AN: Helloooooo! Thanks for adding this story to your alerts/favorite stories. I'm still working out a few of the kinks in the story so if you get confused don't be afraid to leave a review and I will try to explain it better in the upcoming chapters. Also, feel free to follow my tumblr at lovethatburns dot tumblr dot com! Enjoy :)
She didn't see Rory again for a few days. She just had to keep making sure her mom stayed away from Artie. All the spying and sneaking around was starting to get old. She decided to go visit Rory after school. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened that day, but she knew it wasn't good. She needed to find out from Rory if he knew anything else about it.
"What did you just say to her!" Santana yelled as she jumped off the stage and walked over to Finn.
"Nothing, I was just saying how good you were," Finn replied.
"Liar!" Santana yelled back.
"No Santana, he literally just said that," Rachel said defensively.
"You told everyone," Santana yelled.
"Santana nobody cares. What are you talking about?" Finn replied angrily. Santana slapped Finn as hard as she could and started balling as she ran out of the auditorium with Brittany running after her.
She knocked on the door and Phoebe answered.
"I'll get Rory for you," she said with a smile as she let her in the door.
Rory came out of the kitchen and smiled when he saw her at the door. His smile faded when he realized how upset she was.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he put his hand in hers and the two walk upstairs. He shut the door behind them and led her over to sit on the edge of the bed with him.
"I need to know what's going on. Santana slapped Finn today and was really upset. Brittany ran after her, but I have no idea what happened. He said something about everybody knowing in Glee club and not caring. Do you know what he's talking about?" Sugar explained. She suddenly realized it. It really is the only thing that would make Santana that upset. That must have been Finn outing her. That was probably why her mom always made those comments referring to Finn yanking her out of the closet every time he was mentioned.
"He outed her," Sugar said angrily. She felt herself getting boiling mad at Finn. She wanted to go and do the exact same thing Santana did to him, except ten times worse.
"Sugar you can't interfere with it," Rory said, knowing how upset she was.
"But he hurt her Rory! He hurt my mom," Sugar exclaimed loudly. She could feel the tears start to fall down her face as she buried her face in her hand and tried to wipe away the stinging tears. Rory gently pulled her closer into a hug.
"Look, I know. But this is part of the past. This has to happen. If your mom doesn't come out then your moms will never be able to be together happily," Rory said softly.
"I just hate seeing this. I mean I can't even go and make sure she is okay," Sugar replied through the tears.
"Why not? They are right next door. You want to talk to her?" Rory replied as he gently wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. Sugar nodded in reply.
"But first, you need to calm down enough so that they don't suspect something strange going on," Rory explained. "I know just what to do." He stood up and turned on the MP3 player. It started playing one of Sugar's favorite songs of the era, What Makes You Beautiful. Sugar miled as he turned on the song.
"Rory, why do you have this song on your ipod?" Sugar said with a laugh.
"Because it reminds me of you," he replies and holds out his hand for her to get up.
"Come on, let's dance," he said. She couldn't help but laugh and got up to dance with him. As the song ended they both fell backwards onto the bed, Sugar landing on top of him.
"You always know how to make me feel better," Sugar said. Even though the song was over, she didn't want to move. Rory gently moved a strand of her hair behind her ear. He propped himself up with his other hand and kissed her. Sugar was surprised, but found herself kissing him back. After a few seconds he pulls back and it takes her a minute to catch her breath.
"Now that you feel better, let's go see your moms," he said. She helped him up and laughed as he pulled her into him for a hug. He walked out his door and knocked on Brittany's. Brittany opened it and shuts it behind her. Sugar could tell she had been crying.
"It would be really awesome if I could use one of my three wishes now Ror," she said sadly. Sugars heart broke at her words.
"I wish I could. I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Rory said as he smiled softly at her. His charm never failed to draw people in. Her mother in the future was obsessed with him and always told Sugar how much she liked him and how cute they would be together. She always brushed off the idea. But after that kiss, she was starting to think maybe she was right all along.
"Santana's really upset. I don't know what to do for her," she whispered so Santana wouldn't hear her on the other side of the door.
"Because of what Finn did?" Sugar asked. Brittany nodded. "I ought to kick his ass," Sugar replied angrily. Rory gave her a look. Brittany seemed surprised at how defensive Sugar was about the situation.
"Thanks guys. I better get back to Santana," Brittany said.
"Can I talk to her?" Sugar asked. She knew she wouldn't feel better until she made sure her mom was okay.
"She doesn't like having other people around when she's like this. But I have an idea, go downstairs and get her favorite cookies off the counter from my mom and bring it up here with a glass of milk. She's sure to let you come in then," Brittany replied. Sugar nodded, knowing that her mom's favorite cookies are Snickerdoodles, ironically enough. "We'll be right back." Sugar and Rory walked downstairs to the kitchen and prepared a plate and some milk.
"Her favorite song is Everybody, let's sing it for her when we go up," Sugar suggests as she grabs a napkin for her. Her mom always sang it to her when she was little when she was sad about something. Rory grabbed Brittany's ipod and found an instrumental version under a playlist called San's favorites.
"Santana, we brought you a surprise," Sugar said with a smile as she saw Santana her curled up on the bed.
"Go away," Santana replied coldly. Brittany gestured for them to come in and Rory started the music. They sat down the cookies. Santana sat up and looked over at Brittany then back at Sugar confused about what was going on. Brittany laughed and came over to sit next to her and took her hand. "Just listen."
Sugar started to sing, in her real singing voice.
We have fallen down again tonight
In this world it's hard to get it right
Trying to make your heart feel like a glove
What it needs is love love love
Rory, Sugar and Brittany started singing the chorus together.
Everybody everybody wants to love
Everybody everybody wants to be loved
Oh, oh oh ,Oh oh oh
Everybody everybody wants to love
Everybody everybody wants to be loved
Oh, oh oh ,Oh oh oh
Santana started to tear up and looked down. Rory walked up next to Santana and smiled as he took her other hand. He began to sing the next verse.
Happy is the heart that still feels pain
Darkness drains and light will come again
Brittany lifted up Santana's chin at this part and smiled at her. He continued the verse.
Open up your chest and let it in
Just let the love love love begin.
Brittana pulled Santana up off the bed and they all started dancing and singing the next part together.
Everybody everybody wants to love
Everybody everybody wants to be loved
Oh, oh oh ,Oh oh oh
Everybody everybody wants to love
Everybody everybody wants to be loved
Oh, oh oh ,Oh oh oh
Santana laughed as the song ended and she gave them all a hug. "Did Brittany put you up to this?"
"It was Sugar's idea," Rory said with a smile. Santana hugged her and it suddenly felt like she was back home in her mom's embrace. She knew her mom was in there, beneath that icy surface. It felt so nice to be held by her for a moment, even if it wasn't her mom from the future. It made her miss her even more. She still felt like her and smelled like her. The hardest part of being here was being around them and not being able to tell them she loved them and missed them. She pulled back and realized she had tears running down her face. Santana and Brittany looked at one another then back at her strangely.
Sugar wiped them away, quickly trying to hide her emotions. She could tell Rory wanted to comfort her. He knew what was going on. "I should go." She quickly walked out the door and headed down the stairs leaving Rory standing in the room with the two girls.
A few hours later, Sugar was upstairs in her room at Al's house when someone knocked on the door. "Come in."
Rory opened the door and smiled at her. He brought over a napkin and handed it to her. She opened it up and realized it was full of snickerdoodles, her favorite cookie too.
"I stole a few for you before Santana could eat them all," Rory said. She knew that her emotions were running wild right now, but she really was starting to fall for him, especially when he did sweet things like that.
"Thank you, Rory," she replied. Somehow she knew she didn't just mean the cookie. He must have known it too because he put his hand on the side of her cheek and leaned in and kissed her. She got lost in his kiss for a moment, but her thoughts started getting in the way and ruined the moment.
"I love you Sugar," he said. She was taken aback by this. It was okay for them to play around until now. Now, his feelings were involved and she couldn't have him falling in love with her. He would only end up getting hurt in the end. If he fell in love, he might jeopardize what they were trying to do, and she couldn't have that. Nothing could get in the way of her plan. She looked down and didn't speak.
"Did I say the wrong thing?" he asked.
"We can't do this Rory. I don't want you to get hurt. What if I don't exist after everything here is in place? Then you will have wasted your time falling in love with me," Sugar explained. She couldn't help but feel like she was taking advantage of him by keeping up with this.
"I'm happy with you. I don't care about the future. I like what we have right now." Rory stated.
She sat in silence next to him for a few minutes. She got up and walked over to the door opening it.
"I think you should go," she said. It hurt for her to tell him that because all she really wanted was for him to stay right next to her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. She wanted him to hug her and bring her back to the future where her moms were happy and where things could go back to normal.
"I know you don't really want me to leave."
He was right. He knew her too well. She had to be tough. She couldn't have him falling for her. Not now, not ever. She had to make him fall out of love with her. She decided that there is only one thing she could say.
"Rory, I don't love you back," she said coldly. It hurt saying it as much as it appeared that it hurt Rory. He opened up his heart and she had just yanked it out and stomped on it. He got up and walked over to the door. He placed his hand on her arm and looked her in the eyes.
"I know you love me, even if you won't admit it," he said softly as he let go and walked away. She shut the door and walked over to her bed and started crying. Why now, why did everything have to be happening when she didn't have anyone to talk to about it?
Her Mom would know what to say to comfort her, but she was light years away from her right now. She knew she had lied to Rory. She did love him. She realized it earlier while they were singing to her Santana. She was happy when he was around and he always knew the right thing to say. She fell for him years ago when they were kids and he pushed that bully away from her when he threw her down. He got a black eye for her that day. They had been friends ever since.
She was jolted from her thoughts by a knock on her door.
"Come in," she said as she quickly wiped away the tears. Al opened the door and walked in.
"Are you okay?" Al asked. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. She knew that it was probably clear she wasn't okay by her tear-stained cheeks.
"I know that this, all of this, is hard for you. But you have to trust me when I say that it will be worth it," Al said. Sugar was really starting to get annoyed with him. It seemed like he always knew exactly what was going to happen to her every second of the day. She wished he would tell her so they could get the time machine fixed and go forward in time to see if any of what she was doing was helping.
"Al, why won't you just help Rory fix the time machine or at least tell me where yours is?" Sugar replied. Al looks at her and smiles.
"It's right in front of your eyes," he said as he looked over towards the closet. Sugar got up and opened the door. She moved the clothes and pushed a button in the back of the closet. It flipped around and revealed a glass box, resembling the contraption she and Rory came here in. She looked back at him and say him smiling at her.
"Go ahead, I set it to the perfect time for you. Go see what happens if you leave things the way they are right now. It's set to come back one hour after you land so make sure you get back in, or else you'll be stuck there. This machine is the older version so it can only go about five years into the future. So no funny business," Al instructed as he walked over and set the date on the machine. Sugar noticed that it was set for 2014, the year she was born.
"Push this button to launch when I shut the door. Make sure you get back in an hour. Good luck," Al said with a smile. He pushed the button and sent her off. A flash of light and the feeling of falling rushed through Sugar's senses. Within seconds it stopped and she opened the door to find herself back in Al's house. The bedroom looked almost the same as when she left it. She walked down the stairs and saw Al sitting at the table. He looked a few years older now and his hair that was jet black had gray streaks running through it.
"Al?" Sugar asked. She wondered if this Al knows her or not.
"Sugar! Nice to see you," he said as he got up and hugged her. She welcomed the much needed hug, although the Al in her past and her aren't this close. She was sure that they would be closer after a year or so of her being there, which may have been the case if the time machine didn't get fixed.
"So, any idea where I'm supposed to go next?" Sugar asked. He smiled at her and nodded his head.
"I'll take you."
They both settled into his car and he started driving. They sat in silence until they arrived at the hospital.
"Why are we here? Is somebody dying?" Sugar asked worriedly. "If it's one of my moms I don't want to see it."
"Just come inside with me," Al said as he took her hand and led her out of the car and into the hospital. They walked up to the maternity wing and he sat down in one of the waiting chairs. Sugar followed and took a seat next to him. Within a few minutes, they heard people coming down the hall.
"I just want Santana here," She heard a voice say from down the hall. She would know that voice anywhere. It was Brittany, her mom. She suddenly felt a sinking feeling as her the nurse wheeled a chair around the corner and Santana was nowhere to be found. They rushed a very pregnant Brittany back to a room. Several minutes passed and her heart continued to thump in her chest, praying that her mom would show up. What confused her even more than all of this was that her dad, Artie, was nowhere to be found. Brittany hadn't even mentioned him. If she wasn't mistaken, they had been married at the time of her birth. Brittany married him not long after she got pregnant, but they divorced soon after she was born. She saw a frazzled latina rush up to the desk and smiled as she realized it was her mom.
"My wife is here, she's in labor. Her name is Brittany Lopez-Pierce, where is she?" Santana snapped. Sugar knew that tone. It's the tone she used when she meant business. Her thoughts caught her off-guard. She had just said her wife. So her mom and Artie never got married. The nurse told her room 215 and Santana rushed back. Al got up and motioned for her to follow him. They followed Santana to 215 and stood outside the room, listening to her moms.
"I thought you weren't gonna come," Brittany said through her tears.
"I'm here baby. I'm sorry that we fought. I shouldn't have gotten so upset about everything. I just didn't want Artie to have anything to do with our baby and I was jealous. I was so angry that you were letting him be a part of her life. It made me feel like I wasn't good enough," Santana said.
"Baby, Artie is her dad. It comes with the package. But I need you in my life. Our baby needs you too. I guarantee she will love you as much as or more than she does him," Brittany replied softly. Sugar peeked around the corner and saw Santana kiss her and then her stomach.
"I love you both, more than anything in this world," Santana replied.
"We should probably head back," Al whispered pulling her from the scene. Sugar nodded and followed him out to the car.
"You know, she came because of you. She came because of how she felt about you and your mom. You brought them back together even after she found out that your mom was pregnant," Al said. Tears started to well up in her eyes.
"Sadly, that doesn't last forever," she said. She knew here moms were together now, but the future was a different story. There were more problems, bigger than just a petty argument that lead her moms to fall out of love.
"It can. I think you're forgetting that your moms are married right now. That means she never got married to Artie in the first place," Al replied. She wasn't exactly sure what that meant for the future though.
"I don't get it," Sugar replied.
"All I can say is that what you thought was a good solution may not be what is best for your parents. Think about it. What would happen if you weren't born? What if your mom didn't get pregnant? Would you parents have even gotten back together," Al explained. "I can't tell you that I know what happens. I haven't seen those scenarios. All I know is, you being born was a good thing. Maybe you are focusing on the wrong solution."
Sugar sat in silence for a few moments. She knew that today was a good day for her moms. She brought them together. Al was right. What if something else had happened? Would her mother have come back to her if she hadn't been pregnant and needed someone there? Her being born obviously wasn't the problem. She just had to figure out what was. She knew that her actions had already altered the future for the better. At least now, there was no marriage to Artie, but he was still a source of their disagreement even then. Who was to say that her moms wouldn't end up in the same position as they were in the future? It seemed like it still made Santana just as upset in this time period as it did in 2030. She had to figure out the solution.
She got back in the time machine and it started up and headed back to 2011. A moment later she opened the door and Al was in the bedroom.
"What day is it?" Sugar asked.
"A few days have passed since you left. So, anything I should know? Do I get fat?" Al joked. Sugar laughed as she stepped out and shut the closet door behind her.
"No, not from what I could tell. Still your good-looking self," Sugar jokes. "But I did have a breakthrough. I know now at least that I'm not preventing myself from being born."
"Well, I'd say finding out you don't have to eliminate your own existence is a major breakthrough." She realized that this meant that all of things she said to Rory to hurt him were without reason. He could love her. Maybe they wouldn't remember it, but he could be with her now. She shook the thought from her mind and convinced herself that being with him would get in the way of figuring out how to keep her moms together.
The next day was sectionals so she decided she needed to get a good night's rest. It was going to be a long day.
She woke up early to meet her fellow classmates at the auditorium to practice for sectionals. She rushed over to the school and made it just as the students were piling in. Both Glee clubs had to share the space for dress rehearsal, so the day was going to be interesting. She arrived in the auditorium and passed by Rory. He stared forward as she walked by, not making eye contact with her or even giving her a hello. She had hurt him, really hurt him and he wasn't going to be so easy as to forgive her for it. She walked to the back of the auditorium and sat in a seat by herself. Brittany hung over the top of the seat in front of her.
"You alright?" Brittany asked. Sugar just nodded in reply. She wasn't sure why but Brittany had suddenly taken an interest in wanting to be her friend.
"Yeah sunshine brighten up. We've got a big day," Mercedes chimed in.
Brittany got up from her seat and came and sat next to Sugar.
"Don't be nervous. I was nervous last year too," Brittany said with a smile as she put her arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. Sugar couldn't help but smile at her. Her smiles were contagious. Even when Sugar had wanted to be so angry at her mom, she would just look at her and smile and she would forget why she was even mad in the first place.
"No reason to be nervous Sugar Snap, we are gonna kill those teams. We're the dream team. With Brittany's choreography and Mercedes and I singing leads, we are as good as gold. Plus, who doesn't like a bunch of hot girls dancing around," Santana said. She smirked at the last comment. That was definitely something future Santana would say. She missed this. Both her moms would always team up to try to comfort her when she was sad or upset. It was nice to have them here doing the same for her right now.
"You're right. I already know that my voice alone would be enough to win us the trophy. But you guys amplify it by about 30 times," Sugar replied. She knew she was going to annoy them with this. But she had to keep up the act.
"Oh hell no, I'm nobody's back up singer," Mercedes replied with a laugh.
"By the way, I heard you sing the other day. I think you're improving," Brittany said. "Did a fairy come sprinkle magical pixie dust on your vocal cords?"
"No," Sugar laughed. She saw that everyone that had been sitting next to Rory got up to leave and he was sitting alone. She decided she probably should to talk to him again and try to fix things between them for the sake of their friendship.
"I'll be back guys," she said as she got up and walked over to sit by him. She noticed the other girls watching as she walked over to Rory and sat down next to him.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. He sat still staring ahead, watching the stage as the musicians set up their instruments.
"Sorry for what, Sugar? You're just doing what's best for you right?" he said in a cold tone. He had never talked to her that way before. She could tell he must be really upset with her. She knew she would be too had he done the same thing to her.
"Look Rory, I know that me being born isn't the problem if that helps any. I went back in time and…"
Rory cut her off, "Sugar, does it really matter? I pretty much poured out my heart to you and you threw it back in my face." He got up and walked away from her, leaving the auditorium. She felt the tears begin to sting her eyes. She quickly forced them away and started to make her way to the Troubletones practice room so they could go over their numbers for sectionals. She couldn't help but think about how upset Rory was with her. As she turned a corner, she ran into Artie.
"Oh, hey Artie. Sorry about that," she said as she smoothed out her dress and tried to regain her composure.
"It's okay," he replied as he wheeled along next to her, "So I know we are supposed to be enemies and all that but I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out sometime," Artie said. Sugar tried to contain the laughter. Her dad was asking her out. Guh-ross!
"Sorry you're not really…my type," she replied, "But we can be friends if you want."
"It's the chair isn't it?" Artie said. She could tell that she hurt his feelings and tried to come up with a better reason.
"I think it just would be weird with us being on opposing teams and all. But I'll tell you what, if you guys win, you and I can go to dinner, as friends," Sugar replied. She felt like it might be a good idea to get to know him a little bit better. She needed to see if her dad was really as bad as her mama always made him out to be. He seemed nice enough now. He was never there for her when she was little and suddenly wanted to take her away from her parents but he didn't seem like a bad guy right now. She had to figure out what turned him into the person that he was in the future. Maybe she could change him for the better so her mama wouldn't hate him so much.
"Oh, then you better be ready because we got this in the bag," Artie said with a smirk.
"Ha! We'll see about that. We have Brittany Pierce the best dancer in all of Lima, and Santana Lopez's voice. We've already won. Go ahead and wheel your sorry butt home," she replied as she turned away and smirked at her own attitude. Her mama taught her well.