[5/6]
They meet in the bathroom.
More like, she follows Santana into the bathroom.
She's panicking, okay? Because it's the first day of College and it already looks like things are going to go to shit. The same fucking form, Christ.
"Don't." Santana interrupts her before she even has the chance to get a word out. "I'm not going to say anything. Just tell your damn sister to leave me the hell alone." Santana finishes applying her lip gloss and then promptly turns and leaves.
Dani looks at herself in the mirror and wonders what the hell she's doing with her life.
"What the fuck is she doing here?" Is Quinn's angry questioning.
"I invited her." The glare that gets her would usually make her look away and quiet down, but she's so damn tired of always bowing to Quinn's requests and moods and just fuck it. "This is about helping Puck & Jake, right? The more helping hands the better."
"As long as she doesn't try it with any of us then –"
"I kissed her okay?!" And there it is. They're at this stupid underground party helping the Puckerman brothers sell drugs to pay off some stupid debt and all her older sister can focus on is whether or not Santana is going to try to kiss her, like she thinks happened last year. Dani is tired of the lies and she's tired of seeing Santana walk away from her, she's just...she's done. "I felt like fucking kissing someone and she was there, alright? Everyone good with that?"
It stops Santana from leaving and all the reaction it gets is a gross – and expected – comment from Puck.
It's a start.
"It's only the drugs right?" Santana asks, her eyes barely leaving Dani's lips as they stand together in a secluded part of the underground location of the party.
"Yeah." She doesn't hesitate to answer.
Santana crashes her mouth against hers and Dani can taste the desperation in her that she herself has.
This is a stolen moment and they both know it.
It's not only the drugs.
Fuck.
"I saw you! I fucking saw you with that dyke!" Quinn whisper-yells at her when they get to their room as the sun starts to come up.
Dani's heart stops for a second before she regains her courage. So, maybe she and Santana weren't really that alone and well, she's not going to make up some lie. She's already stood up to Quinn once in the last 24 hours and it felt fucking fantastic.
"Just fucking mind your own damn business!" She's done being a doormat.
"What do you think Mom and Dad are going to do when they find out?" Quinn sneers at her.
Dani tries to keep the tears that quickly come from falling; because that's her biggest fear isn't it? She knows what her parents are going to do and she's not ready for it. Not yet.
"They won't." Dani answers back quietly.
"They will if I tell them."
And that's the straw that brakes the camel's back isn't? The fact that her own sister has such hatred for her, that she'd do this – that she'd out her. Dani snaps.
"Fine then, go on. We can all sit around the dinner table and talk about what a huge lesbian I am and for dessert we'll have a nice chat about how you're a pregnant slut."
The slap she receives doesn't surprise her.
The fact that it's not just her face that stings, does.
"Hey."
Dani looks up to see Santana approaching the park bench she's sitting on. She couldn't stand to stay at home after her fight with Quinn.
"Hey." Dani answers back just as she starts crying.
Santana sits next to her and wraps her up in her arms. Dani cries against her shoulder and just holds on tightly to her.
She doesn't know what the future holds for them, but for right now, this is enough.
"That's my kid! Not yours!" Puck yells at Finn.
Shit.
They had all decided to go camping, but Quinn hadn't invited Puck. Dani's surprised she and Santana got invited at all. She guesses it's just because Quinn thinks it was the only way to keep Dani from spilling the truth about her situation. How Quinn doesn't realize that she would never do that to her and had in fact done the exact opposite thing (she'd been the one to take the pregnancy test out of their bathroom trash once she had spotted it and thrown it in the neighbor's bin) is beyond her.
"Tell him!" Puck yells again.
They're all straining to sober up and actually understand what it is that's going on. How did Puck find them? And more importantly, why has he now decided it's time to be honest for once?
"Jesus Christ, you are such a fucking coward." He says looking at Quinn this time. Quinn, who is barely keeping it together and looking at both Finn and Puck with pleading eyes. Looking for one of them to save her from her own mess.
"Some party, huh?" Santana quietly whispers to her as they lay in their tent. Artie is sleeping on Santana's other side, so the girl adjusts to spoon Dani.
Dani just sighs in response.
Some party indeed.
"Go to the dance with me." Dani begs.
They've just spent the better part of the afternoon fucking in Santana's bedroom. Afterward, they started talking about the dance that Friday. Dani loves their time together, is sure she loves the girl too, and she needs to be able to to do this. To finally come out and take the weight that has been pressing against her chest and rid herself of it forever.
"I can't." Santana responds. She's wiping at her eyes as if she can stop the tears before they even form.
"My world's falling apart." Dani says, because it is. Her parents found out the truth – about her, about Quinn, about everything. The only reason she's not out on the streets is because the double revelation had left her parents so utterly disgusted that they couldn't even form words.
Neither of them acknowledge either of them, no matter how much Quinn cries as their mother only prepares breakfast for two.
"Then stay here." Santana reasons.
"I can't hide anymore. I need... I need to fix this." Dani says, the desperation clear in her voice.
"Who says anything is broken?" Santana questions, her voice finally back to her controlled tone.
"If you can't see that things aren't okay..." Dani says, choking up before she can even finish her sentence.
She gets dressed and leaves.
"Dani's too good for you." Quinn says, and she wholeheartedly believes it. Dani wants to be a lezzer bitch? Fine – but that doesn't automatically mean Santana is the right choice. Dani deserves better, which is why tricking Santana into meeting her in this stupid diner needed to be done.
"Maybe, but she chose me." Santana says, with a cocky smirk.
She thinks she's got this, that just because she's somehow found some fucking small amount of courage she can just march up and take Dani; like all her sister has done since the two fought is sit around and wait for her royal majesty. Well, Santana can kindly just fuck the fuck off.
"Really? 'Cause that's not what I heard. I heard she gave Artie quite the night. Sounds to me like she's not really chosen anything even remotely related to you." Quinn fires back, the gossip she'd learned about earlier just the killing blow she needed to stop this Santana and Dani nonsense in its tracks.
The look of utter heartbreak and devastation in Santana's eyes is worth it.
At least, she hopes it is.
"You lied to me."
"Santana."
They both sound so broken and Quinn... Quinn is so done with this. She's done with having two idiots fight over her, she's done with pretending this pregnancy isn't happening, and she's done with letting this bitch walk all over her sister.
Santana is going to regret ever showing up at this dance. Because Dani is hers, she's Quinn's. Only Quinn gets to be the one to break her, because only she has the power to put her back together.
At least, that's how it's always been.
"You couldn't just fuck off, could you?!" Quinn yells at Santana.
They're alone in the Choir Room and Quinn is two seconds away from smacking Santana in the face.
"Watch it, Tubbers! I didn't come here with plans to hit a pregnant chick, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to stand here and listen to your shit." Santana answers back.
"You broke her heart. Just like I knew you would." Quinn says.
"Fuck you. She broke mine first."
She's not sure how she feels about the look of heartbreak in Santana's eyes anymore. All she knows is she is so very tired of this war they all have going on.
"I'm a lesbian! And they're gay and we're all just people. So lay the fuck off." Dani yells.
Karofsky and Azimio had been bothering Kurt and Blaine just outside the school gym. It had been loud enough to draw the attention of all the people who weren't inside dancing. Still, no one had had the courage to go help them.
Dani had walked right over and placed herself between the two pairs of boys. She was done with hiding. She was going to do this and – as she was realizing now – she didn't need Santana or Quinn to find the courage to do so. All she needed was herself.
"Yeah? Where's your little girlfriend then?" Karofksy mocked.
"Right here." Santana answered as she quickly stepped next to Dani and placed her hand on the girl's lower back. She could feel Dani looking at her, she could feel all the students that were outside looking at her, but she didn't care. All she could hear was Quinn's words in the Choir Room after their initial fight.
"We're both just hurting her, aren't we?" Quinn asked quietly. "I'm no better than you." She had said, letting out a bitter chuckle. "We're both just breaking her heart because we don't know how to love her." She had looked at Santana then. She sounded so resigned, so defeated. Like there was no point in trying anymore...but wasn't that why Santana had showed up at the dance for? To prove to herself and to Dani that, despite their mistakes, there was still hope. She had allowed the hurting in her heart to take over when she had seen the girl standing next to Artie at the entrance to the gym, but now she knew better.
"Maybe, it's not too late for us."
Quinn had smiled at her.
If that wasn't a sign, then Santana had no fucking clue what was.
"So, one more word out of either of your mouths and so help me god, you'll both be shitting your own teeth for the rest of the month." Santana said.
Both boys hesitated, clearly not expecting anyone – and least of all Santana Lopez – to challenge them.
"Whatever, queers." Azimio had responded before walking away. A beat passed before Karofsky followed him. Santana was sure he'd locked eyes with Kurt, but that was a problem for another day.
"Thank you." Kurt answered. Both girls turned to look at him.
Santana nodded before grabbing Dani's hand and leading her inside the gym. She saw Quinn looking at both of them. A small smile gracing her lips.
As they entered the gym, Santana led Dani to the dance floor. A slow song was playing, so she wrapped her arms around Dani's waist as the shorter girl put her's around her neck.
"I love you." Santana said.
"I know." Dani replied.
She pressed the girl closer to her. Santana knew there was a lot of work to be done here, but in that moment, the two of them slow dancing in a room without caring who saw – it was enough, for now.
"I love you too."
(Inspired by Skins)