A week later, Santana and Rachel were in there room, getting their stuff ready before meeting Quinn to walk to the locker room to prepare for the game. Every time someone brought it up, Santana noticed that Rachel would tense up momentarily. "Rach? Babe, are you sure that you want to play today? You seem nervous anytime someone talks about the game." Santana said. Rachel turned from her bag.
"Santana, I am fine. I promise... so what position does Callie play?" she asked, trying to sound casual. Santana bit her lip.
"Forward." she admitted. Rachel nodded.
"You'll be fine, babe." Santana said. Rachel nodded again. "And I'll be there so you know I have your back." Santana continued, walking over to hug Rachel.
"Yea... I know. We should get going before we're late." Rachel said. The pair walked out of their room and saw Quinn waiting for them.
"You guys ready?" Quinn asked. Santana nodded confidently.
"We weren't state champions last year for no reason." Santana said. The three walked to the locker room, where their coaches and teammates were waiting for them.
"Lopez, Berry, Fabray. Your uniforms are in your lockers." the coach said. The three girls nodded and walked over to their lockers. Rachel paused when she saw the jersey. She lightly ran her fingers over the 'Berry' on the back. Santana looked over and smiled.
"You know, it's appropriate that your jersey number is 1." Santana said. Rachel gave her a strange look.
"Why's that?" Rachel asked. Santana leaned closer to her an lowered her voice.
"Because you're number one in my heart." she said, causing Rachel to giggle.
"You know, you act all tough, but you're really just a big softy." Rachel said. Santana winked.
"Don't tell anybody." she said. She turned around when one of the younger girls called her name.
"What should I do with this?" she asked holding up a jersey that had 'Pierce' on the back with '15' directly below it. Rachel looked over at Santana.
"Give it to Coach." Santana instructed.
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked softly. Santana nodded.
"I know this going to be weird for you and Quinn. I won't take it personally if you don't pass to me that much." Rachel said. Santana gave her a soft smile.
"If you're open, I'm giving the ball to you. No matter what." Santana said. Quinn looked over and nodded. "We kind of immediately clicked, you know?" Santana said, telling Rachel with her eyes that the double meaning was intentional. Quinn looked over again and inspected Rachel's jersey.
"Hey doesn't that 'C' mean captain?" Quinn asked. Rachel looked at it in confusion.
"I'm not a captain." Rachel said. Santana and Quinn smiled at each other.
"You are now. Lopez and Fabray proposed it and the rest of the girls unanimously agreed. Congratulations." the coach said. Rachel looked over.
"You guys did this?" Rachel asked. They nodded.
"You deserve it, babe." Santana said, kissing her girlfriend's cheek before she began changing. After everyone was changed and ready they went on the field and began warming up. Santana followed Rachel's gaze and saw that it landed on Callie. "Don't let her get to you. You're better than she is, both as a soccer player and as a person. She's got nothing on you. Trust me." Santana said, smiling to reassure her girlfriend before gently pushing her to tell the girl that it was time to warm up.
"Lopez, Berry, Fabray! They're ready for the captains!" their coach yelled. The three made their way to the center of the field. When the refs told them to shake hands, Callie gave Rachel an evil smirk. Santana put a comforting hand on Rachel's shoulder, wishing she could do more. After winning the coin toss, they went over to the bench to shed their warm up hoodies.
"You're going to be great, Rach." Santana whispered in her ear as the coach began talking. They walked onto the field to begin the game. Just before the whistle blew, Rachel looked over at Santana, who simply winked as the whistle blew. Rachel took the kick off and immediately sent it to Santana. Quickly controlling the ball, Santana passed it back to Rachel and quickly realized her mistake. "Rach, you've got Callie on you!" Santana yelled. Rachel didn't waste any time before kicking the ball behind her to another teammate. Ten seconds after she had released the ball, she felt a pair of cleats colliding with her ankle guards and she went in the air, landing on her still sprained wrist as she came in contact with the ground. Santana, who now had the ball, looked over when she heard yelling and what sounded like a cry of pain. She passed the ball to Quinn and sprinted over to the commotion.
"What is wrong with you?" their teammate Tiffany was yelling at Callie.
"I was just going for the ball!" Callie said. Santana tried to jump Callie, but Quinn, who had sprinted over when Santana did, grabbed her arm.
"You can't get a red card! We don't need to play with ten people." Quinn said. Santana nodded and turned on her heals when she heard Rachel crying.
"What happened?" Santana asked the nearest person.
"Callie slide tackled her and she landed on her wrist." one of the opposing players said.
"Is it your hurt one?" Santana asked softly. Rachel nodded and their coach and trainer ran over.
"Rachel, you need to sit out at least the first half. You may be able to return for the second one." the trainer said. Rachel started to protest, but Santana covered her mouth.
"Rachel go." Santana said, softly kissing her forehead before helping the trainer stand up.
"I don't want to let you down, S." Rachel whispered. Santana chuckled.
"You're not letting me down." Santana said. She turned around in time to see Callie get a yellow card. "Seriously? That's all she gets?" Santana yelled. Rachel kicked her foot.
"You don't need to get one. Shut up." Rachel said. Santana nodded and soon, the game was resuming. By the end of the first half, Westerly was down 2-1.
"Berry, you up to going back in?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded and handed Santana a water bottle. The Latina nodded her thanks and sat down next to her girlfriend. "I'm serious Rachel. Don't go in if it still hurts." Santana said, concern flooding her eyes. Rachel smiled and gently cupped the taller girl's cheek.
"I'm fine. I'm going back in. But you're sweet for worrying." she said. When they were back on the field, Santana stayed by Rachel as long as possible.
"I thought you went crying off." Callie said. Santana started toward the girl, but Rachel stepped on front of her.
"San, go. Now." Rachel said. The Latina went, but kept an eye on Callie the entire time. Next thing she knew, the scored was tied with 20 seconds left. Rachel had the ball, but not a clear shot. Santana sprinted up.
"Rach back!" she yelled. Rachel passed to her girlfriend the ball and sprinted to the other side. Santana faked that she was going to shoot it, but actually passed to Rachel, who easily shot it in. The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the game and Santana found herself being hugged by three of her teammates. She looked over and saw Rachel jogging over to the sidelines and removed herself from the hug. After sprinting to Rachel, the Latina tackled the diva to the ground, laughing as she squealed. Santana softly kissed Rachel.
"I told you that you'd be amazing." Santana whispered. Suddenly Quinn dove on tip of Santana.
"You two are so cute is disgusting!" Quinn yelled, earning a laugh from the two brunettes. When they were shaking hands with the other team, Rachel leaned closer to Santana as Callie approached.
"Relax. I'm not going to do anything." Callie said. Santana glared.
"I don't really care. Keep walking." she said. Callie rolled her eyes and Santana hugged Rachel. "I told you. I have your back babe." she said.