Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the song used in this chapter

A/N: i'm not sure i can write Pezberry anymore but i don't want to let this story unfinished so i'm gonna try to finish it and post the end soon...

Chapter 15: Does your mother know?

It was finally night time and Santana rushed to the barn. She had had a talk with Anita about 'Michelle' coming to dinner on Friday and she really wanted to know what had happened and if Rachel was okay and if Santiago's mother had got her in trouble. She reached their secret place almost at the same time as the diva.

The Latina didn't even get the chance to speak when she entered the barn before Rachel was hugging her. "What's up with you?" She questioned as she hugged the girl back. She didn't want to admit that it felt good so she enjoyed it for a few seconds before breaking the embrace.

"I, hum…" Rachel tucked her hair behind her ear. "I just missed you today…"

The tan girl chuckled. "Is that so, Ms Bercoran?" She tried to act nonchalant but somehow it warmed her heart to hear the girl say that.

The petite girl sighed. "Why do I even bother?"

"Because I'm so awesome you missed me." The raven-haired smiled brightly.

"Well, I would like to change my previous statement." The Jewish girl pouted.

The taller girl shook her head. "Ah ah, nope, you can't." It was always funny to get the girl riled up, even though now it was only playful banter.

"I'm too tired for this…"

Santana looked at her friend. It was true, the girl seemed exhausted and somehow she wanted to cheer her up. She smiled as an idea came into her mind. "Does your mother know that you're out?" She sing-songed.

The diva crinkled her nose. "What?"

If the Latina was honest, she had always found it cute when Rachel was doing that. She cleared her throat, trying to get rid of that thought before saying in a melodic voice. "Take it easy. Better slow down girl. That's no way to go. Does your mother know?"

A smile slowly appeared on the brunette's face as she realised the girl was using song lyrics. "Oh my god, are you really quoting Abba? I wouldn't have pegged you for a fan…"

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Miss Berry…"

"Aren't you all mysterious, Miss Lopez?" The petite girl answered playfully

The raven-haired girl smirked before singing. "I can see what you want, but you seem pretty young to be searching for that kind of fun. So maybe I'm not the one. Now you're so cute, I like your style. And I know what you mean when you give me a flash of that smile. But girl you're only a child." She started doing a stupid dance, swaying and moving her hands from one side to the other in an old 70's fashion. She held out her hand, motioning for the brunette to join her.

Rachel laughed before grabbing the girl's hands and dancing with her as she started singing the next part. "Well I can dance with you, honey. If you think it's funny. Does your mother know that you're out?"

"Oh I think she does!" The tan girl exclaimed as she made Rachel sway and continued the song. "And I can chat with you baby. Flirt a little maybe." She winked exuberantly as she let go of Rachel. "Does your mother know that you're out?"

The diva giggled. "I hope not." She kept laughing until she registered what Santana had said. "Wait, your mother knows?" She asked seriously.

"I don't know. She just talked about the dinner Friday night." Santana shrugged. "What happened exactly? Did she get you in trouble?"

The brunette smiled at the girl's concern. "No actually, she found us the perfect cover to see each other. Although I'm a bit confused as to why she's doing this…"

The former cheerleader sighed. "She asked me about you, well about Michelle the other day and I guess she's decided to play cupid or something."

The Jewish girl nodded. "Did you talk to Santiago's father?

The Latina frowned. "No, why?"

"Earlier today after your Anita's visit, Cole came to the shop and things got a little out of hand…" Rachel trailed off, bracing herself for Santana's reaction.

"What? What happened? I'm so gonna ends him!" Santana growled. She was so tired of the racist prick and his friends but now, he had gone too far. It was one thing to go after her, she didn't care, but Mary and now her midget, hell no! She was so worked up that she didn't even realize she was referring the petite brunette as her midget.

"Santana." The petite girl stepped forward, putting a hand above Santana's chest to prevent her from leaving. The Latina looked at the hand then at Rachel in confusion. The diva blushed and quickly removed her hand before clearing her throat. "Mhh, yes, hum, as much as I appreciate your protectiveness, it's too late now. In fact, another Cruz came to my rescue."

The Latina stared at Rachel, confused by the pretty intimate gesture. When the diva talked again, she shook her head to focus on her words.

"Cole insulted you, well Santiago and then he grabbed my arm like he did at the dance. That was when Ricardo jumped into the conversation and helped me. He even defended you." The brunette explained. "Somehow he reminded me of you. Don't get me wrong, I'm still not too fond of the man but he put himself in harm's way to defend the people he cares about, just like you do…"

Santana laughed nervously. "Oh, so you think I care about you now?"

Rachel locked eyes with her and simply said. "Yes."

The tan girl stopped laughing as the sudden seriousness. "I…" She was ready to answer when she heard voices approaching the barn. She rushed next to Rachel and put her hand over the girl's mouth, bringing a finger in front of her lips to signal the girl to be silent.

Both girls stayed silent, looking into each other's eyes as they waited for the voices to move away.

Somehow, Santana felt flustered by the closeness of the girl and she could tell by Rachel's shallow breathing that she wasn't the only one. She could almost swear she saw something sparkle in the diva's eyes…

When the Latina was sure they were safe, she took a big step backward and cleared her throat. "I hum… Sorry, I wanted to warn you but I couldn't take the risk of them hearing us…"

"It's okay…" The diva smoothed her dress nervously.

"It looks like more people are walking around the barn lately. We have to be even more careful than before." The taller girl stated.

"Yes, you're right." The brunette answered absentmindedly.

The two girls stood in the middle of the barn for a moment, clearly not knowing what to say after what happened.

"I think I should go." Rachel announced. "I will see you tomorrow. Good night, Santana…"

Santana's face fell in disappointment to see the girl go but she quickly recovered. "Good night, Rachel…"

Friday night arrived quickly and Santana was pacing nervously around the small wooden table. Something about the way it was laid out felt off and she couldn't tell what it was. She didn't even know why it was important, it was only Rachel coming over for God's sake. She just wanted everything to be right. The last few weeks had been really hard on them both and they had got each other through. That was all this was, this nervous excitement, wanting everything to be perfect, checking her outfit a dozen times.

"Santiago, come and help me over here. You are wearing a groove in the floor circling that table." Anita chuckled from over by the stove.

"What?" The younger Latina questioned. She couldn't believe Anita had cooked her a meal, she was really playing her role to the fullest. On top of that, she couldn't understand how Ricardo hadn't noticed what was happening in the kitchen and questioned the quantity of food his wife was preparing, After all, it was supposed to be just 'Santiago' alone at home. But then again, the man couldn't care less about what was going on beyond his office.

"Are you nervous, Santo?" Santiago's mother teased.

"What?" The tan girl scoffed. "No!"

"Mhh mhh. Come here and watch the stove, would you. I'm going to finish getting ready, it's almost time for us to leave.

"Okay…"

Ricardo and Anita left soon after to visit some friends and as if on cue, Rachel arrived a few minutes later. Santana found the girl nervously standing on the porch and she couldn't help but smile at the sight. Rachel had never let herself be intimidated by her, she had never been afraid of her or at least never showed it and was definitely not one to back down from a fight, even when she was ready to go Lima Heights on her. She had always respected the girl for that but now it was different, their dynamic was different and it was weird to see the girl so nervous about a dinner with just the two of them. Maybe Rachel was like her, just afraid something could go wrong, what else could they be nervous about? They were friends who were about to have a nice dinner together, there was no big deal, at least that's what she kept telling herself…

The Latina opened the door and quickly motioned for Rachel to follow her into the dining room.

"I made a pie. I didn't know if I was supposed to bring something but I couldn't resign myself to come empty handed. 19th century or not, I still have manners."

The raven-haired girl smiled. "Apple?"

"Yes, Abigail wasn't really fond of the idea so I couldn't go too fancy on the dessert…" The diva explained.

"It's cool, I like apple pie, beside I didn't have any dessert to offer so, yeah, it's good." The tan girl pulled the chair out for Rachel and went to her seat. She was a bit surprised at her own gesture but she brushed it off.

The brunette smiled brightly and put the pie on the table. "I have to admit, I was surprised to see Pablo greeting me at the entrance. I was expecting you to be waiting for me at the fence…"

"I know but it was easier to let him take care of your horse and put the wood crates in the carriage while I was finishing stuff here…" Santana shrugged as she sipped some water.

"Oh okay."

"Are you hungry?" The former cheerleader asked as she stood up.

"Yes, I didn't eat much at lunch." The petite girl stated as she put the napkin on her lap.

"Oh my god, what happened to Rachel Berry? If it was me telling you that, you'd talk my ear off on how I should eat properly and blablabla."

"Very funny, Santana." Rachel rolled her eyes. "We just had a lot of work at the shop today and since Abigail also had plans for tonight, I had to deal with most of the customers…"

"Well lucky you, you're going to test Anita's food and it's pretty good." The Latina saw Rachel open her mouth and to prevent her rant, she quickly added. "She made meat but I asked if she could do vegetables and crap for you…"

The diva grinned. "You remembered I'm vegan?"

"It's not like I was paying attention to what you were saying in glee but you repeated it so many times that it's like, engraved in my brain so yeah, if you're coming to dinner, the least I can do is to make food you can actually eat." The raven-haired girl was trying to act cool and detached but she sounded anything but. What was wrong with her? She usually had more game than that? 'Game, what, no, why was she even thinking about that?' Her eyes went wide at the thought. 'It's just a nice dinner with a friend, get a grip, Lopez.'

"Still, you didn't have to." The brunette shyly put some hair behind her ear. "It's really sweet of you."

"Yeah, well, hum, I'm gonna go, hum, get the food, yeah…" Santana nervously stumbled on her words before hurriedly making her way to the kitchen.

After getting over the awkwardness of the moment, the two girls enjoyed their dinner. They talked about the people in town, how the fire was getting even closer and they needed to prepare for it despite not knowing how it would start. But the most surprising part was how they quickly changed subject and talked about glee and their life, as if they were old friends getting reacquainted. Santana would have never thought Rachel could be so easy to talk to when she wasn't in her glee diva mode.

After dinner, Rachel was ready to go back home but Santana surprised her by offering a ride on horse to visit the Cruz's property. Not wanting the evening to end so soon and seeing Mrs Bercoran would likely still be with her friend, the diva happily agreed.

The brunette followed the Latina at the stable where the girl gave her some pants and a shirt, telling her to change so she could be more comfortable. The diva looked at her in confusion. "You want me to change here?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a prude, it's not like anyone is watching." She petted a horse softly.

"Well, you are here…" The petite girl trailed off, hoping Santana would take the hint and give her some privacy.

The Latina scoffed. "As if I wanna see."

"Santana…" The Jewish girl was confident enough in her body to not be ashamed of it but it felt weird to change in front of Santana. She knew the girl wasn't even watching but since their relationship had evolved weirdly in the past weeks, she felt more comfortable changing alone.

"Come on." The taller girl turned around and looked at Rachel. "I know I've said otherwise a few times, but it's not like you don't have a nice body."

Rachel blushed at the compliment. "Thank you, Santana, I really appreciate it but… It's just…"

The tan girl sighed. "Fine! Whatever, I'll wait outside. Just hurry up if you want to enjoy the tour before you go home."

The brunette smiled gratefully. "I will, thank you."

Rachel and Santana had been riding their horses on a dirt path for an hour now, enjoying the calm and the scenery around them.

"This horseback ride is really nice, Santana. Thank you for allowing me to do it in your company."

"Sure." The Latina looked at her friend. "You know, you look pretty decent in a cowboy outfit." She frowned, it was like she had word vomit tonight and couldn't help complimenting the girl, what was wrong with her? Was there whiskey in her food? It wasn't okay...It was starting to be a little too overwhelming for her, this complimenting thing, or dare she say flirting. She had always been a bit flirty with her friends but still, it was Rachel, this closeness between them was getting too much and Santana needed to do what she had always done in this kind of situation. Run and forget. She needed a distraction, an excuse to go away just for a moment. "Catch me if you can, midget!" She pulled on the rein and leaned forward as the horse galloped, rapidly putting distance between them.

Rachel blinked. She couldn't understand why it felt like her heart had missed a beat with the way Santana looked at her. It was probably just fatigue. Quickly, she shook her head and tried to catch up with the Latina.

After five minutes of intensive racing, the diva was almost at Santana's level. Both girls were laughing at Rachel's attempts to touch Santana's shoulder. The brunette leaned on the side and touched her friend's arm before smiling proudly. "Now your turn, catch me." She said defiantly as she galloped faster.

The raven-haired girl chuckled, forgetting her discomfort. "That's gonna be easy."

As Rachel approached the forest, she tried to slow down the horse but instead, the animal stopped abruptly, catching her off guard and making her lose her balance. She fell with a shriek, landing hard on the ground.

"Rachel!" The tan girl shouted in horror, hastily stopping her horse and rushing to the girl's side to see if she was okay. "Rachel?! Are you hurt?"

"Mhhh, I think so…" The diva replied a bit shaken. "The mud cushioned my fall."

Santana kneeled down and scanned the girl's body. The brunette had some scratches and would probably have some bruises but she would be okay. "You have a little something on your face…" Without thinking, the Latina reached out and wiped some mud off the Rachel's cheek.

Rachel's breath hitched at the Latina's closeness, her gesture so soft on her skin. Santana locked eyes with her, realising how close they were. It was like they were under some spell and time had stopped.

The moment quickly ended when the Latina's horse nudged her, reminding them both where they were.

Santana cleared her throat. This type of moment kept happening, what was wrong with them? It was safer to call it a night, especially after Rachel's fall, the girl needed to rest. She stood up and helped Rachel get to her feet. "We should head back, it's getting late." She stated, looking everywhere but into the girl's eyes.

The diva cleared her throat too, trying to compose herself. "You're right, I promised I wouldn't be back late. Besides, I can already feel the stiffness in my body."

The ride back to the barn was silent, both girls stuck in the thoughts of the evening…