Monday morning found Rachel extremely temperamental. It was thirty degrees outside, the sun barely in the sky, but it wasn't the weather that bothered her. No, it was the fact Santana decided to wear the tightest pair of pants imaginable that she found buried in the back of Rachel's closet. They weren't even the same size which meant they showed off just how much Santana took care of her… body. God. Rachel rubbed her temples. Rachel knew she was jealous. Possessive, even, but her patience was thinning. She wanted to make it official with Santana before she started acting that way. However, not only was their date canceled because of the whole bounty thing, but they haven't exactly had time together. Santana went home Saturday afternoon to spend time with her Dad. Rachel made a quick mental note to visit him and get her present.

Regardless, Rachel was wound tight and eager to relieve the tension with her soon-to-be girlfriend. Of course, that would be fine and dandy, if it weren't for the fact some of her men were staring hard at Santana as she stretched. Rachel ground her teeth. Sam nudged her in the side.

"You're going to pop a blood vessel," he said. He picked up the clipboard. "Why don't you go tell her you have a problem with what she's wearing?"

"Are you insane?" she hissed. "First of all, I don't have a problem with what she's wearing. Second, I'm not angry at her. I'm angry at the idiots who can't look the other way. Lastly, are you fucking insane? If I ever said something like that to her, she'd kill me."

Sam was about to respond, but then he nodded. "Fair enough. Here, make sure I have the list right," he said. The two of them focused their thoughts on the game. She'd modified it a bit. The flag was not in the clearing like they were used too. Hell, it wasn't even in the woods. It was in the front yard, in the middle of the driveway, with Sue and Puck's father, Warren, guarding it very carefully.

The adults were proving to be very useful once the announcement of her bounty came out. Sue refused to go home and had moved in permanently. Sam's family was in the process of moving into the spare rooms, and Warren set up shop in a guest room. It was a full house again. Rachel's heart warmed at the thought. Because while her family was moving in, she was 'moving' the guards out. In other words, there were thirty guards on payroll. Sunday night, Rachel and Sue gathered about fifteen of them, specifically the ones older than Rachel by more than twenty years old. She and her godmother made sure the firing was as discreet as possible. It wasn't like they wanted to work for Rachel anyway. The men were blatant in their disgust of having to follow her since the moment her Dad died, and she gladly let them walk away. Plus, it wasn't like they'd be able to pass on any information.

The group of fifteen walked as far as the gates before they were shot. By the time everyone gathered outside for capture the flag, the bodies were disposed of and evidence washed away under the guise of early morning gardening. All in all, her break wasn't starting as bad as she thought it would.

Sam blew his whistle and held up the clipboard. "Alright, listen up. After much discussion, Martin, Forrester, Edwards, and Nevins will be with Puckerman."

"Reyes, Blackstone, Taylor, and Quincy will be with Pierce."

Rachel stared at that group, a small smile gracing her face. She'd put them with Brittany because they were the ones she was keeping. They'd stepped up when she needed them the most. Rachel closed her eyes and shook away the memories.

"Morris, Lawrence, Brightman, and Gregorio will be with me."

Rachel tied her hair into a ponytail. She already knew who would be on her team. Sam and Brittany were adamant Williams went to another team, but Rachel hadn't decided on the Irish guard, much to their annoyance.

"Lastly," Sam sighed, "Lopez, Solomon, Williams, and Harden will be with the Boss."

"Joy. But can someone tell me why Latina barbie is participating again?"

Rachel glared at Williams and gritted out, "Because I want her to participate. If you have a problem with it, then go back to the guard house and wait for the game to finish."

"Oh, no, I'm playing. Just hope Lopez can keep up. I don't plan on losing because her," Williams paused and glanced at Santana's chest, "assets get in the way. After all, that's the only reason she's still around, right?"

The comment sparked a visceral reaction in Santana, one that had Puck lunging across the patio. He grabbed hold of her and whispered something in her ear. Santana calmed down, but Rachel immediately changed tactics.

"You're right. Lopez, you're off the team and will go to Team Pierce," she said.

Williams seemed smug while Santana fumed. Brittany gave Rachel a sharp look, but Rachel ignored all of them.

"In exchange, Pierce will come to our team." Rachel glanced again at Santana, who had a fire burning in her eyes, and her voice cracked as she continued, "Team Pierce will now be Team Lopez."

"Are you serious?" Williams exclaimed. "How come she gets to be a captain?"

"My decision is final," Rachel snapped.

"Know what? Fine. Just make sure your friend doesn't take anything too personal."

"Same to you, reject Merida."

Williams snarled and stepped into Santana's personal space. "Listen here, chica. You think you can just waltz in here like you own the place? All because you're warming her bed."

"Is that what I'm doing?"

"Yeah, it is."

Santana cocked her head. "Sounds to me like you've been in this position before."

Rachel stiffened. Brittany and Sam shot her matching looks of 'told you so' while Puck moved in to keep Santana in place.

"I have and it was glorious." Williams licked her lips. "Jealous?"

"Not in the least," Santana said lazily, turning those darkened eyes on Rachel. There was a promise there that Rachel wasn't sure she wanted to experience. She whimpered under her breath and Sam quickly jumped in and started handing out vests. Puck's team got yellow, Sam's team got blue, Santana's team got red, and Rachel's team got white. Once they were all set up, Rachel moved on to the rules.

"Listen up, teams will go to their starting points, wait for the flare, and head into the woods. Make sure you mark your spots so you don't get lost. Remember, the flag is not in the same place as it was the last time. This will be the hardest one yet, but the prize is worth more than anything from the past."

"What is it?" Quincy shouted.

Rachel grinned and said, "Trust me when I say you should do whatever it takes to win. Now, go. Head to your starting points."

The groups, now motivated to win, ran off laughing and trading ideas on what the prize could be.

"Solomon, take Williams and Harden to the starting point. We're near the fifty-yard line of the football field," she ordered.

"Aye, aye, your Majesty," Solomon muttered.

Solomon and Harden strolled off, huddled together, and Rachel twitched. She'd never liked them. Williams hesitated, but one sharp look from Rachel had her jogging off after them.

"Where's our starting point?" Santana asked, her tone giving nothing away.

"Swimming pool," Brittany said.

"Noted." Santana's team walked ahead of her. Rachel froze as Santana glanced over her shoulder. "You better watch your back, Berry," she said coldly.

Rachel tugged at her collar. "She's going to kill me," she muttered.

"Like you don't deserve it." Brittany pinched her on the arm. "Why the hell didn't you tell her you had a crazy ex that lives on the property?"

"I was waiting on the right time," Rachel hissed.

"Wow. That's something a dumbass would say."

"I know, alright?" Rachel watched Santana disappear around the house. "I just didn't want to have that conversation so soon. We haven't even gone on a date, Britt. What was I supposed to say? 'Oh, by the way, one of the guards is my ex-girlfriend who used to beat me up for fun and because of that I nearly overdosed?'"

"Okay, that's… fair. But you know Santana is the jealous type. She's not going to let this go."

"I know."

"Still want to give her a second chance?" she asked.

"No. But I'm going to let them make it to the end. I want to see her face when she realizes what this is." Rachel scratched at her jaw. "Do you think Santana's going to be super pissed or just hurt?"

Brittany blinked and asked, "If Santana's ex-girlfriend called you out for being a temporary replacement, how would you react?"

Rachel paled. Brittany chuckled and walked off to the driveway. Brittany wasn't actively participating, neither was Rachel, but she still had to go be official about it.

Santana sat down by the pool, her team equally as relaxed as she, and she looked at the former British spy sitting beside her.

"Blackstone, who was the redhead?" she asked.

"Call me Stone, and that was Alexandria Williams. She's been around since Brooklyn," he said.

"Wow, really? How old is she?"

"Twenty-seven."

"What the fuck?"

Stone laughed. "She had a hard life growing up, spent about five years in prison before Leroy found her wandering the streets in Dublin. He saved her, and she was his favorite out of the guards. Williams did no wrong in his eyes."

"And how in the world did she end up dating Rach- your Boss?" she asked wearily.

"Boss was," Stone paused and pursed his lips, "Look, I've been with Rachel since they lived in Russia. After Hiram died, Rachel was in a bad spot. She was a still a kid child when they moved down here. Since Leroy was traveling and Sue had started coaching at the school, there were long periods of time where Rachel was alone. By the time high school rolled around, Sam and Brittany were off doing cheerleading and football. It was usually her and whichever guard was on house duty at the time. One afternoon, I was on duty and couldn't find her. I ran outside and found her on the football field, half-naked and unconscious. I managed to get her to the hospital, but…" he trailed off.

"But what?"

Stone rubbed the back of his neck. "Williams hated living in the guard house. She wanted to be in the house with Leroy, so she used Boss as a way to get there. I found out that Williams had gotten Rachel into some really heavy shit. Rachel didn't want to hear it, didn't care, and got into a very toxic relationship with Williams."

Taylor clunked over and plopped down on the other side of Santana. "You two talking about Psycho-Williams?" he asked.

"Yeah. Lopez here was asking how it all went down."

"Oh. It was bad." Taylor leaned back on his hands. "Sam and Brittany found out ten months in and all hell broke loose."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Taylor admitted. "But Quince does. Hey, Quince! Come over here."

Quincy and Reyes came over and sat down behind Santana. She twisted around so that they were all sitting in a circle.

"She wants to know what happened when Williams and Boss broke up."

"Ah. Well, I don't know the specific moment, but sometime around the end of freshman year, Boss changed. She was drinking less and threw out all of her pills. Things came to a head over the summer. Pierce, Evans, and Boss went to some end-of-year party. When they got back, it all came to a head in the foyer. I'd never seen Pierce so angry. They nearly came to blows, but Evans stepped in. I watched from upstairs because I didn't want to interrupt, but the last thing I saw was Pierce holding Boss as she cried while Evans disappeared into the kitchen. Trash day was two days later and the bags were full of empty liquor bottles and pill bottles. Next thing I know, Boss ended things with Williams. But Williams didn't take it well, and she…" Quincy trailed off, and Santana frowned.

"What?" she asked.

"Williams snuck in the house and went after Boss when Pierce and Evans were at camp," Reyes said when Quincy wouldn't. "Had it not been for Stone, Boss would've died."

Santana put the timeline together in her head. End of freshman year going into the summer. Brittany and Sue were out of sorts at the cheer camp. Brittany kept leaving early because she had a family member in the hospital. Santana's anger grew tenfold. She dug her fingers into the dirt and closed her eyes. Contrary to what Brittany liked to tease her about, Santana had good control of her temper. Except when it involved the people she loved and cared about, and Rachel was one of those people.

"You're shaking," Taylor said carefully.

"I'm having a hard time not walking over there and snapping her neck," she growled.

"We would help." Reyes crossed his heart. "With no guilt."

"You would?"

"Hell yeah! She almost killed Boss," he said. "I mean, most guards took Williams's side because they hated Rachel for some reason, but we were the only four that were allowed to stay with Rachel while she recovered. We all monitored her pill intake, and since Leroy wasn't in town, we never told him about. She lied and said sparring got out of hand."

Santana scrunched her face. "Why are you guys so different?" she asked. "Most of the guards here either stare at my ass or call me a slut behind my back when they think I can't hear them. You all have been nice to me the entire morning and free with information."

"Because Boss loves you, and you love Boss," Reyes said, shrugging. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be asking all these questions. And if she didn't love you, you wouldn't be here."

"Plus, Evans told us to treat you like family," Stone said. "And since the only other person he said that about was Puckerman, we took it to heart."

"Long as you don't hurt her, we should be good," Quincy said.

"I would die for her," she said automatically.

"Good."

"To answer your question," Stone said, changing the subject. "The only guards I give two fucks about are sitting right here. Those other fuckers can rot in hell for all I care."

"Ditto," Taylor said. "I wouldn't die for the others even if Boss paid me, but for these idiots right here? I would."

"My Momma always told me to go with the guys that'll jump off a cliff with me. Means they're about as crazy as I am and the ones to keep around," Reyes said.

"Wasn't your mother arrested for impersonating a cop?" Quincy asked.

"And then escaped by pretending to be a prison guard?" Taylor added.

"She watched a lot of cop shows when I was younger."

"What kind of cop shows?" Santana asked.

"SVU. She had a crush on Benson."

"Who didn't? She was hot," Quincy said.

"No way. Compared to Novak, Benson was like a seven," Reyes argued.

"Dude," Taylor said, "I'm gay as hell, and even I can see that Benson was way hotter than Novak. Hell, the only person who came close to knocking Benson down a peg was Rollins."

"It was the southern accent, wasn't it?" Quincy asked. "That Georgia accent gets a lot of people."

The guys started talking about their favorite episodes. Santana leaned over and rubbed her temples. Once upon a time, Puck was the only person who could give her a special kind of a migraine, but now she could add four people to that list.

"Can we get back on topic?" she interrupted, cutting them off before they could go any further.

"What was the topic?"

Santana groaned, and thankfully, a flare went off in the distance. "Nevermind. Let's get this thing over with," she sighed, standing up.

The four stood up with her, but Reyes stopped her from moving forward. "If you're going to be with us, then you have to tell us your first TV or movie crush." He smiled cheekily. "Mine was Daniels from The Closer."

"J.J. from Criminal Minds," Stone said.

"Blair Underwood," Taylor added.

"Raven from Teen Titans." Everyone looked at Quincy strangely, and he shrugged. "I was twelve."

Santana saw them all looking at her expectantly, and she snorted. "I'm a Potterhead. So, my first crush was-

"Emma Watson?" Reyes guessed.

"Not quite," she said wryly. "I wasn't that type of child. My crush was, and still is, Helena Bonham Carter. Bellatrix Lestrange was the love of my life."

"That- honestly, you sound like Boss. Her favorite character was Voldemort."

"I can believe that."

The guys all laughed, and the group began to walk into the woods. Half of her wanted to warn them that the flag was in the front yard, but Rachel told them not to say anything, so she kept quiet. While they walked, Reyes and Quincy made inappropriate jokes, once again reminding her of Puck, and Stone whistled a tune she'd heard before, but couldn't place. Santana cocked an eyebrow when Taylor slowed down and draped his arm over her shoulder. He smiled down at her and playfully bumped their hips together.

"I think we're going to get along just fine, Lopez."

"You're not my type," she joked.

"And you're not mine," he said, winking.

Rachel was talking with Brittany. It'd been two hours. She was worried about Santana, but she knew the team she put her with would take care of her. When the sun had finally rose in the sky, Santana emerged from the woods on the back of Taylor while Stone, Reyes, and Quincy walked behind them. They were laughing about something. Rachel cocked an eyebrow at how close Santana and Taylor had gotten, but she said nothing. Worrying about Taylor would be like worrying about Sam or Puck. Santana hopped off Taylor's back, walked right past Rachel, and snatched the flag down.

"Fuck yeah!" Stone shouted. "Team Lopez for the win."

"We had an amazing leader," Reyes said, bowing. "May you reign forever."

Santana curtsied and kissed Reyes on the cheek. He feigned a swoon and fell backward into Quincy. Rachel had a sudden regret for putting the five of them together.

"Congratulations, Team Lopez," Rachel said. "You are the official winners."

"As if you ever doubted it," Santana said dismissively.

Their celebration was short-lived as the next to come out was Rachel's team. Rachel tensed out of habit whenever she saw Williams, but Santana came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist. She kissed the shell of her ear and Rachel relaxed. Williams, Solomon, and Harden joined the group with matching looks of fury.

"Is that how she won?" Solomon clenched his fists. "By fucking the information out of you?"

"No. Her team won because you idiots went to the same location even though I told you it wasn't there," she said.

"How did you-

"We have trackers on you guys," Brittany interrupted. "Like we do every year. Boss told you it wasn't in the clearing and the first place you went to was the clearing."

"Told you that was a stupid idea," Solomon hissed at Williams.

"Shut the fuck up! We only lost because Rachel's craving Mexican this week," Williams huffed.

"Watch your tongue before I rip it from your mouth," Rachel growled.

Santana squeezed and whispered in her ear, "Calm down, baby."

"Hold on, where are the other people?" Harden asked.

"Who cares?" Quincy exclaimed. "What does our team win?"

"To keep your life."

Before anyone could react, Rachel lifted her hand. Solomon and Harden fell to the ground, bullets in their heads. Taylor and the others stiffened, but when no more shots came, they relaxed. Stone stared at Rachel for a moment.

"Cleaning house?" he asked.

"I was," she said. "You four, go inside. Williams, stay."

The guards shrugged and followed her instructions. Williams was the only one left. She was furious and practically foaming at the mouth, but smart enough not to react as there was a sniper nearby.

"W'at the fuck is going on here?" her Irish brogue strong and vitriolic.

"I wasn't even going to kill you at first. You're a damn good guard and loyal. But after what you said earlier, I changed my mind. You don't deserve anything more of me or from me. And it's with the sweetest relief that I let you go. Santana is not the flavor of the week as you so crudely stated. She's my everything. She saved me without even knowing it. She's mine because I love her, more than I ever loved you, and she brings me peace, not pain." Rachel felt tears pricking at her eyes and clicked her tongue against her teeth. "So, I'm done. We're done. And you're done."

"You won't kill me." Williams laughed. "You still love me, Rachel. You always will."

"In a way, you're not wrong, Alexandria," she sighed. "I am not going to be the one that kills you."

Warren Puckerman saw enough to know his presence was no longer needed. He climbed down from his perch and ran through the trees toward the back of the house.

He didn't want to be out there when things got started.