A/N: So I said I was going to have this up quicker and then I got a little stuck. This chapter feels like a little bit of filler for me, but I really wanted to touch on some of the things in here to set it up for later. Next chapter will include their first group date night and they'll be starting school/getting more settled so I feel like things will really start rolling a bit more. Hope you enjoy!
"The zoo?" the man with a Park's Department shirt said. "You're totally on the wrong side."
"Of course we are." Brittany said in defeat.
"Look, you have to follow the Reservoir all the way down. Once you get to the other side, just keep following it down, eventually you'll see signs for the zoo, after you pass Shakespeare Garden and the Castle."
"Follow the what?"
"This big lake over here." he said pointing. "That's the Reservoir. Follow it till you get to the end and keep going past Shakespeare Garden and the castle. The zoo is on 63rd street, but you have to get to across the park going that way too." he said pointing to his left. They nodded. "If you get lost, ask someone else." he said, not certain they were grasping all of the information he was giving them.
"Thanks." Brittany smiled and turned with finn to start walking further along the water.
"Shakespeare had a garden?" Finn said looking at the sign and scrunching up his face in confusion. "In New York? I thought he lived in England." Brittany shrugged.
"Maybe he had a place here too."
"Makes sense." Finn nodded.
"There's a castle here?"
"I guess."
"I didn't think New York had royalty." she said excitedly. "But that's pretty cool."
"Yeah, I guess it is." he said with a smile, as they kept walking.
"Of course they're not here!" Santana says in frustration, sitting on a bench by the zoo.
"Give them a few minutes Santana." Santana sighed.
"I just have a bad feeling about this. This place is huge, and there's lots of different trails. They don't have cell phones. Honestly, they could be anywhere."
"Finn is awful with directions." Rachel said skeptically.
"Yeah, they're not exactly Brittany's strong point either."
"Well, I'm sure they'll find their way here eventually. They'll ask people and look at the maps." Santana shook her head.
"I feel like we should look for them, but then if they actually do get here it's useless." She thought for a moment. "Unless one of us goes and one stays."
"At this point, I think it would be best if we stayed together. I don't want anyone else being lost."
"That's the only way this makes sense. One of us has to stick around to see if they show up! How dumb are you?"
"I understand your point Santana, but I still think splitting up would be a bad decision. God forbid one of our phones dies or something. Then what?"
"Clearly we'd just meet back hereat the zoo entrance. It's actually pretty logical." Santana snapped. "And my phone is not dying." she added with an eye roll.
"Fine, then I'll go look for them and you stay here."
"What?" she shook her head. "No way. You sit here, I'll go find Britts."
"And Finn." Santana shrugged.
"Yeah, somehow I'm not so concerned about that part. One less headache for me." she said with her best fake smile.
"Well, there's the first reason why I should go." Rachel said angrily.
"Oh, there's more than one?"
"Yes, I actually have an idea of where things are in this park. I was here last week while Finn was looking for a job and I studied the map for some time before coming." she stated factually.
"I can find my way around just fine." she shot back, nearing Rachel menacingly.
"Doubtful. Regardless, I'm not sitting around the zoo entrance while you go running around Central Park on your own."
"Oh yes, because that's just what I'll be doing, running around and sightseeing. You seriously need professional help Berry." she spat.
"I didn't suggest that, just that it's not the best idea for you to go off on your own."
"Well you just wrecked my fucking car and that wasn't the best idea either so I don't think you really get a say in things right now!"
"Don't bring that into this situation! This has nothing to do with the car, it's about finding Finn and Brittany! You were the one who said we should focus on the task at hand for now." Rachel yelled, losing her patience.
"Don't start with me or I swear I'll send you back to the land of leprechauns where you belong!"
"You know those little disparaging nicknames you use are getting old! They're not even funny."
"Well they amuse me." Santana said with a smirk.
"Look, we're either going together or I'm going alone." Rachel said, exasperated by their entire day of arguing at this point.
After walking around for a few hours and getting sidetracked by the garden and castle, Finn and Brittany continued on in their quest to get to the zoo.
"Losing track of time was a really bad move. Santana's not going to be happy at all." Brittany frowned.
"Yeah...we probably should have been paying more attention, but there's just so much to see here." he said while furrowing his brow in thought. "I just hope she hasn't killed Rachel yet."
"We have to be getting closer to the zoo right? That last parks guy said it wasn't that far."
"I think so."
"Pretty disappointing that there's really no one living in that castle." she said, as they continued on.
"I did think it would be kind of weird for royalty to be living in the park." he admitted.
"I'd love to live in the park." Brittany said with a shrug. "This place is awesome."
"It is pretty cool I guess."
"Oh look, Strawberry Fields." she pointed to a sign. "The guy said we'd pass that."
"I love strawberries." Finn smiled dreamily at the thought.
"We probably shouldn't stop again." Brittany said skeptically. "I mean, he said we still have to get across the park going that way." she said pointing left.
"Yeah...you're probably right."
"I hope you know I'd really like to kill you right now." Santana said, walking briskly, with Rachel trying to keep up pace.
"It's better we stay together. We'll go check back at the zoo after looking around for a while. Once they get there they'll wait anyhow."
"You're just intent on torturing me."
"Yes, because what I want to do is spend more time with you today of all days when all you've done is berate and insult me." she pretended to be deep in thought. "Oh way, how is that different from any other day?"
"Four words dwarf – 'you wrecked my car'!" she said, turning around. "I've asked you a million times, so please for the sake of your personal safety – shut up! Unless you have an idea on where we might find them, I don't want to hear it." she turned back and moved to look at a map. Rachel sighed and moved to stand next to her, looking over it as well.
"Did Brittany give you any indication of where they might have been?" Rachel asked evenly, trying to put the argument aside for the moment as suggested.
"Oh yeah, a field." Santana said between gritted teeth as she gave Rachel a sarcastic smile.
"Well, that certainly doesn't narrow it down." she said, thinking. "There are a lot of big fields. I wonder how far out of their way they went." Santana shook her head and ran her fingers over her brow.
"This is a lost cause. We have no idea where they are. They could be absolutely anywhere."
"I'll admit it does seem like a lot right now, but I'd hope they're at least in the general area by now."
"Once can only hope."
"Come on, let's look around some of these spots." she pointed at some of the nearby attraction on the map.
After another 30 minutes of walking around and minimal bickering since they mostly kept silent, Santana finally heard something that made her perk up instantly.
"I wonder why it's called the sheep meadow if there are no sheep there." she heard a familiar voice from the other side of a shrub and turned to Rachel.
"Brittany!" she said, picking up her pace to cross over to the path that lead them to where it was coming from. "Britt!" she yelled in relief, seeing her girlfriend walking with Finn in the direction of the zoo. "Britt!"
"Hey!" Brittany said, her face breaking into a huge smile as she caught sight of her girlfriend and Rachel. She ran over towards them, Finn trailing behind and threw her arms around Santana's neck.
"Oh thank god." Santana said, squeezing her eyes in relief that everything was under control at least temporarily. She let out a deep breath and pulled back. "This has been an awful day." Brittany pouted her lip out in sympathy.
"I'm sorry. How bad is the car?" she asked and Santana just shook her head.
"It's bad enough. It's in the shop." Brittany nodded. "We have to wait till Monday for estimates. My dad is going to flip if he finds out."
"Yeah, I know, your graduation present." she said sadly, hugging Santana once more. "I'm sure they'll fix it for you. We'll figure it out." Santana just nodded, relaxing into the hug.
"Are you okay?" Finn asked Rachel, giving her a once over.
"I'm fine." she smiled, sadly. "I did okay, but the car did not." He frowned.
"She must be pissed. Sorry we got lost and you got stuck spending all that extra time with her." Rachel just shrugged, defeated.
"It wasn't ideal, but it's okay. You didn't do it on purpose." He nodded, hugging her and placing a kiss on top of her head.
"Well, cars are replaceable, I'm just glad your okay."
"Thanks." she said, feeling a little bit of the tension dissolve.
"Are you guys heading back?" Santana asked.
"Yeah." Finn nodded looking to Rachel. "You're ready to go home right?"
"Absolutely."
"Yeah, I want to have a glass of wine and decompress a little." Santana said letting out a deep breath. "Let's go."
"We can definitely come back here right?" Brittany asked hopefully. "Like both of us? There's so much cool stuff to see."
"Of course Britt." Santana said grabbing her hand as they walked towards an exit. "We have forever to come back here, plus I owe you a trip to the zoo." she smiled as Brittany pumped her fist in triumph.
After ordering dinner Santana and Brittany headed into their room to watch a movie and relax a little and Finn and Rachel settled in to flick through channels in the living room. A little while after the movie was done Santana headed out to grab a glass of water and saw Rachel on the couch watching Friends repeats on the couch by herself and sighed before approaching.
"Hey." she said sitting on the loveseat and putting her glass on the table.
"Hi." Rachel said, glancing over. "Come to berate me further about your car? Or just to re-enforce the fact that you have no interest in associating with me?" she asked uninterestedly as she focused her eyes on the TV. Santana frowned and took a deep breath.
"Actually I came to...apologize." Rachel snapped her head towards her in confusion.
"To what?"
"Look, I know I went a little far on the train before. I don't hate you and I'm sorry I was so harsh about our relationship."
"You are?" Rachel asked, shocked. Finn approached from the bathroom but hung back in the hallway when he caught a bit of the conversation, not wanting to interrupt something that actually sounded positive from the two.
"Yeah...I mean..." she sighed, trying to find the right words. "Look Berry, you know we're both really different in a lot of ways and you drive me absolutely insane most of the time, but I don't hate you. We are roommates okay? And to some degree you were kind of right – we do have to stick together somewhat. But I can't promise we're ever going to be good friends and I certainly can't promise we're not going to have big fights. In fact, I can promise you we are going to have big fights." She shrugged.
"I understand that Santana. And I understand maybe when it comes to you and I that I need to adjust my expectations and even back off a little bit."
"I don't know how it's all going to go down Rachel, and I don't want to sit and get into some in depth emotional discussion about or relationship right now, but I do know I took it too far today and I'm trying to grow up and be a little more mature, so I know I owe you an apology."
"Well apology accepted Santana." Rachel said carefully, not wanting to push Santana in the wrong direction. "I appreciate it."
"It doesn't mean I'm any less angry about my car." Santana said sternly and Rachel looked down. She took a breath. "But just give me some time to cool down okay? Before you were just going on and it was just adding to how angry I was about the car and I just...lost it." Rachel nodded. "And stop apologizing because it just makes me...more aggravated." she said shaking her head and sighing.
"I can do that." Rachel said, proceeding cautiously once more. "I understand if you want to cancel our group date night this week. If you're not ready to get into hanging out I mean." Santana just shook her head.
"No, I don't want to do that. Well, I kinda do but Brittany is really looking forward to it." she said with a small smile. "She can't wait to do hers next week. It'll be fine." Rachel smiled. "Plus, I mean, no matter how I feel, we have to find some way to make this work – be civil. This is college, we should all be having fun."
"I have to say Santana, the effect this relationship has on you is quite refreshing." Rachel said, testing the waters. Santana just shrugged casually.
"Brittany has that effect on people."
"You really love her, huh?"
"Of course." Satana said, crossing her arms over her chest and tilting her head. "I know you think I'm this big bitch Berry, but high school wasn't any easier for me than it was for you. It was just hard in different ways." She frowned. "And I took a lot of my frustrations out on people." she shook her head to clear it, mentally kicking herself for falling into this conversation with Rachel of all people.
"I understand." Rachel said quietly. Santana just sighed.
"Listen, I'm going to go grab some water. Brittany wants to watch another movie and she's probably getting impatient." Rachel nodded, as Santana stood, picking up the glass once more. "We're going to go out for the day to the park and the zoo tomorrow and probably do dinner or something. But Wednesday, you're going to have to come to the shop with me and figure out the car."
"Of course." Rachel said. "I talked to my dads again, they're going to figure it out so you're insurance isn't affected. I promise."
"You know you're never borrowing my car again, right?" she said and Rachel nodded quickly. "Night."
"Goodnight Santana." Rachel said, before sitting back and processing the conversation she just had. Santana grabbed water and brushed by Finn to go back into her room.
"You're never taking Brittany anywhere alone again." she said as she made her way into the room and he rolled his eyes as he moved to sit next to Rachel.
"Did I just overhear what I think I overheard?" he asked.
"Yeah." Rachel said in shock. "I think Santana just apologized to me and we had a conversation that was both substantial and civil."
"How the hell did that happen?"
"I have no idea. But I don't think I should question it."
"You're probably right." he said wide eyed. "She really lost it on you huh?"
"She did. Really bad." Rachel frowned. "She had a right to be angry this time though. I just want it to be Wednesday so we can settle this with her car and hopefully we can put this to bed for good."
"Yeah." he said. "I know."
"You know we talked so much about me, how was your day, apart from being lost?"
"It was good." Finn smiled. "It was cool to check out the park some."
"How was Brittany?"
"Good, you know," he shrugged. "she's Brittany. We had some good talks though."
"About what?" Rachel smiled and Finn swallowed, not wanting to get into some of the talks they had.
"Oh nothing too big – the city, our plans."
"Your plans?" Rachel asked, curiously. "I haven't heard much about them myself."
"Not much to tell, just the gym job, hope that comes through." Rachel eyed him curiously. "What about a more...permanent career?"
"I don't know Rachel, I'm still thinking about it."
"So what did you discuss today?"
"Mostly Brittany's stuff and that I'd be looking around at jobs and school. Like I said, nothing too deep." She looked at him skeptically but eventually sighed and turned back to the TV, only to turn back once more.
"Finn, I know you're excited about this gym job, but you can't do it forever. I mean, you know you're going to need something else if we're going to live in New York together."
"Of course, Rachel." he said with a sigh. "I get it, but I'm just getting settled here and I want to get something under my belt. Find a job, start making some money and establish myself a little bit first."
"And that's understandable but if you're going to try and get into a school by the Spring semester you're going to need to start applying soon. I can help you look at schools if you want."
"I don't know. I'm still not sure how I feel about school Rach." She looked taken aback.
"Finn, you know how important it is. What else are you going to do?"
"I don't know Rachel, but there are other options. I'll figure it out." he said with a gentle sigh.
"Well you should start thinking about it soon."
"I will." he said putting his arm around her and squeezed her close. "I promise. But I think today had plenty of excitement without factoring my future into it. It's been a crazy day and right now I just want to cuddle and watch some TV with you so we can just relax." he said and leaned down to kiss her softly. "I'll figure it out more soon. I swear." he said.
"Okay." she said kissing him once more before snuggling into his side to watch more Friends.
"What took so long?" Brittany asked with a scrunched up face. "I was about to come looking for you."
"Sorry," Santana said, settling into her side of the bed. "I saw Rachel watching TV and I needed to talk to her for a minute."
"Did you guys get into another fight?" Brittany said looking a little nervously.
"No." Santana smiled and shook her head. "Not at all. In fact, believe it or not I apologized to her."
"You what?" Brittany said, looking at Santana with a mix of shock and confusion.
"I took it a little hard on her in the train on the way to find you guys today like I told you. But it was pretty bad. I was so angry about the car and she was just being so...Rachel. And I blew up and said some things I shouldn't have. I kind of implied I hated her." Brittany winced.
"But you apologized?" Santana nodded.
"Yeah, I did. I just told her I didn't hate her and that I got carried away. You know, I don't know if we're ever going to be best BFFs, but you were right when you said that we need to make this work." Brittany smiled widely and pecked Santana's lips.
"I'm so proud of you." Santana blushed and rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, I'm just trying to make sure our college life doesn't suck."
"I know!" Brittany smiled and put her arms around her girlfriend's neck. "And I'm super proud of you for it!" She said and pecked her on the cheek. Santana looked down and thought for a minute.
"I actually got into kind of a serious conversation with her. Just for a minute before I remembered who I was talking to."
"You did? About what?" she asked, brushing the hair out of Santana's eyes gently.
"She just said you have a postiive effect on me and I agreed." she shrugged. "I kind of told her how hard it was in high school...you know, hiding." Brittany nodded with a warm smile. "But then I remembered it was Berry and I bailed."
"She's not actually that bad once you give her a shot Santana."
"Yeah well," she said, lying back agains the headboard as Brittany did the same next to her. "Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. But I did tell her date night was still on." she said.
"Yeay!" Brittany clapped. "I'm so excited! I wonder what she has planned." Santana sighed heavily.
"I'm sure it'll be something that's absolutely excruciating."
"You never know!"
"Britt, we're talking about Rachel Berry. Believe me. I know." she said.
"I can't wait for mine."
"What are you planning?"
"It's a surprise!" Santana smiled. "I'll tell you next week though. Once I figure it all out."
"Okay. What are your plans for tomorrow?"
"Whatever yours are I hope." Brittany said with a grin.
"I thought maybe we could go back to the park and do that zoo thing, just you and me. What do you think?"
"I think that sounds awesome!" Brittany said.
"We can head out in the afternoon and go to the zoo, walk around the park a little bit and then go for dinner."
"That sounds absolutely perfect." Brittany said kissing her softly. "It'll be like a date."
"Exactly. Today was so stressful, I just want to spend tomorrow with you away from this apartment and the hobbit and her giant." Brittany looked at her with a disapproving frown. "Hey, I took a big step today, I can call them whatever I want."
"Fine." Brittany agreed with a roll of her eyes. "But I still think you should work on it."
"Whatever, one step at a time. For now, I just want to concentrate on you and tomorrow and having fun before we start school next week. If we stick around here, I might just end up attacking Rachel again. I'm still really pissed at her about my car."
"I know honey, but it's all going to get fixed soon. Rachel swore she'd fix it."
"She better."
"She will." Brittany said. "But you're right, let's just get out tomorrow and spend the day away from here and forget about all of it for a while." Santana nodded and she kissed her softly, pulling her close before breaking away a few minutes later. "Come on you pick the next movie. You deserve the choice today." she said and Santana laughed, getting up to do just that.