First up to sing were Santana and Brittany. They sang Teenage Dream and Santana's eyes never left Rachel's. Rachel smiled at her girlfriend throught the entire song and Santana smiled back. When it was Rachel and Finn's turn, Santana alternated between smiling sweetly at Rachel and glaring at Finn. Despite Rachel's protests, they sang Don't You Want Me and it was all Santana could do not to jump up and rip out his jugular. Rachel's eyes never left Santana's and her smile grew wider every time the Latina looked her way. When the song ended, Rachel immediately went back to her seat before Finn could say anything to her. When Finn looked as if he was about to say something to her, Rachel scooted her chair closer to Santana, hoping to create some type of forcefield from the boy. Santana sent a heated glare his way and put an arm around Rachel as they watched the rest of the pairs perform. Santana rolled her eyes when Mr. Schue announced that it was a tie between all of them. Santana and Rachel walked to the parking lot together.
"I assume you didn't like the result of the so-called competition?" Rachel asked. Santana rolled her eyes.
"That wasn't a damn competition. That was just an end of the season singing day. Competition involves a winner, not a six-way tie. That wasn't a competition." Santana said, sighing as they walked. Rachel smiled.
"I know how much you love competition." Rachel said. Santana looked down at her.
"Not when it's for you. I'm not competitng against Finn. I won't do it." Santana said. Rachel stopped walking and grabbed Santana's hand.
"You don't have to." Rachel assured her. Santana smiled slightly before kissing Rachel.
"My parents want you to come over for dinner. Are you free?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded. "Cool. Uh... I'll follow you to your house and then you can drop off your car and I'll drive you back to my house." Santana said.
"That's a huge waste of gas, Santana." Rachel said.
"I know, but I have a surprise for on the way back to your house when I take you home." Santana said. Rachel raised an eyebrow.
"A surprise?" she asked. Santana nodded and Rachel smiled. "Well, in that case, I guess you're worth the price of gas." Rachel said. Santana smiled.
"Well, thank you so much for that honor." Santana teased as they continued walking to their cars. Santana found Alicia leaning up against the Camaro convertible. "What did I tell you about leaning up against my car?" Santana asked.
"Well, I didn't know how long you were gonna be." Alicia said. Santana looked at her sister for a moment.
"Don't scratch my paint." Santana said.
"Yes your highness." Alicia said. Rachel watched the sisters in amusement. Santana looked over and smiled.
"You ready to go?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded and got in her car. Santana followed Rachel to her house. When they got there, she made Alicia get in the backseat.
"Alicia, you don't have to do that." Rachel protested when she saw.
"Yes she does." was all Santana said. Rachel looked at Alicia, who shrugged and smiled and Rachel.
"Apparently, I do. It's fine Rachel." Alicia said. Rachel looked guilty.
"Only if you're sure." Rachel said. Santana smiled internally at how sweet Rachel was.
"Oh my god. Berry, get your ass in the car already. We don't have all day, damn it." Santana said. Rachel looked over at Santana with a hint of hurt in her eyes and Santana smiled at the diva to let her know that she was only teasing the smaller girl. Rachel smiled at the reassurance and got in the car. Santana looked over at her girlfriend with adoration before pulling out of the driveway and driving back to her house. Mrs. Lopez all but squeezed the smaller girl to death when the three walked in the kitchen. Santana laughed at the sight. "Hey, Mami your children are standing right here, you know." Santana said. Mrs. Lopez looked over and saw her daughters.
"I see you two all the time. I'm tired of you." she teased, though she released Rachel and pulled Santana into a hug. Alicia came over and patted Rachel on the back.
"Congrats, Rach. You've survived a Nina Lopez hug." Alicia said, smiling. Rachel and Santana laughed and Nina glared at her youngest daughter. Santana moved from her mother's grip and leaned against the counter, pulling Rachel into her body so that Rachel's back was facing Santana's fron and wrapping her arms around Rachel's waist. The three girls stayed there for a few minutes talking to Mrs. Lopez before Santana grew tired of having her backpack on.
"Rae, you wanna see my room?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded and Santana grabbed her hand, leading her through the kitchen and out the kitchen door that led to the rather large garage. Santana walked over to the staircase on the other side of the garage with Rachel in tow and climbed the stairs to Santana's room. Rachel's jaw dropped.
"This is your room?" Rachel asked as they entered the garage apartment. Santana nodded.
"There's also another entrance. That may come in handy if you ever want to sneak in during the night." Santana said. Rachel laughed.
"It's huge. How'd you end up with this room?" Rachel asked.
"My old room was next to my parents and my dad grew tired of hearing me play rap music late at night or really at any time. He asked me to move to another room of my choice and I asked them to renovate the garage apartment for me. Alicia learned from that and she did the exact same thing a year later. She convinced my parents to renovate our basement and that's where her room is. It's about as big as this one." Santana explained.
"I love it. And I love your color scheme. Neon blue and neon green go really well together and you added the perfect amount of black as a contrast." Rachel said. Santana smiled as Rachel surveyed the room. Her movements stopped as she saw two framed pictures on one of the bedside tables that were next to Santana's king-sized bed. She smiled as she noticed that one of them was of her and Santana in front of the Statue of Liberty. They had gotten someone to take the picture for them. She smiled even wider as she saw that the other one was of just Rachel. "Where'd you get that one?" Rachel asked.
"You know how at Nationals they had that photographer and they made us take individual pictures and a group picture?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded. "I bought that. It came in last night." Santana explained. Rachel smiled again.
"I love you, San." Rachel said. Santana smiled. She had thought about making a joke next time Rachel said it, but those thoughts immediately left her mind.
"I love you, too." Santana said. There was a knock at the door.
"San! Rachel! Dinner!" Alicia called. Santana and Rachel went into the house and sat down at the table. Nina put a tray of tacos in the middle of the table. Upon further inspection, Santana noticed something was off. She shared a look with Alicia.
"Mami? What is up with those tacos?" Santana asked.
"They're vegan. You said Rachel was a vegan, so I made vegan tacos." Nina said.
"Oh, wow. Thank you so much, Mrs. Lopez. They look amazing." Rachel said.
"In fact, I'm thinking of only making vegan foods from now on." Ricky and Santana's eyes widened. Alicia glared at Santana.
"This is all your fault." Alicia said.
"What did I do?" Santana asked.
"You're the one who brought home a vegan and now I can't even enjoy the one perk of being a Hispanic in a town like Lima." Alicia said. Ricky intervened.
"Honey, you aren't really considering making only vegan foods are you?" Ricky asked. He looked at Rachel. "Not that I have a problem with vegans..." he said. Rachel smiled.
"It's okay. I understand that veganism isn't for everyone." Rachel said. Nina nodded.
"Okay, I'll just make vegan food when Rachel comes over." Nina said. Santana nodded.
"Rachel, I hope you don't find this cruel, but I made a few tacos, just in case you were okay with it. Would you mind if I...?" Ricky asked, trailing off. Rachel smiled again.
"I don't mind, Dr. Lopez." Rachel said.
"Oh thank God." Ricky, Alicia, and Santana said in unison. Ricky went and got the non-vegan tacos and set them between the two girls and himself. "Do you want any?" he asked Nina. She shook her head.
"I'm going to be a good hostess and eat what our guest is eating." Nina said. Santana smirked.
"Well then I guess that makes me a bad girlfriend then." Santana said. Rachel looked up her and nodded.
"Terrible." Rachel teased. Santana looked at her and smirked.
"Oh really?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded and Santana smiled. Santana looked at Rachel, looked over that non-vegan tacos, looked back at Rachel, looked at the vegan tacos, before looking at Rachel again. Santana looked down at her plate and sighed. Reaching across Rachel, Santana grabbed a vegan taco. She looked up and saw the eyes of her parents, her sister, and her girlfriend looking back at her. "What?" Santana asked.
"San, I don't care if you eat the non-vegan tacos." Rachel said.
"I want to do this." Santana said. She looked over and saw Alicia staring at her. "What, Al?" Santana asked.
"You are so whipped." Alicia said, smirking.
"So what if I am?" Santana asked, biting into the vegan taco. She chewed thoughtfully. "You know, this isn't that bad." Santana said. Rachel's eyes lit up.
"Does this mean you'd want to go vegan full-time?" Rachel asked. Santana stopped chewing.
"Not gonna happen. Sorry babe." Santana said. Rachel laughed.
"It's okay." Rachel said.
"I will eat it from time to time though." Santana said as she reached for another vegan taco as well as two non-vegan. Rachel laughed again.
"I can live with that." Rachel said. Santana smiled. After they finished eating, they had desert and then everyone talked for about an hour. After awhile, Santana announced that she was taking Rachel home. "So what's this big surprise you were talking about at school?" Rachel asked when they were driving. Santana smiled as she pulled into the local ice cream shop.
"Well, this is before I knew about the vegan tacos... but I called ahad and made sure that they have dairy-free ice cream and I wanted to do something special for you, because the place that I'm taking you is kind of special to me." Santana said.
"Oh San..." Rachel said, unsure how to express her joy. Santana smiled as Rachel kissed her. They went in and ordered. After they had their ice cream, Rachel headed toward the car, but Santana stopped her.
"Where I'm taking you is right over there." Santana said. She led Rachel toward a group of trees and they climbed through them.
"San, where are you taking me?" Rachel asked. Santana turned around.
"Do you trust me?" Santana asked.
"What? Rachel asked, confused.
"Do you trust me, Rae?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded.
"With my life." Rachel said. Santana smiled at the words.
"Then come on." Santana said gently. Rachel nodded. Santana grabbed her free hand and continued taking her through the woods. Finally, they reached the end and climbed through the last group of trees to see the most beautiful view Rachel had ever seen.
"Oh my god, San. That's so beautiful." Rachel said. Santana looked down at her and smiled.
"Yea you are." Santana said. Rachel looked up and smiled. Santana closed the gap between them. "This is where I come when I'm stressed or want to think or sad or when I want to be alone." Santana said when they pulled apart.
"How'd you find this place?" Rachel asked.
"One time Q, Brittany, and I were at the ice cream shop and Q and I got into a fight. I got so pissed that I just ran away and kept running until I found this place." Santana said. Rachel smiled. "You're the first person I've ever brought here." Santana said. Rachel looked at her.
"Not even Brittany?" Rachel asked. Santana shook her head.
"You know she can't keep a secret. She would have told my mom the first time I was gone." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "You have to super secret swear not to tell anyone." Santana said. Rachel laughed.
"Super secret swear? What are we, ten?" Rachel asked. Santana attempted to glare, but the grin on her face gave her away. "Do you want seal it with linking our pinkies together too?" Rachel teased. Santana smiled.
"That's not exactly what I had in mind." Santana said. Rachel smiled as Santana leaned down and kissed her.
"You're secret is safe with me." Rachel promised.
"And you're safe with me." Santana returned. Rachel smiled softly and hugged Santana.
"Why's that?" Rachel asked.
"Because I love you." Santana said. Rachel nodded and grinned.
"And I love you." Rachel replied. They sat in the spot for awhile, talking about anything, everything, and nothing. Finally, Rachel looked at her watch. Santana watched as she frowned at the device.
"Do you have a curfew?" Santana asked. It was a legitimate question. They hadn't been out at night together in Lima. They'd only been together in New York where the only curfew was bed check at eleven. They could stay up as late as they wanted, except the night before the competition. Rachel looked up and nodded.
"I have to be home by ten thirty on school nights and its ten." Rachel said sadly. Santana nodded. "I don't want to go though." Santana smiled.
"I don't either, but I want your dads to trust me. Besides, my curfew is ten forty-five on school nights." Santana said. Rachel nodded. Santana stood up and offered her hand. Rachel accepted it and allowed Santana to pull her up. They drove back to Rachel's house and stepped up to the porch at ten twenty-five. "I had a good time, Rae." Santana said, allowing Rachel to stand on the steps so that Rachel was taller than her for the first time.
"So did I, San." Rachel said. Santana leaned up and placed a soft kiss on Rachel's lips. "Thank you for showing me your sacred place." Rachel said. Santana smiled.
"Of course. Now if I disappear, only you will know where to find me. Which is a good thing, because you'll probably be the only one I'll want to talk to. Just make sure no one follows you, okay?" Santana said. Rachel nodded and kissed Santana.
"I have to go." Rachel whispered. Santana nodded, kissed Rachel one more time, and walked away. She turned around and saw Rachel still on her porch.
"I'm taking you on a real date this weekend." she called out. Rachel smiled brightly and nodded. Santana waved before she got in her car and drove away.