So there's a minor quinntana moment here, in celebration of the Quinntana Week! Also, would focus a bit on Spencer.

PLL S02E19 (Naked Truth) S02E20

CHAPTER 8

Bits of Family

.

LOPEZ MANOR

SANTANA.

.

The morning sun reflected off the man-made pond across the Lopez's yard, creating random puddles of gold light where Santana eats her breakfast. Her mother had always loved eating outside at this ungodly hour for breakfast so she could appreciate the nature. The sunrise gives off golden rays along that horizon where the eastern part of the manor faces. Her mother would always wake her up to force her in joining her for breakfast.

Years of training had changed Santana's body clock and made her a morning person, thus whenever she's home, she continues with this tradition. For at this place, she remembers her mom and she could feel that she was just right there sitting in front of her gazing at their little garden.

It's near Thanksgiving, a holiday Britannia had adopted from its colonies. Originally, it's a day celebrated to give thanks for the harvests and blessings the people received from the previous year, but now, Britannia had made it looked like Thanksgiving is a day to give glory to Britannia for helping its colonies and leading them towards a brighter future. And so the Knights were given permission to be off work and be with their families. Though in case of emergency, they shall still answer to His Highness.

And what confuses Santana is that Spencer, who never breaks any family tradition, is happily munching her breakfast across the table. Yes. In the Lopez's yard, in her mother's usual spot. It wasn't really about 'her mother's spot' part that bothers her, it's that Spencer was here with her, a day before Thanksgiving. She had been staying at the Lopez Manor for about a week now, and she hasn't given Santana any explanation. Of course, Santana welcomes her with open arms (figuratively), but she can't help but ask.

"So my dad got a call from Mrs. Hastings yesterday…" Santana asks as she takes a sip of her coffee. This is another thing she loves whenever she's home—their very own coffee. The aroma always calms her nerves and gives her an inexplainable good feeling to start her day. She had immediately offered it to Spencer during her first day at the manor, and her captain loved it. Compare to Santana, Spencer was obsessed with coffee. Santana always thought that Spencer treats coffee as water, and would probably bleed coffee if ever she's wounded.

When Spencer didn't answer, she continues, "Look, you know my dad loves you. Everyone in here loves you too-"

"And you?" Spencer pipes in. And Santana can't help but look at her in confusion. "What?"

"Do you love me too?" Spencer asks as she shoots a teasing smile to Santana.

Santana just rolled her eyes, "No. I hate you." Spencer would somehow flirt with her to deflect the topic she's trying to avoid.

"Awwww. And here I thought we are happily married. Did I do something wrong?" Spencer continues as she grabs a bite to her apple. She seems to be really comfortable at this yard. Santana's eyes widen for a second. Maybe Spencer decided to move in?

"Yeah. I can't stand your neat-freakiness." Santana plays along. Santana wasn't really that messy but Spencer was a bit of a perfectionist. Just a bit of something out-of-place gets her."But seriously, Spence." Santana tries to go back to the subject at hand. "You know you're always welcome here, you actually have a room and all that. But it's Thanksgiving. Aren't you gonna go home?" Santana watches Spencer closes her eyes as if she's remembering something.

TRUTH UP. (1 week ago)

ASHFORD ACADEMY.

SPENCER.

.

"Why am I the last to know?" Spencer sounded like she was on verge of tears.

"You're not." Her mother tries to calm her down. "Melissa doesn't know either." So her older sister is clueless too. Her parents has been lying to their faces all these time.

"What?" Spencer asks in frustration. "How can you not tell her? How can you be okay with this? How can you go on living next door to them all these years?" Spencer's voice rises as she points the last part. In Rosewood, the Hastings lives next door to the Di Laurentis.

"I didn't know. I didn't know until Jason was an adult. And by then, your father and I discussed it."

She just learned that Jason, the same Jason that was a successor to the throne, is not really a royalty himself. Because, Spencer's father, is his real father.

"You discussed what?"

"Look, I understand that you feel angry, and confused and betrayed by this. Believe me I did too, and sometimes I still do. But I had to get past it."

"How?"

"Spencer, every family has secrets. If I had known before then I would've made a different decision. You wouldn't be here." Spencer's mom tries to convince her. She knew Spencer was stubborn. Something she got from her dad. "Honey, let's go home and talk to your father."

Hearing this, Spencer shook her head. "No. I don't wanna talk to him. I don't even want to see him."

"Spencer this doesn't change anything"

"No, this changes EVERYTHING!" She exclaims. Frustration building up inside her. Mostly there is anger, a feeling of betrayal too.

"Honey please. Let's go home." Her mother tries to hold her but Spencer steps back.

"Where is home? That's a joke." She leaves her mother feeling upset.

"I just… I just can't deal with my family right now." Spencer answers as she looks away. "Your dad won't mind if I stay for Thanksgiving, right? I… I don't really want to stay at the palace either."

Quinn, being her loving self, invited all the knights to stay with them during Thanksgiving. Instead of flying back to the homeland, the Empress had decided to celebrate Thanksgiving at Area 11, because the Emperor's brother, Prince Schneizel and his family, which includes Brittany were also situated there. They had sent off an invitation to all of their relatives to celebrate it with them. And so far, all of them had RSVP'd yes—not that you can't say 'no' to the Empress's request.

Lord Jeremiah had all of his life serving the Royal family so he's obviously staying for the big event. Sebastian wasn't really into family-tradition either so he decided to stay at the palace too, he also had a feeling that rebels would take this as an opportunity to attack the palace, and he wouldn't pass up a chance to kill a few (or many—he was considered as a vampire in the battlefield, with his bloodlust during battle). Rachel's dad was on a vacation at New York so the knight was staying in too—not that she would pass up a chance to be with the princess. Nathaniel, in contrary to public's belief, is a family guy, so he would be staying at his parents' house. Mike's family, even with all these years staying under Britannia, never really felt the need to celebrate Thanksgiving. So during this time of the years, he stays with Santana's family, because no one could really resist the Lopez's menu during these occasions, especially now that Millie Rose has been in charge with the kitchen.

Santana was holding back a remark about Spencer was totally being out of character: refusing to stay at the palace, where almost all of the royalties will be at, and staying at her place instead of her three other best friends'. Her eyes soften at Spencer's obvious change of demeanor though. Toby, her boyfriend was out of town, and she's having some family problems to deal with. "Do you wanna talk about it?" She reaches out her hand to touch Spencer's.

Spencer shoots a reassuring smile at her, "Not now. Not yet." And Santana nods in understanding.

She knew when to ask.

PALACE, AREA 11

QUINN.

.

"You know that to my people, family always comes first." Quinn watches as Santana shakes her head. She has been convincing Santana to stay tomorrow for the Thanksgiving dinner but her knight had politely declined.

"But. I am here, like I promised, to make it up to you. So hurry up and change so we could go." That brought a smile on her face. Santana had promised to take her out today to somewhere, her knight hasn't revealed yet, and she was getting excited. She doesn't know how to act around Santana without feeling guilty about the Refrain incident. She kept in mind that Santana can never know about her being Zero.

It was treason to her country, it was treason to her family, and it most likely be treason to Santana. They promised to be open to each other. But Geass is something she just can share to Santana that easily. She can't just say, hey, San. I have this thing called Geass where I can make someone bend according to my will. I mean how cool is that? Yeah. Totally not gonna happen. She needs Geass to change the world. She needs Geass to know who killed Ali. And she needs Geass to figure out the Royal family, her family.

She snaps out of her thoughts and went to her room to change. Today is about Quinn and Santana. Not the princess, that's supposed to be loyal to her country, to her people, and her knight that's supposed to be ripping the head of Zero. Nope.

Few minutes, and she's back at the front of the palace. "We're taking a motorcycle?" Quinn asks as she stares in amusement to Santana's bike. A red 1972 T100 Daytona was parked in front of the palace. Well at least that's what Santana proudly says it was.

Santana chuckles as she hands the other helmet to Quinn, and Quinn takes it easily. "What's wrong with that?"

Quinn shakes her head as she carefully traces the motorcycle with her fingertips. "Nothing. I just… I've never been into one before. And since when did you have a bike?" She looks up to Santana who is grinning at her.

"Found it at our garage two days ago. Well technically, Spencer did. She was like bored out of her mind and decided to go down at our garage, but if you ask me, I bet she just went down there to reminisce her times with Toby in his truck doing the nasty. I mean, she can't reenact Titanic down there with self-help. My father's gonna kill me!" And Quinn chuckles at Santana. She knew the girl cares for Spencer, but she has her own way of taking Spencer's mind off of her stress—by being mean to her, that is. She may have disregarded the part of Spencer 'doing the nasty'. She shook her head immediately. Spencer is family, it's weird thinking of that images.

"Anyway, I went to our dusty old barn—" And Quinn rolled her eyes at that. She knew there was no part of the Lopez Manor that is dusty. Maribel always made sure it was clean. She remembers her saying that the house was a window to the owner's soul. Or something along that line. And every staff in the Lopez household made sure the manor was clean even after their mistress's death.

"—and found some pictures of Papi and Mami on this exact bike! So I went to Papi and like, force out the story behind the picture from him." Quinn watches Santana's face broke into a smile. She listens to Santana as she animatedly retells the story.

LOPEZ MANOR.

SPENCER.

.

"I can't believe you know how to ride a bike!" Santana laughs as she lays the picture in front of her dad, sitting at their living room. Spencer can't help but smile too at how the scene unfolds to her. Hugo Lopez was a bit shy at how he looked way back then but Spencer could see love in his eyes as he traces the figure of his loving wife. She told Santana it might have been a bad idea to open up the subject to his dad but Santana insisted that her mom wasn't a taboo in the house. They love talking about her, as if she was still there.

Hugo joins the two girls in laughing and looks at the other pictures. "This is actually the picture of our first date." He says as he hands the picture to Spencer who willingly takes it. "Your mother was nervous about it, 'said she never imagine me riding one.—"

"Well I know where she was coming from. No offence, father. I mean, I picture you as the nerd in the class who stands shyly at a corner until the girl of his dreams smiles at him, well at least he thinks that she was smiling at him." Spencer nudges Santana at how she pictures her dad, even though she shares the same hypothesis with her friend. This is one thing she loves about Santana's family, something she envies even. You can never feel this from the Hastings. There was always this pressure, and this expectation you have to meet. Maybe that's why she is here at Thanksgiving. She misses being part of a family.

"Your mom was always into adventure, just like you are, Santanita." And Santana hears Spencer giggle at the nickname, she just rolled her eyes at her. "Even at a young age, she would always love to wander off and travel. I wanted to impress her, wanted to be 'badass', as the commoners would like to put it. So I took part-time jobs as I study, and starved myself for some weeks until I can save up to buy this." He says as he points to his vintage model of red 1972 T100 Daytona. And both girls laugh as he air quoted on badass.

"Wait. The Lopez's are Elites. You were a family known of different professions. Why didn't you just ask from your parents?" Spencer asks in curiosity. Why put so much effort if he could just open up his bank account and withdraw an amount of money? Kinda reminds her of how she sold Melissa's wedding ring to buy Toby the truck he always wanted. Great. That was totally a bitch slap to her face. Remembering her family and Toby, which she thinks are both gone in just one snap.

Hugo smiles at Spencer, oblivious to her inner struggle and answers, "Well I didn't just buy this to impress Maribel. 'Cause that would be stupid. In my mind, she was the one, but I didn't know if we were on the same page. What can guarantee that after buying this and inviting her for a ride will boost my chance to be with her?"

"So what's the other reason? For you to buy this, I mean." Santana asks as she gets interested to his parents' love story. She wasn't sappy, she knows that. But the way her dad smiles at the memory, makes her want to listen to him talk about this for hours.

"Being a Lopez will always be a part of me. A part of you." He points his finger to Santana's heart. He turns his head towards to Spencer and continues, "The same goes to you being a Hastings. We can't choose our family." He sees Spencer nods as if contemplating to something different but he still continues, "Whether you're Elite, or a commoner, or a number, there will always be a part of an individual who would want to prove himself to the world. There will always be a time where you would like to stand out and proudly be recognize not just by the family you came from, but for something you did. Do you get what I mean?" he looks at the two girls in front of him.

Santana finally speaks up, "so, this is like the first thing you buy with your own money?" And she sees her dad nods with a proud look on his face.

"There are times that I would go down the garage to clean it by myself. I hardly let anyone touch it, not even your mother to clean it. It's like my own child." Santana smiles but then scowls for a bit when she realized something, "I didn't know I have competition."

"Yeah. So you better step up your game, baby girl. This hasn't left the top spot in my heart." His father says jokingly and the three of them laugh.

"Does your dad know that his baby had sneaked out?" Quinn asks as she smiles at the story. She knew Santana secretly hates using a deceased's property. Well technically this wasn't her mom's, but it sure brings out a memory right? Besides, knowing that this is something really important to Santana's father, even though she's really excited to be on it, she would never use it without Hugo's consent.

Santana nods as she fixes the helmet on Quinn's head, "Yeah. As long I bring it back without a scratch, he wouldn't disown me." She chuckles and Quinn rolls her eyes at how easy she says those things.

When the helmet was settled, Santana fixes her own and rides the bike. She taps the back seat for Quinn to hop on. She offers her hand for Quinn to take and the princess happily took it. When they were settled, Quinn hold into Santana's waist really tight as she release a breath, and Santana looks at her in question, "you okay?"

Quinn nods and giggles, "I feel like this is how Hugo and Maribel started their first date." Quinn says as she settles her head on Santana's shoulders. She's a bit taller than her so it wasn't really that hard.

"Are you implying something here, princess?" Santana asks as she turns the engine on.

Quinn feels her anticipation grows bigger as she feels the vibration in her seat. Quinn leans in to whisper to Santana's ears for she felt like, with the engine's noise, her knight wouldn't be able to hear her, "Uh-huh. I think you're trying to impress me."

Without the helmet on, Quinn would probably see the blush crept up in her knight's face. Santana just laughs instead, "Please. I have you wrapped around my little finger since the first day we met." With that, they drove off.

Maybe.

It was the perfect time of the day for a ride, Quinn thinks. It's more of four in the afternoon. Not too hot, not too cold, and the sky is clear. Quinn could feel the wind against her arms as she holds into Santana's tiny waist tighter while they take the road at the edge of the hill. Santana still refused to tell her where they were going but she wasn't complaining. They had passed a bridge where she got a good view of the sea. Santana had promised her they would stop by the beach later before they go home.

During the whole ride, Santana's scent was all Quinn could think off. She forced herself not to think of anything else that would ruin their moment together. She focuses on everything that's happening at present. Set aside the past and the future, and feel the scene happening in front of you, she keeps on telling herself.

"So I'd take it that you like the ride?" Santana sends her a teasing smile as she assists Quinn off of the bike.

"Maybe." Quinn smiles as she straightens her shorts. It was her first time wearing shorts. Hanna had picked it out for her during their shopping trip, and she never knew when to use it. When Santana told her a while back not to wear a skirt, she chose this. She may have smirked when she saw Santana's eyes widen when she saw the princess's attire but as fast as she displayed her surprise, it was easily gone. Santana said that the more out of the usual her attire was, the more people wouldn't recognize her.

She then noticed they stopped at a partially hidden one-lane road perpendicular to the highway that stretched into the forest.

"Okay? Is this the place you wanted to show me?" She asks cautiously as she looks around. There was nothing in particular that catches her eyes.

"Nope. I wanted to see if you'd like to try driving for a bit."

Quinn stares at her and laughs a little, "I told you I've never ridden a motorcycle before, and now you're asking me to drive it?" She shakes her head. There's no way she's be driving this. They would crash. And Santana's father would hate Quinn. Though Quinn wasn't sure why that matters the most.

Santana sends her a smile and it helps her relax for a bit, "it'll be fun. I'm here, I'll help you out. So I'll sit behind you." Santana says as she taps Quinn's previous seat. "I'll put my hands rights next to yours, do the shifting. The steering is all yours. Then until you get used to it, you can drive on your own."

Still, Quinn shakes her head. Even though she's enticed by the idea of doing something on her own, she's still not sure about it. "This is ridiculous. I can't."

Santana reaches out to her and holds her hand, "Of course you can. I believe in you. I've learned how to ride this thing yesterday, and look at how I've been today. We haven't crashed yet, right?"

Quinn hesitated, torn between excitement and terror, amazed that she was actually considering it.

"Is it hard?"

"Naaah. Piece of cake."

"I think I prefer horses"

Santana laughs at her response, "You did not just say that."

Quinn looks offended and crosses her arms defensively, "What? You have to admit, riding a horse is so much exciting than this. It's harder to control and it's wilder and—"

Quinn glares at Santana when she sees her knight keeping herself from laughing, "What is wrong with you?" she slaps her knight's arm.

"Are you listening to yourself? You've just told me, you have handled riding a horse. You're actually good at it. And yes, horses are a bit harder to handle because it has a mind on its own. So what's stopping you from driving this one? It may have a different mechanism, but so what? I'll be here. I'll tell you what you need to know." Santana reasons out, and for a second Quinn realizes she's not fighting the idea anymore.

Quinn hesitantly nods her head. But when she sees Santana smile like that, psh. Who cares if she hasn't driven anything before? She can do this. Santana believes in her.

Santana explains the parts of the bike. She pays attention really well, for she has so many plans ahead of her, and she doesn't want to end her life at this point. She wanted a tragic end, okay?

So to summarize it all. These are Santana's key points:

1. Bike's left is for clutch, the bike's version for the stick-like thing in the middle of Santana's car.

2. Bike's right, is for throttle and front brake.

3. Left foot shifts the gears

4. Right foot for back brake.

Okay. Got it.

Quinn exhales as she tries to remember everything. She thinks piloting a knightmare is easier than this. What is wrong with her?

"You okay?" Santana asks

She nods her head, "Yeah. Let's do this."

"Great. I may have to show it to you first, okay? So I may have to squeeze you for a bit because yeah, as much as it pains me to admit this, my legs and arms are too short for this." She sees Santana stares at the ground for the admission.

"Ha. 'Thought I never see the day." Quinn teases Santana. Before Rachel came, the knights had always teased her for her height. Heels was part of her uniform but that didn't stop the knights from teasing her. Quinn ignores the glare from Santana and slid forward as Santana gets in.

"So put your hands and feet on top of mine, so you could feel anything." Santana instructs and Quinn can't help but imagine Santana doing this yesterday. She saw Hugo at the palace yesterday because as a royalty, they wanted to make sure that they didn't get anything bad for their health while staying at Area 11. So she got confused as to whom Santana learned how to drive. "How did you learn?"

"I got the manual from the internet. Spencer interpreted it for me. And like this. I was squeezed in, and she was kinda yelling to my ear for the instructions. Crazy, huh?" Santana laughs, and Quinn can't help but feel jealousy building up in her. She thought Santana was only like this with her. She immediately brushes the incredulous idea in her head. Spencer and Santana are like sisters. And to think that they did this, they'd probably nothing close intimate. Spencer would probably yell at her for not listening to her instructions carefully, and Santana would yell back to tell not to boss her around her territory. She chuckles at the thought.

"I'm glad you're enjoying this, princess. You like this, huh." Santana teases and Quinn was thankful she's now in front of her. She can feel her neck heating up.

"You're one to talk. An hour ago, you have my hands all around you, and now you just can't help but wrap yours around mine."

Instead of denial, she hears her knight laugh and she never felt so light-headed. "I think I'm rubbing off on you."

Santana turned the throttle and slowly eased out the clutch; in the instant the motorcycle began to move, she lifted his foot from the ground. Quinn allowed her foot to settle lightly on her. They went slowly at first, Santana accelerating gradually, then easing off, accelerating again, and finally shifting to another gear before slowing again and coming to a stop. Then they started over again, Santana carefully explaining what she was doing-using the brake or getting ready to shift and reminding her never to squeeze the front brake in panic or she'd go flying over the handlebars. Little by little, as the process continued, Quinn got the hang of it. The choreographed movement of her hands and feet struck her as something akin to playing the piano, and after a few minutes, she could almost anticipate what she was going to do. Even so, she continued to guide her until the movements felt almost second nature.

With that, Santana had them switch places; Quinn's hands and feet were now on the controls, with Santana's atop hers, and they repeated the process from the beginning.

It appears that Quinn was an easy learner. Though at times of panic, she may have squeezed the brake too hard. She apologizes immediately but Santana just laughs at her lightening the mood. She relaxes at Santana's approach to this. She knows this bike was important to her family, but she lets her use it even though there's a high chance she could destroy it.

She's overwhelmed at the trust Santana has given her. She knew she should never fail Santana. So she puts her best effort in doing her part.

After a few minutes, she continues driving, and she hasn't realized that Santana has let go of her immediately and her arms has around her waist.

Everything comes naturally to her. When she stops, Santana immediately hops off. She lifts the helmet visor. "Is it time to go?" she asks.

Santana shakes her head and steps back, "I think you can go on your own now."

Quinn frowns, "What? I don't want to do it alone."

She sees Santana laughs at her expense, "It's still fun. Trust me."

Ignoring, the voice at the back of her head saying No, she nods her head, puts down the helmet visor and she turns the throttle. She can see Santana grinning at her at the corner of her eyes.

She started turning here and there, increasing her speed at some straight lanes. When Santana thought she was losing control, she drifted the bike and turned it towards Santana, then she smoothly accelerated towards her knight. She stops at a few steps away from her knight abruptly, making the sand dusts towards her knight.

"Really? You think you're badass now because you can drift like that?" Santana says as she fans the dust away from her face.

"Ha! That was totally on my own! You didn't teach me that! That was me, San! That was me!" She says as she turns the engine off, and as soon as she steadies the motorcycle, she removes the helmet and hops off and jumps right to her knight. She locks her ankles towards her knight's waist as she puts her arms around her neck.

"Yeah. That was all you, alright." Santana replies as she grins proudly at her. Who knew she could be a great teacher?

"I bet you can't do that with your first try!" She says proudly and Santana rolls her eyes. "Of course I can. Who do you think you're talking to?"

Quinn giggles at her, "Now, now. It's okay, San. You can't be great at everything." She teases the brunette.

"How ungrateful of a student you are!" Santana feigns hurt as she pouts.

Quinn suddenly felt the urge to kiss away Santana's pout. Was that okay? Santana never complained about it before, does that mean she likes it? Or was it because she was a princess, and Santana can't complain about it? Nah. Santana always complained almost about everything that borders abuse of authority. Brittany says she loves Santana. And people kiss the people they love right? Following her instinct, she leans in for a peck to Santana's lips. It lasted longer than a normal peck would've had. But Quinn didn't know that for she hasn't pecked someone else before.

As she pulls back, she sees Santana with a blank expression that made her question her actions. Was it bad? Was it overboard?

All of her worries disappear when she sees Santana smile at her again, that all-white teeth she's oh-so familiar with. "Do you think you can drive us for the rest of the trip?"

She's glad for the change of the topic, but then she frowns, "for the rest of the trip? Isn't that illegal?"

Santana laughs at her, "Illegal? Quinn, I'm one of the highest officials in this country. Not to mention, I'm with the crowned princess herself. Who do you think would dare question us?" Quinn then notices the necklace hanging on Santana's neck. It was the emblem of a Knight of Rounds, and the key to her Guren.

"That's abuse of authority, Santana!" Quinn says as she points her finger to Santana's chest.

Santana shrugs her shoulders then says, "It's your call then. I'm just saying, you drive us all the way up to the hill, and when it's time to go down, I'll drive."

Quinn contemplates for a second and think the pros and cons of this action. It was funny to think that she cares about the legality of her actions when she has the files of all the Black Knights and she hadn't surrendered it to the military. Talk about being legal.

She chuckles at herself, then hops off of Santana. "You better hold on tight then, because you're in for a ride." She can't believe she just winked at her knight. She blames it to the adrenaline rush in her body right now. She just feels so alive and excited and now she has this confidence that brings out something new to her.

Santana raises her eyebrows in her, "Wanky." She shakes her head with a smile, "just wanky."

Quinn looks at her in confusion. What did she just say? She shakes her head not minding what her knight thought as to what she said.

Santana finally tells her to slow down as they pull onto a large grassy lot at the top of the hill.

"Here we are," Santana says, ushering her off the bike. "This is what I wanted to show you."

There was something in her voice that kept her from making light of what seemed to be nothing more than a vacant lot, and for a moment, she simply watches Santana as she walks a few steps in silence.

Removing her helmet and running a hand through her matted hair, then she realizes what was in front of her. There was an acacia tree near the edge of the hill and a wooden swing facing the capital. She immediately ran towards it and grab the railing as she leans in. "Be careful, Quinn." She hears her knight behind her.

"Santana, come here!" She calls out. Few seconds, she feels Santana beside her. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Santana says as she looks at the capital too.

The sky is getting darker, and the capital is turning to a night city. It wasn't as beautiful as New York but there's something that differentiates it from the other colonies.

"This has the best view in the whole country."

Quinn turns to Santana, "how… how did you find this?"

"This is where I usually bring my dates." Santana says casually and she was met by a scowl. Thinking all of their activities awhile ago isn't something special, she steps back until her legs hits the wooden swing. She took a seat and sways herself back and forth.

Santana laughs at the blonde's reaction, "So Marley has this brochure she got from a day-sale at the mall a long time ago. I don't know. She seems to have more access to all price-drop sales than Hanna and I." Quinn slowly raises her gaze at Santana wondering where this is going to. What? Is Marley the first girl she brought? Maybe in Santana's eyes, she wasn't just a sister?

"So in one of the brochures, it promotes the capital at night, something about that skyscraper you see." And Quinn could see Santana sit beside her. She refuses to meet her eyes though, but Santana puts her forefinger and thumb to her chin and rise to a certain level well she sees the skyscraper she was probably talking about.

For a good minute, Santana didn't say anything. Quinn was about to look at her when she hears Santana says, "Don't."

"You'll miss the good part."

She waits for the good part. Then before she could question Santana, she sees the skyscraper lights up slowly from the bottom up to the top. At first, the lights from the outline of the building start blinking. Then the center part, on a certain pattern starts lighting up too.

"What?" she tried reading it but it doesn't make sense. It wasn't Roman alphabet. It wasn't ancient Britannian lettering too. She would know, she spent her early years memorizing that.

"It means love in Hebrew." Santana explains, "It adopted the way Japanese writes. You start from the top, down to bottom" Then she hears Santana laughs, probably from the confusion at her face, "don't try to make out the letters, you haven't seen it, so you could never understand it."

"It was so good at the picture, you know? I contacted the company and asked who the photographer was, but they said he was shipped off to homeland and was now working there. And of course I didn't go that far to look after him just to ask where he took the picture. I mean, who does he think he is? So anyway, I started down the capital, thinking it was taken somewhere at one of those tall buildings surrounding that skyscraper. And that was a hard thing, FYI. When I didn't get the exact picture I've seen, I started thinking it was photoshopped. I mean, it was for advertisement so there's a high chance they enhanced the picture greatly."

Quinn chuckles as she pictures Santana running around the capital with the brochure on her hand. She's cute when she doesn't know what's happening. She could imagine Santana furrowing her eyebrows looking at the scene in front of her.

"Then I got this mission with Spencer recently. And when I got back, I passed by this line of sight. And I thought, hey, maybe it wasn't shot from the capital, maybe somewhere along that line." She hears Santana chuckle for a break then she took the moment to look at Santana. She could see Santana's eyes lit up as she talks enthusiastically, "So I used the Guren until I reach this place. I mean, from that point, I maneuvered the Guren until I reach this place. When I reached the place, I immediately got a call from Lloyd asking if I found something suspicious because I've been moving the Guren as if I'm tracking something."

"As I sit at that spot, I told him, that indeed I found something. Not suspicious though. Something greater. It was frustrating finding this place, because really, I don't know how on Earth I'll be back at this place without the Guren. I can't possible use the Guren to go back here every single time right? So I used all my free times to track this place."

Realization hits Quinn. That means she was the first to ever visit the place with Santana right? Keeping in mind that Santana worked hard to reach this place and invite Quinn over, gives Quinn a thrilling sensation of flattery.

She can't stop the blush creeping up her face. She feels Santana nudge her and Santana tugs her hand. She stands by as they lean in to the railing.

"Stand by the railing" she hears Santana.

She immediately shook her head. "No way."

"I'm gonna hold you. I'm not gonna let you fall." Santana convinces Quinn.

"I'm one hundred percent sure, you haven't done that. I know you have some crazy balance in your body, but there's no way you can stand here with the wind like this, alone." she says as she puts a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I know. But isn't that great? You'd be the first one to do that!" Santana encourages Quinn and Quinn can't help but doubt Santana's logic. What guarantees her that she's the first one to do that in here?

"Again, this is your call. I could do it, and you're gonna hold me. Sounds fun?" Santana suggests but Quinn frowns at the idea. Of course the first option was more inviting than the latter so she immediately put her right foot on the railings.

She waits until she feels Santana hands were on her waist securely until she steps her other foot.

"Santana… I'm scared" She says as her legs wobbles at the sight of a hundred feet below.

"Don't be. I'm here. Focus at the capital." She feels Santana tighten her hold on her.

From above, the capital was pretty well lit. Beneath them, she could see the car lights in the highway, and the streetlights running up and down the city in a perfect grid until downtownended and the winding streets and cul-de-sacs of Area 11's infinite suburb started.

"It's beautiful," Quinn says.

"Really? You think so?"

Quinn nods her head and for a second she realizes Santana might not see her head.

Before she could answer Santana, she hears Santana follows up, "It's more impressive, from a distance, I mean. You can't see the wear onthings, you know? You can't see the rust or the weeds or the paint cracking. I've been there up-close." Quinn thinks Santana refers the capital. "Was that a good thing? That you can see something as how you wanted to imagine it? From up here, you can tell what the place really is. You see how fake it all is. It would be hypocrite of me to say Britannia was at fault. Because I'm serving the Empire. It should mean that I agree on what it stands for, right? I think Britannia has helped its entire colony. But why do the colonies see differently? Why do they step back when they see this emblem hanging round my neck? I'm here to protect them, regardless of their race. So why don't they trust me? Why do they trust those rebels who was ungrateful to those who helped them?"

Quinn feels guilt up in her stomach. The Black Knights.

She was reviewing the files of the Black Knights and their previous operations. The place where the Black Knights was born was in Ishbal. The civil war where Santana's mother died.

Quinn knew she shouldn't be guilty. She wasn't Zero yet at that time. But still.

"Not everyone in the military is as honest as you, San." Quinn reminds her as she remembers the Britannian police who were in charge of the Refrain warehouse. She decided to step back. Santana assisted her and when she was at the ground, she puts her arms around Santana's waist and lean in to her.

"I'll change this damn military from the inside, Quinn. Area 11, the whole world even doesn't need Zero." Quinn could feel Santana's agitation, and her heart hurts at the admission.

"You'll rise up the throne someday, Quinn. And when you do, I know you'll be a great leader. And we'll make a better world, okay?" Quinn can feel Santana's lips on her temples.

She wanted to pull away from Santana. Santana trusts her so much. What will she do if she knew she is now Zero? It will break her.

"We'll make a better world, San."

There's no backing down now. It's too late for that.

later that afternoon.

LOPEZ MANOR

SANTANA.

.

Santana was totally in a good mood when she reached home. They stopped by the beach, Quinn saw a while back. And they had run off the shore. She always thought her day off was better off without Quinn. Her mind changed at the end of the day. She kind of made it her new mission to discover new places for her and Quinn to visit next time.

However, it seems that Spencer was at outside of Santana's happy bubble. She finds her at their living room with a phone on her hand staring off at the fire place. She knew it wasn't even that cold outside—or maybe she just didn't feel it, with Quinn up in her side all day.

"Spence, you okay?" Santana asks as she nears the couch.

Spencer looks at Santana as if she was waiting for her. She taps the space beside her and Santana carefully took it. "I'm gonna tell you something, and oddly you can keep a secret, and again, against popular belief, you're not that judgmental bitch they usually say." If Santana can't see the desperation in Spencer's eyes, she would be offended. She tilts her head to the side and looked up for a bit then turns her attention back to Spencer. "Go on."

Spencer took a deep breath and continues, "Jason… Jason is my brother. Half-brother." Santana didn't say anything and just stare blankly at Spencer. "My… my dad cheated and got someone else's wife pregnant. He decided to act like nothing happened and Lady Jessica went off to live at the homeland. Few years after they had decided to stay at Area 11, and the rest was history." Spencer waited for Santana to speak, but she got nothing.

Spencer squeezed her hand, "San, say something. Please."

Santana shakes her head so firmly then turns to Spencer. "You have to be kidding me."

Spencer just looked at her as if saying, 'would-I-joke-something-like-this?'

Santana closes her eyes as if controlling her emotions, "who else knows about this?"

Spencer slowly answers, "Well, there's you, me… My family, I just told Melissa earlier, Jason, and then there's Ali."

Santana's eyes widen, "Alison?"

Spencer slowly nods her head and reach for her coffee at the table hoping it would calm her nerves, "she found these letters from my dad to Lady Jessica, and put the pieces together."

Santana took a sip from Spencer's coffee but for the first time, it didn't help give her the desired effect. "The Emperor doesn't know?"

Spencer nods her head but there was some hesitation in her voice, "Maybe. I mean… my dad and Lady Jessica are still alive, so he's probably still clueless?" And Santana glares at her.

"You can't take this easily, Spence! Your dad didn't just cheat with someone else's wife. He cheated with the Emperor's! If He knows about this, I'm sure your dad would be sentenced to death in a second! No, worse, he'd be—" Santana stopped herself as she sees the look in Spencer's eyes. What was she saying? Of course she knew all about this stuff. That's why she's been staying here for a week.

"I'm sorry. I just—" Spencer shook her head and held into Santana's hand tighter. "It's fine. I get it. I had the same reaction at first."

There was a moment of silence until Santana speaks again, "Do you think Ali died because she knows about this?"

Spencer shakes her head and laughs humorously, "What are you saying? That my dad killed Ali to keep her silent?"

Santana immediately shakes her head, "Well there has to be a connection or some sort, right? This is a mind-blowing secret. Jason was supposed to be next in line, Spence. If this gets out, the Emperor would cause havoc to your family." Santana says as she feels goosebumbs run down her spine. She knew how scary the Emperor is. And she doesn't think Spencer's rank could do anything to save her dad. Worse, this could probably drag her down. The Hastings had had enough humiliation for a life time now. And if this was the old times, they'd probably be stone to death. Santana mentally slapped herself. She wasn't doing anything to comfort Spencer.

"There is something. Remember Vivian? So we finally reached the number on the red coat's pocket. It was a guy who works on a phone company. Vivian , or Alison got him to trace A." Santana's eyes widen again and it would seem like there was some hope in her eyes. "Apparently, Vivian got who A was but didn't pay the guy. So we need to pay him, so we could get who he traced."

Santana waits for her to continue, "Okay, so where's the catch? Did you get who A is?"

Spencer shakes her head in denial, "We haven't paid him yet. I… I was hoping you could lend me the money? It's just 2000. My account has been hold up, you know, with the under provision thing, and I wasn't really into speaking terms with my parents. I know your dad talks about how great getting money with your own, and I'm really inspired with that but there's just—"

"No time. I get it. Look, you don't have to explain to me, okay?" Santana's tone softens. She knew she had been attacking Spencer, and it wasn't helping anyone."I told you, I'd be a help in any way I can. But aside from that, how are you holding up?" She starts again. Her parents was indeed a people of doctors but they deal with physical wounds and all that. Why was there no psychologist in the family? Or a therapist maybe? That would be a great help at a time like this.

"It's like I don't know who my parents are anymore."

Santana takes Spencer into her arms and rubs her arms gently, "Well, you're Spencer Hastings. It'll take much more than this to bring you down."

AN.

tell me what you think! ;)

there's a bit The Choice scene in there, so yeah. I don't own that too