Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.

A/N: Sorry for the late update, I'm working on a one-shot for the Pezberry week.

Chapter 12: Here when I need you

A few days later, Rachel was standing in front of the Mayor's house, ready to have lunch with Michelle's friend, Dorothy. The house was big and when she knocked on the door, a maid welcomed her and invited her inside. She knew she wasn't supposed to be in awe at how beautiful the inside of the place was - guessing Michelle had already visited her friend before - but it was hard not to acknowledge the paintings and furniture around.

The diva was led into the dining room where Dorothy was already waiting for her.

The brown-haired girl smiled at her. "Michelle! I'm glad you were able to come."

"Thank you for inviting me." The petite girl answered, as she sat across from her.

"I hope you are hungry, I asked the cook to make some of your favourite meals."

For almost an hour Dorothy shared the tale of her month away at her grandparents as they ate lunch. When desserts came, the girl turned her full attention toward the diva and asked. "So, how is Santiago?"

The Jewish girl stopped her spoon midway to her mouth and looked at the girl in confusion. "What? Why do you ask?" She couldn't help but be suspicious about this question. She didn't know how close Dorothy and Michelle were so it was better to be cautious.

"Well last time we spoke you seemed to be awfully preoccupied with him..." Dorothy replied with a knowing smile.

Rachel didn't really know what to say and even less why she suddenly felt flustered. But it seemed like Michelle trusted the girl enough to talk about Santiago and she could use a friend right now who wasn't Santana. "Santiago is fine. Well as fine as you can be in a town of close-minded people…"

"I heard what happened while I was gone… I know you don't want to share the details with me because of my father but if you need anything I am here for you. You've always supported me when I told you I wanted to be a writer even though it is hard for women and I want you to do the same." The brown-haired girl said genuinely.

The diva smiled, maybe they had another ally aside from Mary in this town. "That's really kind of you, thank you."

"Actually, I know father said it's a silly idea but I started writing a novel. And please don't be mad but I took my inspiration from the two of you." Dorothy confessed sheepishly. "As a romantic, I find your story really beautiful and I hope someday people will be free to love who they love but in the meantime I can make it happen in my book. I can mix reality and fiction and since you don't want to tell me how you went from nemeses to lovers, I …"

"What?" The brunette frowned before something clicked. Prudence Harper talked about a legend written about the town and the couple. Maybe Dorothy was the one writing it. Legends are always based on true events and the rest created along the way. She couldn't really know how Michelle got with Santiago because Michelle refused to share it with her but she had obviously shared some details. But how could she know about their tragic end? It would mean she had to be around when it happened. This new piece of information was shedding a new light on their fate.

"If you are really opposed to it I won't but…"

"No…" The petite girl needed to read Dorothy's notes, it might help her fill some blanks in 'their story'. "Perhaps you could show me what you've written so far."

The brown-haired girl hesitated for a while before answering. "I don't really like to show my work before it's done but since it's you, I think I can do it."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it."

The girls finished their meal quickly after and Dorothy promised to show Michelle her novel. On her way back to Abigail's shop, Rachel smiled happily for the first time in a while. She couldn't wait for the day to end so she could share this new piece of information with Santana.

It was finally night time and Santana was waiting for Rachel to show up at the barn. The girl was late which had only happened twice so far but usually it was 15 minutes. The Latina was waiting for almost 30 minutes now and was starting to get worried. Sure it could only be because of Abigail but her psychic Mexican third eye was telling her it was something else.

After waiting for another 5 minutes, she decided to make her way downtown, thinking that she would bump into the girl if she was on her way. God, she missed her cellphone in these moments…

The raven-haired girl reached town without seeing Rachel so she decided to walk towards the shop. When she approached it, she knew why she had a bad feeling. The brunette was surrounded by four men, all friends with Cole and she looked uneasy. Despite being pretty far from them, Santana decided to make her presence known by calling the girl. "Michelle." She shouted loud enough to be heard.

Rachel sighed in relief as she heard Santana's voice. She looked one last time at the men "Now if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way." She stepped forward but the taller man pushed her backward.

"Not so fast, little lady. Didn't you hear what we said? You have to marry Cole and stay away from this filthy Mexican."

The diva glared at him. "And like I said, I don't have to take any advice from you. So I'll ask you again, leave us alone."

"Is there a problem?" The former cheerleader asked, walking as fast as she could towards the group.

"If you take it that way…" The taller man nodded to his blonde friend.

The blonde man, Peter, glanced behind him at the approaching figure of 'Santiago' and smirked. "We would never hurt a woman but we will gladly beat her precious lover."

"Look who's here." The redhead boy exclaimed. "Isn't it the man who stole you from Cole?"

The brunette huffed affronted by his comment. "He didn't steal me, I am not an object! I am my own person and I decide…"

Andrew, the last man of the group who had stayed silent so far spoke. "That type of talk could get you in trouble but don't worry, Cole will put you back to your place." The small brown haired man locked eyes with the girl before adding. "But until then, you will watch what happens to people who don't follow the rules."

"Hey, leave her alone douchebags!" Santana finally reached the men and Rachel. She quickly pushed the taller one and moved next to the petite girl. She opened her mouth to speak again but the small man punched her. She stumbled against the wall of the store and tried to recover. The man surged forward ready to punch her again but the Latina dodged his fist, making him punch the wall instead.

When he moved to hold his fist in pain, Santana took advantage of it to kick him in the groin before quickly dodging the attempt of the blonde man to hit her too. The Latina punched him, hissing in pain before grabbing Rachel's hand and running away from them. She quickly scanned the street before deciding to go toward Mary's practice. When they approached the place, she saw that despite the late hour, there was still light in the building.

As soon as the girl reached it, Santana hastily knocked on the door, eyes darting to the men running after them. She kept pounding on the door until the blonde opened it with a confused face.

"Santiago, what…"

The raven-haired girl pushed the doctor back inside, not waiting for her to finish and closed the door behind her once everyone was in the practice.

"What is going on?" Mary asked worried.

"Ssshh." The former cheerleader shushed her. She moved closer to the window to check on the men who were following them. She could see them at the end of the street, staring in the direction of the practice.

"We had an altercation with some of Cole's friends." Rachel whispered to the blonde.

Santana glared at her before looking through the window again. The group seemed to be done with their talk and slowly walked away in different directions. "I think they're leaving."

The diva came closer to her friend. "Are you sure?" She rested her hand on her shoulder and leaned close to girl's face to look outside.

"Yes. It would be too risky for them to try anything with you here." Santana tore her eyes away from the window and looked at the diva's face an inch from hers. "Beside, it's getting late…"

None of them had realized how close they were until now; they were practically sharing the same air. They looked into each other eyes for a while but their moment was soon interrupted by the doctor.

"This is getting out of hand." Dr Quinn exclaimed, making both girls jump apart. "We should go see the sheriff."

The Latina scoffed, quickly moving away from the window and from Rachel. "As if he would be on my side."

"Maybe not you but he would listen to Michelle." Mary pointed out, grabbing Santana's hand and leading her to the exam table to check her bruising eye. "Let me take a look at your face. Did they punch you?"

"Yeah but I hurt two of them, which is pretty good if you ask me." The tan girl said proudly before wincing slightly at Mary's touch.

"I imagine." The doctor laughed before getting serious. "I know you can take care of yourself Santiago but still, they are getting impatient and I'm afraid that some day you won't be able to get away in one piece …" She cupped the Latina's cheek.

"Come on, don't get all soft on me, I'm a big gi..guy." Santana joked, putting her hand on top of Mary's.

"This is serious…Please, go to the sheriff tomorrow." Mary insisted.

"I don't know, what do you think?" The Latina inquired, standing up before looking at Rachel.

The brunette who was watching the scene with rapt attention, shook her head to focus on Santana's words. She could feel a weird feeling of jealousy creeping inside her chest and she had no idea why. Santana was allowed to have a friend here and they needed all the support they could get but something felt wrong and she couldn't pinpoint what. She forced a smile before saying. "It could force them to back down if I tell him they've been bothering me…"

The former cheerleader nodded. "Okay, then we'll go first thing in the morning."

"We should all stay here tonight, just in case." The blonde stated. "I'm going to prepare the bed I sleep in when I'm too tired to go home."

The petite girl waited for Mary to leave the room before speaking. "Thank you, Santana. For you know, coming to my rescue and once again getting hurt to help me." She would have never thought the girl could be so selfless and caring and again, Santana had proved her wrong. The Latina was so much better than she had thought and she wanted to discover more and more about the girl.

The taller girl shrugged as if it was nothing. "I got worried when you didn't show up so of course I came looking for you."

"But you didn't have to and…"

"We're friends, right?" Santana cut her off. "So that's what friends do or whatever…"

The Jewish girl smiled slightly. "Still, thank you."

The Latina smirked before joking. "Are you going to hug me thank you because I need a warning."

"If it bothers you that much to receive my affection, Santana, you should just say so and I will stop but you didn't seem to mind when it was Mary giving you some…" Rachel retorted despite herself.

The raven-haired girl frowned. "What?"

"Nothing." The brunette sighed. "This has been an awfully long day and I'm tired." She lied. She was angry at Santana for no apparent reason but she was trying to not fight with her for the wrong reason, especially inexplicable jealousy.

The tan girl raised her eyebrow as she crossed her arms. "Don't lie, I…"

"Okay, it's ready." Dr Quinn said as she stepped into the room. "You two must be tired, you should go get some rest."

Rachel ignored Santana's inquisitive look on her and thanked Mary before quickly going to the other room. Hopefully, the Latina will let the matter go and they could continue their friendship...

The next day, Rachel and Santana went together at the sheriff's office. Sheriff Johnson looked surprised to see them at first but quickly recovered. He nodded with his hat and asked how he could help them.

"We would like to report an incident that happened last night." Rachel stated.

The man motioned for the diva to sit in front of his desk, barely acknowledging Santana. "Tell me everything, young lady."

The brunette glanced at her friend before sitting down. "Last night, I was outside my mother's shop when suddenly…"

"Wait." The bearded man cut her off. "What were you doing outside after night fall?"

"Why does it matter?" Santana knew it was a bad idea to come here, the man didn't seem to appreciate Santiago and was ready to judge Michelle for whatever she was about to say. She wished she could say cops were better in the future but she wasn't sure it was true…

"Mr Cruz, I am the one asking the questions here." The Sheriff looked sternly at her before focusing back on Rachel. "Please, continue."

"I thought I left my book there so I went to check but I didn't find it." The petite girl lied. "I was ready to go home when four men accosted me."

"Do you know these men?"

"Of course we know them!" The Latina exclaimed, frustrated. "It was some of Cole Flint's precious friends."

"Yes, it's was Andrew, Peter and two others…" Rachel added. "They asked me to give Mr Flint another chance."

"Alright…" Mr Johnson paused to scribble something on a piece of paper. "Ms Cruz, I'd like to speak with Ms Bercoran privately, could you wait outside?"

"What? Why?" The raven-haired girl asked confused.

"I want her to feel free to talk to me and I don't think she can do that with you around." The man explained.

Santana scoffed. "Bullshit."

"I don't mind, Mr Johnson." The petite girl said.

"Well I do, so please, wait outside." The sheriff commended.

The tan girl raised her hands up in frustration. "Fine!" She smiled reassuringly at Rachel before glaring at the sheriff and leaving the building.

Mr Johnson stood up and went to the other side of the desk, leaning against it. "So Ms Bercoran, can you explain to me why Mr Cruz has a black eye? Was he a part of the altercation?"

Rachel sighed, she was starting to doubt this talk would lead anywhere. "That's not what you think. He happened to be around and when he saw Cole's friends bothering me, he came to help. When they saw Santiago, they told me they were going to hurt him and one of them punched him. Then everything happened in a blur and next thing I know, we were running away from them."

"But why would they act like that if they were just having a friendly chat with you about Mr Flint. Are you sure Mr Cruz didn't provoke them?"

"Are you serious?" The diva looked at him in disbelief. Despite telling him Santiago had nothing to do with it, he kept trying to make him responsible somehow. "There was nothing friendly about our talk and Santiago was just trying to protect me!"

"Mmhh Mhh" The man hummed, clearly unconvinced. "What type of relationship do you have with Mr Cruz?"

"What?" The brunette asked astonished. "What does it have to do with what happened to me last night? Santiago is not the problem, Cole and his friends are. I'm here to ask for your help because I need you to tell them to leave us alone. You are the sheriff of this town, it is your duty."

"Can I give you some advice, young lady?"

The Jewish girl clicked her tongue in annoyance; she guessed there was no point saying no. "Please do." She said with a fake smile.

"You are a nice girl, Michelle, you are smart and hardworking, you have helped your mother at the store since your father passed away. You could make a man happy but lately, you've been mingling with people you shouldn't. It would be better to associate with people more like yourself. I'm just trying to look at for you because your father was a friend of mine so trust me when I say you should stay away from Santiago and his family. I wouldn't want you getting hurt."

Rachel blinked, not believing what she just heard. "Unbelievable…" She shook her head. She was clearly wasting her time and the best thing to do now was leave and hope he would at least talk to Cole and his friends… "I need to go help my mother at the store, but I would be grateful if you could take my complaint into account."

"Will do, young lady, have a nice day." The sheriff smiled and nodded goodbye.

The brunette rolled her eyes "You too." She quickly left the building and joined Santana outside.

The Latina smiled at her and led her on the side of the alley. "How did it go?"

The diva sighed tiredly. "As useless as you expected…"

The raven-haired girl snorted. "Yeah, got that feeling as soon as we stepped inside."

"I need to go back to the shop but I'll see you tonight." Without thinking, the petite girl kissed Santana's cheek before leaving.

The tan girl grinned goofily, even though there was no reason to but her smile faded away when she saw Sheriff Johnson leave his office. She raised an eyebrow questioningly and decided to follow him.

Santana was right to do so because she soon found him talking with Cole and his friends in front of the saloon. She hid behind some barrels on the side of the building and tried to hear their conversation.

"You should lay off the Mexican for a bit, I don't want it to get out of hand. I might not like them but the mayor tolerates them, probably because of Mr Cruz's money. And between us, I'm too busy to deal with another corpse showing up." Mr Johnson laughed happily with Cole's gang.

"Son of a bitch…" Santana shook her head. "I hope you'll all burn in the fire, you racist pricks." She sighed wearily, discreetly making her way back toward the ranch. "I so want to go home…"