Santana and Rachel spent the next two weeks on edge. Rachel was getting ready for Nationals and Santana was being careful in case Finn tried anything. Spending most of the next two weeks on lock down so that they could write two new songs for them to perform. Santana wasn't sure how much more time the rest of their friends could stand having to spend locked in a room with Rachel. Santana wasn't complaining and Finn wasn't either. Santana wasn't sure how much more time she could spend locked in a room with Rachel without killing Finn. He kept staring at Rachel and Santana was sick of it. Every now and then, Rachel would text Santana reassuring messages. That was really the only thing keeping her from attacking the boy. The night before Nationals, Santana was about ready to blow. Rachel spent the better part of an hour calming her seething girlfriend down. "All he does is stare at you. He doesn't even contribute anymore, because he's to busy looking at you. There are only two things that have kept me from telling him to back off." Santana said, looking at Rachel, who was sitting on one of the beds. Rachel had given up on her words being able to calm Santana down and sat down to let her vent. Santana was busy pacing across the room.
"And they are?" Rachel asked.
"The fact that we agreed to wait until after Nationals and the fact that I promised you that I wouldn't say anything unless he actually does something. So far, all he's done is stare at you. And while it pisses me off beyond belief, he hasn't done anything else." Santana said to Rachel.
"Santana, you have nothing to worry about. You know that right?" Rachel said. Her girlfriend nodded.
"Yea, I know. But that doesn't make me any less angry, Rae. But it's whatever, right? It's just one more night and then we can be out." Santana said. Rachel smiled and nodded.
"You still want that, right?" Rachel asked. Santana gave her a confused look. "I mean, if you want we don't have to tell everyone about us." she clarified.
"Rachel, that's not what I want. Is that what you want?" Santana asked, slightly hurt.
"Of course not. But what about your reputation, San? You worked so hard to build it up. I don't want to be the thing that brings it all crashing down. I can't be the one that does that to you, Santana." Rachel said. Santana chuckled. "What's so funny?" Rachel asked.
"Okay first off, my reputation can withstand anything. That was proven when I quit Cheerios to be in Glee Club. And even if it couldn't, I wouldn't care. I don't want to hide this. No. Scratch that. Rachel, I can't hide this. It's only been two weeks and it's killing me inside. Seeing you in Glee and not being able to hug you when you sing an amazing song, not being able to hold you when Mr. Schue wrongfully doesn't give you a solo, not being able to cuss out anybody who makes fun of you and then make you feel better after you lecture me for cussing, not being able to kiss you whenever I feel like it… this is all killing me, Rachel. And the worst part is not being able to kick Finn in the balls every time he and I are in the same room. We're not hiding this. Not ever. I'm not ashamed of you. I'm proud to have you as my girlfriend. So as soon as we are announced the winners, I am going to walk over to wherever you happen to be standing and I'm going to kiss you in front of everyone. Including Finn. Is that okay?" Santana asked. Rachel smiled and slowly nodded. Santana smiled softly and kissed Rachel. "Okay." she whispered. Rachel grabbed Santana's hand. "We should get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow, don't we?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded.
"Yea, we do. Let's go to sleep." Rachel said. Santana nodded and the two put on their pajamas and got into the bed. "Do you find it weird that we are already sharing a bed and we've only been dating for a short amount of time? I mean we've shared the same bed this entire trip." Santana shrugged.
"No, not really. I mean, it's not like we're doing anything wrong. We're just cuddling, we aren't doing anything else." Santana said.
"You're the best girlfriend ever. You know that?" Rachel asked.
"I kinda had a feeling. I can't wait for tomorrow. We're gonna win Nationals, and then we're gonna announce our relationship to the Glee Club. And then you know what's gonna happen? You and I are going to freaking rule the school. We're gonna be the resident It couple. Sound good?" Santana asked. Rachel laughed and nodded.
"Sounds great, San." Rachel said. Santana smiled and hugged Rachel close to her body and ran her fingers through her girlfriend's hair until Rachel fell asleep. Santana quickly followed suit. The two woke up the next morning and Rachel was nervous. Santana was as well, but she played strong for Rachel.
"You're gonna be great, babe. You're amazing." Santana said. Rachel smiled. "You're nervous. I get it. Nervousness can be a bitch. But it's all good. Do you want to know why?" Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Because I's gots yo back, babe. You don't have to be nervous." Santana continued. Rachel grinned and hugged her girlfriend. "Hey, we have a competition to win. Let's go downstairs." Santana suggested. The two went downstairs and got dressed for competition. They performed their songs. After all the show choirs performed their songs, the New Directions awaited the top ten list. Mr. Schue went to read the list.
"What'd we rank, Mr. Schue?" Finn asked. The teacher turned around.
"We didn't." Every one of their faces fell.
"Excuse me." Rachel said. She pushed past the rest of the group and Santana, running out the doors of the theater and going to their hotel, which was next door.
"Rachel!" Santana yelled and ran after her. Everyone stared after the pair before running after, not wanting to miss a moment of the scene that was about to play out. They quickly caught up to Santana. The rest of the Glee Club and Santana entered their rehearsal room and saw Rachel crying. Finn pushed past Santana and went to Rachel.
"Are you okay?" he asked. She shook her head. He tried to reach out to her, but she pushed past him and went straight to Santana, who immediately took the girl into her awaiting arms. Rachel started crying.
"Hey, its okay. Its gonna be okay. Don't worry. We'll get through this. You'll be okay, I promise." Santana whispered as Rachel cried into her shoulder. She soothingly rubbed Rachel's back with one hand and stroked Rachel's hair with the other in an attempt to calm her down. She continued speaking softly to Rachel as the rest of the club looked on in shock. Santana looked up and noticed them all staring. "What are you looking at? Do you mind not staring at my girlfriend while she's crying? Thanks." Santana growled.
"Girlfriend?" everyone exclaimed. Finn's jaw dropped.
"Since when?" he asked.
"Since we got to New York. Do you have a problem with that Finn?" Santana asked. The boy nodded his head and scoffed.
"Yea, I do Santana. And you're gonna have a problem soon, if you don't back away from my Rachel." Finn said. Santana raised an eyebrow.
"Your Rachel?" Santana exclaimed. Finn nodded. Santana gently pushed Rachel out of the way, into the arms of Mercedes and Kurt, and launched towards Finn. Mike, Quinn, and Sam caught her before she could actually hit him. "What the hell is wrong with you Finn? Rachel already told you she didn't want to be with you! Why would you go and try to consol her when she clearly can't stand you? Just back off already!" Santana yelled.
"No! I won't do that. I can't do that! Rachel, you know this is wrong! Santana is just trying to play you. She doesn't care about you!" Finn said. Santana prepared to lunge toward him once more, but was stopped by a soft voice.
"She cares about me more than you ever did." Rachel said quietly. Thirteen heads turned to look at her. "We're over, Finn. It's done. Move on. I have." Rachel said. Santana turned to walk back toward her girlfriend when she was pushed from behind.
"Santana!" Rachel screamed. The taller girl fell and her chin hit the floor when she landed.
"Ok, that's it." she said. She accepted Quinn's hand to help her up and turned to find Finn pinned to the wall by Puck. She started to launch toward Finn once more and was once again caught by Mike, Quinn, and Sam. "Escucha! Soy de Lima Heights Adjacent y yo tengo orgullo! Sabes lo que pasa en Lima Heights Adjacent? Cosas malas!" Santana yelled in Spanish. Mr. Schue stepped in between the scared gigantic boy and the pissed off Latina. "Stay away from her!" Santana yelled.
"Rachel, why don't you take Santana up to your room and calm her down. The rest of you guys, go back up to your rooms as well. Finn, you and I are going to stay here and have a little chat." Mr. Schue said. The group nodded. Rachel had already led Santana out of the room and the group started to follow. "Guys. Leave them alone for a bit okay? Give them some privacy. Don't hound them with questions." Mr. Schue said. They all nodded.