Four

The way that Santana saw it, she had a productive day; after all, what could be better than soaking up the sun with a good book? In Santana's eyes, very little. Reading was one of the few recreational activities that Santana did that wasn't potentially damaging; everything else she did could either get her into trouble or get her seriously injured.

She'd found it hard to concentrate though, ever since she'd seen Danielle Fabray again she couldn't get the girl out of her head. She had to will herself to keep re-reading certain parts of her book. The words would seep into her eyes, but would never actually instill themselves into her brain. The only thing in her brain was the sight of the blonde haired girl. The last time she had seen Danielle, she had definitely not looked like that.

She'd been pretty, that was one thing that Santana remembered crystal clearly, Danielle had always been a very pretty girl. She'd heard other people talking about how pretty Danielle was, always comparing her to her sisters, Lucy and Frannie. Of course, when comparing her to Frannie, it had always been in a more positive way, people talked about how pretty they both were, but how they were pretty in their own way. But when they compared her to Lucy, it was somewhat different.

Danielle and Lucy had always been as different as chalk and cheese, Danielle was petite, had deep brown eyes, with the softest features and the most perfect teeth Santana had ever seen. While Lucy was tall, brown haired, hazel eyed, a slightly larger nose, thick braces, and to put it politely, was a few pounds heavier than being considered just curvey.

When they were younger, she had heard the shorter girl stick up for her sister countless times, people were often saying mean things about Lucy, but once Danielle had started to show her fiery side, a lot of the kids they knew wouldn't dare say anything. Santana had always found it quite funny how so many people had been scared of someone as tiny as Danielle Fabray. She'd always had a large personality and confidence in spades, that was something Santana had always admired about her.

Danielle had always been so confident, while Lucy had been meek and quiet, and then there was Frannie, the eldest Fabray girl, Santana didn't remember her nearly as much as she remembered Lucy and Danielle. Frannie was six years older than Santana, Lucy and Danielle, which meant the last time that Santana had been in Lima, Frannie had been at college and definitely hadn't wanted to spend any time with thirteen-year-olds.

Like Danielle, Frannie had always been called pretty, though Santana had never seen why people raved about the older girl's looks like they did. Her big eyes and long, sharp nose had always reminded Santana of a ferret. She supposed it was the blonde hair and blue eyes paradigm that people focused on when they looked at Frannie, that and she was tall and slender, the look of many models Santana had seen on the cover of magazines and walking the runway at fashion week. But other than that, she really didn't know why anyone had ever put Francesca on a pedestal. She wondered, if like Danielle, Frannie had gotten any better looking with age. Or if Danielle had just had a major glow up and had been hit hard with the 'well done puberty' stick.

The sun had started to set in the sky when Santana closed her book, she had finally finished it, leaving her mind free to wander. However, it always wandered back to her childhood friend. She wondered when she might see her again, she hoped it would be before school started. She so badly wanted to get to know her once again since they had been so close as kids.

Whenever Santana was in Lima, they had been inseparable. Some of Santana's best memories from her time in Lima involved Danielle Fabray; in fact, come to think about it, all of her best memories in Lima involved the blonde haired girl.

She had been one of her best friends and she had thrown that away for the simple fact that she had found Lima, Ohio to be the most boring place on Earth. She had often thought about Danielle in her younger teen years, but as she got older, became wildly popular, and had made a reputation for herself, she hadn't thought about much else other than herself.

In the last six years Santana had become ridiculously selfish.

It was possibly one of her biggest flaws, half of the time, she didn't even really care about her friends, and she definitely hadn't cared about the string of girls she had slept with. But at one point, she had cared very much about the small blonde haired girl in Lima.

She didn't know exactly when she had stopped wondering what Dani was doing, or how she was doing, she just knew that at some point in the six years that she was away, the blonde haired girl had been erased from her thoughts.

She looked around her for a moment, taking in the sight of her mom's front yard, the houses on the street, how different everything looked compared to her home in Miami. The small street, all the white picket fences, how everything seemed to look like it was stuck in the nineteen fifties; as much as Lima looked like it was stuck in the fifties, from what she remembered, the people of Lima, and their belief system seemed to be stuck in the fifties, too.

She wondered if the small town was still just as conservative as she remembered.

A high pitched, quiet bark pulled Santana from her musings, she looked in the direction of the noise and saw a small, grey and white husky puppy with the brightest blue eyes Santana could have imagined. It stood about three houses away from where she was, wagging its tail as it looked around itself, moving slightly skittishly on the spot.

Santana rolled her eyes and sighed, she couldn't actually believe what she was about to do. She crouched down slightly and started to pat her legs, "Coochie!" She called in a high-pitched, playful voice, trying her hardest to gain the small dog's attention. "Coochie, Coochie!" She called.

She might not know the boy responsible for this dog's name, but god did she hate him at that moment, she firmly stood by her statement she had made hours prior to this. Danielle's cousin, was definitely an asshole.

The puppy snapped her head up in the direction of Santana; she tilted her head to the side, her big blue eyes looking right at the brunette. Santana couldn't stop herself from smiling at the dog's cuteness. She called her name once more, and Coochie bounded up to her clumsily. Santana let out a small chuckle as she saw the dog lolling towards her with its tongue hanging out.

Cute dog for an even cuter girl, Santana mused.

She scooped the dog up quickly, hoping that she wouldn't turn and give her a nasty bite, after all, the dog didn't know her. She quickly carried the dog to her house, pushing the door open, she placed the dog on the ground and watched as she jumped around her feet, she grabbed a bowl from one of her mom's cupboards and filled it with some water.

She knew this dog had been missing for hours, and she knew it had been warm all day, she figured by now that she must need a drink. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and watched as Coochie began to lap up the water.

She quickly called her mom, hoping she would be available to take Santana's call, she released a breath when her mother answered on the fourth ring. "Mija, is everything okay?" Maribel asked, her voice sounding slightly panicked.

"Yeah, everything's fine, so listen, I found a dog an-"

"No!" She said firmly, "No way, mija. You are not getting a dog."

Santana furrowed her eyebrows, "Oh, no, no. No!" She said, "I don't want to keep the dog." She said only partly lying, she did have to admit, the puppy was extremely cute, and had she not known who it belonged to, she might have used her 'Santana charm' to try and persuade her mom to let her keep her. "You know where the Fabray's live right?" She asked, "The dog kind of belongs to one of them."

"How do you know?"

Santana rolled her eyes, "Because earlier this girl came up to me and asked me to keep a look out for a dog," Santana explained, "She saw me when I was reading and told me that she'd lost her dog. This dog. She fits the description perfectly." Santana said, "Then this girl reintroduces herself to me as Danielle Fabray, because obviously I didn't recognise her, because I mean, have you seen her now?"

"Yes, I see her almost everyday," She said, "I'm very close to, Judy, and yes I have seen her now. No one knows why she wears so much eye make-up, or why it's so dark… She was such a pretty girl."

"Was pretty?"

"Well of course she still is; ridiculously so, all of the Fabrays are." She said, "I just want to know why she wears so much make-up."

"Beats me," Santana said quickly, "Look, you just said you're close to her folks, so will you please give me directions to the Fabray's house so I can get an Uber, I don't have much money, but I can afford that at least." Santana asked, she moved her head away from the puppy slightly as she began licking her face.

"And you're positive that's her dog?"

Santana nodded her head, "One hundred percent." She said. "A husky puppy, grey and white with bright blue eyes, answers to the name Coochie." She said.

"Coochie?" Maribel asked, "Why would she name her dog after a va-"

"Mom, please don't finish that sentence, and technically, she didn't. She had no ideas for a name, so she left it to a hat draw and kind of picked out that name… but that's beside the point, can you please just give me their address?"

Santana quickly wrote the address down as her mother spoke, she said a quick goodbye and hung up the phone before ordering an Uber for herself and Coochie. She sighed when she noticed there appeared to be all of two uber drivers serving the entire town and wasn't surprised when the app notified her that the closest driver was finishing another ride and would be there in 35 minutes. She put her phone down and decided to pass the time playing with the adorable dog until her phone chimed and notified her that the uber had arrived.

Santana rushed to the car, carrying Coochie with her. She climbed into the back seat and briefly greeted the driver, promising him the puppy wouldn't pee in the backseat - she only hoped that was the truth as she did not want to pay extra for cleaning. She scratched behind the dog's ear, while struggling to keep her still. Santana couldn't help but laugh at the excitable puppy, sitting restlessly on her knee.

She hadn't been to the Fabray's house in five years, it was odd to be going back there after all this time. When Santana had been younger, she had spent a lot of her days with the two Fabray girls. They had spent time in the basement, watching movies, eating junk food, and playing all the stereotypical slumber party games. If they weren't doing that, then they would be hanging out around the pool.

Santana had loved this house as a kid, of course, her home in Miami had been just as nice, and she too had a pool, her father was wealthy, just like Mr. Fabray, but Santana had liked the novelty of being in a small town home, with the two girls she rarely saw.

She had to admit, she was very eager to see Dani again, having seen her that morning and liking very much what she saw.

As she sat in the back of the Uber, she took note of everything that she passed, she had an unnecessary need to learn the way to the Fabray home, she hoped that she would be coming back here a lot more. Nothing seemed to have changed much about the town; all the buildings were the same, just dingier in colour where they needed a new coat of paint.

She pulled up at the private estate where the Fabrays lived and pulled up outside the house her mother had directed her to.

Her mouth dropped open slightly as she looked up at the large white house. It was definitely bigger than she remembered it being.

Santana slowly climbed the three steps to the door and took a deep breath; Santana rang the doorbell and shifted on her feet as she adjusted her hold on the dog.

"Yeah, I'm getting it!" She heard a voice call. The door was yanked open to reveal a blonde girl, with hazel eyes staring back at Santana.

"I-I think this belongs here." Santana stuttered she held the animal out to the taller girl, who just rolled her eyes.

"Dani!" She called.

"What!?"

"I am guessing it's for you." She said, before she backed away from the door slightly, holding it open slightly.

Dani walked into the hallway and saw Santana holding the dog, a beaming smile spread across her face. "Oh my god, thank you!" She said excitedly, she all but ran to Santana and grabbed the dog from her. "Where did you find her?"

"Well I was reading still and I looked up from my book and saw her just scampering down Lima Heights Adjacent, I called her name and she came to me and I brought her back."

"Thank you so much, I was really starting to panic." She looked down at her dog and tickled behind her ear before she looked up at Santana, "Oh sorry," she said, "Santana you remember my sister, Lucy right?" She asked, "And Lucy, you remember Santana Lopez?"

The girl did look vaguely familiar, though Santana's first guess wouldn't have been that this girl was Lucy Fabray, though, now that it had been brought to her attention, she could see the similarities. Though, this girl was thinner than she had been the last time she had seen her, she also had blonde hair rather than the light brown and she no longer wore glasses, her nose looked slightly different, too.

"Jesus Christ!" Santana said, seriously what is in the Fabray genes?

"Yeah, my sentiment exactly," Lucy said, a small smile found its way onto her face, as she looked at the other girl, "I heard you were moving back here, I didn't think that it was actually true though."

"I told you it was." Dani said with a small shrug.

"Yeah, but you never really know, do you?" She asked.

Santana shrugged, "Well, I'm here now." She said, "And you'll probably be seeing a lot more of me." She said, she let out a small sigh, "Anyway, I should probably get going."

"No, come in and stay for just a little bit," she said, "It's only me and Lucy in right now."

The older girl rolled her eyes; "Actually I just go by Quinn now, so ignore her when she's saying Lucy."

Dani rolled her eyes, "Fine, you should stay and catch up with Quinn and me," she said, she glanced at her sister, "I mean, I think we can all agree that six years is way too long."

Santana nodded her head slowly, "Yeah, I guess that couldn't hurt right?" She asked.

Quinn nodded her head, "Absolutely."

"I have to ask, and I only feel the need to because it's staring me right in the face," Santana chuckled, "Why the rocker look?" she asked, gesturing to how Dani was dressed. She couldn't help but match the small smile that made its way onto Dani's face. "I mean, it just seems so different to who you were the last time I saw you."

Dani shrugged her shoulders, "I've always been into rock music, but before, Judy and my dad bought my clothes for me." Dani replied, Santana furrowed her eyebrow at the use of Mrs. Fabray's name, rather than calling her 'mom,' she opened her mouth to say something before Dani carried on talking. "But now I go shopping for my own stuff, so I can actually wear what I want, and have my make up how I want."

"I can't imagine your folks like it that much, I mean, Quinn is so…" she trailed off trying to find the right words before simply saying, "Not this." she smiled, "I can't imagine Frannie being like this either."

"Oh no, they're both totally different, they're more Taylor Swift, while I'm more Hayley Williams." she shrugged, "But no, they don't like it, I am always being told to tone down the make-up, or to wear smarter clothes, but that's not me." she admitted, "I mean, on the up side for them I don't have pink hair anymore, so there's that."

"You had pink hair?" Santana asked, Dani nodded her head as she looked down at the small dog, that had begun to mouth lightly on her hand. "I can't imagine what that was like. Was it bubble gum, light pink?"

Dani shook her head, "No." she scoffed, "If I am dying my hair I am doing it properly, it was bright pink, like real fucking bright." she admitted, "God my dad hated that," she shook her head and smiled slightly.

"I think having a bright hair colour would suit you, you seem like you can pull off any hair colour."

"Well maybe I'll have to test your theory one day." Dani replied with a small smile on her lips.

"I should really get going, that's like the tenth time she's texted me asking when I'll be home." Santana signed with an eye roll, "It was great seeing you again today, and it was awesome spending time with you and Quinn… well until Quinn ditched us." Santana smiled.

Dani nodded her head, "No problem, I don't want you getting yourself in trouble because of me." she stood up and held a hand out for Santana, helping her up from the couch and pulling her into a hug. "You can come over any time." She spoke quietly. "I'm really happy we got a chance to hang out today."

"Yeah me, too." she replied, "It'd be great if we could do it again, some time in the next week. It'd be great if I could start the new school year with at least one friend." she smiled.

"Yeah that'd be awesome, give me your phone I'll put my number in it and just call or text me anytime and we'll sort something out?" Dani offered, Santana handed her phone over with a smile, and watched as Dani typed in her number, turning her mouth down slightly as she tried to remember all the correct digits.

Santana couldn't help but fine Dani ridiculously cute, Dani handed Santana's phone back to her with a beaming smile, "Well, thanks." she said as she slid her phone into her back pocket.

"You're welcome, thank you for getting my dog back to me, today. It really means a lot to me, I was so worried." she admitted.

"Don't mention it." Santana smiled, "Hey, maybe we can even take her out for a walk together one day?" she offered with a small shrug, watching as a soft grin spread onto Dani's lips.

"I'd really like that." She admitted.