The weather is bright and sunny as Santana makes her way toward the Central Park Zoo. A couple weeks had passed since her meeting with Quinn at the coffee shop and not much had progressed between them since. They still talked and even saw each other occasionally, though it always felt like the blonde girl was holding back. But every now and again she would give her one of those smiles or look at her in a certain way that kept Santana hopeful that she would come around.

She pauses briefly, seeing the blonde waiting for her by the entrance. The girl leans against the wall as she texts on her phone and smiles to herself.

I wonder who she's texting. I wonder whom she's smiling for.

As she approaches her, she notices the way the sun makes her hair glow, causing Santana's breath to catch in her throat, if only for a moment.

"Hey, you."

The blonde girl looks up and gives her a small smile, her eyes not fully visible beneath her shades. "Hey… Anna said she's going to be running late but we go ahead without her."

The brown-eyed girl nods. "Yeah, works for me. Shall we?" She motions toward the entrance and the pair of them enter the zoo grounds together.

"So what did you want to see first?"

"It's your first time here, you should decide."

Quinn pauses to grab one of the zoo maps and gives it a look. "Oh my god… They have penguins! Best thing ever."

"Did you want to go there first?"

"We should wait for that one. Anna likes penguins too."

Santana does everything in her power not to roll her eyes. "Ok, we can do that one last. Let's just start walking then and see where we end up."

"Works for me."

They continue their stroll through the park, reaching the sea lions first. The girls lean against the rails as they watch the zookeepers feed them fish.

"So…" The brunette gives a quick look toward Quinn. "It seems like you really like Anna."

The blonde doesn't meet her eyes when she answers, focusing her attention on the sea lions. "Yeah, she's great. We've only hung out a couple times outside of work so it's not like we're together yet."

Yet.

"Well, if you like her, I'm sure I'll like her."

Quinn looks toward her now with a slight smile. "Thanks, San. I hope you will."

Once the feeding is finished, they make their way toward the Tropic Zone. The blonde is messing with the map when the wind blows it out of her hands. She lets out a small squeal, freezing for a second as she debates whether or not to chase after it. She's broken from the trance by Santana's loud laughter. Instead of going after the map, she blushes and slaps the girl on the arm.

"It's not funny!" She protests timidly.

"The sound… you made… definitely was…" The darker haired girl manages as she comes up for air. And something about the way the girl bends over, almost in tears, causes Quinn to laugh too.

"Oh my god. I can't take you anywhere."

At this, Santana straightens up. "Literally. Now we're going to get lost in here and it'll be all your fault."

Enjoying the levity between them, the blonde decides to play along. "Well, if we get stuck in here, I'm moving in with the baby sheep."

"Where does that leave me?"

"You can have the snakes."

"Yeah, don't think so… Anyway, I thought you liked the penguins."

"Well, I'm being practical."

"Since when?"

Quinn's phone buzzes, interrupting them. The blonde reaches into her bag and sighs disappointedly as she types out a text. "Anna can't make it after all…" Suddenly sounding a bit defensive she adds, "And even if I might be a bit reckless with some things, I have to be practical with other things."

"I'm not a fan of being practical."

The blonde shoots her a weak smile. "I noticed."

The two of them continue walking in silence as they make their way toward the next exhibit. A cool breeze passes over them causing a tingling sensation against Santana's skin as it mixes with the sun's warmth. "Sorry about Anna."

"It's okay. She has a good excuse. I'll see her tomorrow anyway."

"What's the excuse?"

"Betty called her into a meeting at the last second. We're going to be launching this literacy program we've been working on tomorrow and she's in charge of it."

"Wow, impressive."

Quinn shrugs noncommittally as she takes off her sunglasses. "Yeah. So how about we just skip to the penguins?"

The darker haired girl nods. "Yeah, of course."

The girls stand inside the penguin exhibit for a long while, watching the penguins dive into the water and waddle about. Santana watches Quinn out of the corner of her eye, as she seems almost transfixed by them. The cool of the ice getting to the girl as the sensation sends goose bumps along her alabaster skin. Her breaths coming out in little puffs of smoke that quickly disappear as soon as they leave her mouth. She catches Santana off guard when she turns to her, finally seeing the green of her eyes.

"I've changed my mind... I'd choose the penguins."

The pair of them decide to make their way to the gift shop before calling it a day. As they enter, they're overwhelmed by the variety of animal knick-knacks that are sprawled across the store.

"Hmm… this one is interesting." Quinn giggles as she picks up a rubber snake whose eyes are somewhat lopsided.

"I thought you'd go for something more like this." Santana says holding up a little dart frog figurine.

"Cute." The blonde agrees as they move their way toward the back of the store. She busies herself looking at the stuffed animals. "What about this one?" She turns to the darker haired girl but doesn't see her there. "Santana?"

Suddenly, a plush elephant mask comes up from behind and attacks her. "RAAAWWWRRR."

Quinn startles but breaks out into laughter when she sees the girl behind the mask. "Hey there, Mr. Elephant. You might want to get your throat checked out since I'm pretty sure that's not how elephants are supposed to sound."

"It could be sick." Santana says defensively.

The blonde smiles and grabs the trunk of the elephant mask, pulling it closer. She plants a kiss on its cheek. "Feel better." She whispers huskily into its ear.

The darker haired girl closes her eyes for a moment, pretending the kiss is meant for her. She can almost feel the heat against her cheek but she quickly snaps herself out of it. When she pulls the mask off, Quinn is already looking at the knick-knacks on the back wall. She puts the mask back before joining her. "I can't believe they're even allowed to sell elephant masks since there don't even have any elephants."

Quinn nods, agreeing. "Such a scam." She smiles as she pulls out a little penguin water globe that reads Central Park Zoo on the bottom. "I like this one."

Santana smiles. "Yeah, that one suits you… Hey, did you want to get dinner tomorrow? You know, to celebrate the launch of that literacy program."

The blonde quirks an eyebrow at her curiously. The darker haired girl swallows, adding nervously, "You can bring Anna too since she's in charge of it and all."

She nods. "Okay, sure. Did you want to invite Brittany?"

"Yeah, I'll ask her."

Quinn gives her a smile. "That'll be nice. That way you can both meet her at the same time."

And with that, the blonde makes her purchase and they leave the zoo grounds together.

[\\]

Santana fidgets as she watches the door to the diner. Brittany clamps her hand over hers as all her sporadic movements are driving her crazy.

"Calm down, will you?"

The darker haired girl sighs but nods.

"This milkshake is delicious by the way. Have some."

She passes the chocolate drink to Santana who takes a quick sip. "Yeah, it is good."

The bell rings as a couple enters. The darker haired girl sits rigid until she realizes it isn't them.

"I don't know why you're being like this." Brittany reasons. "You put yourself in this situation."

"Yeah, because if I don't make an attempt to be friends with Anna then Quinn is going to shut me out."

"I get that but please relax. You're making me nervous."

The darker haired girl furrows her brow in worry but when Brittany grabs her hand again, she nods and calms herself down.

"You guys make a cute couple." A voice interrupts. Santana looks up to see a girl with dirty blonde hair.

"And you are?"

Suddenly, Quinn pops up beside her causing Santana to stand up anxiously. "Sorry, I dropped one of my gloves in the parking lot." She explains to the girl. When she notices Santana standing she adds, "Hey… This is Anna."

"Hi, Anna." Brittany greets cheerily.

"Yeah, nice to meet you." Santana adds less cheerily.

"Yeah, it's great to meet you guys." She turns toward the darker haired girl. "You must be Santana."

She nods as the two of them make their way into the booth. She sits back down. "Yeah, I wasn't sure what kind of food you liked so I just picked somewhere close."

"Oh, that's fine." Anna says with a smile. "I like everything really."

"Anna knows a lot about food actually. Her parents own a restaurant." Quinn adds. "She won't tell me which one though."

Anna gives her a teasing smile. "It's too early to bring family into it."

"It might always be too early for that." Quinn shoots back returning the smile.

The pair of them exchange a quick glance before Anna turns her attention back to Santana and Brittany. "So how long have you two been together?"

The darker haired girl blushes. "Oh. We're not... Together."

"Yeah," Brittany adds with a laugh. "We went through that in high school."

"Oh sorry, I just thought—"

"You never told me you two dated." Quinn says, looking directly at Santana.

The girl doesn't meet her eyes though so Brittany tries to smooth things over by saying, "We don't really talk about it much since it seems like it was such a long time ago. I'm just glad we could stay friends."

Anna nods in understanding. "That's really cool. I'm still friends with a couple of my exes."

"You are?" Quinn asks suddenly feeling unsure about this whole dinner thing.

"Yeah." The girl nods as she turns her attention back to her. "As long as you both agree to stay strictly friends, I think it's possible. Don't you?"

Now it's Quinn's turn to blush. "I guess... I'm not sure if it's ever really worked out for me though."

"Really?" Anna seems interested. "I can't imagine anyone willing to let go of you completely."

"It's harder though if there are strong feelings involved. Then you just end up hurting the other person all the time without meaning to."

"I can see that. I haven't really been in love before so I'm sure that would make things harder." She smiles at Quinn. "Maybe you can help me out with that."

"So…" Santana interrupts. "How'd the opening go?"

Anna smiles. "It went really well actually. I think we're going to be able to help out a lot of students."

"It's really cool what you and Quinn do." Brittany adds. "You get to go home every night feeling good about yourself."

"Well, what is it you do?" Anna asks the blonde.

"Well, I work in a boutique with Santana during the weekdays but other than that I try to dance as much as possible."

"Oh, that's awesome." The girl with dirty blonde hair says sincerely. "I love going to the ballet and stuff like that. See, I can't dance worth a shit so I love watching other people who can. You should go home every night feeling good about yourself too. I envy you."

Brittany smiles. "This is why I love New York. There are people here who actually enjoy theater and ballet and stuff without everyone thinking they're lame."

The other girl smiles back. "I agree… Everyone should date at least one dancer in their lifetime though, the things they can do with their bodies are incredible."

Quinn elbows her in the ribs as Brittany cracks up. "Anna."

The girl throws her hands into the air innocently. "Hey, that's all in my past. I have you now."

Santana watches the whole thing. She watches Quinn's smile; she watches the way they banter. She watches the way that she makes conversation so easily with Brittany and herself as if she belonged there. Almost as if she had been there the whole time, only she didn't realize it before. She watches, only speaking when necessary. She watches how the girl makes Brittany smile, even smiling despite herself every once and awhile. But mostly she watches as she works her way into Quinn's heart.

When they finish dinner, they all say goodbye and head out into the night. As Santana turns to walk away, she hears a voice call out to her.

"San!" She turns and watches as the blonde runs toward her, locking her in a firm embrace. "Thank you." She whispers.

Santana grips her tightly, making the hug last as long as possible. She closes her eyes and breathes Quinn in, soaking in the scent of her lavender and enjoying the heat of her body close to hers, not knowing when she'll be able to feel it again. She ignores the pain that shoots straight through her because she knows that it's a dull pain compared to what awaits her. After all, letting her go is always the hardest part.