's not even a full week, are you sure you have to leave then?" I whined. I thought about it and although it does mean five more days with her, it's not enough. I missed her so much. Having her here was like being home.

"I don't know San, I can probably ask Dad to let me stay longer if you want, it's not like I have to buy a plane ticket. When is Tina coming anyways?" Puck looked at her like she was crazy when she said she didn't have to buy a plane ticket and I had to laugh. As much as Quinn had flashed her money around and he hadn't figured it out now? Ok, maybe my best friend was a little bit slow.

"I think you should stay longer we can talk to Papi tonight. T, will be here Friday I think. I have to talk to her about it."

"San, I don't know how you got her to come, or why you really want her to."

"Quinn, you know that Tina and I have been friends since I stood up for her on the playground in elementary school."

"I just really don't understand your friendship; she doesn't have friends, at least not ones that aren't dark and twisty."

Brittany gave Quinn her overly innocent confused look and switched her gaze to me. "What does she mean, dark and twisty?"

I look to Quinn to see if she wants to explain and she waved her hand for me to 'take the floor'.

"Well, Tina and her best friend are different. They people call Tina a text book hungry animal. She isn't the geek though, she is the hardcore straight A student. She and her best friend have both been through a lot in their lives and they really only rely on each other. The thing that drives them is their will to succeed. Tina dresses dark, I guess you could say"

Everyone around the table listened to me describe Tina, and then Raquel piped in.

"Dude, you are being gentle. Way of being? Tina's way of being is harsh, no other way to describe it. She has been through tough times, but it is nothing compared to what some other people have gone through. You gave her that tough exterior the day you stood up for her and became her friend. She just took it to a whole other level."

"Raq, don't talk about her like that. She really isn't bad, people just don't understand her."

"Trust me if it wasn't for your relationship with you-know-who and that whole situation, the way I would have described her would have been harsher. She helped you through that and did something none of us would have done and for that I'm thankful, but still." My eyes got huge. The situation with the 'you-know-who' Raquel was referring to was something every one that knew about it agreed not to discuss and she just put it out on the table like that. I couldn't believe she was so blasé about it. I shifted my gaze from her, to Quinn, and then down at the table.

Our food arrived and I was so thankful for the drop in conversation as everyone began to eat. I felt Brittany's gaze on me burning into me. I didn't want that to come up, ever. I looked at Raquel and she felt my glance and looked back with pleading eyes. 'I'm so sorry' was what her glance said. I nodded back. I knew she didn't mean for anything to come out, or to cause trouble. She wouldn't do that to me. So I let it go and continued to eat. Over dinner there were so many conversation topics that it was hard to keep up with what all we now knew about each other, everything from opinions to unknown truths. This little group had turned into my people, and having Quinn there made everything even more special. We got up to leave the diner and headed out to the car. Puck and Quinn started to walk to his truck, Raquel and Antonius walked to his car, and Brittany and I to mine.

"Hey San" I heard Puck yell.

"What's up?" I asked turning to face him.

"I know we were all heading to the house, but what do you say about hitting up the park. You know, relaxing for a while."

"Yeah, I may be a little bit, we have to run by Brittany's I want her to take her medicine for her foot before we go anywhere." I yelled back and Brittany just looked at me before getting into the car.

"What was that look for?" I asked getting settled.

"Nothing, I just . . . how did you know it was time for me to take more medicine?"

"The doctor told you when to take more, wasn't you paying attention?"

"Of course I was, but I was barley paying attention, why were you?"

"Brittany, seriously? You are in pain, what am I going to do let you be in pain? No, I think not. I'm not going to sit here and let you hurt, I don't like you being in pain." I said and started up the car.

She looked at me and her eyes said so much. They were filled with so much love, and I felt so . . . happy . . . that it was directed at me. I never thought I would be so lucky to have someone that looked at me like that. When she so much as looked at me my heart beat increased, my stomach did little flips, and I couldn't help but to smile.

We pulled up to her house and I ran inside so she didn't have to get out.

"Mrs. Pierce, can I get Brittany's medicine for her, we are going to go to the park if that's ok with you?"

"Of course Santana, is there any way that you can get her car back here for me as well?" She asked and threw me the keys.

"Sure thing, thanks Mrs. P"

She pulled me in for a hug. "Remember call me Kelly. I'm glad my daughter has you, because if I know my daughter and well I'm pretty sure I do, she isn't the one that remembered her meds, she is too stubborn and 'tough' to ask you to come back by here and get them, so thanks."

I gave her mom another hug as I walked out the door.

"You know, your mom kind of loves me." I said leaning over to kiss her cheek quickly.

"Yeah, well, who could blame her?" She winked and laid her and comfortably on my thigh.

We pulled out of the driveway and headed to the park. We pulled up in the parking spot next to Antonius's car.

I saw Puck jump out of his truck and walked toward us with a duffle bag.

"Puck what the hell is in there?" Brittany asked taking her time to get out of the car as I rushed over to help her out.

"Well, my little crippled friend, we have beer."

"Ohhh, gimme." Brittany extended her hand to Puck.

"Whoa blondie, wait until we get to sit down on the equipment, it's going to take you a minute to get over there safely anyways."

We walked over toward the playground equipment and I looked at Quinn worried. She read my thoughts and gave me a comforting smile, I was not sure what she had in store, but I knew she knew my concerns.

We sat down and Brittany reached out for the beer Puck was offering her. I snatched it away from him.

"Wha. . . " Brittany started and I interrupted her.

"You are not drinking on top of pain killers, that is bad, very bad, and I'd prefer you didn't die on my watch, thank you." I said as I kissed her on the cheek.

"But . . . but you are going to be drinking."

"No she's not." Quinn said giving me a reassuring smile.

"Wait, why not?" Puck asked popping the top on his beer can.

Quinn just looked at him and shook her head. Raquel and Antonius both open up a beer and Quinn pulled out her purse.

"I brought Juju San."

"I knew you had something." I said smiling at her as she pulled pepsis out of her bag.

"Juju?" Brittany asked.

"It's a like good karma. " Quinn said passing Brittany and myself one as she opened hers.

"Umm, I never wondered why Santana and Quinn weren't drinking." Puck said starting his I never ritual.

Antonius, Puck, and Brittany all turn up their respective drinks. Raquel, Quinn and I all just look at one another.

"I never thought to explain the reason behind it." Quinn said and her Raquel and I drank.

"Ok can we cut this cryptic mess out?" Brittany said looking at me. "Why aren't you two drinking?" She said looking at me curiously.

"Well, the thing is . . ." I said letting my sentence fall. I didn't want to continue, it was too hard to think about.

"Year before last when school first started in August, one of Santana's classmates, was one of the stars on the football team, and after we won our first home game he went to a house party." Quinn started for me.

"He had drunk some and when he left, he lost control of his vehicle and went off the road. He died that night. It affected the whole school. He was a great guy and his life was cut short because of a bad decision. I know the lord will take me when it's my time, but he also gave me the sense to make good decisions and do what I can to protect myself and that is what Quinn and I have made a pact on. If we are drinking we don't drive, or if the driver of the car we are getting into is drinking we don't and we take their keys." I turned to look at Puck. "I bet you haven't had your keys since we got here have you?"

He looked over to Quinn, then me, and then at the ground. "No, I haven't." He said and then directed his attention back at Quinn. "If it was a problem, you could have said something and I wouldn't have brought the beer" He said sincerely.

"Don't worry about it, we aren't trying to stop you from having fun. We can drink another night, San and I have had our fun in the past couple of days."

Raquel then brought up an 'I never' and the game began. Everything was brought up; I didn't think there was a secret in this group anymore. That is one of the nights I will never forget and I leave it on that note.

'I never can forget this night.' I said and no one drinks. We all laughed and started walking to our cars.

|Thursday|

Brittany was at my house laying on the bed with Quinn, both of them watching me clean my room for the third time this week.

"Tina is staying in the guest room right?" Quinn asked.

"Yes, why?" I stopped what I was doing and looked at her.

"Because, I have been here for over week and well, I don't want to sleep in the guest room alone."

"You know Tina doesn't like to sleep in the bed with anyone else. You would have been in that guest room if I wasn't so happy you were here." I said teasing her.

She flipped me off and rolled onto her back beside Brittany almost hitting her foot which I had propped up on some pillows. I grabbed Quinn's legs and stopped her from rolling over any further.

"Shit, sorry B" Quinn said looking at her apologetically. Brittany just looked at her and laughed. Quinn had been spending too much time around Puck and had now started using Brittany's nickname even though I didn't.

Quinn's phone started going off and it was Puck. She got up to answer the phone and soon told us that she was going out with Puck she would be home later.

I finished cleaning and laid down next to Brittany.

"What time is Tina getting here baby?" She whispered as she pulled me closer putting her arm under my head. I moved into the crook of her arm and snuggled into her side.

"She will be here around 5"

"So, we have about 4 hours?" She asked idly playing with my hair.

"Yeah" I said closing my eyes relaxing under her touch.

"What should we do with ourselves?" She asked in my ear suggestively rolling onto her side and pulling my leg up over her hip.

"Oh, I'm sure we can think of one or two things." I said leaning in and kissing her, gently at first and then more passionately.

R.I.P: Matthew Scott Morris #28 "Too Tall" You are missed.

FYI: Those aren't the exact event of the night, but it was a similar incident. It's not my place to give P . S . As but if you ever wonder why in my fics Santana never drives drunk. There it is.