Rachel walked into work the following Monday and was shocked at who she seen sitting at the conference room table with Joe and Brock. Why in the hell hadn't anyone warned her that Jasper was back? Yes, Jasper who had mysteriously disappeared two weeks ago was now back and he was grinning as if nothing was wrong. It wasn't even his creepy grin, it was actually a soft smile. Rachel smiled back, but she was sure it came out as more of a grimace.
"Good morning guys." Rachel greeted them. She had to keep repeating stay calm in her head. Pretend that everything was fine. When Puck and Quinn joined everyone in the conference room, they both entered like nothing was wrong. Apparently they had both had time to get their poker faces on. Rachel sighed internally and leaned back in her chair as she listened to Puck go over everything that they needed to get done for the week.
Santana was contemplating doing something that could really blow up in her face. It was super wrong in so many ways. Rachel had already left for work when Santana spotted Shelby's number still laying on Rachel's night stand. Santana bit her lip, she was doing this because she loved Rachel. It had been a little over two weeks now and Santana could tell every time that Rachel stared longingly at that phone number that she wanted to call Shelby. Her fingers twitched in anticipation of picking up that number and calling Shelby herself. I mean it wasn't like she was going to meet the woman or anything, she just wanted to help both of them and give them that little extra push.
No, don't do it. They need to do this themselves. Santana thought to herself as she turned over in the bed and stared out of the large loft window. Maybe her heart was in the right place but there was a time when pushing too hard could cause more damage than good. Santana really didn't want to do any more damage. Just let them do it, it was a hard thing to do, but it had to be done.
Santana tossed back the covers on her bed and slid out, stretching her back out. Her latest commissioned paintings were ready to be sent out today and the dogs were already patiently waiting for her. Time to get her morning officially started.
Rachel sat with her back straight as she listened to Puck go over everything that they needed to get done this week and holy hell was it a lot. Joe's music video was set to start filming tomorrow and inbetween that, Rachel was to start recording Jasper's song. Turns out that was one of the main reasons that he was back. Puck had called and told him that he needed to come back at least for a little while so they could move on with the music. Rachel was still pissed as to why no one had informed her of this. Sure she and Santana had had a busy weekend, but it wasn't too busy that they couldn't have been kept in the dark.
After the meeting was over, Rachel waited until almost everyone left before she cornered Quinn. Quinn whom was moving slower than usual, she knew Rachel wanted to talk from her body language or maybe the death glare she was getting. She waited for Rachel to say something. When she still hadn't said anything, Quinn lowered her bag back to the table and sat down.
"I know you're upset that no one warned you, but honestly I just didn't have the time. I didn't know he was here until a moment before you walked through the door." Quinn looked at Rachel a little pleadingly.
Rachel sighed, she couldn't really keep up her facade for very long. "Puck didn't tell you before he called him?"
Quinn shook her head, she had been livid at Puck when he had dropped the Jasper bomb on her this morning. She had had every intention of calling Rachel and letting her know, but she was already running around doing a thousand things. It was too late by the time Rachel came in the door. "He hasn't said anything either, just apologized for being gone for so long."
"He better not say anything or try anything. Santana already has this plan to stalk him basically." Rachel was glaring out of the conference room window as if Jasper was just on the other side.
"What do you mean stalk him?" Quinn raised one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows.
"I mean exactly what it sounds like. Once she knows that he is back she is going to gather up a group to keep an extra close eye on him. She thinks he is standing on a ledge and that she can push him off of it." Rachel ran her fingers along her bag, looking for the zipper.
"I would ask if she realizes how dangerous that could be, but I am going to assume she already knows and just doesn't care." Yes, Quinn was being critical but she has known Santana for years and sometimes the woman just didn't think.
"Of course she cares, but this is Santana we are talking about here. That woman would bend over backwards to protect any one of us. If this is the only way she knows how to do that at the moment, then who am I to stop her? I am just going to do my best to protect her too even if she claims she doesn't need to be protected." Rachel stood up and walked out of the conference room. She had work she needed to get done so that she could clear up some space to go to Ohio and work on her proposal for Santana. There was no way she was going to let Quinn start attacking Santana and the way she went about doing things. Rachel understood that Santana could be a little careless at times, they all were, but that didn't mean that Quinn got to be the person to point that out.
Jasper stood to the left and around the corner of the conference room door where he couldn't be seen. Yes, he had been standing there for a while and yes he had heard everything that Rachel and Quinn had been talking about. The doors in this place weren't nearly as thick as everyone thought they were.
So they thought they were going to keep an eye on him? They had another thing coming, they couldn't keep an eye on him if he disappeared again until he could figure out what to do. His time spent in Los Angeles had been a bust. Everyday he was allowed to visit, he was the first one at the jail waiting to see his uncle. It didn't do much considering there were ears around at all times and his uncle wasn't going to risk spilling anything that he knew. Charles was still trying to say that he had no idea that Ronald had been hiding out at his beach house, the police where still trying to collect evidence that said otherwise.
Jasper had a decision to make, he could stay here and formulate a plan while still working or he could go back to California and formulate a plan without interruptions. There was only one problem, if he left again, chances are he was going to have to quit the internship and honestly he didn't want to do that. Puck had told him that he needed him to come back and work for a while, but he didn't specify just how long that was. It could be weeks or months before he made it back to California and then it would all be too late by then. However, his uncle never said what sort of time frame he wanted to do all of this in, hell his uncle hadn't even said really what he wanted to do to the Berry family. He just wanted revenge for his wife. That whole story was still a mess and a half. Jasper knew his aunt was sick and that visiting Hiram Berry was a shot in the dark that they all decided to take.
Right now, he could not worry about all of this. He had to worry about getting back in Pucks good graces before anything could happen. If Santana wanted to keep tabs on him, then she could. It was only fair since he had been keeping tabs on her, Rachel and Leroy since he got here. She wasn't going to find anything though, he knew better than to get caught now especially after the reaming that he had received the first time he had told his uncle about following them. He didn't want that to happen again. Jasper sighed as he moved away from the wall and made his way down the hallway, there was some music that needed his attention for now.
Santana struggled to get both dogs inside of her jeep. Her mind had completely spaced about the fact that both dogs had vet appointments today for checkups. Dahlia seemed to be more excited than anything, she just liked to ride in the car. Dax always knew what was happening when his master gave him a bath with a sympathetic look before they left the cabin. Dax looked over at Dahlia who was trying to bite her seat belt, the tiny dog had no idea what was happening, boy was she in for a rude awaking.
Successfully strapping both dogs into their seat belts, Santana made her way around the jeep and climbed in. Her morning had been going smoothly until she looked at the calender to mark some new commissions that had came in. That was when her eyes had almost bugged out of her head and she had to scramble to get both dogs ready in time to leave. They were cutting it close, but hopefully they would make it. She would have to call Rachel when she arrived at the vet to let her know that she wouldn't be home until later. Maybe she would meet her in St. Lawrence and they could get some dinner in town and go to the park and have a picnic. That would be great, as long as neither dog got sick from any possible shots that they might have to have. Dax was all caught up on his according to Santana's record, but who knows what could have been added to his chart since the last time he was here.
Santana glanced back in the rear view mirror once again to check on Dax and Dahlia. Both were laying down in the back seat looking dejected. Santana guessed that Dax had somehow conveyed the message about the vet to Dahlia who was no longer excitedly sticking her nose against the window. Ew, now Santana had clean little puppy nose prints off her window.
She pulled into the parking lot of St. Lawrence Animal Clinic and turned off the jeep before climbing out to get the dogs. With the new trouble of the dogs not wanting to get out of the car, Santana never saw the blonde woman watching her from inside the clinic. Dax and Dahlia were showing their true colors completely as Santana escorted them very slowly towards the front door. The woman who had been watching decided to take a seat, she was waiting to pick up her kitten who had been there since earlier in the morning. Santana walked towards the front desk so that she could sign in Dax and Dahlia. Imagine her surprise when she turned around and saw the significant other of the very woman she had to restrain from calling this morning.
"Cassandra? What are you doing here?" Santana asked incredulously as she stood with both dogs now hyper alert to their surroundings. They could feel the tension that had set into their master.
"It's nice to see you too Santana." Cassandra crossed one leg over the other as she leaned back in the plastic chair she was sitting in, tossing her arm over the back of the empty chair next to her.