I slaved over this chapter for a solid two hours. For some reason it was actually rather difficult to write, but I hope it's up to some standards. Thank you all for the support throughout this whole fic, you guys are wonderful. Enjoy.
Rachel's POV
The knocking on the front door was making me go crazy. I knew my fathers were downstairs, which meant I knew they were just waiting for me to get up and answer the door myself. It was sort of part of this unwritten punishment for something I didn't even do. In fact, I wasn't even involved in the whole thing, I blame Quinn. She'd been over my house last week and she was explaining that she had to hide Charlie's stash of weed at my house because she'd noticed a few things moved around her room and she was almost certain that her parents were going through her things, and that meant Charlie's too. The thing was, Charlie hadn't smoked in a while and neither had Santana which made me incredibly proud of them both, but also more willing to help out than I should have been. So I let Quinn hide the stash in my jewelry box thinking it'd be safe there and Charlie could come by and get rid of it later, but unfortunately for me my dad found the stash before she could.
That's why I'm being punished indirectly, because my fathers know it's not mine, but they think it's either Santana's or Charlie's. I didn't want to get either of them in trouble, and Santana told me not to snitch on Charlie, I listened to her, but I still don't like that she's willing to take the blame for something she didn't do.
I rolled out of my bed, pushing my notebooks to the side and rushing downstairs to open the door. Santana was standing there, dangling keys in front of my face with a huge grin on her face. "Santana!" I said grabbing the front of her shirt and pulling her inside. She nearly dropped the keys at my movements. "I thought you were in New York with Olivia."
"I was but then I remembered something." She hadn't stopped smiling since I'd pulled her in the house and it was actually starting to make me smile.
"What'd you remember?" I asked pushing her back towards the steps. She stopped me and smiled even more.
"A promise I made to you a long time ago. Something along the lines of me teaching you how to drive." Now I was the giddy one. I'd completely forgotten. And I couldn't believe she came all the way back from New York a day early just to see me. "So what do you say, you, me, and a Chevy?"
"Hold on let me go grab my coat-." I was about to rush upstairs and do just that when my dad walked in.
"Hon, where are you going?" He questioned. Usually he would be cheerful around Santana, but right now he looked apprehensive. Santana noticed right away because she looked down at the ground and shifted her weight twice before looking back up at him.
"Santana and I are just going to hang out." It was a known fact that my daddy wanted to teach me how to drive, but how could I pass up this opportunity? "Is something wrong?" I asked. Usually my dad would just leave us alone. Privacy was very important because they didn't want to scare Santana away, but right now it did not look like my dad was budging, and in came daddy just behind him.
"Santana I'd like to get a urine sample from you." You could cut the tension in the air with a buzz saw. I wanted to grab Santana and take her upstairs, to get her as far away from my parents as humanly possible. What the hell got into them?
"Dad, that is highly inappropriate, I cannot for a second believe that you'd even ask my girlfriend to do such a thing. If you don't trust her, then talk to her about it, don't stoop to this insane level of-."
"Okay." Santana said rubbing my arm encouragingly. "I'll do it." She said stepping forward. "You do have a cup right?"
"Alright that's all I needed to hear." Santana and I exchanged looks of confusion before turning back towards my dad. "I was just testing you. I assume if you were smoking pot then you wouldn't be so willing to give a sample, therefore you passed."
"Dad that's completely-." Santana started laughing before I could finish and daddy joined in with her while dad looked confused and I rolled my eyes. "Okay fine I'm going to go ahead and grab my coat and I'll be right down."
I grabbed my coat and my wallet just in case we went out to eat afterwards. I went back downstairs as quickly as I could hoping to catch Santana before she got into a deep conversation. I was too late. She already had a cup of coffee in her hand and my dad was going on about this lunatic patient who tried to attack him last week.
"So he had a knife?" Santana asked my dad who was more than willing to tell his story.
"Yes and I must be honest I was afraid, but luckily I evaded the culprit." I rolled my eyes at my father as he talked about his heroics. I walked over to Santana and she wrapped her arm around my shoulder.
"Enough dad, Santana's trying to take me somewhere." I grabbed Santana's hands and pulled her towards the front door. "We'll be back by…"
"11." Santana said for me as we exited the house. We ran towards my car and got in. "Okay so route 13, open road. There's construction so no one's going to be out there."
"Secluded area? Sure you're not going to kidnap me?" Santana laughed and reached over to rest her hand on my thigh. "So, driving? It can't be that difficult right? I mean you did it." Santana tried to glare at me but she faltered and started laughing again.
"Stop making me laugh munchkin; I can't focus on the road." She chastised. I continued to poke her as she drove, but we made it out to the open roadway in no time. Santana opened her door and we switched places. I felt very small in the driver's seat but with Santana leaning over next to me, I didn't feel so frightened by the whole prospect of driving. "Okay so first…" She reached over and pulled on my seatbelt for me even though it would have been easier for me to do it myself. "So the car is in park, place your hand on the gear shift." I did as I was told and she placed her hand gently on top of mine. "Keep your foot on the break, okay, that way you can control the car easily." I nodded and awaited the next step. "Now all you have to do is shift it into drive."
"Wait! What if I crash your car? What if I kill us?" She kissed me fully on the lips.
"I trust you. Now-." She firmly placed her hand over mine and moved it back so that the car was in drive.
"The car isn't moving! Why isn't it moving! Oh God what did I do! I broke your car!" I shouted.
"Rae, baby you have your foot on the break." I looked down at my foot and blushed.
"Oh."
"Now, gently lift your foot off the break, slowly." I did what she said and we began moving. We couldn't have been going more than 5 miles per hour but we were still moving. I kept the steering wheel straight and after about thirty seconds a smile began to form on my face.
"This is easy." I said.
"That's cause you're going like negative 80 miles per hour." If I wasn't afraid of taking my hands off the wheel I'd smack her. "You ready to press the gas?"
"Born ready." I'd learned to fake confidence from Quinn; she told me she did it all the time.
"Do it." I didn't realize what flooring it meant until right now. We were speeding down the road and I knew right away that I didn't have complete control over the car, but Santana had her hand over mine and I knew that she'd protect us both if she needed too. When I reached 60 miles per hour and Santana was cheering me on from the side. "Break now." She whispered in my ear and I did exactly as I was told. Once the car had come to a complete stop and Santana shifted it back into park. We sat in silence for a little while before Santana grinned at me. "How was it?"
"Thrilling." I told her truthfully.
"Thrilling?" Santana said in a husky voice. "Come here." She pressed open mouthed kisses down my neck and I smirked in response. I climbed over the gear shift and straddled her hips. She reclined back her chair and wrapped her arm around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. I loved when her hands roamed my body. I loved when she slipped her hand under my shirt and touched me. I didn't care if she was rough or even gentle like right now, it just felt amazing when she did.
"Wait, did you bring me out here just for…."
"I have my own apartment you know, we could've just gone back there." She reminded me.
"Yeah but you probably have a thing for adventure." I said lifting my shirt over my head. "Do you like this?" I asked showing off my new pink bra.
"I like it…" She started before trailing kisses down my stomach. "But I'd love it if it was off."
…
Charlie's POV
"I'm gay, she's gay, you're gay, we're all a bunch of gaymos." I took another sip of my tea and looped my arm around Brittany's shoulder.
"Excuse me, when did I become gay?" I nudged Sam and Brittany pinched his cheeks.
"Point being, there are a lot of guys out there. You just have to be willing to look for them. I mean not a lot of people will look at you and have their gaydar go off." I told him honestly. "Britt and I will take you to a bar sometime. Whenever you feel like it."
"But we're only 16; they won't let us in a bar." I smirked at Dave's nativity. He had a lot to learn.
"Knowing Charlie she knows a guy who knows a guy who can get you a fake ID." I looked over at Sam, slightly offended by his implications. "You've got a rep." He said when he saw the look I was giving him.
"Give her a break, she's stopped smoking, hanging out with Wilson, and drinking on weekdays, I'm proud of my baby." Brittany said kissing me on the cheek.
"Sickening." I looked over to see Quinn walking in the Lima Bean. She didn't even stop to say hi to Sam before she went over to grab herself a cup of coffee. As Quinn made it back to the table to join us I could tell that something was bothering her. "Guess who I ran into."
"Who?" I asked all eager beaver to hear what Quinn had to say. Usually she'd just up and say it, but the fact that she was trying to be secretive let me know that something interesting really had happened.
"Mrs. Lopez." I felt like the air had been knocked out of my lungs. Mrs. Lopez?
"What?! What'd you say to her? How was she? Did she ask about Santana? Where does she live now? Is the divorce-."
"Babe calm down." Brittany said covering my mouth with her hand.
"What are you on meth or something? You're tweaking like a freak, Jesus. I only talked to her for like 30 seconds tops." Quinn said taking a sip of her coffee.
"Jesus Quinn would you continue, the anticipation is giving me hives." I said trying to get Quinn to speed things up. I wasn't one for beating around the bush, and with the look that Sam was giving Quinn too, neither was he.
"She moved to Columbus, I didn't get a chance to ask about the divorce, but that's nowhere near any of my damn business. I told her how San was doing and she seemed proud." Quinn was keeping it short and concise which made me wonder if there was more to the story.
"What happened when you told Santana?" Sam questioned. Quinn shifted in her seat and took a sip of her coffee.
"For fuck's sake." I said letting out a frustrated sigh.
"What?" Brittany, Dave, and Sam said in unison.
"You didn't tell her? You know what she's going to do to you when she finds out? Punch a hole through your freakin skull. Call her right now and fucking tell her." I demanded. I may have been overstepping but I didn't want more drama especially right now. With only a month since Santana's return, I felt like we all needed a cooling down period.
"Charlie I'll crack your skull in half if you talk to me like that one more time." I knew she was getting defensive and it wasn't a pretty sight when we argued so I decided to just let it go. Sam and Brittany didn't have to calm us both down, and I didn't want to make Dave feel awkward.
"Well Britt and I are going to go. We have plans." I said almost abruptly. "Dave, think about our offer." Dave smiled and nodded. I waved goodbye to them and took Brittany's hand so we could exit the Lima Bean together. "Ready?" I asked.
"Hold it." Brittany grabbed my hat out of my hand and pulled it onto my head, covering my eyes with the fabric and kissing me on the lips. I smiled and grabbed her hips as she did so. "You ready to go?"
"Of course." I told her as she pulled my hat up so I could at least see.
"You'd tell me if these things bored you right?" Since when was Brittany self-conscious? This was ridiculous.
"Are you kidding right now? This is my favorite thing to do." I told her honestly. "Watching you dance is phenomenal. You're incredibly graceful and beautiful when you do. I love it, I adore it." She blushed and wrapped her arms around my neck.
"It's just a practice." She said shaking her head.
"I like going." I informed her.
"You can stay home or go to my place and eat up all the food in my house. Really it wouldn't bother me. Practice is just stupid."
"Not to me." I said kissing her cheek. "Now, let's get to it, I can't wait to see my baby dance."
…
Quinn's POV
"Pretty sure he's dead." I said as I leaned back in my chair. Basically half of the Glee Club was on the other side of the room, with Santana standing between Puck and Dave and Finn lying on the ground.
"What are you talking about?" Puck said furrowing his eyebrows.
"I don't know why don't you punch him again and figure it out?" Puck was pissed but so was I. He didn't have to go ahead and start wailing on Finn like that, Dave was just getting emotionally strong enough to fight his own damn battles, and Puck did not need to do it for him.
"I don't know if you know this but when I'm angry I'll hit anything, genderless bias." Puck said rubbing his hand over his Mohawk.
"Try it." Santana dared him. "Dave would you take him outside and get him to cool off." Dave didn't want a huge fight so he did as Santana told him to. Right around now was when I wished that Sam wasn't in Tennessee visiting his grandparents and here instead, fixing this whole boy drama. "This shit is ridiculous." Santana muttered as she lifted Finn up to a standing position. "You alright?" From the looks of it his nose was broken, and he'd have one serious black eye if he didn't ice it soon, plus his lip was busted up pretty badly.
"Does he look alright? Looks like his face got run over by a freakin motorcycle." I said.
"Shut up." Finn sputtered out.
"You've got one black eye, you want another?" I threatened. "God would you go to the nurse already?" Finn glared but didn't protest further. I felt like a queen sitting in my chair and watching as everyone seemed to do exactly as I said. "Where's Shue anyway?"
"Who knows?" Kurt said with a shrug.
"Who cares, he probably would have just stood there and watched them fight like we all did anyway. Now can we get back to business?" I asked.
"It's hardly fair to choose a song when most of our male singers are gone." Rachel said.
"Hey! I'm still here." Kurt said putting his hands on his hips. I arched an eyebrow at his movement and he slouched. "Okay, point taken." Mike and Artie exchanged glances and smirked a little to themselves. So let's get out of here then, we won't get anything done especially if Rachel tries to take over and Santana threatens us into submission again."
"Okay that happened once." Santana defended.
"But he has a point; we'll meet tomorrow and figure it all out then." Artie said.
"I'm with him." Mercedes said snapping her fingers like that was the final sign to start packing up and leaving. Santana was just about to grab Rachel and take her home when I stood in front of her.
"What's your deal?" I questioned. At this point everyone had left besides the three of us. I'd feel more comfortable if I could have a one on one, but I didn't mind that Rachel was there, maybe she'd actually back me up.
"Um…not following." Santana said.
"You know what the hell I'm talking about. You going all mother dove on Finn. You should've let Puck rip him a new one for what he said to Dave." Santana rolled her eyes and looked over my shoulder at Rachel.
"Rae, here are my keys, bring the car around front." She said tossing the keys to an eager looking Rachel. She skipped out of the room probably pissing her pants with excitement that Santana was letting her drive her car alone. Once Rachel was gone and Santana starred at me for a total of 42 seconds, she started talking again. "Alright so what's up?" Santana was doing that thing where she started distancing herself. She did it when I asked her about bruises before, so it actually frightened me that she was doing it again.
"What do you mean what's up? I just told you. Why did you give a shit about Finn?" I questioned.
"I've been having nightmares, did I tell you that?" She turned away from me and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Nightmares? What do you mean?"
"Sometimes I fucking wake up on my kitchen floor screaming like a goddamn lunatic." I looked down at the ground. "And I know it's because of him, but I'm fucked up Q, and that's that." She grabbed her backpack and pulled it over her shoulder. "Seeing Finn getting the shit beat out of him, it hit a little too close to home, you get me?"
"Wait shouldn't you like…talk to someone about this?" I asked.
"Someone like who? A fucking shrink?" Santana scuffed.
"And that's such a bad idea? Come on, does Rachel even know about these nightmares? Ask her dad, I'm sure he knows someone who could help."
"I don't have health insurance right now, I can't afford that shit. Besides for once everything is good, this is minor, I'm just happy I haven't gotten any major news recently. I need things to stay calm like this otherwise I'd lose it." I thought about seeing her mom, that was certainly major news, but I didn't plan on burdening her with it, that'd probably screw up her life again. I knew when to fight my battles and when to talk and now wasn't the time. Maybe in the future, but certainly not now.
"So how's the dwarf?" I asked.
"Stop pretending that you're not her friend. I know you guys hang out all the time now." Santana said.
"I just miss all the nicknames for her." I said shrugging.
"Well she doesn't."
"No need to get defensive. I know you're banging her but you call my boyfriend Trouty Mouth, so all's fair in love and war." I said with a smile.
"You call him that too." Santana reminded me. "Anyway what's your plans for tomorrow?"
"Why are you asking me that shit? Bigger question what are your plans tomorrow? It's your birthday loser. Do something fun." I encouraged her. "What's Rachel doing for you?"
"Nothing, because she doesn't know it's my birthday and I'd much like to keep it that way." Santana didn't just give me a sob story about how she was traumatized by her abuse I would have smacked her.
"What? Why? Do you understand the concept of birthday sex? She'll probably let you tie her up, come on tell her moron." Santana smiled and checked her phone.
"Don't tell her." Santana warned. "I'll see you later, when you Skype Sam tonight tell him that I have the recipe for his mom. Traditional dish."
"Classy, well I'll see you later." Santana wrapped me into a hug before she trotted out of the room. Like I always I hoped for a better future or at least one where Santana didn't hide her birthday from someone she loved. Honesty was key, and I'm just starting to understand that concept. I picked up my phone. "Yes…of freakin course, trust me for once will ya? I've got everything covered."
…
Santana's POV
"Wake up." Rachel whispered in my ear again. If I really wanted to get up I could have, but I wanted to keep her arms around me. I never imagined that waking up next to her would make me feel like this, and certainly not every single time. But I felt it, every time she touched me in the morning, the warmth spread around my body and I couldn't stop myself from smiling. "San, wake up." My eyes fluttered open and I rolled over so I could kiss Rachel.
"Hmm you taste yummy." I mumbled before kissing her again.
"Stop it goober, I made you breakfast." Rachel rolled out of the bed and grabbed my hands, forcing me to stand up. She pulled me behind her as we walked into the kitchen. My eyes were still half closed, that was until I saw bacon and a large mound of blueberry pancakes, with strawberries and whipped cream on top.
"Holy shit." I exclaimed. "Rae, you didn't have to do this."
"I did, now sit down." I did as I was told and smirked when Rachel grabbed a fork and feed me a forkful of the delicious treat. I felt like I was literally melting as I consumed every last bit. "Like it?" Rachel asked once I'd finished eating it all.
"Stop spoiling me." I said.
Rachel laughed and took the Cool Whip can and sprayed some on her neck. "Want more?" I must have sat there dumbfounded for a solid thirty seconds, before I charged towards her and eating all the whipped cream off her neck. I lifted her up easily, grabbing the can of Cool Whip as I did. I laid Rachel down on her back and she looked up at me through those thick eyelashes of hers.
"This would be much easier if you didn't have clothes on." I told her.
"I would but-." There was loud banging on my apartment door. "I sort of invited a few people over." I looked down at what I was wearing. Pajama pants and a t-shirt. I needed to change if people were coming over.
"I'll get it." Rachel said jumping up and rushing out of the room, closing the door so I could have some privacy as I changed. Jeans and a black v-neck would do. A shower was out of the question but I brushed my teeth, combed my hair, and put on deodorant. That'd just have to do.
I went to go open my door but I paused when I heard muffled voices. "Rae, baby girl, how many is a few-?" I wasn't able to finish because as soon as I opened the door an entire crowd of people shouted
"Surprise!" There was the entire Glee Club plus Charlie standing in my living room holding presents and food and to be honest I was shocked.
"Happy birthday loser." Quinn added as she gave me a smile. "Now somebody crank the music up or feed me food whichever is easier." Puck got on the sound system and Brittany and Mike were quick to start showing off their dance moves. I greeted everyone of course, thankful that they'd all showed up. I was touched actually but there was one person that I needed to talk to specifically.
"So who spilled?" I asked sitting on my couch next to Rachel who was trying to use a cup to cover her smile.
"Brittany." Rachel said leaning her head against me. "But I knew way before that. Is it okay that I did this? I mean you seemed secretive about it, is this okay?" I studied Rachel's eyes, realizing that she was still tentative around me, even after all this time.
"It's just that…I've never…I mean…" How do I say this? Do I just come out with it? "I've never had a birthday party."
"What? So that means this is your-."
"First." I looked up just in time to see Brittany flipping Charlie over her shoulder and Dave telling Quinn about how he and Kurt will be student leaders of GSA next year. "There are balloons here." I said with a grin. "Will it be weird if I hold on, I love balloons." Rachel stole a balloon from Puck who objected profusely and handed it to me.
"Like I said you're a big goober." I saw Finn walked over and sit on a stool in my kitchen, he looked sort of upset so I told Rachel I'd be right back. I walked over and sat down next to him.
"Rockin party." He said raising his glass at me. I nodded in agreement and nudged him.
"Why the long face?"
"So why'd you defend me?" He asked.
"Answering a question with a question? Grade A obnoxious." I said with a smirk. "I defended you because I've been beaten while I was down and it feels like shit. Is that a good enough answer? Cause I don't want to get into this on my birthday."
"Nope I get it." Finn said with a nod. "I'm happy for you though…honestly. You deserve any and every amazing thing in the world." I hated the fact that even Finn Hudson could get sappy and I sort of still wanted to punch him, but instead I grabbed his cup of vodka and soda and stood up on my counter.
"Hey! Can I say something?" Puck rushed to cut the music and all eyes landed on me. I cleared my throat and smiled. "I just wanted to say that I'm really happy that you all could be here. I know that we've had our ups and downs, mostly downs actually, but…to know that in the end I've got you all at my side makes me feel amazing. Being one year older, it's crazy, but I've learned a lot about myself." I started before looking down at Rachel. "And about others. I couldn't be happier about the Glee Club, how far we've come, and yeah people call us losers and slushy us or whatever, but…I'd rather be a loser than nothing at all-."
"Here here." Puck cheered.
"So this is a party right? And we're all pretty fucking boss on vocals, so Rachel would you do us the honors." I jumped off the counter and wrapped my arm around her.
"I thought you'd never ask, Quinn count us off."
"And a 5, 6, 5, 6, 7, 8…"
So here's the deal. I'm not done with Wake, well I'm done with this particular story, but I'm certainly not done with this storyline. Basically what I'm trying to say can be summed up into one word: sequel. Here's the catch, I have a few stories I do have to finish first, so I can't tell you when I'll start this sequel, but it probably won't be for a bit. Here's the other issue, I'm really thinking of doing the sequel about them being in college, is that alright? Other ideas? If so just tell me. Again you all rock.
P.S. In the meantime, between this and whenever I start writing the sequel, inbox me on tumblr if you want a one shot for these characters related to 'Wake' or actually related to anything. Just let me know. My tumblr name is: tryflashback.
Review Please.