"Don't walk away from me like that!" Rachel yelled after Santana. How many times did she have to tell her girlfriend of one year how much it upset her when she did that? It made her feel abandoned, when all Rachel wanted to do was fix it, always the perfectionist.

Santana resisted walking out knowing it would only cause further arguments, she stormed back towards the living room, Rachel in hot pursuit behind her.

"If I had known it was going to upset you, I wouldn't have done it okay!?"

Rachel's tone was desperate, pleading. Santana never understood why she had to smother her like this. She'd told Rachel countless times before to let her calm down in these moments, give her the space she needed to be able to talk it out, otherwise she'd end up saying cruel words that she would later regret.

Since she wasn't giving her that, Santana couldn't help but react, and she spun around to confront the smaller girl.

"Yeah, well it did! And if you have a problem, please just don't go behind my back and…"

"Woah woah woah, wait, wait!'' Rachel cut in, causing Santana to sigh and turn around again. It frustrated her that her girlfriend was so hellbent on proving her innocence, she never let her get her point across. Whatever Rachel's intention, Santana was still allowed to be hurt.

She walked away, always the avoidant.

"The only reason why I called her was because I actually was worried about you. I didn't hear from you for like six hours."

Santana turned to look at her girlfriend again.

"Yeah, well to Britt, it just looked like you were checking up on me. Checking up on us even. I'm not sure how you ever expect your relationship with her to improve when you act like this. Britt's not interested in me, she's moved on. For god's sake, I've moved on! I'm with you! But you don't trust me one bit do you? All this jealousy Rachel, it's not good."

"For god's sake, Santana! I am not jealous. This has nothing to do with Brittany, I was just worried about you. I thought something had happened!"

"Well forgive me Rach, but Brittany was a sore subject for us in the first couple of months of our relationship, or do you not remember that?"

"Yes but we're long past that now! I was insecure, yes I admit it, but not for a long time!"

Santana rolled her eyes. Rachel hated when she did that. Why wasn't she hearing her?

"Alright, you know what? I will try not to care so much next time. Sorry." Rachel sighed heavily, walking past Santana, feeling incredibly frustrated.

"Stop!" Santana called after her, and Rachel turned to look at her. She knew the importance of not walking away when your partner was trying to communicate "you know that's not what I'm saying."

"No. I don't actually." Rachel shook her head. "Maybe I need to give you some space."

By now she knew her girlfriend well enough to know what she needed to calm down, but she said it hoping Santana would reassure her that she didn't need space this time, it was just a silly misunderstanding.

Santana's reaction said otherwise.

"Okay…wow. Noted." Rachel said. She walked away from Santana to sit on the couch.

"What? I didn't even say anything." Santana followed after her.

"Yeah, your face just said everything."

"Yeah…well. What do you want me to say?"

Rachel paused for a second; bracing for her next question to Santana. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer to her next question, but at the same time she needed to hear it.

"I wanna know if I'm really suffocating you."

Santana looked away, scared to hurt her girlfriend's feelings, but knowing that she needed to be honest.

"Well…yeah. Sometimes…"

There it was again, Rachel's kicked puppy face that Santana hated so much, especially when she was the cause of it.

She wasn't sure why Rachel had to force this out of her, because now she was the one feeling bad.

"Is that what you wanna hear?" Santana added.

"I'm not asking you because I want you to make me feel better. I'm asking because I genuinely care about you, a lot. But clearly I'm the only one."

A recurring theme that always seemed to come up with Santana, was she felt that everybody thought the worst in her, so Rachel couldn't understand why she always repeated this pattern with her. Rachel was the one who loved Santana, yet Santana seemed to perceive all of her actions in the wrong way.

She couldn't even ask Santana a question without her assuming she had selfish motivations behind it.

She couldn't be worried about her while she was out of town and on a night out with Brittany in LA without her assuming she was jealous and checking up on her.

"That's not true." said Santana. Her voice was calm now, and she seemed to actually be listening to Rachel.

"I'm gonna go for a walk. I'll be back soon." Rachel said.

She didn't storm out without warning like Santana, she communicated where she was going. She wasn't even one to need space much, but she'd been hurt today, so it felt necessary.

She just couldn't believe Santana couldn't see the situation for what it was. A worried girlfriend, calling the other person she was with, to see that everything was okay. There wasn't anything sly or calculated to it.

If she thought about it rationally, she supposed that Brittany had probably put this narrative into Santana's head. It was no secret that Brittany wasn't exactly Rachel's biggest fan, and Santana hated being in the middle of them both. It was awkward enough, what with one being her ex and the other being her current partner. Maybe the frustrations of it all had caused Santana to react like this, and Rachel knew she'd probably apologize later.

But the other thing on Rachel's mind was the comment about her being smothering.

Yes she could be clingy, she admitted to that, but it frustrated her that Santana seemed to give her no allowances and understanding to everything she had been through. She had a deep rooted fear of rejection spanning right back to childhood, and she was terrified of losing people. She was clingy because she wanted to make her relationship with Santana work. The last person she had been in love with had died. She was no stranger to loss.

So yes, she did hold a little bit tighter after that.

She sighed as she plugged her headphones in. She wasn't perfect, but neither was Santana. She hated how avoidant and dismissive she could be, even if she had gotten better at storming out mid-argument. Yes, Rachel had to give it to her, her communication had improved and she yelled and used mean words less. She actually couldn't remember the last time the Latina had cursed at her.

Rachel decided against doing the second lap of the park she had planned to do, and headed towards the florists instead.

Santana and her would be okay, they were just a work in progress.