Chapter 29:

Santana was dumbfounded by the girl standing in front of her. Quinn had cut her hair a little shorter and layered it. It was also a little darker with some added low lights. She was wearing a V-neck shirt. She had boots over her skinny jeans and her coat was hanging against her body and was being held there by the strap of her bag.

"What are you doing here?" Santana asked her not sure if she was a hallucination or a mirage maybe.

"I go here."

"You go here?"

"Yeah, I applied to BU after you left. I originally got in for the fall, but they had an opening and said I could start this spring instead. I was going to apply to Harvard again, but there was something about Boston that just called my name over Cambridge. I moved here a couple of weeks ago."

Santana smiled as she looked back down at the papers in her hands. She was clutching them tightly. She could smell the coffee now and its scent was of hazelnut. Quinn took a step toward her and put her hand over Santana's getting her to release the tension that was wrinkling the paper. Santana looked back up at her.

"Are you in this class?"

"No, I kind of wish I was now though. I know what a great teacher you are. I was just on the quad outside and I saw this beautiful woman rush by. Something told me to bring her hazelnut coffee."

Santana heard a student clear their throat and looked around. Almost everyone was seated and the clock told her it was past time to start class.

"I have to…"

"I know. I have a class to get to anyway. Boston University has a beautiful campus though. I think I've finally figured out my way around. Any chance I could convince you to walk around it with me later?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Quinn started to walk backwards toward the door.

"I'll meet you here after my class?"

"Okay."

Quinn smiled and turned. She left the room with the door swinging behind her. Santana smiled throughout her entire first class. She wasn't even sure what she taught them and was convinced that several of her new students probably thought she was a ditz, but none of that seemed to matter.

She waited for all the students to file out of the room before gathering herself and throwing on her coat. She felt like her first class was a terrible one. There was no way she could focus on architecture or even a syllabus when she knew Quinn was somewhere on campus. Her heart never stopped pounding so hard she could feel it reverberating everywhere in her body and the words on the page of that syllabus appeared to be in a different language. She took several deep breaths and tried to calm herself before finally leaving the room.

It was still winter in Boston, but it was a warm day for January, which was good because they were planning to walk around campus. Quinn was already standing outside the building when Santana arrived holding out another cup for her to take.

"I have a confession to make." Quinn started.

"Okay." Santana was concerned.

"I left my class early so I wouldn't be late and that's not coffee. It's hot chocolate. It's kind of cold out here and I wanted to get you coffee, but that's a lot of caffeine and you on a lot of caffeine is a recipe for disaster so I went with this instead."

"Recipe for disaster?"

"Remember when we sat at the diner for hours? You helped me study for my final and Blaine kept giving you refills. Six cups in, you were talking in Spanish so fast that Kurt had to punch you in the shoulder just to get you to stop. You kept saying 'no me gusta' over and over at everything." Quinn recalled and was happy that she was able to what she had been jealous of Evan about months ago. She had memories and inside jokes she and Santana shared.

"Kurt kept trying to get me to try on those scarfs he knitted so yeah, no me gusta applied and six cups would do that to any Latina, but this is great."

They exchanged smiles before turning to walk through the quad. Students and teachers were all headed to and from their classes in a hurried fashion trying to get out of the cold while Quinn and Santana slowly walked sipping hot chocolate and filling each other in on their months apart. Quinn, it turned out, decided to major in business before going to law school.

"My plan is to stay at BU and get my degree here and then go to Harvard Law if they let me in."

"That's great, Quinn. Does Finn know you're here? He's still with Rachel. I don't know why I didn't know you were in Boston."

"He moved before I did. We sort of stopped talking after you left. I blamed him for what happened, which was stupid since it was my fault. I called him yesterday actually. We got interrupted though so I don't know what Rachel knows. I didn't know you were here. We didn't really get a chance to go into detail about you before we got cut off so I just assumed you were still living in Indy. I can't believe you're actually here."

"For a while now. I took a job at a firm part-time, I'm a teaching assistant here, which you know already and I'm also now a graduate student."

"Wait. You're back in school?"

"Yeah, I needed the degree if I wanted to be a professor someday. If my parents could see me now… I always wanted architecture, but I never really liked school. Good at it, but not a fan."

"I can see that. You teaching architecture full-time, having papers published, advising students on their careers."

"Well, that's all years down the road." They had walked and talked their way off campus nearing the subway stop Santana normally took to get to work. "This is me. I have to go to work now. Client meeting in an hour."

"Oh. I guess I should head back. I have another class in about a half an hour anyway."

"Do you maybe want to-" Santana started.

"Yes."

"You don't even know what I was going to ask."

"It doesn't matter. The answer is yes."

"I don't get it. Why aren't you mad at me? I got so upset at you for being with him when I was the one who ended it and you had every right to sleep with whoever you wanted. I blew up at you and ran away."

Quinn tossed her now empty cup into the trashcan next to the station entrance.

"Because you were right. Not just about Finn. I mean, I shouldn't have slept with him whether you and I were together or not, but we were both in bad places when we met and while I don't regret anything about being with you, I get that it wasn't the best time. I needed to grow up and move past thinking my family needs me for everything and you were still dealing with your parents."

"And now?"

"Now, we're both in the same place and not just for the summer. I've finally started living my life and it looks like you're doing the same. I can never be mad for what happened because what happened got me here. It got us here. So, my answer to whatever you're going to ask is yes."

"Will you have dinner with me tonight?"

"Yes."

Santana smiled and chuckled lightly about asking her former girlfriend and the love of her life to have a dinner date.

"I'll pick you up at seven. Can you text me your address?"

Quinn took a step forward and put her arms around Santana's neck.

"I can do that, but I'd rather not wait until the end of the date to do this." She leaned in and their cold noses touched first before their lips finally met. It was awkward in the beginning. They'd been apart for a while and needed to remember their rhythm. Once Santana's arms went around Quinn's waist and pulled her even closer, they were back in sync and after a few moments, the kiss ended naturally with them both smiling against linked foreheads.

"I can't believe you're here. I've missed you." Santana whispered.

"I've missed you too."

"I want to do more of this later, but I really do have to go. If I don't catch the next train, I'll be late."

"Go. I'll text you."

Santana turned to walk away with a smile and Quinn watched her as she turned back around.

"Can this actually work? You and me? Here? We can do this. Get it right this time?"

Quinn turned her head at a slight angle as if she had to do that to take in what Santana was asking her.

"Yes. San, I'm ready now. I'm ready for you."

Santana smiled at that before turning to walk down the stairs toward the train. Her lips tingled still from the kiss, her hands felt warm from the embrace they shared, her heart continued to jump while she stood near the edge of a yellow line waiting for her train to arrive. Her pocket buzzed and she pulled her phone from it.

Quinn had texted her address along with a message, "I never stopped loving you." Santana smiled and typed her reply before hitting send. "I hope you never do."

The train arrived and Santana hopped on and found a seat. On the way to work, she stared down at her phone and scrolled through all the pictures she had saved of her time in Jasper, her time with Quinn. She looked through pictures of her parents and photos of her friends. There were a couple of Rachel and Finn and some of Sam and Brittany. Tina and Mike popped up in a few and there was even one of Tina and Santana smiling and putting their past behind them. She smiled as she thought about the past year and how much she'd been through.

She made it to work just in time for her meeting and basically sat in silence as others did most of the presentation. She couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Quinn was here, in Boston. She laughed out loud at how they had managed to end up at the same place at the same time, both finally ready to give this a real shot after truly examining their lives and making necessary changes. This date could not come fast enough, but as the time wore on, she got more and more nervous. How do you date someone so old and so new to you at the same time? Do they fall right back into how it was or will there be an adjustment period?

These were the thoughts that entered her brain when Quinn opened her dorm room door just as two girls in towels walked past Santana headed back to their rooms after their showers.

"Okay, I know we're not technically exclusive right now, but I really don't think you should be checking out other girls right in front of me." Quinn told her when she first opened the door and noticed Santana looking at the girls who had just entered their room. She smiled and Santana released the nervous breath she was holding.

"They're freshman. I don't date freshman." Santana told her.

"Hey, I'm a freshman." Quinn squinted.

"You don't say…" Santana joked with her.

"Come on in. You want the tour?"

"Um… sure." Santana was ushered in through the door, which was then closed behind her.

"This is it." Quinn motioned with her arm around the small space and to the bathroom door, which was opened.

"What is it with you and one roomed spaces, Q?" Santana mocked while taking a look around Quinn's orderly home. She noticed something on Quinn's desk and made her way over to it. Quinn followed close behind.

"It's from that day we spent at the cabin. When we-"

"…played Boggle and you handed me my ass. I remember." Santana turned away from the framed picture of the two of them on Quinn's old sofa and looked at her former girlfriend and smiled. "I have one of us too. It's next to my bed."

"Yeah?" Quinn was a little surprised, but tried not to act that way.

"Yeah. I didn't for a while. It was too hard to look at after what happened, but one day I just realized that even though there were bad parts, there were a lot of good parts too and I liked having a reminder of those nearby."

"Me too."

They stared at each other for a moment not really knowing what to do.

"So, I made reservations at this place downtown if you want. It's kind of fancy, but I thought it could be fun." She looked at Quinn's fifties style dress that was a light yellow and it reminded her of summer, which made her smile. She had worried about making reservations at a four-star restaurant without first talking to Quinn about it since she normally wore jeans and t-shirts with either flip-flops or tennis shoes, but this new version of Quinn apparently decided to branch out with her wardrobe. "You look amazing." She told her and could see Quinn blush a little. "Or we could go somewhere else… anywhere else. I just… anywhere is fine. I just want to be anywhere with you." She knew she was embarrassing herself and Quinn smiled at her knowing she was just as nervous.

"Well, I'd offer to just cook for you here, but we're not allowed hot plates and the communal kitchen is occupied by a bunch of girls baking cookies."

"I could cook for you," Santana offered before following it up with, "I have a kitchen."

"At your place?" Quinn gulped.

"No, in my purse." Santana's sarcasm caused Quinn to laugh and Santana smiled and realized how much she missed that sound. "Let me cook for you tonight. Italian maybe? I know how much you like it. We can just relax and talk."

"Talk?" Quinn wiggled her eyebrows.

"Yes, talk. You know I don't put out on the first date. Well, re-do first date technically."

"Please, you totally put out on our last first date, Lopez."

"Alright, relax Fabray. I know you want all up on this, but a girl needs to be wooed first."

Quinn laughed before reaching for her purse on her bed.

"Oh, I'll woo you alright." She joked and started walking toward the door. "I'll woo you until you can't think straight." She paused and looked back. "No pun intended on that one."

"I've never been able to think straight around you. You've always had that effect on me." She stated and knew Quinn understood she was not referring to the straight factor, but the way Quinn made it difficult to process thought just by being in the same room with her.

They took a cab back to Santana's instead of the train because Santana couldn't wait the 5 stops between Quinn's dorm and her house. As they sat in the yellow car with the city zooming by, there were several moments when each of them almost said something, but didn't. It was like they didn't know how to start a conversation about their time apart. When they finally pulled up after what felt like forever, Santana paid the driver and slid out of the car. Quinn got out on that same side and looked up at the house in front of her.

"You live here?" She asked.

"Yeah, I got a good price on it. Three bedroom, two and a half bath. Nothing really fancy, but it was remodeled right before I bought it so it's got all new fixtures and they added a den, which I use as an office and-"

"Santana, it's freezing out here. Take me inside. I'd like to actually see it." Quinn ordered as she wrapped her arms around her body.

They walked inside and Santana took Quinn's coat and hung it up after hanging up her own in the hall closet. Quinn took a look around. The living room was to the right and had some of Santana's parent's furniture with a mix of stuff she'd bought herself. She could make out a dining room after that and assumed the kitchen was around that corner behind the staircase that was right in front of her.

"It's not done yet. I still have some changes I want to make." Santana filled the silence as they just stood there.

"This is it, isn't it?" Quinn asked and then looked at her hopefully. Santana wasn't understanding her so Quinn clarified. "This is the house."

Santana understood then what she meant.

"Yeah, this is the house we talked about."

"You did it? You actually made it happen?" Quinn smiled and looked around again before she felt Santana take her hand.

"It's not done, but I meant what I said before. This was what I wanted and I wanted you to share it with me. I wasn't sure that part was going to happen, but you're here now."

Quinn wrapped her arms around Santana's neck and drew her in. She placed a soft kiss on her nose before leaning all the way in to capture her lips. Santana's arms went around Quinn's waist and she reveled in the way it felt to kiss Quinn in this city in this house after she gave up on that ever happening. They pulled apart and looked into each other's eyes.

"I'm still not putting out tonight, Q." Santana walked off with Quinn laughing and following behind. "Come on. I'll give you a real tour."

By the time they made it up the stairs and to the first of the three bedrooms, they'd already had a glass of wine, were working on their second and kissed a few more times. Santana leaned against the door jam with Quinn's head resting on her shoulder as she pointed out the guest room that currently had no furniture in it.

"I can't decide what to do with this one. I don't really need another guest room, but I don't like it just being empty either."

"Sex cave?" Quinn joked before taking another drink of her wine and causing a huge laugh in Santana. "What? Soundproof it and lock it. No one will ever know."

"Oh my God, you are cut off, woman. You're such a lightweight."

She laughed again and Quinn laughed too before gulping silently and looking at the empty space again.

"Maybe it can be a nursery one day." She remarked as if that was a throw away comment and walked toward the next room.

Santana looked down at the floor momentarily before laughing to herself at this girl she loved. As she watched Quinn walk to the door of her bedroom, she knew that one day soon that would be their bedroom and one day after that this room would be a nursery. The ups and the downs of their past entered her mind, but they were quickly pushed away because it wasn't the past she wanted to focus on… it was the future. The future she knew she'd be sharing with Quinn. The future full of promise…

The End