Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Glee or any of its characters. I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine.
Chapter 18
Santana/Rachel/Quinn
Rachel woke panting, trying to catch her breath. It was the same dream she has been having it off and on since her attack. She hasn't told Santana about it. She doesn't want to worry her any more then she already is. She lays there watching her sleep for a little while, usually it calms her and she can go back to sleep. Tonight it's not working. She looks over her shoulder to the clock, 3:37am. She lays her head back on her… she's not sure what Santana is to her now. Definitely her friend but it's more than just that. For now she's just going to enjoy her being there. She lays there for a while more but sleep eludes her, and it's now 3:52am.
She decides to get up careful not to wake either girl, slowly extracting herself from their arms. She's not quite ready to get showered and ready for the day so she moves over to her window seat amongst the pillows. She leans her head on the cool glass and just watches the neighborhood around her while she thinks. Today is going to be a long day she is sure. She is going to talk to coach today and accept her offer of trainer. She hopes it will make her feel safer being a part of Sue's girls. It's a known fact that no one messes with Sue's girls. Coach may be an abrasive, long winded tyrant to most everyone but she seemed to genuinely care for her and wants to help.
She just needed to make sure it would not interfere with glee. As much as she loves dance and gymnastics, singing is her life. She needs it. It has been her outlet, her salvation for so long. She writes, she sings, and she plays her music. As long as Cheerios doesn't take glee from her she will be ok. She hasn't been singing much this past week. Honestly she hasn't really felt like it. She has sung with San preparing for the glee duet, and the song she chose has helped her. She just hopes she will get back to herself soon. She feels lost.
She looks over as she feels the cushion on the window seat shift. Santana moves a few pillows and positions herself behind the diva holding her around her waist. "Are you ok carino? What are you doing over here mi amor?" She says gently.
Rachel leans back into her hugging the arms around her tightly. This, she thinks, this right here is the only thing that makes her feel whole again. San's arms around her. Britt was right, she is her guardian angel. "I'm ok, just couldn't sleep." She looks over her shoulder and places a sweet kiss on the Latina's cheek.
San kisses her temple as she turns her head back. "You should have woken me. I would have sat with you."
Rachel just shacks her head. "No sweetie you need your sleep too. I have made you lose enough sleep this week."
San turns Rachel's head and shifts her body so she can look in her eyes. "Querida, if I had awoken upset and couldn't sleep would you have wanted me to get up and deal with it on my own or would you have wanted me to wake you and let you comfort me?"
Rachel starts to say something but stops rethinking. "Ok. Point taken San. Next time I will wake you. I just couldn't fall back to sleep and didn't want to talk about it."
San cups her face. "You don't have to talk about it, but we could have just come over here and sat with me holding you until you wanted to sleep again or it was time to get ready. I respect your need to privacy querida, I just want to hold you and comfort you while you sort it out."
Rachel puts her hand on the hand cupping her check and kisses her palm. "Ok sweetheart, next time I will wake you," She leans toward her and gently takes the other girls lips with her own. They kiss softly for a few moments before she pulls away. "Ok, I'm going to get in the shower then start breakfast. I need the distraction this morning." She gives her one last chaste kiss, hugs her tightly then gets up to start her day.
San walks back to the bed and sits next to Quinn. Quinn waits until the bathroom door closes to turn her head toward San. "Is she ok?"
San looks down at her, "I think so. I think she had another nightmare. She doesn't talk about them but I know she has them. She always wakes up panting and sometimes covered in sweat. I don't let her know it wakes me, but usually she only takes a moment to calm than burrows back in and falls back to sleep. I think she is a little stressed about this Cheerios thing."
Quinn ponders this for a moment. "You're probably right, we just need to make it as easy of a transition as possible for her. Coach has already put her foot down so I don't foresee any problems with them, and we will keep an eye on the rest." San just nods.
They lay there beside each other just thinking until they hear the bathroom door opens. They turn to see Rachel coming out. She sees them watching her and she smiles softly to them. "Good morning ladies. I am going to go down and start breakfast. Any requests?"
Quinn shakes her head as San tells her, "no hermosa, we're fine with whatever. I'm going to hop in the shower now myself." She gets off the bed walks over to Rachel kisses her forehead grabs her uniform and under clothing and heads into the bathroom. Rachel smiles walks to Quinn, hugs her and heads down stairs.
Once they are finish with breakfast and clean up Quinn text Britt and Puck that they are going in early and to meet them there, they are on their way. When they pull up to the school, they all get out and head in. Rachel looks to the girls and asks again, "are you sure you think I can do this. The squad is not going to be happy that I have authority over them. They are going to rebel I am sure of it." She is starting to get worked up, the fear of the squads retaliation is getting to her.
San stops them taking Rachel into her arms. "Listen to me. They are not going to rebel. This is what coach wants and she will make it clear to them who's in charge and we will carry it out. Coach has already laid down the law that you are to be respected and listened to. This is just a formality. It will be ok, I promise, and if there are any that are brave enough to go against coach, which I highly doubt Q and I will handle them. They won't be Cheerios anymore. Coach will not stand for mutiny." Rachel nods her head and sighs. She squeezes her tightly one more time before releasing her, grabbing her hand and make their way to coach's office.
Standing in front of coach's door Rachel nervously looks to the other girls. At their nod of encouragement she knocks, and coach call for her to come in.
They enter and coach motions for them to sit in the chairs in front of her desk. "So, Streisand, what do have you decided?" She asked sitting back in her chair.
Rachel sat up a little straighter. "I have decided to take you up on your offer but I have a condition." Sue looks at her for a moment a little impressed that she would dare to demand things. She motions for her to continue. Rachel takes a deep breath, "I just want to make sure that this will in no way effect glee club. They are going to be afraid that you are using me to sabotage them. I don't believe you are or I wouldn't be here. Challenge us if you must but please do not do anything that will actually cause us to fail. If that happens I will leave the squad and will no longer allow Britt to use my stunts in the routines like I have since she has been choreographing for you. She always asks and will do as I say as I am the one who created them. As long as we can agree to that I will do all I can to improve the squad."
When she finished her little speech the other girls were looking at her like she grew another head. Sue just sat there leaning back with her hands clasped together in front of her staring at the girl. "Ok, you have a deal, but I will still be making Shuster's life hell and pushing you people. You cannot tell anyone of our arrangement. It will take away my fun, but I will not do anything to actually destroy the club." Rachel nods her consent and coach continues. "Ok then, let's go to the training room I have somethings for you and I will have a modified contract for you with our new agreement by this afternoon."
They follow her out to the training room. Once inside she moves to the training supply room and they all enter. Coach goes to the rack where they keep extra uniforms and pulls down two garment bags. "Ok, these will be your uniforms you wear for school, games or competition. Anything but training really." She opens the bag and takes out one of the garments. "This is your shirt. You will be provided with six just like the cheerleaders uniforms. One for every day of the week and an extra for you to have for Monday when you turn in your others for dry cleaning on Friday. You will wear it tucked in to your pants."
She holds it up for Rachel to see front and back. It is a Nike coach style women's cut polo in red with white strips around the shoulders and arm pit area with black lettering. The front of the shirt left breast area is embroidered with and arched Cheerios lettering with Berry underneath it. The back has the words Trainer/Manager on it with a cheer horn and pom-poms emblem below it. The sleeve has the standard McKinley M on it.
She puts it back in the bag and pulls out pants and a black belt. "These are just plain black jeans like the ones you are wearing and a belt. I got the type and size from your jeans yesterday while you were helping train after school and changed into your gym clothes. You get six of these as well." She hands them to her to see. They were the exact brand style and size of the others she had bought last week.
She takes them from her and puts them back in the bag bringing out a jacket. "This is your lettermen jacket. It is different from the other girls in the squad as I want you to stand out just a little from them." It is similar to the one the other school teams wear but still different. It is a red with white sleeves women's cut lettermen, that has the Cheerios logo on the back with the cheer horn and pom-poms that is on her shirt. The standard M on the left breast area, and Berry embroidered on the pocket.
Coach puts it back in the bag and then goes to a door which led to a closet with shoes in it. She grabs two pairs and hands one of them to her and places the other pair by the garment bags. "You will wear the same shoes as the other girls. One pair for training and one pair for the other uniform. You will also be required to wear the same standard hi-pony as the others. I want as much uniformity between you and them. Your uniforms will be the only differences between you."
She goes to a set of drawer off to the side. She comes back with a six black sports bras and panties that both have Cheerios written on them. She also has twelve pairs of white socks. She hands one set to Rach and puts the others in the front pocket of the garment bag she hadn't opened yet, except for six pairs of socks she puts in the bag she has open. "You can wear whatever you want under the school uniform except for the socks, but for training you will wear these. They are designed for movement and support. The socks are designed to keep your feet dry."
She closes the bag she had shown Rach the school uniforms from and opened the other. She takes out a black shirt and black pants handing them to her. "These are your training shirt and pants. You are to wear these during any practices we have." The pants are plain black Nike Lasercool dri-FIT training pants. The shirt was a Nike legend dri-FIT tee in a similar style as the polo, but black with white strips and red lettering. The same things are written on the shirt with the McKinley M on the sleeve without the cheer horn and pom-pom emblem.
Coach takes a jacket out of the bag and hands it to her. "This is your pullover for if you are cold inside or out." It is a Nike dri-FIT pullover with the same design and style as the tee. She closes the training garment bag and goes and takes something out of another drawer and hands her a large package of hair ties. "Ok. Q, San, carry the garment bags and other pair of shoes. Let's go to the locker room." She leads them to the locker room and stops in front of where San and Quinn's lockers are. "I changed locker assignments. Q, I have had your locker and things moved down one locker and assigned Streisand's your old one. That way she is between you two. Now get your things put away and change into your training clothes and come back to my office before everyone else starts to arrive. I don't want them to see you until I am ready to introduce you as my new trainer." She hands Rachel a lock and slip of paper with the combination on it and leaves to go back to her office.
Rachel just stands there dumbstruck while San and Quinn put her garment bags, school bag and extra shoes in her locker. San turns and sees her just standing there. "Hey querida? You ok? You need to hurry and change Hermosa. The squad will start arriving in about fifteen minutes."
Rachel looks at her and replies. "Ok," she starts changing, "do you guys have so much stuff too?"
Quinn chuckles, "yes. We have everyday wear and practice wear. The same shoes, socks, bras and panties. We also have competition uniforms that are only worn for that. She is meticulous with being uniform as a team and looking our best."
Rach just nods having changed and now tying her shoes. She looks at San, "Ok. Can you show me how to properly put up my hair? I don't think I have ever worn my pony that high."
San chuckles, "sure but let's do it in coach's office I will bring your brush back before we go to the gym." Rachel nods and they head into the office leaving Quinn to dress for practice.
When they go into coach's office she isn't there so they just go in and San shows her how to do her pony. Quinn comes in as they finish and San leaves them there while she goes to change for practice and put up Rach's brush. When she gets back to the office coach is following her in. "Ok, Q, S I want you two to go back to the locker room like you would any other morning. When Britt is here and ready for practice send her in here to me. You two get the others to the gym and in formation. I will come in first and address them as to the changes in pecking order while Britt waits with Streisand for me to signal them in."
They all nod. Quinn and San both hug Rachel and turn leaving the office. A little while later Britt comes in and they head to the gym. Once they get to the door Sue turns and address the girls. "Alright. I will go talk to the squad. Once I announce that you are the new trainer you two need to come in. Britt you stand next to Q and S, Rachel you come to me." They nod to her and she goes in. Britt grabs the door and they listen for coach to announce her.
As Sue enters the gym the squad instantly quiets and waits for her to approach them. "Ok you bunch of sloppy babies. We have a few new things that we need to address today. First you have a new trainer manager that will be officially starting with us today. You will treat her with the utmost respect and listen to her as if her words have come out of my mouth." She pauses for dramatic effect. She likes to mess with her girls. "Rachel Berry," she says pointing to the door as Rachel and Britt enter. Britt moves to Quinn and San while Rachel stands by coach.
Gasps are heard throughout the gym. "If you cannot understand why I would bring her in you have not been paying attention. B will still be our choreographer but they will work together seeing as most of our good moves were created by Berry anyway. She is a remarkable trainer and gymnast and you will treat her as such. She is now on the same level as your Head Cheerio's. What she says goes. She has the same authority over you as they do. Meaning she can kick you to the curb if you disrespect her or mess up, just like Q and S." They all nod their understanding.
They are not stupid enough to buck anything coach says. They all need Cheerios for one reason or another. They also saw the girl's skill the day before. "Good. Now the second thing is I want you to take a look at what your trainer is wearing." They all look to Rachel to really look at what she is wearing. She turns so they can see the back as well not sure where coach is going with this. "This will be your new training wear as well. The only difference will be that your tops will be red with white strips and black letters. She will always stand out from you as your leader. Your new gear will be here sometime this week. I will inform you when you need to be here early with your practice uniforms ready to swap out gear. Keep your shoes and under garments, just the uniform top, skirt and spanks will be going." They all nod and look a little excited about the new gear. It's really cool. "Now, to Berry for your training schedule." She steps back and heads to the stands leaving Rachel there with San Quinn and Britt coming to stand beside her.
Rachel looks to the squad. "Ok. I just want to say it is an honor to work with all of you. Now we will be training the big stunt I demonstrated yesterday in all morning practices until we get it perfect. All afternoon practices will be working on all other stunts and parts of the routine. I will assess where we are with the big stunt at the end of the week and will be deciding if Saturday practice is necessary. If it is, the only ones that will be required to be there will be the group performing that stunt. During morning practice those of you that are not in the big stunt will work on other things in the routine as assigned to you. I will have those assignment daily and they will start tomorrow. Today you will be strength training in the weight room."
She pauses, leans into Quinn whispering a question. Quinn answers and she looks back to the squad. "Marsha will be in charge of making sure you are doing what you are supposed to and will be reporting back to me or Quinn with any problems." She pauses waiting for them to nod their understanding. "Marsha?" she calls and Marsha comes to her. "Take those not in the big stunt and work on arm and core strength today. Make sure they stretch properly. Come back at fifteen minutes till the end of training." Marsha nods and calls the girls to her and they make their way out. "The rest of you line up in your designated positions of base or flyer and we will get started." As they move to do as they are told and Rachel looks to Quinn and San. Asking quietly, "how was that?"
San and Quinn just smile. San answers first, "That was great carino. They just fell in line, and what you did challenging coach this morning, I'm impressed."
Quinn nudges her shoulder. "Yea couldn't have done it better myself. I can't believe she allowed you to talk to her like that and dictate to her what you wanted. She really wants you to train us." They all laugh and move to start training.
Training goes well and they are making progress. Rachel is pleased with where they are at the moment. She calls the girls to formation as the others that were strength training come back in the room.
Quinn calls Marsha over and talks to her where only Rach and San can hear. "Any problems or possible future problems?" She asks wanting to know how training went and if the girls had a problem with Rachel.
Marsh shakes her head. "No Cap. They all seem excited for the changes and new uniforms. They did their training well and didn't seem to have any problems. We were all pretty impressed with Berry yesterday and they are willing to let her teach us and do her thing."
Quinn nods. "Great, thank you." She says dismissing her back to formation motioning for Rach to address them as she saw fit.
Rachel smiles and looks to the squad. "I want to thank everyone for your hard work today. I am happy so far with the progress of the stunt, and I hear strength training went well today as well. Tomorrow I will have a printed schedule for upcoming training that I will give to you then before we begin. Since we don't have practice this afternoon have a good day and we will see you in the morning." She dismisses them but before they can move Quinn cuts in.
"Ok ladies be ready at the front door as soon as you get changed. New order of power march in twenty minutes." They all nod and head off to change.
Rach looks to her confused. "What's the new order of power march?"
San answers, "Any time there is a change in power, usually a new head Cheerio, we all meet at the front entrance of the school and follow the new leader in. You will go first with Q and me flanking you. Britt, Samantha and Marsha behind us and the rest of the squad following."
Quinn speaks up next. "It lets the sheep know there is a new order in the hierarchy. Coach requires us to do it if there are changes. This is a change and she wants us to do it today to let the school know who you now are."
Rachel looks very apprehensive. "Do we have to?"
San takes her hands. "Yes, she will make us. But querida, it is a good thing. It lets the school know you are untouchable."
Rachel just nods, not liking it but understanding it. They all head into the locker room and she changes into her new uniform and they ready themselves for the day.
Once they are done San turns to Rach taking her school bag and handing it to Britt. "Hermosa, Britt will take our bags and put them in our lockers and meet us out front." Rach nods and they head out the back so they are not seen until they come through the front doors.
She is surrounded by Cheerios no one will see her until they want them to. At the front of the school they part the way, Rachel, Quinn, and San, making their way to the front of the group Samantha and Marsha right behind them. Once Britt comes out and take her place Rachel looks to San and Quinn. "Are you sure about this?" They nod giving her a reassuring smile. Rachel takes a deep breath, runs her hands down her new letterman and nods to the baby Cheerios waiting to hold the doors open.
They open the doors and Rachel starts the march into the school, head held high showing more confidence then she is feeling, her own modified HBIC glare in place. Her friend flanking her slightly behind her. The students in the hall clear the way for the Cheerios like always. It take a moment for them to see that there is a change. Once it registers to them there are gasps and whispers almost instantly. They make their way down the halls and once they reach Rachel's locker the others start to break off and head to their own locker. San, Quinn and Britt stay with her.
Britt is the first to break the silence jumping up and down clapping, "That was so cool." The others all start laughing at her enthusiasm.
Rachel recovers first. "Yes I must admit that was quite a rush."
She starts to say something else but they are interrupted when Kurt, Puck and Tina approach. Puck speaking. "What is this Rach?" he says pulling on the arm of her letterman.
She chuckles, "I am the new Trainer/Manager for the Cheerios. I will be training them on all their stunts and helping Britt with the routines."
Kurt and Tina's mouths are on the floor but Puck just laughs. "That's great Rach. I always told you you'd be great on the squad."
"I never wanted to be on the squad Noah." She says "but I don't mind taking the role of trainer."
Kurt is the first to recover "How can you be a trainer Rach?"
She looks to him. "I have taken classes and I am a certified gymnastics trainer. I also have some certificates for dance training."
He just looks dumbfounded, but San speaks before he can respond. "I know you have questions but can we save them for lunch? We still need to get to our lockers and get to class on time." They all nod and the girls head to San and Quinn's lockers. They finish at their lockers and head out to start their day.
They rest of the day up until lunch goes smoothly. The rest of the students have started to get used to seeing the HBICs with Rachel and aside from some curious stares say nothing. The Gleeks on the other hand have been trying all day to talk to them and are told the same thing they told Kurt, Puck and Tina, wait until lunch. They only want to have this discussion once.
Once lunch time arrives they head in and find their seats at the glee table. They decided the day before to start bringing their lunch and sit and start distributing it around to the now four Cheerios at the table. Even though Rachel is not a cheerleader she is still officially a Cheerio. All the Gleeks have arrived other than Mercedes. She is the only one they hadn't seen yet today.
Quinn notices that she's the only one not there and turns to Kurt. "Where's Mercedes? We only want to go over this once."
Kurt looks toward the door. "She should be here any minute. She was late today because she had an appointment this morning. I saw her in the hall before last period but didn't have a chance to talk to her. She should be here soon." She nods and they all start eating waiting for Mercedes to get there so they can find out how this happened.
Mercedes comes in a few minutes later. She goes to the line gets her food and heads to the table. She stops short when she goes to sit down as she sees Rachel and what she's wearing. "What the hell is this?" She says pointing at Rachel.
Kurt speaks up, "That's what we all want to know. We were waiting for you so they could explain it to all of us together. You missed the change of power march this morning."
Mercedes looks disgusted "What, she's the new HBIC? Are you kidding me?"
San growls at the girls. "One of them. Sit down wheezy and we will explain it to all of you. Not that you deserve an explanation but we will give you one." Rachel puts a calming hand on San's arm and she settles a little.
Quinn decides she is just going to explain it so Rach can keep San calm. "Rachel is our new trainer and student manager. Last week Rachel started coming to practice with us…" she starts, only to be interrupted by Mercedes.
"Why on earth was she at Cheerio's practice?" she says
San growls again, "Because we wanted her there. It's not important to you why." She looks around at everyone, "you guys need to be quiet and let us explain it all before you ask questions or we will just not tell you."
They all nod and Quinn continues. "As I was saying, she was at practice with us and Britt was teaching us a new routine. The squad was having a little trouble getting part of it and we were getting frustrated so we called a break. Britt went over to talk to Rach while San and I were talking to coach. What we didn't know and didn't find out until Thursday night was that Rach has been helping Britt explain how to teach our routines since Britt started choreographing them. When she went to talk to Rach she was asking for help to explain what the squad was doing wrong. San and I didn't notice them talking but coach did. Rach was at practice all week and every time break was called Britt would talk to Rach, and throughout the week the squad was getting the routine down faster than we ever have. Rach and Britt have been in gymnastics and dance classes together since they were very little, and Rachel has taken classes to be a trainer in gymnastics as well as some dance trainer classes she has certificates for."
She took a breath and looked at Puck, "Puck noticed coach watching them talk and told us about it. Britt explained it all to us. Rach has created most of the stunts that we have used since Britt started helping train us. Rach has been letting her teach them to us. There is a really cool stunt that we wanted to do that Rach and Britt did in their dance class that Rach suggested we do. We went with her to class and they helped teach us over the weekend so we could teach the squad but they weren't getting it so Rach demonstrated it herself on Monday when she thought coach wasn't there. She was though and when she saw Rach do the stunt, which is bad ass, she asked her to join the squad. Rach doesn't want to be a cheerleader but this morning accepted coaches offer to become our trainer. She is now 1/3 of the Cheerios power along with San and me. She is in charge of all training and will be helping with the stunts and routine choreography with Britt."
When she finishes they all just stare at them with varied looks of disbelief, shock and awe. Kurt recovers first. "You are telling us that you have all this training but have never thought to put it to use for glee?" He says to Rachel.
Rachel looks to San and Britt for a second before coming clean. "I have been you just didn't know it. The first time I tried to suggest a routine you all shut me down claiming I was just trying to put the spotlight on me. When the girls joined glee I talked to Britt and asked if I came up with the dance routines if she would pitch them to the group. It worked you never questioned her and we had routines you all liked."
Tina was the next to speak. "But Rachel, the Cheerios routines are always so awesome. Why are our routines in glee not as spectacular if you help with both?"
Rachel doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings so she chooses her words carefully. "Not all of us in glee are on the same level of dance as the others. I play to everyone's strengths and show case our best dancers where appropriate. But honestly could you see Finn doing anything close to what the Cheerios can do?"
They all chuckle accept for Mercedes, she is livid. "I can't believe you two have been lying to us this whole time just to get us to agree to do your routines."
"You wouldn't have agree to it any other way, and the first time Britt suggested a routine it was the one that I had been trying to pitch and you kept saying it was showcasing me too much when in actuality it was showcasing you, but you refused to listen to me when I was trying to explain that to you. That's why I did it. A good captain uses her resources, Britt was an excellent one. We won sectionals didn't we?"
Mercedes doesn't say a word but gets up and storms out of the room. "I wasn't trying to deceive any of you," she says looking at the others, "I was just trying to get you to listen to my ideas and if they came from someone else for you to listen I was willing to do what it took to get them heard. You guys always liked the ideas once she explained them so we kept doing that. If you disagreed or had ideas we always listened and incorporated anything that was suggested and worked on. I'm not looking to totally run the show but we needed good routines and Mr. Shue, god love him, his routines are not always the best and are often way too outdated or extremely boring." They all nodded in agreement, she had a point. They all started to feel ashamed of themselves for listening to Mercedes and not giving the tiny diva a chance.
They all looked at each other and Mike spoke up. "We are sorry Rach. From now on we will listen to your ideas before just shooting them down." They all nodded in agreement.
Rachel just beamed a brilliant smile, "Thanks guys that's all I ask."
After lunch was over they headed to their next classes. The rest of the day was pretty much the same as the beginning of the day except that every time they caught sight of Mercedes she was glaring at them. When the end of the day came they all headed to glee. With the attitude that Mercedes was throwing, it should be an interesting session.
A/N: Ok that's the end of this one. What did you think of the reactions? Next time glee rehearsal, Shue's reaction to Rachel's new status and maybe a fast forward to the Duet competition?