The morning of the premiere, everything felt like it was going in a frenzy. Quinn had already called three times to make sure that Rachel and Santana both were awake. Santana was a hair away from telling her to just eff off if she called again going on and on about how they better be on the road by six.
"Rachel, why in the hell did we not drive to the city last night?" Santana asked as she loaded up theirs and Dax and Dahlia's over night bags into the back of the jeep.
Rachel sighed as she walked around the back of the jeep, "I don't know but we should have left after Kurt was finished yesterday. It would have put us getting to the hotel late, but we would have been able to sleep in."
"You're damn right about that. Now we have to take Dax and Dahlia to Puck and Quinn's and drive all the way to the city and then get ready for tonight." Santana grumbled to herself. She understood that stuff like this was part of Rachel's career, at least tonight she got to go instead of Rachel being off in a different country for the world premiere and going with her co-star. Santana knew she was a jealous person some of the time and she would be worried about this stuff if she wasn't confident that Rachel was hers. She was even more confident now that Rachel had her ring on her finger.
"I know. I'm sorry, next time..." Rachel was cut off by her phone ringing. She glanced hesitantly at the number, of course it was Quinn. She really didn't need this stuff right now with Santana in a grumpy mood.
Santana stopped what she was doing and watched Rachel look down at her phone. There was no denying that look. Santana knew exactly who was on the other line. She huffed and breathed heavily out of her nose causing her nostrils to flare. "IF THAT'S QUINN I SWEAR ON ALL THAT IS HOLY I WILL SELL DAVIS ON THE BLACK MARKET IF SHE TELLS US TO HURRY UP AGAIN!"
Rachel snorted as she answered her phone. "Hi Quinn..." Santana turned and began stalking her way towards Rachel. "Oh..hi Beth. What are you doing up so early?...We're on our way to bring them to you...I'm positive they are going to love that." Santana stopped short as she realized that it was Beth that was calling instead of Quinn. Rachel gave Santana an evil eye, daring her to come closer. Spinning on her heel, Santana went back in the cabin to make sure that they weren't leaving anything before they officially hit the road. There was no way that she was going to get two or three hours into the trip and turn around realizing that they had forgotten something.
Rachel hung up the phone a moment later promising Beth and secretly Quinn that they were about to leave. She turned and walked to the back of the jeep were Santana was sitting on the tailgate pouting. "What's wrong?" Rachel asked as stepped in between Santana's legs. Santana didn't say anything she just wrapped her arms around Rachel and buried her head in Rachel's neck. Rachel chuckled a bit and ran her hands up and down Santana's back. "Do you need more coffee?" Santana didn't say anything, she just nodded. "We can stop and get some after we drop the dogs off okay?" Santana still didn't say anything, just nodded her head. "Did you go mute after yelling?" Another head nod. "Let's get going."
"Where's the check list?" Santana asked as she raised her head and looked at Rachel.
"What check list?" Rachel looked around and refused to meet Santana's eyes.
"Don't bull shit me, I know you made one. Everything in the cabin was already set for us to leave when I went back in."
Rachel sighed and pulled a folder piece of paper out of her jeans pocket. She looked a little sheepish. "First thing, dogs?" Dax and Dahlia barked like they were saying "present." "Dog's travel bag?" Santana grabbed the blue duffle bag with the paw print on it. Yes their dogs had their own travel bag, judge them if you must but they had to have their special toys, blankets and dog food. "Our over night bag?"
"It's right there and our garment bags with shoes are hanging right there." Rachel nodded and double checked her list.
"We don't need the glam case, the producers have hired hairstylists and make up artists that will come to us at the hotel at four. Soooo, that means that if we hurry you can have a nap before they show up."
"Let's get this damn show on the road then." Santana jumped up and shut the tailgate before practically running to dive into the front seat. The quicker she got to the city the quicker she could take that nap because it was going to be a long night.
After dropping Dax and Dahlia off to Beth and Puck and picking up Quinn and her luggage they finally were on the road. Rachel had spent the first hour of the trip practically funneling good mood pick me ups into Santana. Now the woman was in a better mood which everyone was thankful for.
"We still have four hours before we hit the city." Santana mumbled as they passed a mile marker sign.
"We would probably already be there if you two didn't insist on driving and let the producers buy airplane tickets." Quinn shook her head as she watched the scenery go by outside the window.
"Quinn, you know the city is crawling a live with people on a good day, throw in all the chaos of the movie premiere and it's just an organized mess." Rachel turned in her seat to look at Quinn.
"That's even more of a reason to take a plane!"
"Hey, I will leave you on the side of the road." Santana sneered as she glanced at Quinn in the rear view mirror.
Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes. Really, these two were adults and knew how to be completely professional but yet they fought and bickered most of the time like two children. "We didn't fly because you know we like road trips and no matter how much Santana continues to complain, she could drive across the country and love every minute of it."
"I would love it even more if Quinn wasn't with us." Santana spoke under her breath.
"I heard that!"
"You two stop right now or I am going to take over driving and I don't want to hear a peep out of either of you. Both of you are grown women and you keep acting like this. I really don't know how in the hell you two have stayed friends for so long. It blows my mind sometimes." Rachel gave each woman a pointed look before she settled back into her seat, she dared either of them to say anything rude or snarky for the next four hours. She would leave them both on the side of the road if she had to.
Two more hours of the trip had passed before Quinn and Santana had started bickering again. Rachel was so close to pulling her hair out. Quinn had to pee, Davis must have decided that today he was going to use his mothers bladder as a trampoline and Santana apparently wasn't searching hard enough for a rest stop.
"Remind me to never travel with you two again." Rachel murmured as she ran her hands through her hair, pulling it up into a messy bun.
"It's not my fault preggers back there has to go and there are literally no rest stops for another ten miles at least."
"Santana, it's not anybody's fault. Well except Davis'." Rachel glanced over at the GPS. "Five miles Quinn, you still okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just...Santana can't you drive any faster?" Quinn's knees started bouncing.
"No, if I go any faster I am going to get another lecture about obeying the law." Santana rolled her eyes while smirking. Rachel had lectured her earlier because she was going a little too fast. A little being only ten miles over the speed limit...on the interstate.
"The speed limit is not a suggestion, Santana." Now it was Rachel's turn to roll her eyes.
Santana started to slow down noticing that their exit was coming up. She would never admit that she too had to pee and that she could do with some food and stretching her legs. Really despite her and Quinn going back and forth with each other she was excited to be going to the city for once. Rachel had worked super hard on this movie and all the time and effort that she had put in was going to be acknowledged and praised. Santana really couldn't be happier for Rachel. Also tonight, it would most likely be announced that they were engaged, Rachel was wearing her ring proudly and Quinn had told them that if they wanted to, they could go ahead and announce it.
"Oh thank gosh." Quinn practically jumped out of the jeep when it came to a stop. Rachel and Santana just shook their heads as they watched the woman burst through the doors of the rest stop.
When they finally made it to the hotel it was half past noon, they really had made good time. Santana was carrying her and Rachel's bags to their rooms when Rachel noticed that Santana was literally swaying with exhaustion. Something was going on, Santana had slept the same amount of time that she had last night but add in the fact that Santana insisted on driving the whole way here by herself, she still shouldn't be that tired.
Rachel waited in the hallway for Quinn as Santana opened the door and went into the room. She sat their over night bag down and hung up their garment bags in the bedroom portion of the suite before she flopped down on the king sized bed. "Awww, yeah. This bed is so soft." Santana whispered to herself. She was so tired and her arms and legs felt like they had lead weights strapped to them.
"Rachel, do you want to get food or let grumpy gills nap first?" Quinn asked as she stepped off the elevator and made her way towards Rachel heading into her room next door to Rachel and Santana.
Rachel opened her mouth to respond but closed it when she figured she probably should ask Santana first what she wanted to do. Holding up a finger for Quinn to wait a minute, Rachel stepped into the room. Her ears were met with the sound of Santana's soft snoring. Never mention to Santana that she snores sometimes...mostly when she was getting...sick. Oh. No. Rachel backed out of the room quietly so that she didn't disturb Santana. Quinn was now waiting outside of the door with just her purse.
"I think we should let Santana sleep for now, there's a possibility she's getting sick. I'm going to stay with her and hope she doesn't feel like crap when she wakes up."
Quinn grimaced and stuck her head in the door to look at Santana's sleeping frame. "Yeah, let her sleep. I am going to make some phone calls, let people know we're here and stuff. I will catch back up with you in a bit." Rachel nodded and headed back into the room to lay down next to Santana, hopefully they would make it through the evening without any problems.
Back In McKinley
"What in the hell were you thinking Jasper?" A deep voice asked through the phone that Jasper was holding out from his ear. His uncle really had a loud voice when he was pissed.
"I wasn't thinking." Jasper knew he had messed up. He was just lucky that Rachel hadn't gotten him kicked off the internship.
"You're damn right you weren't thinking. I swear if you mess up again I will come and get you myself. The police are still questioning me since Conner screwed up. Listen, you keep playing the game and when you go out of your way to follow any of them, you keep your distance. Do you understand me?"
"I understand sir." And with that the phone call disconnected. Jasper breathed a sigh of relief at being off the phone, at least this time his berating was quick. It still stung though. He began pacing throughout his apartment, Santana and Rachel should be in the city by now and Leroy was out with Bayani. He really needed to get to the city but there was no way he would make it tonight. With Puck at home with his daughter, Sam had taken over and was teaching them more about how the studios here were ran. There was no leaving at this point, the internship was the one thing that kept him here and he couldn't risk it again.
So I assume you have an idea as to who the uncle is now. :P What kind of game are these men playing, hmmm?
Also, I was going to mention it on the last chapter but it slipped my mind. The review about the cabin made me really happy. Santana can't build it, but I can design it since it's one of two designs I already have drew up for my future cabin. The other design shifts everything one wall to the right. Instead of facing the fireplace when you walk in, it's directly to the right. The loft, kitchen and bathroom is where the fireplace used to be. So you look straight ahead into the kitchen or you look up into the loft instead of looking to the left like in Santana and Rachel's cabin.
I feel like Chapter 20 is a small milestone that I am happy to celebrate. Thank you for all the reviews, views, favorites and follows. It makes me so happy that people are sticking with me throughout this story. It's definitely going to be a long one.
