Alright you guys first of all thanks again for all your reviews, they truly inspire me to write ten times faster and ten times better. This a rather long chapter and idk why it turned out the way it did, suddenly my fingers were typing the words and before i knew it there it was! I hope you all enjoy this chapter like you have the previous one although this on is rather fluffy in a serious way. Anyways there's probably going to be one more chapter after this (maybe an epilogue as well but eh we'll see) and then it's done. This will be the first fic i ever ended so i'm getting a little tearful at the thought!

Anyhow enough of my rambling and on with the story!

All in all it took the cops three hours before they finally were able to keep the lights on and the music out and most of us dressed. Especially Sam and Finn had quite the exhibitionist streak and I had to laugh when I thought of Finn walking through the halls of McKinley in his white boxers, I should've known back then already something was off with the boy.

However Rachel had taken turn for the worse, refusing to work with the police as Mercedes and Kurt came to her aid screaming at the cops while Mike performed some awesome ninja moves to keep the cops from climbing up onto the tables where the divas had resided. When Sam was about to pull his boxers down Mercedes got distracted and Kurt followed her line of sight only to drool like a little puppy as well. If 'Cedes hadn't been so drunk that she was oblivious to his staring I'm sure she'd have smacked him hard for the lust filled leer he shot the blond stripper. Artie had come to Rachel's rescue when the cops saw their chance with two of the diva's attention being captivated by the almost naked boy and he wheeled past the back of the table singing the James Bond tune at the top of his lungs. He allowed her to jump on his lap as he impressively wheeled away from the officers and into the crowd. He almost ran me over but Santana pulled me out of the way as Puck high fived the nerd before they both crashed into the back up that stormed through the door. Even then Rachel refused to surrender so the cops were forced to cuff her to the wheelchair before grabbing hold of its handles and push the screaming young pair out of the apartment.

One female cop of the backup team managed to get close enough to Sam at the very moment when he pulled his boxers off. She had stood in front of him, shielding his private parts from view which lead to a lot of booing and angry shouts from all the girls and gays before the rest of the officers moved in and cuffed those who fought against them. Slowly one by one our friends were escorted out of the building and down to the police station. Puck, Santana and I remaining with the officer still holding his phone – to who he was calling this time I had no idea.

"Oh my god."

Santana snapped out of her stupor and looked at me before bursting out in laughter with Puck and I joining her soon after. We almost doubled over at the thought of all of them sitting behind bars down at the precinct in their drunken haze. It would make for a very interesting night indeed.

The police officer hung up and asked us if we wanted to come with him to bail them out and deal with eventual charges being made but we told him we wanted to clean the place up first. Besides we didn't even have enough money to pay for all of them. Puck grinned at that and said that as long as we took care of the apartment he'd handle the money. We looked at him confused but nodded and he turned on his heel as he marched out the apartment as well, his deep snicker disappearing into the hallway of the building. The officer politely nodded towards us and took his leave as well.

When I finally shut the front door of the loft I sighed in unbelief at what had just taken place. This was by far the most hard core party I'd ever attended and that was something when you'd attended all High School parties thrown by Puck himself. I chuckled at how the night turned out before rounding the corner again to watch as Santana was cleaning up solo cups and other things putting them in a garbage bag she probably found in the kitchen. I looked at her fondly as she busied herself with cleaning. The act in itself seemed domestic if you took it out of the context of tonight and I suddenly pictured her cleaning up our kid's toys in the living room as I came home from work. It hadn't been the first time I'd thought about a future with Santana so it didn't take me by surprise nearly as much as the first time did. I had come to wrap my head around the picture of San and me living together in a duplex apartment somewhere close to Bryant Park with three little kids running around and a baby on the way. I would be a famous writer and teaching English Literature at NYU and San would be a surgeon at New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell specializing in cardiology. She'd be their top surgeon in the fourth national ranked hospital for cardiology and heart surgery. We'd have busy schedules but I'd be home the most with the kids since her hours would be often all over the map but I had full confidence we'd make it work.

Lost in my musings I hadn't noticed Santana stopping with cleaning up everyone else's mess and stalking towards me with a curious expression on her face until she cupped my face into her soft hands as her thumbs grazed my cheeks gently before pressing a quick peck on my lips.

"Where'd you go their spacy head?"

I smiled at her and allowed tears to sting my eyes as I took in her loving, adoring expression. How on earth had I gotten so lucky to fall in love again? How was it that I'd found what I was looking for and so much more in my very own best friend? Maybe a God did exist after all, maybe my faith hadn't been for nothing and now finally I was getting the price of the hard years I suffered through. Maybe God did give us all hardships to face knowing we could not only handle them but overthrow them and rise above, becoming the very best of ourselves. Because that's what Santana did for me, she managed to bring out the very best in me. She managed to make it all worth it.

Her eyes filled with worry at the sight of my glistening pupils and she cooed softly.

"Hey, hey, baby, what's wrong?"

She pecked me again and again as my arms circled around her waist and the next time her lips came into contact with mine I kept those lips lingering as I deepened it, kissing her with all I had. I could feel her breath catching in her throat at the emotion I was pouring into the kiss. I slowly pushed her backwards until her back hit the counter of the kitchen before I pressed my front against her. As our bodies molded perfectly together my hands trailed up her sides, caressing her body through the fabric slowly before I moved my lips away from hers and began my descend on her neck as I nipped and licked every piece of it. She moaned breathily and tugged at my hair softly. We were alone at last and I had her in my arms to do as I wished. I growled at the thought and cupped her ass with both my hands encouraging her to allow me to hoist her onto the counter. I let my hands glide down her thighs and down to her calves caressing the tender flesh of her legs under my fingertips as she sighed in arousal and the sound went straight to my core. I nipped at her collarbone and kissed my way over to the beginning of her dress right above her right breast, feeling her squirm under my touch before I slid one hand up her body to cup her breast through the fabric of her dress and squeezing the full mound gently in my hand before rolling the hardened nipple between my forefinger and thumb and tugging it harshly. The sound of her breath hitching made my head spin and I finally allowed her to pull my face away from her skin to gaze into her eyes that were almost black with desire. The surprise in them was swirling together beautifully with the love that shone ever so bright. I smiled a genuine small smile at her, knowing she loved those the most. She had told me once that my big smile was beautiful and even though it often rendered her speechless it was the small genuine smile I only wore very little that truly warmed her heart and set her soul ablaze. She told me it was the most true to my soul. And I understood why. Big gestures and expressions had always been a mask of some sort. The only thing big about me was my laughter when genuine, everything else was small and fleeting that felt like you were running behind a train most of the time trying to catch a glimpse of the loved one riding away with it. Her hands untangled themselves from my locks again as she held my head in her strong hands, peering deep into my soul and I guess she found what she was looking for when a stunning smile split her face. Unlike myself everything about Santana was big when she was being true to herself. Her hand gestures were flailing and grand, her vocabulary suddenly increased itself with many big words and her face was always expressing her emotions clearly. When something was small whether it was her smile or her hands gesturing faintly it meant that she was hiding something or herself behind a similar mask behind which I had always hid as well.

"I love you."

I breathed the words softly against her lips, rolling them around in my mouth and loving how they brought a sparkle to her eyes every time without fail.

"I love you Santana."

She smiled even bigger and scrunched her nose in confusion. I pecked it quickly and giggled.

"I love you Santana Lopez."

She kissed me hard at the use of her last name and I kissed her back just as fiercely before pulling away. She looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face when suddenly I procured something from inside my dress. This evening I'd worn a very long necklace that I let disappear into my dress. It wasn't unusual for me to wear weird jewelry since I had picked up some fashionista friends at my dorm building and they often made the weirdest things anyways so Santana hadn't questioned the necklace which I was so glad for in this moment as I slowly pulled it out of my dress and over the revealed cleavage. When the kitchen light reflected on its sparkling surface her mouth fell open in a gasp and her breath got caught in her throat. I slowly held it between my fingers as I sank down to one knee. I had planned to do this tomorrow morning when all of this was over and we'd both found the closure we needed to take this step in our future but I felt ready. I knew we could do this, I knew we were ready for this commitment. And when I saw her hands cover her open mouth and her eyes glisten with tears I knew I'd made the right decision to do this now instead of on the bridge in Central Park. This was more us, less cliché.

"Do you remember the first time you kissed me? I think we were eight and this kid had pushed me off my bike and I scratched my knee on the pavement. Your Mami had sat me on the kitchen counter and you were so scared that I got hurt you didn't want to leave my side so you just sat there next to me the whole time. When your Mami went to get the antiseptic you grabbed my hand and told me not to cry. You told me you'd have my back forever and you would make sure no one would ever push me over again. You kissed my knee even though it was gross and then you kissed me quickly on the lips. I felt instantly better to know you would always be there for me."

Santana choked on a sob and smiled as she nodded.

"Kitchens seem to be our thing San, remember how I told you I was pregnant when standing in your kitchen again? You held me and just let me cry on your shoulder. You rubbed my back even though we were at odds in that moment you promised no one would ever come close enough to hurt me or the baby. And even when we fought you kept your promise, no one ever hurt the baby."

She smiled sadly at the remembrance of our frenemies relationship back then.

"Then after graduation you took me to the kitchen again because Mami had baked us cookies but in reality you just wanted to pull me aside to hug me without anyone seeing. You told me we made it, we had lived through High School and we actually made it! We were getting out of that stupid town and we were going to make something of ourselves. And I told you I'd always known you could do it. I never realized the importance of that moment until you broke up with Britt and told me how only I seemed to understand that we were meant to go study and become the people we had always aspired of being when we talked about our dreams baking cookies in the kitchen of your home. You pulled me away at that part at Puck again in a kitchen to 'get me wasted' but in all the haze of that night I'd forgotten how you looked at me that night in both those kitchens. You looked at me like I was still Lucy Quinn Fabray, your very best friend in the whole wide world. You looked so rpoud of me, of yourself, of us for becoming who we had by the end of our High School career and it felt amazing to feel the exact same thing about you."

A tear rolled down her tan cheek as a wobbly smile graced her lips. I took a deep breath and plowed on, feeling suddenly inspired like the words were just ssuddenly given to me in the heat of the moment.

"You had promised to protect me and you kept your promise when you talked some sense into me after the accident to not give up, when you pushed me to try and get into Yale and all this time you kept bringing me back to these kitchens like you were trying to tell me something. And I am so sorry it has taken me so long to finally understand it. I'm sorry for all the hardships I put our friendship through. But I love you Santana and I have been trying to make it up to you ever since we got out of that little small town in Ohio. I never thought this is what it would all come down to, but I understand now. I know now that you are it for me San, you are my home."

She gasped at that, knowing it was the biggest and most secret dream of all I'd ever had, the only dream I ever really hoped for and she had always been the only one to know it when I told her about it first year in McKinley High baking cookies in Home Ed. All I really wanted was a home, with a family who loved me back and gave me a place to belong.

"I guess it's the fake blondeness that seeped into my brain or something for not realizing this sooner but you have always been the family I wanted in my past, you have become my home in the present day and I know your side is the place I'll belong to in the future as the mother to our children and the wife to your love. So Santana..."

I took a deep breath and smiled as I held out the ring.

"Will you marry me?"

She smiled through her tears and nodded as I slid the ring on her finger. I rose up to her and she looked at me, stunned into silence before squealing and loudly yelling yes into the kitchen, letting the sound bounce off the tiles as I slammed my lips against her. Every time I pulled back slightly she'd mumble yes all over again against my lips and I felt like my heart would burst right out of my chest. I lifted her from the counter as her legs wrapped around my waist before carrying her over to the balcony. I sat her down and hurried back inside, grabbing sheets and pillows from their guest room and hurrying back outside. I laid them down and she crawled on them. I kissed her deeply as I lowered her onto the makeshift bed before I rolled off of her and intertwined our fingers. I pointed with my free hand to the sky and she stared at the magnificent view of the dark sky twinkling with stars.

"It's beautiful Luce."

I smiled and nodded.

"I promised you I'd make you so happy you'd see stars right? Well I'd like to think you're really happy now and I promised you stars so..."

She chuckled.

"I meant it in a whole other way but..."

I looked at her when she spoke as she turned her head towards me.

"..This is actually kind of perfect."

I smiled again and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"I love you Lucy Quinn Fabray."

The emotion in her voice would have thrown me off my feet if I'd been standing. Never had I hear her declare something so fiercely quiet since her voice felt like a sledgehammer pounding with emotion but the words were barely spoken above a whisper. I climbed on top of her.

"Wait until I make you see fireworks San, they're ten times better than stars."

I grinned at her and her smile turned wicked with desire as I kissed her again before our hands explored each others bodies. We were healing each other from every old wound and replacing the scars with lovely caresses as we whispered words of promise into each others mouths, breathing in each others scent and finally claiming each other as the soul mates we were meant to be. I kissed the hand off which the ring sparkled and looked back at her.

"You're mine now Lopez, no escaping me anymore."

"Like I'd ever want to Fabray, you're stuck with me forever now."

I kissed her again and we spent the next hour worshipping every little thing about each other before we cuddled together under the city lights finally feeling satisfied. We were living our dream as our fingertips still tingled from all the places we'd explored on each others bodies, finally discovering everything the world had to offer in the embrace of our love, holding on to something we'd never thought we'd ever feel again let alone keep forever. But i knew we would make it, for once I believed as strongly as San had when we were children. We finally made it home.

At least we were until Puck came barging in through the front door screaming he got the cash at the top of his lungs. His eyebrows wiggled suggestively when he found us wrapped in the linen sheets out on the balcony and when he noticed the ring on San's finger he suddenly froze midway. He looked at me for confirmation and I shot him a proud grin.

"Well I never thought the day would come when someone tamed the fierce and powerful Santana Lopez but to be honest.."

He grinned at me and blinked the moisture out of his eyes.

"If anyone could do it, it would be you Q. You're the original HBIC after all."

I snickered at San's undignified gasp and he chuckled before looking at Santana with a heavy heart; they'd always had this strong weird bond between them ever since she slept with him to make herself believe she wasn't gay just like Puck and I would share a strong bond over Beth. It hadn't registered how much his approval meant to the both of us until he stood there fiddling with his hands and genuine smile plastered on his face.

"Seriously though San, you could not have been more lucky than to snatch this Prom Queen here."

I smiled a little tearful at his comment since even though I never actually won the crown he'd always thought I was the only true Queen of McKinley. San nodded in agreement and kissed my exposed shoulder gently as she tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind my ear and whispering sweetly "He's right, you are a Queen. You're my Queen." I quickly pecked her on the lip at the mushy confession.

"I'm really happy for you guys y'know. Plus it's wicked hot too!"

He waggled his eyebrows for good measure before he wiped a little wetness away at the corner of his eye. Santana grinned at him and winked. Puck winked back before turning on his heel and marching into the apartment.

"Now get dressed you horny bunnies we've got to pick the rest up at holding."

His sentence brought us crashing back down to earth and we scrambled to get inside and redress. It was time to get our silly band of misfits out of jail.