Author's Note: Max'verse! I think there will be one more after this and it'll focus on Santana rather than Rachel.
Six Word Story: "Meeting you made me question myself."
Rachel paced around her living room nervously, she was already fifteen minutes late for her dinner at Kurt's but she absolutely couldn't leave her apartment with Santana and Max running wildly through the hall.
She had heard the woman come home and the excited squeals the boy let out as she chased him up and down the hall. She was sure the neighbors were getting annoyed, and if this was before she would have been too. But she had really grown to like the duo and their noise was just something she wished she could join in on.
Except she couldn't because she had really dug herself in a deep, deep hole that she was unsure she'd ever be able to get out from.
She had distanced herself from the small family..distanced being used lightly, in reality she had completely cut herself out of their lives, going as far as pretending she wasn't home and sneaking out of her apartment when she had somewhere to be for the last two weeks.
It was immature and crazy, but those two things were just characteristics she had tried to bury deep down as she got older.
She had felt awful every time Santana had come to the door, and she had felt even worse when it was Max knocking. It wasn't fair to him, he hadn't done anything and it wasn't him she was trying to avoid. He was just caught in the middle, something she wished she hadn't caused.
Santana hadn't done anything either, so it was stupid to be avoiding her but she couldn't face the woman.
Not after she completely embarrassed herself and ruined whatever friendship they were building.
She was doing everything in her power to avoid both Lopezes at all costs, even going as far as looking for a new place to live and signing a contract for a show she wasn't even sure would amount to anything.
Her life had become a tangled mess and she was the only one to blame for it.
She cautiously opened her door as the noise stopped, luckily for her neither Lopez were in sight and she could slip out unnoticed.
She locked her door as quietly as she could and made her way to the elevator, looking over her shoulder nervously with every second that went by.
"Rachel!" Max screamed in delight as the elevator doors opened, "I missed you! Mom made me hang out with the weird old lady downstairs."
Rachel cringed at the little boy's innocent face, she couldn't do this right now. He didn't deserve any of what she was doing. "I'm sorry, Maxwell, I've been so busy. I actually—"
"Max, come on, leave Ms. Berry alone." Santana called out coldly as she leaned against her door, her eyes never meeting Rachel's.
"But, mom—"
Santana cut him off with a stern look, "Now, Max."
Rachel frowned as the boy dejectedly walked down the hall, she felt like the worst person in the world. She never meant to put him in the middle, the last thing she ever wanted was to hurt him. She knew if the situation was reversed she'd hate Santana for hurting her child so she imagined Santana wasn't her biggest fan at the moment.
Rachel stared at her reflection in the elevator doors as she rode down to the lobby, hating the woman she had become since Santana moved in.
"All I'm saying is that you've been hiding and sneaking around for two weeks, Rachel! It's unhealthy."
Rachel rubbed her temples, "It's not that easy, Kurt! I really messed things up, she's never going to talk to me again because of what I did to Max."
"Look, you can't keep living like this. You're either hiding out in your apartment pretending not to be home or you're out dreading going home." Kurt frowned.
"You're supposed to help me, not tell me things I already know." She whined.
"Why don't you stay here for a few days, Rach? You have things here and if you need anything else Kurt and I will get them for you." Blaine suggested, ignoring the glare his husband was shooting him.
"Oh, I couldn't do that to you guys. I just have to suck it up and face her." Rachel said.
"That's a great idea!" Kurt said quickly.
Blaine rolled his eyes, "No it's not, you are free to stay as long as you like."
"Thanks, you guys are the best." Rachel said as she pulled them both into a bone crushing hug.
She knew she'd have to go back home eventually to talk to Santana, but she was okay with putting it off a little longer.
"Do I get to pick the movie tonight?!"
Kurt sighed and scowled at Blaine as he sat down next to Rachel, she was definitely his best friend but he could only handle her in small doses. They had lived together before and it was completely awful, he vowed to never do it again–even if it was for a short period.
He had to get her back to her own apartment and he had to do it quickly. He could already see Blaine getting too comfortable with her around, he really didn't want to give up his fashion room so she could move back in with them.
He knew his best friend was no where near ready to face Santana so he was going to help her out, it was about time he met the non-stripper to see if she was even worth all the fuss.
For Rachel's sake of course.
Kurt tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for someone to open the door, he hadn't told his husband where he was going and if he wasn't home soon he knew he'd get in trouble for meddling.
"Oh, hello! Is your mom home?" Kurt asked with a smile as the door creaked open to reveal a tiny occupant.
"Who are you?"
"I'm a friend of Rachel's—"
"Mom told me not to believe people that say that 'cuz they're liars." Max said with a scowl.
Kurt huffed, "I am not lying, she is my best friend. I even have a key to her apartment..I don't know why I'm arguing with you, is your mom home or not?"
"Who's at the door, kid?" Santana asked from somewhere inside the apartment.
"I dunno, a fancy man looking for Rachel." Max called back with a shrug.
"I'm not looking–ugh, I need to talk to Santana Lopez..please." Kurt called out desperately.
"What can I do for you, fancy smurf?" Santana said as made her way to the door, her eyebrows raised in question.
Kurt's eyes widened as the woman came into view, she was nothing like he had expected. "Uh, I just wanted to talk to you about Rachel."
"You have some nerve coming here, who are you with?" Santana asked, her glare hard.
"I'm sorry? I'm not with anyone I just—"
"What, you just wanted information no other magazine has?" Santana asked as she reached into the locked cabinet beside her, "You can tell Vogue to bail you out of jail, you're disgusting." She said as she gripped his upper arm tightly and spun him against the wall, handcuffs around his wrists.
"No, please stop! I'm not with–how did you know I work for Vogue?" Kurt asked in surprise. "It doesn't matter, please un-cuff me, you have it all wrong. Rachel is my best friend, I came here to talk to you about what happened between you two because I can't have her in my house anymore, I love her but I'll kill her."
Santana narrowed her eyes as she kept him handcuffed and pinned against the wall, "Why should I believe you?"
"If you unlock my phone there's tons of pictures of us together, text messages and phone calls." Kurt cried.
"You could be a super fan." Santana said, still not believing a word.
"Santana, please I'm begging you."
Santana rolled her eyes as she un-cuffed him, "Sorry, I just like to be careful."
Kurt rubbed his wrists as he glared at her, "So you handcuff people?"
"It's a thing I do, you never know." Santana shrugged. "What makes you think I want to talk to you, someone I don't even know, about Rachel, someone I wish I didn't know?"
Kurt frowned, "Look, Rachel isn't the best at..well relationships really, let alone one where a child is involved. You have to understand that two months ago she wouldn't have bailed on lunch with me because she was watching a kid..she doesn't do kids but somehow she loves yours."
"If she cared about Max at all she wouldn't be such a damn coward." Santana said, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
"She's being a coward because she feels bad about putting him in the middle of it all, she's never done anything like this. She hasn't dated anyone in over a year because she's career driven and yet every time I talk to her lately it's always Santana this or Max that.." Kurt trailed off, hoping Santana understood that Rachel needed a little push in the right direction.
"I don't have time for her games, she kissed me and then ran away. If she wants to finally talk to me she knows where I am." Santana frowned. "Thanks for trying but Rachel is an adult, this isn't high school."
"Okay well..she'll be coming home tonight so if you change your mind.." Kurt paused, "She's actually really great, I'm not just saying that because she's my best friend but because she actually is. She may be acting like a coward, but she's also beating herself up over it. Just..give her a chance."
Kurt frowned as the woman stayed with the same expression, "Okay, have a good afternoon, Santana."
"See ya, fancy smurf."
Kurt sighed as he made his way toward the elevator, what a waste of a trip across the city.
Rachel had really messed things up this time and there was nothing he could do to fix it, he wasn't even sure there was anything she could do to fix it at this point.
Rachel entered her dark apartment with a sigh, she really had missed it but being back gave her bad anxiety with the thought of Santana so close by.
"About time you got home."
Rachel jumped in surprise, "How did you get in here? You're lucky I don't call the—"
Santana raised an amused eyebrow, "Call who?"
"You shouldn't be abusing your rank you know." Rachel said immaturely.
"You shouldn't kiss people and run away." Santana shot back.
"Well..you shouldn't break into people's homes!"
"I didn't break in, I asked the super to let me in for police business." Santana shrugged.
"You did what? He probably thinks I'm a criminal now!" Rachel cried.
"You thought I was a criminal for like a week."
"Well you seemed like a criminal."
"You know this is the most we've talked in like two weeks." Santana said with a tiny frown.
Rachel frowned, "You didn't really give me a choice, you broke into my home."
"I figured it was the only way I could get you to speak to me..and I was right." Santana shrugged. "Why did you kiss me and run? I mean if you're going to kiss someone don't run right after."
"I'm sorry..I don't do things like this usually." Rachel said.
"The running or the kissing?" Santana asked in amusement.
"Both I guess." Rachel sighed, running a hand through her hair nervously. "If I'm being honest I think I've felt some sort of physical attraction to you since you moved in, and then I had dirty fantasies and then we spent the day together and you were different than I thought you'd be and it all became too much."
"I don't see why you would make a move if you weren't going to follow through." Santana said. "And to put my son in the middle of it all? I don't appreciate that. Do you know how many times he asked me why you weren't around? At least twice a day. It's fine if you don't want to talk to me, but to do that to Max? I don't—"
"Santana, I know okay? I feel awful that I hurt him, I can't even imagine how upset you must be. I wouldn't want someone doing that to my child if I had one. I just..." Rachel paused with a frown, "Meeting you made me question myself."
"What do you mean?" Santana frowned.
"Do you know how many times I've babysat in my life? Zero times, I just don't do kids. I grew up with two dads and I've never felt very maternal, I never even wanted a pet before." Rachel tried to explain. "And then I came home one day and there was this little boy at my door trying to get his rat and he got my heart along with it despite how annoyed I may have seemed."
"And then you came into the picture and it changed everything. I never date because I don't want to change my life for someone else, especially someone with a kid." She paused, avoiding Santana's gaze. "But with you it's different. It's like I just want to be part of your life, I want to be apart of the jokes and the games and all that family stuff I've never been interested in. I want to go on dates with you and see where it goes, and if it goes in a serious direction? That doesn't even scare me."
"But you don't do the whole domestic family thing." Santana said in confusion.
"But I would like to do it with you." Rachel defended.
"You have to fix things with Max first, I'm not doing this if he's unhappy with it." Santana said, a tiny frown on her face.
"I'll talk to him first thing tomorrow morning!" Rachel said quickly. "You really want to try this out?"
"I've had a tiny crush on you since that first day, your diva meltdown was sorta cute despite being rude to my friends." Santana shrugged.
Rachel grinned, "Really?"
Santana rolled her eyes, "Don't let it get to your head, tiny. If we're going on a date tomorrow I'm going to have to sleep, so I'm going to get out of here. See you in the morning, Rach."
Rachel bit her lip as the woman made her way to the door, "Santana?"
Santana paused at the door, "What's up, tiny?"
Rachel walked up to her slowly, her hands shaking, "I just um—"
Santana rolled her eyes and gently pressed their lips together, her hand cupping the side of Rachel's face as their lips moved in sync.
Rachel sighed happily into the kiss before slowly pulling back, "That was nice. You're good at that."
Santana laughed lightly, "Go to bed, tiny. You're delirious."
"See you in the morning, San." Rachel whispered as Santana made her way into her apartment.
Rachel grinned as she closed her door, she was glad Santana had broken into her apartment and they had talked.
She was also glad she was able to talk about her feelings truthfully without freaking out.
She couldn't wait to see where things went, there was just something about Santana Lopez that got her heart racing.
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