AN: Thanks to all of my readers who alert and review, and just thanks in general for reading my stories. I made more changes and additions to this chapter than the last, so I hope y'all still enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Glee's not mine...Still.


As I pull into the parking lot I catch a glimpse of the Cheerios practicing out on the field and I smile in amusement as I get out of my jeep to hear Santana screaming loudly at the others. I stand and listen to her bark out commands for Quinn so she doesn't have too for a few moments before walking into the school with my amused grin still firmly in place as I head into the guys locker room. Once there I walk over to the coach's office before stopping short at seeing a woman sitting there behind the coach's desk.

"Hello...?" I question hesitantly as I lightly knock on the door. She doesn't bother to look up from the paperwork she's intently looking over as she waves me in, so I shuffle over awkwardly and wait to be properly acknowledged.

"What can I do for you?" she questions me as she finally looks away from the papers now sitting on the desk in front of her.

"Um...Well, I'm Rayden Berry. I was hoping to join the team," I tell her nervously.

"What position?" she asks me with an interested look. I'm not the biggest guy out there, but that's where my advantage is.

"Running back ma'am."

"Alright," she says with a curious nod. "Show up to practice today and we'll see what you've got kid," she tells me before looking back at her papers. I recognize the dismissal immediately and leave with a quick, "Thanks coach".

As I make it back into the hall I see Kurt and Finn talking to Mercedes and Noah over by a set of lockers and start to head in their direction. Only to be stopped short by Karofsky and Azimio stepping into my path. Joy...

"Yes?" I question expectantly while pointedly looking over to the group of gleeks I was trying to make my way over to.

"Have you talked to coach yet?" Azimio asks hopefully.

"I have. I'm joining your practice today and she's taking that as my try-out," I tell them while again looking pointedly towards the group of gleeks, which now have Tina and Mike among them. I'm trying to get my point across without actually being rude.

"'Kay cool," Karofsky says and then they both walk away. I just shake my head at the pointlessness that was that short conversation before finally continuing on my way to the group, shaking off my annoyance.

The group still hasn't spotted me yet so I manage to sneak up behind Noah and wrap my arms around him tightly while whispering "Hey sexy," into his ear. This causes him to jump and spin around quickly in surprise and shock with murder in his eyes as he readies himself to punch someone, but once he sees it's only me he calms down significantly.

"Don't do that bro. You almost got the shit punched out of you," he tells me with a glare while the others laugh.

"Please, Noah!" I bark out with an amused laugh of my own at that, "We all know that I can take you without breaking a sweat," I tease. It is true, though. I've taken an extensive amount of kickboxing and self-defense classes which Noah knows, and this is why he just scoffs at me and turns back to the others without another word. He knows it's true.

"What's up bitches?" Santana says by way of greeting as she appears beside me, and I eye her from the corner of my eye while smiling slightly. She looks happy today.

"Nothing really. Finn and Kurt were just telling us about the party they're thinking of throwing on Friday," Noah answers with a grin.

"Awesome. Is it a free-for-all, or just gleeks?" Santana asks, her grin matching the one currently on Noah's face as she cocks her hip to the right and crosses her arms. She looks back and forth between Kurt and Finn expectantly.

"We were thinking just the gleeks, that way Ray here can get to know us and us him," Kurt answers with a timid smile towards me. I smile brightly back and wonder if my dads would be ok watching Chord for a party. Football and Glee Club are one thing, but don't want to take advantage of them.

"Sounds good. I'll bring the alcohol," Noah says excitedly before getting distracted and heading off towards a Cheerio that had caught his eye. I just chuckle at my friend's nature and turn to Santana as everyone else decides to go their separate ways and get ready for class.

"So, I heard you in practice this morning. You can scream pretty loud," I tell her with a teasing grin as we walk towards her locker.

"Oh, you really have no idea," she tells me with a teasing wink and a down right wicked smirk as we reach her locker. I feel like I'm basically choking on air as I use all of my willpower to keep my eyes from bugging out of my skull as she just calmly puts in her locker combination. Dear sweet baby Moses...I keep my eyes on hers, enjoying the amusement I see twinkling behind them even if it is at my own expense, and I just kinda stare at her a little dumbfounded while all my blood rushes south. "You're drooling," she tells me as she shuts her locker with a loud slam and pointing to my chin. This brings me out of my perverted fantasy that I was beginning to drift off into and I stare at her seriously as I wipe my mouth and chin with the back of my hand. Sure enough...Shiz.

"Can you blame me?" I ask her incredulously as we start walking towards our first period while trying to play it off as coolly as I can.

"No, I guess I really can't. I mean what can I say...I'm hot," she says cockily and I see something shift in her eyes. I don't like it; nor do I like the slight tension that just popped up as she said that so I frown at her. "What?" she questions me, slightly defensive as we arrive at her door from having seen the look on my face.

"Nothing. It's just...," I make sure I have her eyes locked with mine as I tell her this next statement, wanting to make sure that she really hears me. "You're so much more than just hot. You're beautiful, I'd even happily go as far as to say gorgeous, and from the little I know about you so far pretty dang incredible," I tell her honestly. At this she looks to the ground with a shy embarrassed smile and a blush that I can clearly see and I grin triumphantly. As she's looking back up the bell rings and I silently curse for being late. "I've gotta go but I'll see you next period," I tell her as I quickly grab her hand and kiss the back of it before running off down the hallway towards my room.


I'm at my locker putting my things away and getting ready to head home for lunch with my monkey-man when Santana saunters up to me with Noah on her heels.

"Hey," I greet them both with a distracted grin as I close my locker. I'm ready to see my baby boy.

"You're sitting with us at lunch," Santana orders me with a light scowl and I can see the playfulness swirling around in her eyes.

"I can't," I tell her with an apologetic smile and her scowl deepens on her face into a real one. It feels like it almost physically pains me to see that.

"Why not?" She questions me sharply. I can pick up on the barely there undertone of hurt that she's trying to mask, as well as see her throwing her walls up in nothing short of seconds. I curse myself silently because she hasn't had her walls up since yesterday after school.

"I'm going home to see Chord," I explain quickly while hoping that this placates her. I then let out a silent sigh of relief as I see her cautiously dropping her guard again. Thank Moses. "Did you want to go?" I ask quickly; hopeful. "I'm guessing Noah is since he's still standing here when there's food being served." I tack on with a smirk to cover my eagerness at receiving her answer and I see Noah nod out of the corner of my eye, my focus still solely on Santana.

"Sure. It'll be cool seeing the munchkin again," she tells me, her light and playful scowl back in place. This is Santana Lopez we're talking about now. She can't be caught grinning too much or the masses will think she's gone soft, and she can't have that (Her words, not mine). I grin again as well and lead them both out to my jeep. Once there I open Santana's door for her (Which I see the blush and smile that she ducks her head to try and hide from me) before jogging over to my side still chuckling happily over the snarky, "Whatever, Berry," I receive for my chivalrous act. This woman.

I walk into my house with Noah and Santana on my heels (Literally, they both almost trip me), and I head straight for the kitchen knowing that's where they're going to be. I see Daddy at the stove as expected making lunch and Chord in the same place on the table just like yesterday. I head directly for Chord and scoop him out of his car-seat, kissing him all over his face like he loves and making him giggle and squeal. I'll never tire of hearing that beautiful sound. It's like the best music to my ears, and that's saying a lot coming from me.

"Hey Daddy. How's he been?" I ask as I take a seat at the table with him still securely tucked in my arms. Noah and Santana join me, taking the empty seats on either side of me, as my daddy turns around to answer me.

"Oh! Hello, I'm Leroy," Daddy says upon seeing Santana beside me.

"Santana," she says hesitantly with a nervous smile that I find super adorable on her.

"Nice to meet you hun," he tells her with a bright smile before turning to address me. "He was amazing as always Ray." He then turns back to the food on the stove to check on it. "I also ended up feeding him because he decided he didn't want to wait on you today."

"Aww...you didn't want daddy to feed you today, Monks?" I ask Chord with a small pout. He just stares at me as intently as a three month old can for a few long moments before mimicking the pout on my face perfectly and I melt. Like...puddle of goo, this kid is gonna end up getting away with murder with me, melt.

"You never should have shown him that face Ray," Santana tells me with a soft laugh after 'awwing' at the adorableness that is my son.

"I know. I'm so, so screwed," I say with my focus still on Chord's tiny little face. His dark green eyes are squinted low and his little lip is quivering just so, and I just...No. I can't take him doing the pout any longer so I quickly blow raspberries on his tummy to make him squeal and laugh. Mission accomplished, and when I look at his little face again he's smiling a wide gummy smile with his green eyes shining bright. I look to my right and see Santana shifting around in her seat as if she's unsure of what to do with herself so I hand her Chord with a knowing eye-roll, and she gives me an excited and grateful smile before focusing completely on my baby and tuning us out. I knew he's what she wanted.


I'm walking with Santana to her locker once we're finally back at the school so I can walk her to her next class when I see some jock that I've seen a few times in passing leaning against it. I hear Santana sigh loudly next to me and a scowl paints my face immediately as I stare at the dude. It's obvious from her reaction that he's someone Santana doesn't want to see at the moment. He sees my scowl which causes him to smirk at me cockily as we reach her locker and he gives her a long and lingering once over that makes my blood boil just a bit (Ok, a lot a bit), but I keep my face blank other then my previous scowl that hasn't dropped.

"What do you want Al?" Santana sighs out in exasperation as she shoves him off of her locker so she can open it.

"You never called me back," he says, as if he's in disbelief that she could ever do such a thing while his eyes never stop staring intently at her ass. It pisses me off even more but I still keep my mouth shut. Barely...

"I'm aware," Santana drawls out in a bored tone as she looks through her locker, not even sparing him a glance. I let my scowl drop to smirk at the douche now at her dismissal.

"Why?" The guy questions a little to aggressive for my liking; his eyes still locked on Santana's ass. This dude here...Can't he take a hint? It's bordering on pathetic now.

"Didn't want to," she tells him in the same tone, still not bothering to look at him.

"Why the fuck not?" The guy snarls, finally dragging his eyes up to glare at the back of her head. Santana turns around at this and slams her locker shut so hard that I'm surprised she doesn't break it at the guys tone. I have the biggest urge to jump in between her and the guy, but I manage to reign it in cause I don't think she'd appreciate it. I'm still on edge and ready though.

"Because I didn't fucking want to, Albert. You did absolutely nothing for me and I honestly regret it. Now run the fuck along and find some girl who actually wants a four inch dick and a lousy fuck," Santana spits out venomously and with a glare ten times more potent than his pissy glare could ever aspire to be. Her's even has me kinda wanting to take cover and hide.

The guy's now so red with embarrassment and rage as people laugh at what Santana just said to him that he's seriously going to reach the color purple soon. He takes a menacing step towards her and that's it. I'm not doing this shiz anymore. I immediately jump in front of her and shove the dude back roughly. "Back the hell up. Now," I tell him with a deadly glare. He just looks between me and Santana for a few seconds, I guess weighing his options, before flipping us both off and charging down the hallway.

"I can take care of myself you know!" Santana turns on me as soon as I turn around to face her. She's still wearing that scary as fuck glare, but I muster up my big boy courage and go on like it's not even there.

"Yeah I figured, but you shouldn't have to," I tell her innocently with a simple shrug. She stares at me for a long moment, observing me for something I'm not entirely sure of before smiling slightly.

"Thank you," she tells me with a shy and sweet smile as we start walking towards our classes.

"It's my pleasure," I say in an British accent as I take her books from her, ignoring her protests about her being able to carry them herself.


I'm in the locker room at the end of the day with Noah and Finn as they get ready for practice and I my try-out when I see the guy (Al I think I remember Santana saying his name was) from earlier. I stiffen and immediately want nothing more then to punch his sorry as in the nose, to feel the satisfying crunch of his cartilage giving away underneath my knuckles, but I know I can't if I want to be able to be on the team.

"Hey, what position does that dude play?" I ask instead, pointing towards Al. Maybe I can make his life hell on the field somehow...

"He's the first-string running-back," Finn answers with a scowl. I smirk as I notice it, happy that I'm not the only one who doesn't like this dude.

"You don't like him," I state. It's not a question. It's one hundred percent obvious that he doesn't.

"Fuck no," he spits out and I give him a slightly surprised look at his glare and tone. "The dude's always picking on Kurt no matter how many times I try and make him leave him alone. He also thinks he's Gods gift to women too, and is always harassing some girl or another," Finn answers as he finishes getting dressed and grabs his helmet roughly from his locker. Seems I poked at a sore spot with bringing up good 'ole Ally.

"Yeah, and anyway that's bullshit because everyone knows that I'm God's gift to women, not him. And I certainly don't harass the ladies. It's uncool. I don't know how many times I've had to put the guy in his place but like Finn says he doesn't seem to learn. It's starting to get old," Noah adds as he's lacing up his cleats.

"Huh..." I mumble as I fall into my thoughts. Interesting...The guy's not even very good looking, so it's kinda weird to hear that his ego's as big as it is.

"What?" Noah asks, seeing the look on my face as I stare at the guy.

"He tried to intimidate Santana after lunch, so I'm pretty pissed at the dude. I can't wait to take his spot," I answer him with an evil grin settling on my face at the end of my statement. I give Al a little finger wave with my evil smirk still in place as we pass him on our way to the field and he just glares at me with slight confusion swirling in his eyes.

"You do know that San can take care of herself, right?" Noah questions me incredulously once we're out of the locker room.

"I know, but exactly like I told her she shouldn't have to," I say with a shrug as I catch his eye. He gives me a thoughtful nod and the three of us make the rest of the trip out to the field in silence.

After warm-ups (During which the Cheerios made their way into the bleachers to observe the practice) Coach decides to set up a scrimmage with the first-string offense paired with the second-string defense, and the second-string offense paired with the first-string defense. I can see the coaches logic in this and I think it's a brilliant idea and strategy. She also moves Al to the second-string offense for the moment (Which pisses him off and amuses me to no end) and places me in the first-string spot as she explains that in the second half of practice she was going to switch me to get a full view of my skills.

"It's cute how you're crushing on the school's bicycle," Al shouts out to me with a sneer as I'm running to take my position on the field and I immediately turn around while never breaking my jog. I'm fixing to pick up my pace to run right back in the opposite direction and rush him, but before I get the chance Noah and Finn grab the back of my jersey tightly to stop me in my tracks and hold me in place.

"No," Noah tells me firmly with an annoyed scowl. I open my mouth to protest as I struggle against their holds, but before I can Finn cuts me off.

"Just take his spot on the team," he says sharply as they drag me into the huddle. I'm fuming as they call the play so when we get into formation I brace myself for take-off, and as soon as the ball's snapped and securely in my hands I take off like a bat out of hell. I stiff arm the guy coming at me from my right and barrel into the one in front of me as hard as I can. He wasn't prepared for it so it knocks him off balance and I run him over as I force my way past. Unfortunately for these boys they're taking the brunt of my aggression towards Al. I'm able to slip past the other two defenders easily thanks to my agility and I make the touchdown like it's nothing, much to the amazement of the coach and the cheers of the rest of the team. I smirk when I see her eyes bugging from her head with her jaw hanging open, and I immediately search for my target.

"That was for you Ally!" I call out to Al with my smirk still in place, and I feel a deep sense of pleasure at the fact that he looks like he's fixing to hit something. I blow him a kiss as my smirk turns into a teasing grin and this time he spikes his helmet into the ground forcefully with an annoyed growl. I then turn my attention away from him to catch Santana's eye and see how she liked my performance just now, and my cocky smirk reappears as I catch sight of her next to Quinn and Brittany at the top of the bleachers. Her and the other Cheerios are staring at me all in various states of shock and awe and I wink at Santana. She just rolls her eyes at my smirk before shooting me one of her own and sticking her tongue out at me. I think I'm fixing to be royally screwed when it comes to this girl...


Hope you enjoyed that. Please review, you know leave some feedback, suggestions, anything that you please. Thanks for reading = )