It's been so long since I've had motivation to write but this chapter is suppperrr long so hopefully that makes up for it. I love you all for reading this. Seriously I'm the most inconsistent person and that would drive me crazy so thank you. As always, reviews are highly appreciated and I'm sorry for making you wait!

Dani had been back on tour for several days now but Santana still found that every time she caught herself daydreaming at work, her mind was on the singer. They had shot texts back and forth throughout the time Dani was gone but their schedules conflicted a lot. Being a singer meant not much downtime but Santana understood the craziness and never held it against her. This between them had all fell back into place extremely quickly so the time apart was good for them.

As the Latina walked into the coffee shop, she smiled at Sarah and continued into her office to set her stuff down. Deciding to push her paperwork off further, she went back to talk to her coworker.

"Hey Sarah," she said getting the girl's attention.

The strawberry blonde turned to face the taller girl. "Yeah?"

"Do you know when Dylan's getting here?"

Sarah shot over a questioning look, "Aren't you the one in charge of scheduling his shifts?"

The Latina's face washed over with her signature glare that people had sworn could turn them to stone and sassily replied. "Last time I checked that wasn't an answer to my question Strawberry Short Cake. Wanna try again?"

"I don't k—"

Before she could finish her sentence the man walked through the front door of the coffee shop.

"Right now. He's coming in right now," Sarah redirected her response with a smirk.

Santana rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her body. "I have my own two eyes thank you very much. Go do something useful with yourself because back sassing me is not in your job description." The Latina internally smiled at her quick wit but maintained the glare on her face.

Sarah quickly turned and scurried toward Dylan mumbling something that to Santana sounded along the lines of, "I want the good mood Santana back."

The good mood Santana? She wondered to herself. Thinking back on the past year of being manager the revelation came to her. She usually was in a bad mood and if not, she was always sassy. Her boss liked her because she had no problem being assertive and that quality kept people in check. With Santana around, things got done efficiently. That was the real reason he promoted her to store manager.

Lately though, Santana hadn't been too sour. She still hated waking up early for work, and often woke up later than usual trusting Sarah with the morning rush, but the days were better. She realized she had been smiling more when customers would talk to her. She had been more lenient when Dylan asked for the day off last week to take his girlfriend out for her birthday and didn't make him work a shift to make up for it. So what changed this time?

The Latina pushed her thoughts back before they could run on much longer. She glanced up at the man walking through the front door and smiled before retreating to her office. Paper work and employee evaluations never failed to serve as a distraction from the thoughts clouding her mind. She pulled the drawer open and flipped through the files until she found the paper she was looking for. Her hatred towards this certain form always caused her to put it off until the absolute last minute. Production reports. Why the hell anyone needed to know that the coffee and food was being used properly was beyond her. It just seemed tedious and unnecessary, but since when did her opinion matter on the subject anyway? Santana scribbled names and numbers throughout the sheet and did the calculations to match. As usual, nothing was out of place and her employees hadn't stolen anything this week. She ran through the numbers one more ensuring that they were right, and then moved onto the next paper.

After a while, Santana checked her phone for the time. It was 8:30 in the morning and she felt like she had been filling out forms for hours already. Today is going to be a long day, she thought to herself. Looking back, this proved to be true; but never in the way Santana expected it to be.

The brunette finally finished the paperwork due tomorrow morning and called it quits. Walking out to the front she spots a blonde sitting at bar talking to Sarah. The woman is wearing a loose sweatshirt and skinny jeans with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Santana walked towards the barstool a few seats away from the woman. Just as she sat down, the blonde shifted her gaze off of Sarah and turned. It was Dani…again.

"Are you gonna keep popping up here? Like do I need to check the security camera screens more often?" Santana was shocked but couldn't help the response the surprise drew out of her.

"Hi Dani it's so nice of you to cancel your interviews for the day to come up and see me what a great surprise!" Dani imitated the reaction she would've wanted from the Latina with a smirk.

Santana groaned at this and rolled her eyes simultaneously. "Hello Danielle. I've missed you oh so much for the past, what, week since I've seen you? You look absolutely stunning in that oversized sweatshirt of yours." She knew she was more than happy to see Dani; the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach never failed to remind her of that. She also couldn't exactly say that the comment about the sweatshirt was untrue; the woman looked beautiful no matter what.

Sarah looked on with a wide smile as she watched them banter back and forth. Santana was teasing Dani just like Dani had with Santana moments before. There was a strange familiarity between her boss and the superstar who sat in front of her, but it was fascinating.

"Oh shut up, you used to love when I wore sweatshirts." Dani stood up so she could playfully hit Santana's arm.

"Used to?" Sarah couldn't help but interject. She wanted to know how her boss of all people knew Dani, who she had seen on TV all the time.

Santana was the first to reply. "Did I ask you to be a part of our conversation Sarah? I'm also pretty sure I'm not paying you to stand here and talk to me."

Dani reached out and placed her hand on the brunette's arm, squeezing it gently. "Don't yell at the poor girl for being curious." She then turned her attention to the strawberry blonde. "I met Santana before I got signed. We actually dated for a while," she turned back to the woman next to her, "didn't we San?"

To what Santana could tell was a rhetorical question, she rolled her eyes.

Dani stifled her laugh and continued. "So you're probably wondering why I'm back if we broke up right?" She watched the girl before her nod then began to answer her. "See, I messed something really good up with this whole becoming famous record deal thing," she paused lifting her hand off the brunette's arm to signal Sarah to move closer. Dani whispered the next part of the explanation but made sure Santana could still hear it. "I actually was willing to stay in New York but Santana made me go to LA so this technically isn't my fault but we don't bring that up." As she finished she shot the Latina a playful smile and a wink and wrapped up the explanation. "So now I'm here wondering if she'll go on a date with me today after she gets off work," this she said directed to Sarah but locked her eyes with Santana's for every word.

Sarah cut in again before her boss could answer. "Hold on a second, Santana you dated Dani fucking Harper and didn't think to tell me? We've worked together for almost two whole years and not once did you think to mention it?" The words fell from her mouth a little more angrily than she intended but she blamed it on the shocking news she had just become aware of. "Even after I asked you to take a day off to go see her in concert? Really?"

Santana couldn't help but let out a loud laugh hearing the girl's frustration. "Maybe I didn't know if I could trust you not to sell everything I said to the press? She is famous ya know I'm not about to go blabbing my mouth about the relationship we had to my coworker."

"Whatever," the girl mumbled and stormed off into the break room.

This caused both Santana and Dani to burst out laughing. After the laughter of the two died down, Dani faced the woman and asked her question again. "So will you go on a date with me tonight miss Santana Lopez?"

"Of course I will," she said with a smile plastered on her face.

Dani returned the smile happily and extended her hand. "Can I get a proper hello now?"

Santana accepted the outstretched hand and stood up pulling the blonde closer until they were separated by only a few inches. She glanced around making sure no one noticed them for Dani's sake, and then leaned down to press a soft chaste kiss to the woman's lips. "Better?"

"Mmm much better."

"So are you gonna tell me where this date is happening?"

Dani pulled away and leaned back against the counter. "I'm not answering that," she said with a determined look.

Santana opened her mouth to protest but decided against it. When the shorter woman had that look on her face, there was no changing her mind. "I work for another three hours but after that I'm all yours."

"Three whole hours?" Dani's smile dropped.

The darker Latina reached forward and grabbed Dani's hand, leading her back to her office. She shut the door behind them and reluctantly let go.

"Why'd you do that?"

"I thought it would be better for you if we talked where no one could hear us. I don't want to be the reason there's a cover story on Star Magazine about you," Santana stated plainly.

The shorter woman pulled her into a tight hug. "Aww San that's really thoughtful of you but honestly I don't care what they write about me," her lips brushing against the woman's neck with every word.

Santana lifted her hand to run it through her blonde hair. They stood like that for a couple minutes before Dani slowly pulled back.

"I guess I should leave and not distract you from your work," she glanced back at the desk behind her, "it looks like you have a lot to do."

"What are you going to do while I'm here? Hang out with John?"

She knew Santana was joking but that was really her best option at the moment. "I mean…yeah that's kind of the plan. I'm trying to lay low and make everyone think I'm on my way to Atlanta for the concert tomorrow."

This caught Santana off-guard to say the least. The singer was constantly busy and always had somewhere to be, but now the roles were reversed. "Why don't you just stay here and keep me company then," she asked hesitantly. She wouldn't get much work done with Dani here that she knew. However, she didn't want her to be stuck in New York with no one except her body guard to keep her company. "You can tell John to come inside and hang out with Dylan or something too. I wish I could take off work for the rest of the day but these hooligans need someone to make sure they don't burn the place down."

Dani giggled at the nickname the taller woman gave her coworkers. "You're sweet San but seriously, I'll be fine. Call me when you're off work okay?" She stepped forward leaning up a little to peck Santana's cheek. "I'll see you later," the blonde whispered and walked out the office door. Santana followed the woman with her eyes and saw her flip her hood over her head in an attempt to not be recognized.

Santana looked towards her desk at the piles of work she needed to finish. Now that Dani had left she wouldn't be distracting her from paperwork, but seeing as all she could think about was their date tonight, maybe she wouldn't get much done after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

15 minutes. There was only 15 minutes left until noon when she could leave work for the rest of the day. Right after Dani left had proved to be hard to concentrate on pretty much anything except the singer. After that though, Santana fell back into her work mindset and quickly finished filling out and completing at least half her work. But now that there was only 15 minutes left, time seemed to be crawling at a snail's pace.

The element of surprise only further extended how long it felt. The Latina was excited for her first date with who she always considered the love of her life but not knowing any of what the plan was for it made it that much more intriguing. Santana clicked a button on her phone and checked the time again. Only five minutes had passed.

"Fuck it," she mumbled under her breath and pulled her jacket over her shoulders. She grabbed her purse and checked herself in the mirror for the second time. Walking out of her office, she called over to Sarah to tell her she was leaving a few minutes early.

"Sounds good, boss. I promise I can keep the shop standing for the next 10 minutes while you're on your date with that famous didn't-think-Sarah-had-the-right-to-know-about girl of yours."

A smile spread across Santana's face knowing the girl would never let her live this down. "Bye Sarah," she shouted behind her, the words coated in laughter. The door to the coffee shop shut behind her as she reached for her phone.

"Dani where the hell are we going?" Santana was looking out the window at the graffiti covered walls they had started to pass by. The sun was setting now and the area at dusk didn't exactly instil confidence in her.

The singer had insisted that she was fully capable of driving but in the end John won. He was sitting in the front of the car focused solely on the road ahead of him while the two women sat in the back holding hands. "It's part of the surprise San stop asking questions."

"Getting mugged and killed isn't a surprise I want to experience, if we're being honest here."

Dani laughed at the brunette and looked over at her. She could see the curiosity and hint of fear in the brown eyes looking back at her. "I promise you'll survive our date you loser. Have a little sense of adventure would ya?" Although Dani was teasing the woman, she squeezed her hand in an attempt to comfort her.

Santana decided against protesting again and scooted closer to Dani. She leaned down resting her head on the shorter woman's shoulder and sighed deeply. The mere proximity was enough to calm her mind from all the worries that kept appearing.

No more than a minute or two later, John stopped the car and got out to open the door. "Here we are Miss Harper."

The lighter Latina rolled her eyes playfully. "How many times do I have to tell you—"

"Don't call you Miss Harper, call you Dani. I know. It just feels more professional."

At this Dani rolled her eyes and reached out for Santana's hand. "I'll tell you when to pick us up," the blonde shouted to John over her shoulder as she led Santana toward an old run down building.

The building was clearly run down and abandoned. Santana looked up and saw the faded sign read, Nelson's Ice Cream. Most of the letters were barely legible and even the brick itself was faded from red to a dull brownish-gray. The shop was small, almost hidden away between the tall apartment complexes and skyscrapers that New York City holds. As Dani opened the door it creaked and groaned, as if it hadn't been unbolted in years.

"Dani what the hell are we doing here?"

To this, Dani only giggled. She found it fun seeing Santana show her fear. She knew the woman was scared of things, but she very rarely let anyone know. Dani had learned over the years to notice the small signs Santana displayed when the woman was scared or hurt, but she was one of the only exceptions.

Santana glared at the blonde who was still chuckling at her question. "Seriously D, why're we here?"

"What ice cream would you like?" The shorter woman asked like nothing was bizarre about their situation.

By now Dani had led the darker Latina further into the shop and up to a counter that could easily be seen as being previously used to store ice cream.

"Dani how wo—"

Before she could ask the rest of her question, Dani cut her off. "It's okay I already know your answer. Here," she handed the woman in front of her a cup with mint chocolate chip ice cream in it. Dani picked up her own cup with fudge chocolate ice cream and returned from behind the counter. She walked to a table in the corner of the shop and sat down giving Santana an expectant look to follow her lead.

The taller woman took the hint and walked in the same path Dani had, taking the seat across from her. She gave up wondering what they were doing in the abandoned shop and raised a spoonful of ice cream to her lips.

"We're here for our date you loser. What else would we be here for?" Finally Dani answered the question from almost five minutes ago.

"Where is here…exactly?"

The blonde wrapped her lips around the spoon and swallowed before replying. "It's this old abandoned ice cream shop," she said while her eyes took in the room surrounding her. "Samantha suggested to shoot one of my music videos here so we came and checked it out. We found a better place later but I've come back here almost every time I've come back to New York." Santana's eyebrows furrowed and her head tilted as if to silently ask why. "It gives me space to think. Like an escape to be free from the constant pressure to look good for paparazzi pictures, ya know?"

"So why did you bring me here then? Why not go somewhere else for a date if this is your sanctuary here?" This all still didn't make sense to Santana. She felt like she had some of the pieces to the answer but was missing the most important one.

"When we were together I wasn't famous. You didn't have to deal with being followed around and neither did I," the blonde sighed thinking about the chaos that came with being a well-known singer. People never left her alone anymore. "Being with you reminds me of being here because just like I feel free of the pressure here, I feel like you don't care about anything besides me being myself; the girl you knew when we met. And that makes me feel comfortable and like I don't have to live up to any expectations,"

Santana's lips curled into a wide smile at the woman's admission. "Some first date conversation, huh," she teased. But the truth is she could never talk about superficial 'first date' kind of things with Dani. Even when they dated the first time the two felt so comfortable with each other that they skipped that step. It was terrifying, but rewardingly so. After a second she added, "I'm glad you feel like I don't want you to be anyone but yourself because I don't. I know how hard wearing that mask can be and I've never wanted you to have to around me."

The two women fell easily into conversation while they finished their ice cream. Santana would make a joke resulting in Dani letting out a loud laugh then the next minute the roles would be reversed. Their interaction was always considerably balanced. They would banter and tease each other back and forth in the most natural way possible. They, as Rachel had put it all those years ago, complimented one another perfectly.

They had been sitting at the table talking and eating for almost an hour when Dani broke the flow of the conversation. "Hey I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back, okay?"

Santana nodded and followed the blonde with her eyes as she got up. The woman leaned down and softly kissed her cheek then walked across the room and turned down a hallway.

The Latina waited for a few minutes before she started to get worried. Dani hadn't even left the building and she was still paranoid because of the area of the city they were in. She decided to stay and give the woman another minute or two before going to check on her.

Taking out her phone, Santana saw that she had two unread texts.

From: Rachel

"Hello Santana. Kurt and I were wondering if you would like to go out with us to Callbacks this Friday and show these new NYADA kids up. Text me back whenever you have time. Love you!"

The text caused Santana's smile to spread further across her face. Rachel used to be one of the girls she hated most in high school and now they acted like sisters. A lot had changed between the two and whether Santana liked to admit it or not, the majority of it has to do with the fact that she's comfortable with who she is now. She quickly typed out a reply and sent it.

To: Rachel

"You know how much I love putting people in their place, Rach. Count me in!"

She was about to check the other unread text message she had when, all of a sudden, she felt someone pinch right above her hips and yell, "BOO!"

Santana screamed and jumped out of her seat so she could turn and see who it was. Her eyes narrowed when she saw a familiar blonde standing behind her wearing a smirk on her lips. "I'm so gonna fucking get you for that Danielle."

When Dani realized the woman in front of her wasn't softening her expression, her smile dropped from her face. Santana lunged at the blonde causing her to spin on her heels and run away. Once Dani reached the other side of the room she realized she only had one more step and then Santana would have her cornered. With the brunette close behind her, she raced to the counter and jumped behind it. The darker Latina was less than a step behind and stopped when she reached the counter, not being able to go further. The two faced each other separated only by the counter, bouncing back and forth trying to predict which way the other would go. Finally, Santana decided to go around the object to the left and quickly sprinted around the side. Dani reacted almost immediately and ran the opposite direction. Before the blonde could turn the corner, she felt a hand wrap around her forearm and pull her back. She squealed as her body changed direction and rotated, colliding with the taller woman's. She felt arms snake around her waist and pull her impossibly closer. Santana's determined expression faded into a loving smile as she looked down at the woman who was in her arms.

"I've missed you," she breathed out.

Dani beamed back at the taller girl and pecked her lips before suddenly wiggling out of the woman's arms and grabbing her hand. "Come on an adventure with me," she said, giving no room for argument.

Santana allowed herself to be led back out of the ice cream shop and down the street. It was completely dark outside now and the shadows the abandoned buildings cast counteracted whatever good the dull street lamps were. If Santana was scared before, this was something entirely different. The space in front of her looked like a scene from a movie—and not a good one either. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts and focus solely on the woman who had now laced their fingers together.

They walked down the street in silence for a while, simply enjoying each other's company. Although they were walking at a leisurely pace, they had still made it quite a while away from the ice cream shop.

"Dani?" Santana broke the silence, turning her head to face the woman next to her.

"Yes?"

The brunette shifted her gaze to look back at the alley ahead of them. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know. That's kind of the whole point of an adventure, isn't it? Dani quirked her eyebrow and quickly changed direction to head towards what looked like an old apartment complex. The building was around five stories high and looked like it could fall with a strong enough wind. That, however, didn't change Dani's mind at all. They were going to the very top whether Santana liked it or not.

The inside walls of the building were covered in graffiti and there were cigarette buds littered all over the tiled floor.

"You're gonna get us killed Dani I swear," Santana mumbled under her breath.

"Well if we do die up here—even though we won't—won't it be worth it? Live a little San," the shorter woman encouraged without a shred of doubt in her words. "You can't go through life being scared even of things and places you should be scared of. There's value in everything."

Santana let the words wash over her as she absorbed them all. "Becoming a singer has made you into quite the philosopher," she teased, drawing a playful smirk out of Dani.

"It's not even that, shut up," she shot back. "It's just…needing to escape from paparazzi, I've found a lot of cool places like this. And they've been where I've found the most inspiration to write," at this point they had started to climb the flights of stairs that undoubtedly led to the roof. "Life is just one big adventure and if you don't live out of your comfort zone then you won't experience some of the coolest things out there."

"You're amazing, you know that right?" The taller woman said looking over at Dani.

The lighter Latina glanced over too but quickly hid her face because of the blush that now covered her cheeks. "I guess so," she trailed off.

Santana closed the space between them and pressed her lips softly against the shorter woman's cheek. "You're cute when you blush," she stated which only darkened the pink tint. "I agree though. Life is a lot more fun outside of your comfort zone," she paused to look out over the sketchy neighborhood they had spent the past couple hours in. They had made it to the roof and walked to the middle by the time she continued, "but it's a lot more fun if you have someone to go on the adventure with you."

Dani, shocked at the words the brunette had just said, looked away from the skyline and locked their gaze. No words had to be spoken between them to know what they were both thinking. Dani unclasped their hands and pulled the darker Latina closer by wrapping her arms around her neck. She leaned in and brushed their lips together.

Santana gently placed her hands on the blonde's waist and deepened the kiss. She felt Dani's hands comb through her hair and push their lips closer. Right as the shorter woman's tongue ran across her bottom lip, a loud, metallic-sounding crash came from the floors below.

The sound caused Dani to jump back, fear written all over her face. "Maybe I should, uh, call John to pick us up now," she stuttered, her words stumbling over one another.

Santana, although she too was startled by the crash, giggled to herself before smirking at the woman standing in front of her. "Who's the scared one now?"