As much as I would like to own them, all the characters of Glee belong to Fox – I own nothing. All the characters of The Fast and the Furious belong to Universal Studios, I'm just borrowing some of them. All writing belongs to me.
Hey guys, this chapter is a little bit of a filler but it fills in some important gaps and it's gonna set us up for the next part of the story so I hope you enjoy!
Thank you to my reviewers and everybody still faving and adding to alerts, it still makes me happy every time! :D
"The question isn't about Santana, she's doing a great job"
"But-"
"Miss July, you are in MY city and we do things my way. I've already given you everything you could possibly need to help Miss Lopez take down Noah Puckerman so why are you pushing this?"
"Because it's taking too long!"
"May I remind you that all undercover operations take time? You should know that better than anyone. I'm putting my neck out on the line to keep this case running at full speed so that you don't have any problems and you keep insisting on rushing things. Let Santana do the job she's been given. She's getting closer to taking his crew down, just give her a little more time."
"Fine but if she doesn't start racing his team fast I'm stepping in"
"I have no doubt about that but just try to be patient"
"What about her ties to the crew?"
"What do you mean?"
Cassandra sighed, rubbing her temples as she stopped her pacing and sat down at the conference room desk. "She's gone deeper than necessary. As I understand it she's started dating Miss Pierce"
Roz shrugged. "And?"
"It's not going to end well"
"We can't help that Miss July, that's a choice Miss Lopez made for herself and a choice she must face the consequences of when the times comes. Until then if you don't have anything else to discuss with me I have paperwork to fill out."
"I guess we're done here then. Thank you Miss Washington"
Roz just waved a dismissive hand as the blonde stood up and Cassandra took that as her cue to leave. As soon as she was out of the door she plucked her phone from her pocket and speed dialed Santana's phone.
"Hello?"
"Santana"
"Cassandra, hi"
"Hi, what are you doing right now?"
"Heading over to the diner for lunch with some of the others. Why? What's up?"
"I need you to start racing Puck's crew"
"I've only just did a warm-up day for Race Wars last week. What's the rush?"
"I think we need to kick things up a notch. The crew trusts you enough that you can start asking for races now, am I correct?"
"I guess, why? You want me to ask?"
"Yes. We need to start weakening them ready to take him down at the end."
"Ok, I'll see if I can ask for a race. Who first?"
"Mr. Flanagan will do nicely to start"
"What about Race Wars?"
"What about it?"
"We're going up against them there. That's the whole point of the warm-up day last week"
"If we work fast enough we can take them down before then and you won't have to worry about winning against them because there won't be a crew to race against"
There was a slight pause on the other end, Santana no doubt considering it. But, as usual, she had no choice. "Fine. I'll talk to Letty later"
"Good. I'll talk to you later Santana. Keep up the good work."
"Yeah, yeah. Bye"
When she heard the Latina hang up she smiled as she slid her phone back into her pocket. She always got her way.
Santana frowned as she threw her phone down onto her passenger seat after she'd hung up with Cassandra. She sighed, using her free hand to rub her temple as thoughts ran rampant in her mind.
Even though Cassandra was pushing to take down Puck's crew she was now feeling hesitant about the plan she had become a part of a few months ago. But that was before she started becoming invested in the various members of Letty's team. They had all started to grow on her, she had a best friend who was a girl for the first time in her life and a girlfriend she wanted more than a one night stand with. She'd never been in a position like this before, where she was conflicted on who to follow. It was either her head or her heart. She genuinely liked hanging out with them and after being a single racer on her own for so many years she'd finally found a crew to race with. On the other hand her head was telling her to do everything Cassandra was telling her. She was an FBI agent who knew what she was doing and every case she had run had never failed and that's what made it hard for her.
She didn't want to be useless in the eyes of her handler over feelings she knew wouldn't be worth anything once the truth had come out but she also didn't want to hurt all these people she had actually come to care about. Steering onto another road behind Quinn she groaned, she had really buried herself in the shit this time and she knew at the end of this nothing good would come of what she had done. She was leading these people on and with the day that the truth came out rapidly approaching she was going to enjoy every second she could before these ties were broken.
A minute later they were pulling up in front of Shelby's diner in a line, Quinn then Santana, Brittany, Dani and then Marley on the end. Brittany smiled over at her girlfriend and when she had locked up her car she walked over to the Latina and pulled her in for a kiss before they all headed inside.
Shelby smiled as she watched the five racers enter the diner and make their way to the front counter, each taking a seat.
"Hey girls. Santana, you cashing in that free lunch?"
"Yeah, why not?"
The girls were enjoying lunch not long after when they heard the loud roar of an engine. Quinn glanced over her shoulder and saw who it was, immediately perking up and tapping Santana on the arm to get her to look as well. When Santana followed her friends gaze and saw the silver Shelby pull up next to Marley's Camaro she sighed knowing that Puck's crew never came here unless they had a bone to pick with Shelby or Letty's crew.
Jake stepped out of the car and as he swaggered towards the front door of the diner Santana wondered what he could possibly be here for. She hadn't really gotten to see what he was about compared to the other members of Puck's crew and he could have been here for any kind of reason, including the one where he was especially angry at something, something that seemed the most plausible the closer he got to the door.
He slammed the front door open and the others at the front counter turned around and tensed up at the sight of the rival street racer. Before they could even question him what he was doing there he cut them off.
"Hey Marley, you scratched my car!"
The brunette snorted. "Give it a rest Jake, there's plenty of space between our cars and I got here first"
"If you say so. Maybe you could make it up to me" He winked, causing Dani to scrunch up her face.
"Eww"
"I have a girlfriend, jackass."
"Maybe, but-"
"Cut the crap and leave her alone Puckerman. What do you want Jake?" Quinn growled, taking control of the conversation before it got out of hand.
"I wanna talk to Santana"
"About what?"
"A race"
Shelby picked the perfect moment to exit the kitchen, the tense atmosphere immediately hitting her like a bus. "Is there a problem here girls?"
Quinn glanced behind at the older brunette. "Nope, I've got it under control. Jake was just leaving"
Waving a hand and mumbling under his breath he left, not wanting to answer to someone such as Shelby. Even for him that was restricted territory. They all watched as he slammed the door closed behind him but as he fished his keys from his pocket he glanced over his shoulder and smirked before dragging them across the side of Marley's Camaro.
They were immediately out of their seats and outside in a matter of seconds, Santana walking over to him just as he was about to get in his car and leave.
"Hey!"
"What do you want?"
Before Santana had a chance to answer Marley was already storming towards him, Dani catching her just in time and holding her back. The brunette struggled against her friends hold as she desperately tried to lunge for the man who had just ruined her unique paintjob.
"You son of a bitch! You'll pay for that!"
"Hey, cool it M. It's not worth it" Dani said, holding on tightly to her the best she could.
"Why'd you do that?" Santana questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.
He shrugged. "Maybe the bitch deserved it for choosing that whore of a girlfriend over me!"
"Fuck you, I love Tina!"
"Yeah but you chose her over me!"
"I never liked you Jake. You were an asshole in high school and you're still one now! Nothings changed!"
"Good, maybe now that I've scratched your paint work up you might consider a little remodelling and finally change it to a nicer colour other than this ugly ass orange" He was about to lunge for the brunette when Santana pushed him back by his chest. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"Stopping you from making a big mistake" She growled.
"Oh, you think you're worthy enough to get in my way? A lower crew member like you? Move aside and let me teach this bitch a lesson once and for all!"
"Step back. I may be new to this crew but I'm not new to fighting. See this scar on my arm? You really don't wanna know where I got that from so I suggest you step back now or I'll show you the hard way. Caminar lejos ahora, hijo de puta."
"Oh yeah? Bring it!"
"I think I might. You know where I'm from maldita perra? I'm from Lima Heights Adjacent" Jake gulped. "Oh yeah, and we fight dirty. You asked for it"
In that moment Santana snapped. Sure, she mostly kept to herself but one of the things she couldn't stand was when people bad mouthed her to her face. Something inside of her clicked and she fell into her coping mechanism. What she hadn't told the others when she had been reciting her history was that yes, she street raced with a bunch of guys, but she also fought. Lima Heights Adjacent was the roughest part of the city and she'd been in her fare share of fights growing up. It was how you survived, by being better than the other person challenging you.
As she swung her first towards his face and caught him square in the nose, the others saw for the first time the deep dark side of the woman they thought of as quiet and hard working, as well as being a good driver that is.
Jake growled as he clutched his bleeding nose, standing up straight before gripping her shirt and throwing her up against his Shelby. She groaned as she came into contact with the car and he hit her just above the eye, the force of his punch enough to cut open her eyebrow and draw blood. Taking the few split seconds after she dove down and wrapped her arms around his waist and football tackled him, her sheer surprising amount of strength momentarily overwhelming him and allowing her to push him to the floor. It was then that she started punching over and over until Quinn and Brittany managed to pull her off of him and hold her back just as Shelby exited the diner.
"Hey, what's going on here?!"
"Jake scratched my paintwork!"
"And Santana stepped in between them when he challenged her. Things got out of a control" Quinn said, struggling to keep hold of Santana as she growled at the man who was now pulling himself to his feet.
"Jake, I suggest you get out of here now before I let Santana loose on you. The rest of you get back to the garage. Letty won't be happy you started a fight with Puck's brother"
Just as Jake moved towards his car and opened the door he smirked over at Dani, still not finished with his taunts. "Harper, I know about you and Miss Kitty."
"How?" She asked through gritted teeth.
"A friend of yours spilled the beans to someone and I know that someone. Maybe I might go and sample that taste whilst you fumble and fuck around with those stupid feeling's of yours!"
Before Dani could lunge for him Marley reversed the roles and held her back, everybody watching as he pulled onto the road and sped away.
Quinn sighed. "Letty's gonna be pissed."
"Letty's gonna be pissed? Oh, fuck no! I'm gonna kill Unique!"
Dani finally broke free of Marley's grip and before they could stop her she was already in her car and speeding off.
Quinn shook her head. "Fuck. Now Letty is gonna be pissed. Come on guy's, let's go"
When the four drivers, now minus Dani, arrived back at the garage to say Letty was in a bad mood was an understatement.
"What were you guys thinking?!"
"Jake started it. He scratched up my paint!"
"For what reason?"
Marley shrugged. "He did it when Quinn told him to go home"
"Walk me through it Q. What happened?"
"Jake came to the diner, came in and started trouble and he wanted a race with Santana. When Shelby came out and I told him to go home he scratched up Marley's paint work and Santana got in the way. They had a fight and when we finally broke it up he taunted Dani before speeding off"
"Where is Dani?"
The blonde shrugged. "We don't know. She drove off so we figured it was just best to let her cool off like usual"
"Fuck. Get back to work and we'll decide what to do later"
"I don't think that's gonna happen" Marley said, watching as someone pulled into the yard.
"Why-"
"ORTIZ!"
"Fuck, why today?!"
They all turned to see Puck followed by his entire crew, storm clouds emerging above them. Talk about ironic.
"Ortiz, what did you do to my little brother?"
"I didn't do anything Puckerman"
"That's not what his face says"
He walked right up to her and slammed her up against one of the cars parked in the garage. Looking down at the Latina he felt anger coursing through his veins. He had put up with Letty and her poor excuse for a crew for way too long. Years of repressed anger was boiling just beneath the surface of his skin and stealing Santana from right under his nose was the last straw.
"You're gonna wish you were dead when I'm finished with you."
"Enough! I did it!"
Puck looked over to see Santana stepping away from where Brittany was cleaning up her eyebrow. "What did you say?"
"I said that I did it. I tried to stop him but he didn't so we got into it outside of the diner"
"And what makes you think that you had the right?" Puck spat, slamming Letty into the car one more time as he let go before approaching the younger Latina much faster than she would have liked.
"He came in demanding a race on our territory and then had the nerve to scratch up one of my fellow crew members paint. He also insulted Dani to the point where she took off and now we don't know where she is. If you ask me he was asking for it."
"Fuck you Lopez!"
The next thing everybody knew he was lunging at her and wrapping his arms around her throat. Brody made his was towards the fighting pair but was stopped cold by a punch to the face from Letty. It then turned into a full blown fight in the middle of the garage, Mercedes grabbing hold of Rachel, Quinn and Sam wrestling for the upper hand, Tina fighting Mike whilst Marley fought Rory, and Mia and Brittany desperately trying to break the hold Puck had on Santana.
Because Burt was out of town taking care of some business it wasn't until Shelby and Holly arrived to break them all up, their legendary street status allowing them to take control of both crews. For some reason they could always smell trouble and be there in the right place at the right time.
"I knew this would happen!" Shelby said, holding back Puck. "I knew you would come over here to pick a fight. Your brother came onto our territory and started trouble with more than one person. I don't wanna hear anything from you Puckerman so save it. Get out of here before I teach you all a lesson you won't soon forget."
Puck growled and left anyway, getting into his car just as it decided to start raining. When Shelby was sure that him and the rest of his followers were gone she turned to Santana and the rest of Letty's crew.
"I don't want to hear it from any of you either. You guys are good and you're smart, I don't expect you to get caught up in petty street fights with people like Puck. You're better than that. From now on I don't want to hear any more from you. Any of you"
And with that the diner owner exited the garage and made her way over to her Camaro, Holly shrugging and sending them a reassuring smile before making her way to her truck, hopping in and following her girlfriend out of the yard and onto the road.
Santana winced as Brittany placed an ice pack to her eyebrow. "Anybody wanna tell me the real reason behind why Puck hates us so much?"
Letty sighed, Mia's comforting rubbing on her lower back helping her calm down enough to speak normally. "Me and Puck used to be in a crew together before things went to shit. Plus I made the mistake of sleeping with his girlfriend"
Dani was freaking out. She had been driving for longer than she realized and all she could think about what Kitty. Even though they weren't on speaking terms right now what Jake had said had kicked her up the ass, making her really think about what she wanted. She knew he was a slimy son of a bitch but she didn't want anything to happen to the blonde bar owner, despite how confused she had been about her feelings towards her. She was finally ready to admit to herself that she liked her and she was starting to regret running away from her after that kiss.
She knew Kitty felt the same way about her but she had been a coward. Dani Harper, resident badass, was a coward in the face of a relationship, something she had never had before. It was terrifying as hell and she had never gone past one night stands, always keeping herself distanced from that kind of thing as much as she could but seeing not only Letty and Mia and Tina and Marley but now Quinn and Rachel and Brittany and Santana she was starting to feel left out. She was the only crew member who didn't have someone and for once in her life she wanted that to change. She didn't want to be alone any more. She wanted someone, and that someone was Kitty.
But she was scared, she had never done this before and with the threat of Jake getting to the woman she had fallen for sent a chill straight down her spine. She didn't want him to reach her first and miss her chance. So, ignoring the nagging voice to call her crew and let them know she was ok she shifted up a gear and sped towards the one place she knew Kitty would be, her bar.
When she arrived she saw his Shelby parked outside, unbeknownst to her he had decided against joining his crew in favour of messing around with Dani. Sure, he had the hots for Marley even though she had rejected him on numerous occasions and chosen Tina over him, but he couldn't help himself when he had that bad boy urge to fuck with someone, especially if they were on the opposing crew. Just like his brother he couldn't keep his mouth shut and he was now messing with something Dani had only just realised she wanted and when Dani wants something, she gets it. On or off the track.
Growling she pulled up behind him as the rain poured down heavily and hopped out of her car as quickly as she could, not caring if she got wet. She ran towards the door just in time to hear a scream and when she burst through the front door she saw Jake pushing Kitty up against the bar, his hands fumbling as he tried to unzip her jeans.
Seeing red Dani ran towards him, football tackling him to the ground. Kitty immediately moved backwards to safety as she watched Dani beat the crap out of her attacker, the blonde showing no signs of stopping her assault. Jake managed to grab her hand and flip her over to return the favour before she bucked him off of her lap, the man going flying to the floor and hitting his head. As she groaned Dani grabbed his shirt and threw him forcefully up against the bar to punch him a few times more. Panting she dragged him towards the front door and threw him out, the man hitting the wet sidewalk with a whimper of pain.
Dani growled at him once more as she breathed heavily. "Don't you dare touch her again!"
When Jake had scurried to his car and driven off Dani turned back to Kitty who was stood in the corner nearby shaking. The blonde driver hurried towards her and pulled her into her arms, wrapping them around her tightly. She pulled back a few seconds later to look into her eyes and felt the blonde cup either side of her face with her shaking hands.
"Are you ok? Did he hurt you?" Kitty shook her head in response, her eyes closed. "Hey, it's ok. I'm here. Open your eyes" When she did as she was told Dani smiled. "It's ok"
"Why did you do that for me?"
"Because I finally realised what I should have a long time ago. I wanna be with you Kitty, I was just scared. I've never done this before"
"Me either but how did you know he would be here?"
"He said he knew about us and he said whilst I fumbled around with my feeling's he'd come and sample you. I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't let you get hurt either"
"Shhhh..." She silenced the blonde before she could ramble any more and connected their lips together in a soft kiss.
Instead of protesting Dani let herself melt into the kiss, finally able to enjoy the lips that had haunted her since the day they had first touched. All at the same time she had wanted to forget the way they felt against her own and wanted to feel them over and over again. As fate would have it she would never forget them, especially now that she had done it more than once.
Kitty wrapped her arms around Dani's neck and smiled as they continued to kiss, also finally able to show her true feelings in the intimate form of kissing the woman she had fallen for. The two of them had been at each others throats since they had first met but it seemed to be the way they worked and when Kitty really thought about it their relationship had always been intense, much more than any of the others that surrounded them every day.
Kitty had never dreamed that Dani would ever feel the same way as her, always thinking of her as a player and a woman who never cared about anything other than driving and her crew but she had proved her wrong. Dead wrong. Because here she was kissing her after kicking a guys ass for violating her personal space and forcing himself on her. Just the idea that Dani had kicked her butt into gear to rush over to her and take her chance before she lost it created a warm feeling in Kitty's stomach that she was pretty sure she never wanted to leave.
When they pulled away for air Dani smiled, both her eyes closed in bliss. "I'm so glad you're ok"
Taking a few moments to breathe again Kitty also smiled, tightening the hold she had around the other blonde's neck with her arms. "Me too. Although I'd rather you not put yourself in harms way for me again"
"You know what?" Dani smirked, pulling away to look at her. "You can say that as much as you want but I'm not gonna listen to you"
The shorter blonde laughed. "I didn't think you would"
Before they could continue Dani pressed her lips back to Kitty's, cutting off whatever the blonde was going to say in favour of kissing each other again. She had waited way too long and now she had the chance she was going to savour the moment for as long as she could.
When Dani's arms wrapped tightly around her waist Kitty felt herself being lifted, happily complying. Wrapping her legs around the blonde Latina's waist she was surprised by the strength she possessed. Dani however wasn't fazed. Now she had Kitty held onto her she started walking towards a door at the back of the bar, already knowing where it led. Their lips never parted as she kicked the door open and started making her way up the stairs towards the apartment above where Kitty lived.
They both chuckled as they stopped halfway, Dani nearly losing her footing and bumping into the wall. Not caring she smiled into another kiss and hoisted the shorter blonde up on her waist a little more before resuming what she was doing. As soon as they made it to the top of the stairs she bumped into the wall again, this time Kitty's back hitting it and making them smile as their lips bumped together clumsily.
Kitty was glad she was being held up knowing her legs would have buckled instantly at the feeling of Dani's lips in her neck, the street racer not caring that they hadn't even made it inside yet to kick things up a notch.
"Dani..."
It was so quiet anyone else may have missed it. Luckily Dani hadn't and pulled away mere centimetres from the blonde's neck to reply.
"What?"
"We n-need-" She took a few moments to try and compose herself and regain her ability to speak, Dani's lips reattaching to her neck her biggest distraction. "We need t-to g-get inside"
No other words needed to be said, Kitty already feeling the grasp Dani had on her legs tighten before she was pulled away from the wall and carried the short remaining distance to her apartment door.
Their lips connected once more and never left each other as Dani pushed through the front door, kicking it shut behind her with a booted foot.
Back at the house the crew had taken the rest of the day off to cool down after their encounter with Puck and his crew at the garage. Once they all had beers Letty had promised to tell Santana about her past with Puck. What she didn't know was that she was going to be honest about a lot more than just Puck.
Once they were all settled down in the living room with all the couples sat together Letty began.
"I guess it's time you finally know why me and Puck hate each other so much. As I told you back at the garage I was in a crew with him. Back when we were teenagers we were taken under the wing of a guy called Will Schuester, who Shelby told you about. He wanted to expand his crew other than him, Holly and Shelby so he scouted the local race scene for up and comers. That's how those introduction races started, how we found you. Back in the day me and Puck raced together along with a guy called Finn Hudson when we were seventeen. We were drafted into his crew and with us three the six of us became the first serious crew in Lima on the racing scene."
"But how did things go down?" Santana asked from her place on the other end of the couch, Brittany sat in her lap.
Letty took a sip of her drink before continuing. "It didn't last long before this person started threatening him. We never found out who it was but all we know is he left because of them to keep us all safe. It wasn't until a year later that Rachel arrived and a year after that the three of us left behind started a crew of our own. I was twenty at the time and by then I had started dating Mia and things were going pretty good. Until the accident. Rach do you want me to tell this part?"
The brunette looked up at her adoptive sister and nodded from her place in Quinn's arms. "Yeah, go ahead."
Letty nodded and continued. "There was this race. We were pretty new to the scene as a new crew and by then Quinn and Mia had joined. We were proving ourselves as a team to be messed with but one night we got a call from this racer we had never heard of. Finn stepped up and got behind the wheel, but we never really knew who it was that he went up against. Just that it was a woman and she had blacked out windows. Suspicious, I know, but at the time we didn't care. We just wanted to race and Finn went ahead with it anyway. They raced but when only she made it to the finish line we all started worrying. Until we heard an explosion. We then found out it was Finn's car exploding. He had crashed halfway through the course and we didn't reach him in time. That's why now we all have camera's on our dash if you become a full-time crew member. It prevents us from losing track of you like we did with Finn. After the funeral we were all so distraught we nearly fell apart. Puck considered him a brother, we all did, even me. To Rachel he was a lot more, a boyfriend, but the final straw for Puck was when he found out I slept with his girlfriend back when Schue was still around. By the way that was before I got with Mia. Anyway, he was still so distraught with Finn's death that another problem like that made him snap and we started fighting each other. I went to prison for two years for nearly beating him to death and when I got out everything had really fallen apart."
"What happened next?" Santana asked, feeling Brittany snuggle into her and rest her head on her shoulder.
Letty shrugged. "Mia waited for me for those two long years and Quinn stuck around for the long run too, as well as to keep Mia and Rachel company. We'd all grown up together. As I had stayed pretty close to Shelby after Schue left Rachel came as part of the deal and when I found out that she could drive she joined and we had the crew back together apart from Puck. He was so pissed at me that he had left and started his own crew. He's been at my throat ever since I got out for what happened all those years ago."
"But what about the rest of the crew?"
"We started expanding and Quinn told me about this girl she was close with in high school. When I realised it was Tina Marley came as part of the package deal. They had been racing on their own for a while and were looking for a crew to join and when I offered Tina the position she said she'd only join if Marley joined" The Latina chuckled, Tina and Marley laughing along with her.
"Yep, either both of us or none" Tina smiled, looking up at the woman who was sat on her lap.
"Aww, baby..." Marley cooed, cupping her girlfriend's jaw and pulling her in for a kiss.
Letty grinned and continued. "Anyway, they joined and about a year later we added the final member, Dani. We had heard about this girl who was good at hard to tackle courses and with the first Race Wars coming up we knew we needed one more driver if we were gonna beat Puck. So, we added her to our team and went on to win the first ever Race Wars. That was also the year we won her Ford GT. It proved we had finally made it and were here to stay as a crew in Lima. Schue would have been proud."
"What about Britt?"
"I'll answer that!" The blonde smiled, looking up at her girlfriend. "I became friends with Rachel when she came to Lima when she was fifteen. I was a cheerleader and we joined the Glee club at the same time and we became best friends. It was fun. Then when we both started driving together the accident happened and we kinda stuck around whilst Letty was gone. We hung out with Mia and Quinn and then when Letty came back I never became a full crew member, I just raced with them for fun. I have been ever since, until now that is. Now we're all one big happy crew, even with you" She smiled, bopping the Latina on the nose and making her smile.
Letty laughed at Brittany's innocence. "Yep, nothing major happened until we heard Puck was determined to win Race Wars at all costs this year and we met you for the first time. Now you know our history"
Quinn nodded in agreement with her crew leader. "Yep, and now you're part of it"
Santana smiled in appreciation, somewhat honoured to be considered part of this crews amazing and complex history. But she couldn't shake the feeling she had been getting more and more often over the past few weeks. What would happen when they found out the truth about who she really was and what she was doing there? Shaking her head of these thoughts she focused back on the other people in the room who's spirits had seemed to be lifted after the intense fight with their rival crew.
Mia held up her beer bottle from where she was sat on Letty's lap. "To the crew!"
"To the crew!"
It wasn't until the next day that Dani had returned. Burt had given the team the Friday off and the blonde had driven back to the house to let them all know she was actually alive. She had never been gone for this long with out letting them know she was ok. Putting her car into park behind Brittany's RX8 she sighed, her head falling back against her Sparco racing seat.
"You sure you wanna do this?"
She turned to her left to see Kitty looking straight back at her. Nodding she smiled. "I'm ready"
The two of them got out of the expensive Ford and made their way inside, finding everybody in the kitchen eating breakfast.
"Hey guys"
Everybody turned at the sound of her nervous voice and smiled. "You're alive! We thought you may have been dead Harper"
Dani rolled her eyes at her crew leaders comment. "Yeah, yeah, whatever"
"Where were you?" Mia asked.
"I can vouch for that. She was with me. Saving me actually"
Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Saving?"
The shorter blonde nodded. "Yeah. Maybe she should explain it to you herself"
"Basically after Jake and me left I drove around for a while and when I finally headed over to Kitty's he was...forcing himself on her. I beat the crap out of him and threw him out. Then one thing led to another and..."
This time Rachel was the one to raise an eyebrow. "And?"
For the first time since they had known her Dani blushed, prompting Kitty to take over. Not one to really care what other people thought she just came out with it. "We slept together"
There was a stunned silence throughout the room, none of them really sure just what to say about the new information.
"Umm, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Tina asked, the first woman to actually say something in the wake of the new announcement.
"Depends on how you look at it. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?" Quinn asked, looking over at the two women she had only just noticed holding hands.
Kitty shrugged. "Dani?"
"Yeah?"
"You sure about this?"
"Yeah." She then turned back to the crew. "I guess I finally have a girlfriend"
"Thank God!" Marley laughed, the other women in the room joining in with her. "Seriously though, congrats guys."
"Yeah, at least now we can experience an un-grouchy Dani"
Quinn nodded in agreement with the Asian woman. "Yeah, I agree. Congrats though"
"Congratulations guys" Rachel smiled, happy that she wouldn't have to try and get the two women before her together herself. They had done it for them by themselves.
"Finally!" Brittany squealed, pulling the woman she considered like an older sister into a bone crushing hug.
Dani laughed at Brittany's happiness. "Thanks Britt"
When Brittany pulled away from her Santana stepped up in front of them, sending a pointed look at the blonde. Despite not knowing her for long she liked the way Kitty worked and considered her a friend so she found herself worthy of repeating the phrase Dani had laid upon her before she had her date with Brittany. "You break her heart, I'll break your neck"
Dani laughed at their inside comment before pulling Santana in for a hug. "Thanks S"
"No problem. I mean it though, Harper"
"I'm sure"
When Letty and Mia finished by congratulating the new couple Letty's phone wrung. She plucked it from her pocket and upon seeing who was calling her she left the room immediately. It wasn't long before she came back and looked over at Santana.
"You're racing tonight"
"I am?"
She nodded. "Yep. That was Puck. For some reason he still wants you to race Rory. Whatever the stupid jerk wants he shall get so get ready because we're heading out this evening after sundown. You got it?"
"Yes boss"
"Good. Everybody chill until then"
Later that day as the rain poured down on Lima again Santana was inside on Brittany's bed watching some random Disney film on the blonde's TV with Lord Tubbington sat on her lap.
"Britt?"
"Yeah?"
"I need to use the bathroom for a minute and get some fresh air. Can I get up?"
"Oh, yeah. Hang on"
She nodded and watched as Brittany sat up from where she was snuggling against her and wrapped her arms around the large cat. He protested as she disturbed him but continued anyway.
"I know, you like Santana 'cause she's comfy but she has to pee. I'm sure when she gets back she'll let you sit on her again but we don't really want to cut off circulation to my girlfriend's legs now do we?"
She watched as Santana stood up and smiled at her girlfriend. Santana smiled back and lent down, pressing a kiss to Brittany's lips. "I'll be back in a minute"
Brittany nodded and watched as the Latina pressed a kiss to Lord Tubbington's head, briefly scratching him behind the ears before heading towards the door to the bedroom.
Heading downstairs quickly the Latina made her way outside and towards her car, hopping in and barely getting wet from the rain. She then fished her phone from her pocket and speed dialled Cassandra. Ever since that morning when Letty had told her she was racing once again she couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next and there were questions forming in her head that only Cassandra could answer. Luckily the blonde picked up after one ring.
"Hello?"
"Cassandra?"
"Oh, Santana. Hello. What can I do for you?"
"I'm racing Rory tonight"
"Ok..."
"I just wanted to ask you something that's been bugging me"
"Go ahead"
"I just wanna know how we're actually gonna start taking them down."
"Chief Washington is going to increase the heat on local street races so the window to escape will be greatly reduced. Once we have the right person we won't arrest anyone else. We just need to give it some time in between so that they don't start to notice. Santana, I've known you long enough to know that something else is bugging you. If it's something big it's better that you tell me now before the rest of the crew start to notice and start asking you questions."
Santana took a few moments to consider what the blonde was offering before sighing in surrender. "I got into a fight with Jake. He started it by coming onto our territory and he threatened Kitty whilst Puck arrived at the garage and nearly strangled me to death. Everybody got involved, even Brittany. I guess I just don't know what to do. I now know why things between Letty and Puck are so tense but what do I do? Things are getting intense"
"Just play it cool and stay your normal calm self, the one that they met the first night you raced in front of them. That calm of yours is your meal ticket. Don't lose your cool, just make sure that you stay away from them, no matter how hard people like Jake, especially Jake, make it. Go to the race tonight and just keep racing as you normally would. I'll know when to call the cops on one of your races or not. Just let me handle it and just worry about fitting in"
When Santana was done she made her way back into the house to find Brittany still waiting for her. The blonde smiled as she looked up when she heard the door to her bedroom open and as soon as Santana was sat back on the bed she curled into her side, her hand coming up to rest on the Latina's t-shirt-clad stomach.
"Got some fresh air?"
Santana nodded as she fingered the blonde's hair, smiling as she saw Brittany's leg come up to rest high over both of her own. Lord Tubbington glowered at his favourite human before Santana snapped him out of his daze.
"There's enough of me to go around Lord T. Join the party"
Once the cat was settled by her feet she let herself relax and finally enjoy the quality time she was being afforded with her new girlfriend.
That night the rain had cleared up enough to let them race and although the ground was still wet the race went ahead anyway. Knowing that they were going up against their rival crew they all took their individual cars and arrived early to the race location, both Holly and Shelby tagging along to make sure the peace was kept between both crews after the events of the day before. Now that Kitty was Dani's new girlfriend she tagged along too, riding shotgun with the blonde as they made their way to where Blaine and Kurt had set up the race.
Santana pulled up to the start line and got out of her car, making her way around to the front to lean up against the hood. As she pulled her hooded leather jacket around her to try and keep the warmth in Brittany walked over to her from where she had parked her RX8 next to Rachel and wrapped her arms around her neck.
"Are you ok?"
Santana nodded. "Yeah, just a little confused"
"Why?"
"I just don't know why Puck's putting me up against Rory again"
"Maybe he's doing it so that none of his other crew lose their cars. To him he's expendable. Put it this way, at least it's Rory. It's not that hard and I want to try something"
Santana raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"
She nodded. "Yeah" Leaning forward she kissed the spot next to Santana's ear before whispering. "Let's make him jealous"
When Puck and the rest of his crew arrived they parked on the opposite side of the road and Rory pulled up to the line only to see Brittany stood between Santana's legs, the Latina's arms wrapped around her waist from behind and her chin resting on her shoulder. Staying put in his car he watched as Mia came over to the two racers, Santana handing her her pink slip and Rory doing the same. The small brunette then handed the white race bandanna to Brittany and told her to start when she was ready. Brittany nodded and Santana took that as her cue to to get back in her car.
Brittany stopped her by grabbing her wrist and pulled her in for a kiss, the two of them stretching it out a little longer than normal on purpose before parting. The rest of Letty's crew smiled knowingly from the side of the road, all of them up for a little bit of teasing to cheer them up after the fight. When Santana was in her car and strapped into her seat Brittany pressed a kiss to her lips through the open window before making her way to the middle of the road and in between both cars. When Santana glanced to her right Rory growled at her and focused back on the road, determined to win this.
This would be the first time he was going up against Santana since she had got her car back and he was determined to win this drag race like he had before. What he didn't anticipate though was the pure extent of the performance upgrades that had been put into the Supra. This went for the rest of Puck's crew. They had no idea how much work and money had been put into upgrading under the hood and she was ready to blow them all away. She also knew now that she had a good chance to beat him at this kind of race and she was feeling pretty confident that she would be crossing the line first. Even if it was Rory though, she was going to treat this race like she did any other. Like it was her last.
Once Brittany was stood at the ready she looked over at her girlfriend who revved the engine in conformation, Rory repeating the action before she dropped to her knees. Both racers were immediately off the line and Rory looked on in shock as Santana pulled ahead early on. Growling he shifted up a gear in the hopes that he could catch up but as the Latina shifted up a gear as well she pulled ahead even more, the power of her engine too much for Rory's un-tuned muscle engine.
It was a lost cause as Santana crossed the line in first, not even sure there was a point to their race tonight. At least she had proved to Puck's crew that she was worth more than a low level crew member. She was worthy of racing the rest of his crew on her own with out the help of her crew (not that she didn't mind the extra firepower).
She slid to a stop and steered her car so that it was crossing the road, Rory crossing the finish line moments later. When the rest of the crew surrounded her she was congratulated but Rory and Puck were a lot less happy about the outcome.
Rory walked over to them and grabbed Brittany's wrist, violently jerking her away from Santana so that he could confront her. "What the hell did you do to your car?"
"Enough to win against you"
"You cheated. No Nos was allowed!"
"I didn't use Nos. I won on power. Maybe you should ask Josh Coleman that. I beat his Ferrari with this car too so maybe you should shut up before I lose my patience with you"
"You cheated!"
Letty decided to cut in, standing in between them. "Look, she didn't cheat, I can assure you. If you want a rematch fine, take it up with Blaine and Kurt, but remember this: It doesn't matter if you win by and inch or a mile, winning's winning"
Puck shook his head. "Whatever you say Ortiz. If that's true maybe we should kick up the difficulty."
"What are you getting at?"
He turned his attentions to Santana. "Seeing as you stole her away from me maybe we should really put her to the test. She's a full crew member now, that means she should be racing like one. Anderson, I'll be calling you soon. Watch your back Lopez, you just got thrown into our world. Whether you come out breathing depends on how well you drive. Let's go guys"
Rory snatched his pink slip from Mia and followed behind his crew leader, Santana once again not choosing to take his car. The crew watched as they all drove away, Letty turning to her newest recruit.
"You're in the frying pan now S. Watch your back. He's not gonna let up on you"
It was about 1:00am when her phone went off later that night, the Latina immediately reaching for it and taking it downstairs so that she didn't wake up Brittany. Lately she had been staying at the house nearly ever night and although she hadn't gone any further than a heated make out session with the blonde they were at the point where they were happy to share a bed together. Neither wanted to push it and things would happen when they were both ready to take the next step in their relationship. Although Santana liked the idea of taking her time with Brittany she just hoped she had one night to show the blonde just how much she cared for her before the truth came out.
Back to what she was doing she padded into the kitchen in her sweatpants and wifebeater and slid her finger across the screen of her phone to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Lopez?"
"Who is this?"
"Jake Puckerman"
She frowned. "How did you get this number?"
"That's not important. What is important is that I wanna race you off the record"
"What do you mean?"
"I want to cut the bullshit and get past your friend Blaine's red fucking tape and race you one on one with no one else around. I wanna see what you're really made of"
"What does the winner get?"
"Street rep."
"What happens if I say no?"
"I'll make sure you don't make it to the end of the week and that precious car of yours will go up in flames. Plus I'll take that pretty blonde girlfriend of yours and let Rory loose on her. Your choice. You either race or you stop breathing"
Santana took a few moments to think about what he was offering. She knew it was bad to not tell Letty and the rest of the crew what she was doing but on the other hand she didn't want Brittany to get hurt and she didn't even want to think what Rory would do to her if he got his hands on her. Sighing, her decision was already made.
"Fine. When?"
Jake laughed on the other end of the line. "Meet me at Tex's gas station on the outskirts of town at ten tomorrow evening. You don't show up I'll kill you and give Brittany to Rory."
Without giving her a chance to reply he hung up, Santana left standing there in shock at what she had just agreed to.
"Shit"
"Santana?"
She immediately spun around and saw a sleepy Brittany standing in the doorway. "Oh, hey"
"Are you ok?" She yawned.
The Latina nodded. "Yeah, just couldn't sleep is all"
Brittany walked over to her and grabbed her hand, not noticing the other that was clenching her phone and pulled her back upstairs towards the bedroom Brittany had claimed as her own. She pulled the Latina into the bed and as soon as she was settled she curled into Santana's side, feeling the tanned woman's arms wrap around her waist and pull her close. At the feeling of Brittany curled up to her she relaxed a little trying to ignore the fact that she was going to go behind her crew's backs for the first time since she had joined. She was now in deeper than ever before and she was starting to regret ever coming back to Lima in the first place.
Feeling Santana's heart racing Brittany placed a soothing hand on her chest and rubbed, instantly calming her down. With a kiss to the Latina's wifebeater-clad chest she smiled sleepily. "It's ok San. You can sleep now."
At the sound of the blonde's voice and her soothing rubbing she found herself relaxing to the point of where she was on the edge of slumber. It wasn't long before her eyes closed and she finally fell asleep, Brittany not far behind her.
TBC