Author's Note: So this story was a series of connected one-shots that I've turned into a separate story. For the most part it's a completed story, but I will definitely be adding to it!

Rachel stared around the apartment lobby at the many boxes and pieces of furniture, unable to tell if someone was moving in or out. It wasn't unusual for this to happen, she was sure someone new moved in at least once a week.

It made for excellent reasoning to find the new tenant and bake them a muffin basket to welcome them to the building, everyone knew Rachel Berry was the neighbor to definitely become friends with. She was much too generous, albeit a tad bit crazy, but a good person all around.

She nosily peeked around at the boxes and furniture, her face scrunching in question at the animal printed dining chairs, who even owned animal print furniture?

Shaking her head she made her way toward the elevator, the groceries in her arms becoming much too heavy for her to continue her snooping.

She hummed softly to herself during the long ride up, she'd usually have a one woman concert during this time but, unfortunately for her, she wasn't alone on her trek to the eighteenth floor today.

A woman who looked like someone of Latin descent stood next to her with a box in her arms and another on the floor beside her, both labeled 'shit I'll probably never use but what the fuck ever.'

Classy.

Rachel stared at her from the corner of her eyes in distaste, she had a feeling this woman was going to be her new across the hall neighbor. It was the only apartment on her floor that was empty, the man that had previously lived there moved out almost a month ago.

Rachel adjusted the groceries in her arms as the doors opened to her floor and quickly made her exit, usually she'd be all for helping but she had her own things to deal with.

Like the ice cream that was definitely on it's way to becoming a milkshake, or the child peeking under her door.

Why is there a child peeking under my door?

Rachel frowned as she studied the child, his face was pressed right against the door as he tried to look under it.

He was definitely new, and the open apartment door across from her own told her exactly where he had come from.

Truthfully the hallway was a mess, there were boxes all over the place which made it hard to maneuver her way to her door.

The child laying in front of it didn't help either.

"Hi, is there something I can help you with?" She asked politely as she came to a stop in front of her apartment and looked down at the boy.

"I dropped Batman's cage and he ran under here and won't come back..I hope no one has a cat in there." He answered, his face still turned toward the door.

Rachel's eyes widened, "Please tell me Batman is a dog..or a bunny, I would be okay with a bunny."

The boy sighed, "Batman is a rat."

"What?!" Rachel asked, horrified at the thought of a rat loose in her apartment.

"Is this your house? Can you get him for me? He's all black with a white patch on his face!"

Rachel shook her head quickly, "What? Are you crazy? No way!"

"Can I get him then? Mom says if he stays out of his cage too long he might want to join the rest of his friends in the sewers so I gotta keep him in his cage a lot! He's been in there for a long time, what if he's gone?" The boy asked as he sat, a well rehearsed pout on his face.

"Fine, I'll unlock the door but you better find it or else I'm calling the exterminator." Rachel said as she unlocked the door, backing up from it immediately. "Where's your mother?"

He shrugged as he pushed the door open, "Buildin' stuff with Puck."

Rachel stared at him in confusion, "Is that slang?"

He shrugged as he walked into the apartment, "You got a lot stuff, he's probably hiding somewhere."

Rachel tapped her foot impatiently from the hall, "Well hurry up and find him, put smoke in the sky or something."

"It's a bat signal, and mom wouldn't let me get him one." He said in annoyance as he continued to walk around the apartment, "Hey what's this thing? Does it spin? It looks like my soccer trophy."

Rachel gasped, "Do not touch my Tony award! Look for your vermin."

She noticed the woman from the elevator finally making her way down the hall, sliding boxes along with her as she did so.

"Excuse me, I'm assuming it's you moving in across from me and I'm also assuming it's your child that has let his disgusting rat loose in my apartment, which might I even ask why you would buy your child a rat as a pet? I'm all for being neighborly but I will not tolerate a rat loose in my—"

The woman ignored her and stuck her head into the newly occupied apartment, "Max already pissed off a neighbor!"

Rachel stared in confusion in front of her as a man with a mohawk stepped out of the apartment, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Hey, hot stuff. You live across the hall?"

Rachel huffed, "Yes and your son has let his rodent loose in my apartment! I can't even go in there to put my groceries away, which I'm sure my ice cream has melted all over my vegetables and fruits."

"You were smokin' 'till you opened your mouth, princess." He said as he stacked boxes on top of each other and carried them inside, ignoring her obvious displeasure about the pet being in her apartment.

Rachel stomped her foot, "What kind of parents are you? First you let him have a rat, which is completely disgusting, then you allow him to let the thing go with no care where it ends up and now you don't even care that I'm complaining?"

"Is there a problem out here?" Another woman asked, a perfectly shaped eyebrow raised in question.

Rachel stared at her in disbelief, "Yes there's a problem! There's a rat loose in my apartment and a child crawling around trying to find it, completely intruding my personal space, whose parents don't even care!"

The woman sighed, "Look I'm really sorry, I told him to leave the cage for me to grab but you know how kids are. The thing is harmless, I promise it's safe to go inside."

"I am not going in there until it's out." Rachel said stubbornly.

"He won't come out until he's hungry, which probably won't be until later on unless he's eating your furniture as we speak." She said with an eye roll as she peeked her head inside Rachel's apartment, "Max, you know he's not going to come out right now. Leave the lady's apartment until later, okay?"

"What if Batman joins his sewer friends, mom? I really like him." Max whined as he slowly walked toward the door, making sure to keep an eye out for the animal.

"We'll get you a new one if you can't find him, okay? I'm sure Puck won't mind." She said as she ruffled the child's hair and guided him toward their door.

"Wait, what am I supposed to do? There's a rat loose in my apartment!" Rachel shrieked with wide eyes as she watched the family walk into their apartment.

"You really don't have to worry, he won't come out for a while. We'll come back in a few hours and try again." She shrugged, "I'm Santana by the way, and this is Max, we're your new neighbors. The two you were yelling at before are just friends, Puck and Dani, you'll be seeing them around here a lot though."

"I'm—"

"Rachel Berry, I know. The super told me you were extremely friendly." Santana said.

Rachel blushed, "I'm sorry, I just..I really don't like rodents."

"It's cool, see you later." Santana smiled as she walked into her apartment and shut the door.

"Mom? Why didn't we rustle his food bag like we usually do when he hides?" Max asked with a frown.

"We would have if she was nicer about it. Do onto others and all that jazz, kid." Santana shrugged as she went back to putting together her furniture.

She'd let the woman sweat it out a bit, she deserved it after the way she spoke to Puck and Dani.

Who talked to strangers the way she did anyway?

High maintenance divas.

Rachel looked around her apartment warily, she really didn't like rats.

In fact she had a downright phobia of them ever since her dorm in college was infested and she woke up to one chewing on her hair and her roommate snapping pictures instead of helping.

She knew pet rats were probably harmless, but it was still a rat therefore it was still gross.

She carefully walked into the kitchen area of the apartment and set her groceries down on the counter as she put the items away, making sure to keep an open eye for any unwanted creatures.

She left a few of the berries she had bought and the yogurt out so she could make a smoothie, having been craving one all day with no time to buy one from anywhere.

She pulled her blender down from the top of the fridge and began cutting up her fruits and tossing them in, singing quietly to herself as she did so until she was full on singing.

If she wasn't so distracted she may have heard the faint patter of tiny feet on the counter, or the quiet squeaks as the animal got closer and closer to her and her fruit.

She may have even been able to move away before he nudged her hand with his nose, his whiskers tickling her wrist in the process.

She stopped singing immediately at the sensation, freezing as the rodent crawled around her hand to munch on the strawberries she was currently chopping.

She stared at it with wide eyes before letting out an ear piercing shriek and jumping up onto the counter behind her, her eyes never leaving the fruit eating intruder.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." She chanted, too terrified to move.

"God what am I going to do? I can't leave it there." She cried to herself as she continued to stare at the tiny creature.

She climbed down from the counter slowly making sure not to make any noise so she didn't spook it and grabbed her blender, sending a silent praise that it was close to the edge.

She gripped it with both hands and walked closer to the counter, flipping it upside down to trap the rat and dropping all of the fruit and yogurt all over it in the process.

She grinned victoriously as she trapped it before frowning again, still unsure of what to do next.

She grabbed the phone book she usually used as a stepping stool and placed it on top of the upside down blender to make sure the rat couldn't escape before running to her door and opening it.

"Take it out of my apartment right now!" Rachel said loud enough so her new neighbor would be able to hear.

She stood anxiously outside of the kitchen as she waited for someone to show up, making sure she kept an eye on the tiny intruder.

Max came running into the apartment quickly, followed by a smirking Santana.

"Holy yogurt and fruits, Batman!" He exclaimed as he roughly knocked the blender over to collect his pet.

"Everything okay?" Santana asked as she stood by the door.

"I'm okay, don't worry about me." Rachel said with a thankful smile.

Santana gave her a funny look, "I was talking to Max. You're not the one covered in fruit and yogurt."

Rachel frowned, "Oh, of course. Um, I'm sorry..I can pay for his grooming bill..or whatever it is you do to rats to clean them."

"We just put him in the sink, though it's kind of an annoying process so you can do it." Santana teased, knowing the woman would flat out refuse.

Rachel shook her head quickly, "No thank you."

Santana laughed, "Chill out, tiny, I was kidding. Come on, Max, let's leave Miss. Rachel alone now, I think we've done enough for today."

"Can I have these strawberries, Miss. Rachel?" Max asked as he stuffed the rat into the hood on his sweatshirt.

Rachel grimaced, "The rat was..You know what? Knock yourself out."

"Thanks! See you tomorrow, Miss. Rachel!" He said, flashing her a toothy grin as he ran out of the apartment.

"See you around, tiny." Santana said as she followed the child out, the cocky smirk back on her face.

Rachel shut the door tightly and groaned, hopefully these neighbors wouldn't stick around long. She knew it was going to be a tiring wait for them to move, they had only been here a day and had given her more problems than she's ever had with a neighbor before.

Rachel shuddered as she thought about the rat that walked all over her counter and apartment...tomorrow was definitely the day to do a full clean of the space.

She just hoped she had no interruptions in the process.

A large crash and 'oops' from the hallway and she knew her living there was never going to be peaceful again.

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