A/N: I'm pretty sure this is my longest chapter thus far, ha. Once again, thank you to all of the people who have added this story to the favorites/alerts!

For the song in this chapter, lines "like this" are sung by Hermione, lines "like this" are sung by Sam, and lines "like this" are sung by both Hermione and Sam.

Enjoy! :)

~Chapter 18~

Previously: "Do not mess with me," Karofsky snarled as he charged at Hermione and roughly shoved her into the nearby fence.

"You have got to stop this!" Kurt shrieked as he and Blaine shoved him off the teenage girl. The jock rolled his eyes and stormed off.

"Well, he's not coming out any time soon," Blaine stated, sarcastically. Hermione nodded in agreement and looked at Kurt who sat down on a step.

"I'll leave you two alone to talk. Call me if you need me, alright?" Her male companions nodded and waved to her as she walked off. She turned to look at them one last time and couldn't help but smile. Those two were going to be good for each other, she just knew it.

"Will, are you ok?" Hermione asked warily, poking her uncle in the stomach. He gave her a blank stare before muttering something about going to the nurse. A few minutes later, he returned to grab his things.

"Mia, I'm going home sick. You might wanna find somewhere else to stay until I'm better," he grumbled before patting her on the top of her head. "Your hair is soft like a puppy."

"Uh, ok, Will, feel better! Call me if you need anything," the brunette called out to him before turning around with a frown.

"Hermione, you can stay with me. My parents are out of town and I hate staying there by myself," Santana informed her casually. The British girl looked at her warily, forcing the raven-haired girl to sigh. "I promise I won't try anything."

"Ok then," the wavy-haired brunette finally answered with a smile. As they finished their conversation, Rachel walked up to the front of the room and wrote "me" on the whiteboard.

"Class, in Mr. Schuester's absence, I'd like to go around and ask everyone what solos they'd like to hear me perform at Sectionals." The group groaned before Santana stood up, muttering angrily in Spanish and trying to charge at the now screaming diva. Thanks to her quick reflexes from the war, Hermione jumped up and grabbed the Latina around the waist to prevent her from attacking the short brunette.

Several minutes later, the students exited the room, disgruntled with Rachel and her need to be the constant center of attention. As she was packing up her stuff, Hermione tried to talk to Quinn, but the blonde just ignored her.

"Ready to go?" The Latina asked her quietly, noticing the exchange.

"Uh, yeah," the British girl replied distractedly. "Listen, there's something you should know and after I tell you, you might want to reconsider letting me stay with you." Santana gave her a confused look. "I have these really bad nightmares every night and I wake up screaming the majority of the time…"

"It's ok, I promise. I want you to stay with me," the brown-eyed cheerleader told her genuinely.

"I really don't understand you, Santana Lopez. One moment, you're bitching me out and the next second, you're the sweetest person I've ever met." The dark haired girl shrugged playfully before grabbing the taller girl's hand and dragging her to the parking lot.

They drove to Hermione and Will's apartment, so she could pack up a few things before heading to the Lopez household. Once they reached Santana's house, the two stared awkwardly at each other for a few moments before the younger girl broke the silence.

"Um, there's a shower upstairs to the right if you want to get Mr. Schue's germs off of you," she chuckled uncomfortably.

"That sounds perfect actually. Thank you," Hermione smiled before walking up the stairs. "Just don't sneak in and try to grope me!" She yelled out over her shoulder.

"You wish, Granger!" The Latina called back before taking a deep breath, trying to get all thoughts of the beautiful British girl out of her mind. She sighed before turning on the TV and pulling out some homework. She was so caught up in her schoolwork that she failed to notice Hermione moving up behind her.

"Wow, who knew, Santana Lopez was actually a nerd." The Cheerio leapt up, placing a hand over her heart.

"Ay dios mio! You scared the shit outta me, Granger!" She shrieked before throwing a pillow at the laughing girl who eventually sat the raven-haired girl back down so they could finish their homework. Once they were finished, Santana offered to cook some dinner.

"You can cook?" Hermione asked disbelievingly.

"Yes, I can cook," the Latina smirked as she headed to the kitchen. "You stay in there, I'll call you when it's ready."

About an hour later, Hermione and Santana were sitting at the kitchen table. As the wavy-haired brunette took her first bite, the slightly shorter girl watched her apprehensively.

"Oh, bloody hell, this is delicious!" Hermione praised, letting out a small moan. The cheerleader shivered at the sound before regaining her composure.

"Always the tone of surprise?" She teased before returning to her own plate of food.

Several hours later, Santana noticed her companion attempting to stifle a yawn. She smiled at the older girl's adorableness before pulling her off of the couch.

"C'mon, someone needs to go to bed," the raven-haired girl laughed as she led her up the stairs. "Uh, do you wanna sleep with me in my bed or sleep down the hall?"

"I'm sure Quinn would want me to sleep down the hall…" Hermione muttered with a small frown.

"Is everything ok with you guys? Ever since the mash-up, she's been acting weird towards you."

"I don't know what I did," the British girl murmured sadly. "I really tried not to screw this up. I mean, I know we weren't official or anything, but still…I care about her so much." The Latina decided not to say anything about Quinn's history with relationships and merely hugged the girl, ignoring the way her heart started fluttering.

"Just give her time. I'm sure it has nothing to do with you," Santana spoke encouragingly.

"Thanks, San," Hermione replied with a small smile. "I guess I'll see you in the morning. Sweet dreams." After she walked into the other room, Santana let out the breath she had been holding in.

"This girl is going to be the death of me," she grumbled to herself before throwing herself onto the bed. A few hours had passed and the cheerleader was having no luck falling asleep. Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream rang out and Santana jumped out of bed and ran to the other girl. She shook Hermione gently, trying to wake the thrashing girl up.

"C'mon, princesa, please wake up. I won't let anything happen to you," Santana whispered frantically. The wavy-haired brunette shot up and jumped back when she saw the figure hovering over her.

"Don't hurt me!" She cried out, trying to push Santana back.

"Hermione, it's me, Santana. Please calm down. I won't hurt you." Those words seemed to snap the British girl out of her panic.

"Oh, my god. I am so sor—"

"Don't apologize," Santana interrupted softly. "Now come on, you're sleeping with me tonight. Quinn doesn't have to know." The older girl followed her reluctantly and climbed into bed with the Latina, who instantly wrapped her arms around her. Hermione sighed contentedly and buried herself deeper into the other girl's embrace.

The next afternoon in glee, Hermione walked into the choir room to find Puck spreading butter all over the floor. She rolled her eyes at her friend's behavior and sat down. Seconds later, a tall, blonde woman slid smoothly over the buttered floor much to the shock of the New Directions.

"Let's start with some introductions. My name is Holly Holliday. What's yours? Go." Hermione zoned out as soon as the rest of her peers began giving the substitute the wrong names. "Those aren't your names. You know why I know that?"

"You're psychic?" Brittany asked in awe.

"I know this because I recently watched a video of you guys performing at Regionals, where you came in last. Maybe it's because the songs were about thirty years old." She paused. "Wait a sec, who are you?" She asked pointing at Hermione, who was trying not to fall asleep.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I'm Hermione Granger."

"Ooh, totally digging the accent, girlie. Can you play?" Miss Holliday asked excitedly.

"Sure. Which instrument?" The brown-eyed girl asked, while stretching a bit.

"Piano?" The British girl nodded and stood up. The teacher walked up to her and whispered something into her ear. Hermione grinned and sat at the piano before beginning the familiar intro to Cee Lo's Forget You. Pretty soon, the entire glee club had joined Miss Holliday. After they finished the song, the substitute shouted, "Let's go get some tacos!" Hermione continued to sit at the piano as the group quickly hurried after the woman.

"You ok?" A male voice called out from the door.

"Oh, hey, Sam, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked, happy to see the boy.

"I heard you guys performing Forget You and thought I'd pay you a visit," he told her with a smile. "I've got good news!"

"Yeah? Did you get your paper back on 1984?" He nodded enthusiastically and pulled the paper out of his backpack and handed it to her. "A B+? Congrats, Sammy! I'm so proud of you!" She praised before jumping up and hugging him.

"Thanks," he muttered sheepishly. "I couldn't have done it without you, you know."

"Hey, you did most of the work, I just helped you a little bit."

"Give yourself more credit, Herms," he murmured, tightening his hold on the shorter girl before pulling away and studying her. "Are you ok? You look like you haven't been sleeping well."

"That's because I haven't…" Hermione responded with a sigh.

"Well, let's play something. Grab that guitar over there," Sam said to her as he pulled his own guitar out of its case. She did as she was asked and was unable to stifle her laughter when the blonde boy began playing a Taylor Swift song. She joined in, and after a few seconds, the football player began singing.

"You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset.
She's going off about something that you said.
She doesn't get your humor like I do.

"I'm in the room, it's a typical Tuesday night.
I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like.
And she'll never know your story like I do."

He batted his eyelashes while putting his head on the girl's shoulder. The British girl rolled her eyes playfully and began singing the chorus.

"But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts.
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers.
Dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find,
That what you're lookin' for has been here the whole time.

"If you could see that I'm the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me.
You belong with me."

Hermione swung her guitar behind her and pointed to Sam before placing her hands over her heart and walking around the blonde boy in a circle.

"Walkin' the streets with you in your worn out jeans,
I can't help thinking this is how it ought to be.
Laughing on the park bench thinkin' to myself,
Hey, isn't this easy?

"And you've got a smile that could light up this whole town.
I haven't seen it in a while, since she brought you down.
You say you find I know you better than that.
Hey, whatcha doing with a girl like that?"

Sam pouted dramatically as he finished the verse, much to the amusement of the wavy-haired brunette.

"She wears high heels, I wear sneakers.
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers.
Dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find
That what you're looking for has been here the whole time."

At this point, Hermione couldn't help but get really into the performance, so she faced the boy, winked, and put her hands on his shoulders before singing the next part.

"If you could see that I'm the one who understands you.
Been here all along, so why can't you see?
You belong with me.

"Standin' by, waiting at your back door.
All this time how could you not know that?
You belong with me.
You belong with me."

"Oh, I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night.
I'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're about to cry.
I know your favorite songs and you tell me about your dreams.
I think I know where you belong. I think I know it's with me."

Sam gave her a haughty look and puffed out his chest, earning a giggle from his friend before she began singing once again.

"Can't you see that I'm the one who understands you?
Been here all along, so why can't you see?
You belong with me.

"Standing by or waiting at your back door.
All this time how could you not know that,
You belong with me.
You belong with me."

"Have you ever thought just maybe
You belong with me.
You belong with me."

After the two finished the song, both were laughing hysterically.

"Thanks, Sammy, I needed that," she told him honestly. He simply shrugged and put the two guitars away. "You really should join glee!"

"Maybe I will once you give me a reason to," he teased. The brunette rolled her eyes and swatted his arm, causing the quarterback to lift her over his shoulder.

"Uh, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Santana questioned enviously.

"Blimey, Lopez, have you forgotten that I'm a lesbian?" Hermione called out. Sam put her down quickly.

"You are?" He gasped out melodramatically, before placing his hand over his heart.

"This is why we are friends," the British girl smiled fondly at the blonde boy before wrapping her arms around him again. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sam!" She called out over her shoulder while dragging away a confused Latina.

"So…who was that?" Growled the raven-haired Cheerio.

"Jealous, Lopez?" Teased Hermione, as she linked their arms together.

"No! I just—he—I'm—here, I brought you tacos," Santana grumbled out, earning a smirk from the wavy-haired brunette.

A/N, part II: Song was T-Swift's "You Belong With Me".

Are y'all still more for Quinn/Hermione than Santana/Hermione? (This is me trying to-and probably failing to-sway your opinion, haha.)