Santana Lopez was pedaling so hard that her sweat was beginning to drip down her forehead and run into her eyes. She chose to continue her workout with her eyes closed for fear of being catapulted off her stationary bike should she dare to let go to wipe her eyes.

"Pedal harder, folks!" The workout instructor was yelling at the class like they all weren't about to die from lack of oxygen. "You'll only be successful in life if you push yourself to your absolute limit! Find your breaking point!"

The sound of the entire class gasping for air filled the room.

Ten minutes, and many sips of water later, Santana was collapsed against the wall of the now-empty classroom. "Honestly, Kurt, I never want to see that Hobbit again. It's a wonder they ever let her escape The Shire."

Kurt Hummel had only recently become friends with the pretty dark-haired girl he kept bumping into at the gym. They had bonded over their mutual appreciation of the gym's hot tub. Only recently, however, did they start planning their gym visits with one another. Last week, Santana had met Kurt at the gym for a Pilates boot camp and this week Kurt had signed them up for something called Cycle Fever. "You know, referencing Lord of the Rings just makesyou look dorkier." He told Santana. He then offered out his hand to help get Santana to her feet.

Santana groaned. "I have a younger brother. I'm allowed to know about dorky wizards." She accepted his hand and begrudgingly got to her feet. "This was supposed to relax me before another hellish work week. All it did was make me was to crawl into bed and never move again." Santana followed Kurt out of the room, through the exit gates, and into the lobby of the gym. "Next week we are going to yoga. That will be relaxing."

Kurt nodded. "Totally. I'll meet you here at the same time then?"

Santana agreed. "Yea, call me if you want to get lunch sometime this week. I have to get out of that stupid cubicle."

Kurt, although he still felt like he was just getting to know Santana, had already come to understand how much she loathed her job. From what he had heard, she was underpaid and stuffed into a cubicle. He also remembered that she was looking for other jobs and having a hard time in doing so. "Wait!" He called out to her just as she was getting into her car ten feet away.

"What?" Santana asked, not bothering to walk over to him. Her thighs burned.

"You know how I work for that corporate company?"

Santana had only heard a little about Kurt's job. It seemed like Kurt wasn't completely interested in what his company did, exactly. He was more focused on being a perfect Personal Assistant to the CEO. "Yea…?"

"Well…" Kurt walked over to Santana. "I don't know if I'm exactly allowed to do this but…"

Santana could feel his hesitance and was getting impatient. "Spit it out, my legs are on fire!"

"Okay, okay well the company I work for is hiring. I think."

"You think?" Santana asked. She leaned up against her car to take some of the stress off her shaky legs. She was never going to Cycle Fever ever again. "Is their Marketing department hiring? You know I'm in Marketing right?" Santana didn't want to get excited over a prospective job opportunity only for Kurt to tell her the opening was in Finance or something.

"Yea, I know. I mean, I'm kinda friends with their Marketing person and she mentioned that they were looking to hire new people. But I don't know if she meant now…or in the future…"

Santana looked at him. "That's kind of vague."

"I know." He said. "I could see if there's an actual open position. Yea. Let me do that and I'll let you know next week."

Santana nodded and started rifling through her purse. "Here, take my business card if it helps. You can give it to your Marketing 'person'." She handed him her card. "What company do you even work for anyway? You said it was some corporate business company?"

Kurt happily took her card and tried to hold it carefully between two fingers so it wouldn't get ruined by his sweat. "Oh, it's called Market Connections Initiative. It's on Third Street by the-"

Santana cut him off. "YOU WORK AT MARKET CONNECTIONS INITIATIVE!?" She felt her jaw drop, not even caring how dumb it may make her look.

"Uh…yes?" Kurt answered, alarmed at Santana's outburst. "Why?"

Santana put her hand on her forehead. All this time, she had been working out next to a guy that worked at one of the top Marketing companies in the world. "Do you KNOW how hard it is to get a job there?! My friend, Max, who went to Harvard couldn't even get hired there!" Santana snatched her card back out of his hand. "You don't just go in for an interview there, you get headhunted. I heard it's one of the most difficult and extensive hiring processes, like, ever. Anywhere. You can't just give them my card!"

"Whoa. Calm down, seriously," Kurt told Santana. He furrowed his brows at her. He didn't know that MCI had enough credibility to make Santana react in such a way. He yanked her business card back from her, "I told you, I'm kinda friends with their Marketing person. I can totally give this to her."

Santana just stared at him in horror. "Kurt, please don't. I didn't get headhunted for the job. That's the first requirement. Giving them my card would just make me seem like an idiot that was stupid enough to think she didn't have to abide by their rules. It'll be a complete waste of their time!"

Kurt shook his head and smirked at Santana. "You worry too much." He stuffed her card in his pocket and skipped away towards his own car, leaving Santana to only stare at him, still rooted in her spot. As he drove away he called out the window, "Let's do lunch on Tuedsay. I'll give them your card tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes!" With that he drove away, certain that his new friend deserved a chance at the job, if there was an opening. Surely Market Connections Initiative could use Santana. He knew she had graduated near the top of her class at NYU and had four years of work experience in Marketing. She was fiery and driven. Plus, it would be cool if they worked together. Maybe his friendship with the Marketing head would help him get Santana an interview, at least.

All throughout Monday, Santana could barely function properly at her desk. Her mind kept drifting off to what Kurt was doing. Had he given anyone her business card yet? What did they say? Did they accept it? Why wouldn't Kurt answer her calls? "Damnit Kurt." Santana tapped her fingers on her desk as she dialed his number for the seventh time. Her thirty minute lunch break was almost over. She had crammed her cold piece of pizza in her mouth twenty minutes ago and had reserved the rest of her time to talk to Kurt. He didn't answer the eighth, ninth, tenth, or even eleventh time.

After work she tried his cell again but there was still no answer. Her last-ditch effort was to leave a threatening voicemail for him right before she got into bed, which she did. If he didn't call her by tomorrow morning, she was sure he was trying to mess with her. She would really have to have a talk with him about timely call-backs.

To quell her nerves, she drank some hot chocolate and told herself that tomorrow would be another day. She hardly expected to get a job at MCI, but it was fun to dream. Maybe Kurt could work some of his magic. It sure got her to like him when they first met at the gym. She had found him completely unthreatening and really bubbly. She guessed that she was missing that in her life. All she had was her best friend Quinn, who was frequently unavailable due to her being a busy budding lawyer. Just for sake of trying, Santana dialed Quinn's number to see if the blonde was available but she got her voicemail. "Quinn, I'm freaking out. It's not an emergency so you don't need to call me back. I guess I just need someone to talk to. Maybe I should, like, buy a dog or something. I don't know. I'm just rambling. If you get this, just wish me some luck, will you? Have fun with all that law and stuff. Let me know if I'll see you this weekend. We haven't been to the club in two weeks and I think I'm going through withdrawal. Bye." She hung up at stared at her phone for another thirty minutes before finally giving up and plugging it into its charger. She drifted off to sleep thinking of missed phone calls, dogs, and finally leaving her dumb cubicle.

The next day, Kurt had texted Santana with a simple 'Meet me at Breadsticks at noon for lunch. Details then.' Santana almost tripped on the sidewalk while speed-walking to the place. "KURT!" She said, finally spotting him seated at a table in the sun on the restaurant's patio.

Kurt got up to hug Santana before she sat down. "Hey! Sorry I didn't get your calls yesterday. I had my phone on silent all yesterday because I had a huge headache that I think was from eating so much sal-"

"What happened? What'd they say?!" Santana cut Kurt off before he got into one of his health-conscious rants about salt-induced headaches. "Tell me, please!"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Sit down first at least, will you?"

Santana huffed and quickly sat down. She leaned forward, so much so that she could smell Kurt's fruity man-cologne. Or maybe that was his excessive amount of hair gel.

"Much better," Kurt told her, offering her a breadstick from the basket on their table, "Now, tell me, are you sore from Cycle Fever because I could barely walk yesterday-"

Santana reached out and grabbed Kurt's arm. "Yes. Sore. Hard to walk. Did you give them my business card?" She felt bad for cutting Kurt off yet again but she knew that he didn't know the true extent to which she hated her job or how a position at Market Connections Initiative would be the job of a lifetime for anyone in the Marketing industry. Surely he couldn't know because then he would understand why she was acting slightly insane.

Kurt huffed. "Ugh, you're impossible. Fine, fine. I gave them your card."

Santana searched his eyes for more information. "You did?" She asked, letting go of his arm finally.

Kurt nodded and broke a breadstick in half, putting on half in his mouth and the other on Santana's plate. "Yep. I gave it to my friend and, like I said, I wasn't quite sure if they were hiring exactly but I guess they are because you've got an interview this Friday."

Santana couldn't breathe. She was sure she had forgotten. Kurt gave her card to someone who didn't just throw it away? Someone at MCI looked at her business card? She had an interview?

"Are you okay? You're not having a stroke or something, right? Helloooo?" Kurt snapped his fingers in front of Santana's face and watched her pick up her breadstick-half and chew on it. He frowned at her distant look and the way her distracted chewing produced crumbs all over her work blouse. He could tell it was expensive silk.

Santana ate her bread just so she had something to do with her hands and mouth that would prevent any flailing and screaming. She was not the type of person who usually was stunned into silence but she needed to take a minute.

"Anyway…make sure to bring your resume and any type of project portfolio you have to the interview. I think it should only take an hour so you can get it over on your lunch break. I'm not sure who exactly will be interviewing you but my friend said come to tell the receptionist you're there for a Marketing interview and they would give you a guest pass and show you to the right office." Kurt took a sip of water and watched Santana absorb everything he had just told her.

Santana finally spoke her curiosity broke her out of her stupor. "Wait, so that's it?"

"What's it?"

"You just gave your friend my card and I have an interview…on Friday during my lunch break?"

Kurt shrugged. "Yea I guess. Don't be nervous. I bet the Marketing Department, which is where my friend works, is much better than my job. I have to follow the idiot CEO around and do all his tedious, pretentious tasks. Like shining the nameplate on his desk. Oh, this morning he had me take his Porsche to the car wash…can you believe that?"

Santana let Kurt go off on his rant about his boss. She really did try to listen to him but all she could think about was how she was going to not screw up the biggest interview of her life that she managed to get despite not being headhunted. She didn't really know how to feel. But she for sure knew that she was buying Kurt lunch. It was the least she could do.

For the rest of the week Santana stared at her resume on her laptop, typing and re-typing all of her previous work experiences, her skills, her qualifications, etc. She tried out different fonts, different font sizes, and aligned the words in different ways until she found a style she approved of. Everything had to be perfect. Her resume needed to shine. She hadn't gone to Harvard. She didn't have that much work experience and she was sure that there were a million other people more qualified than she was. But she wanted this job. It would be amazing to get this job. She had worked hard in college to graduate magna cum laude with a Marketing degree and a minor in Economics. She worked even harder after college to land her current job at Jacobson Inc., where she was the Marketing assistant to the Marketing Director who let her co-lead all of his big projects. Basically, she worked her ass off and got little to no credit for some of his big sales. They worked in selling their advertising campaigns to various sportswear companies. Santana was sure she had help come up with at least half of the many multi-million dollar ideas that the Marketing Director then got to present as his own work. She was ready for a change and she would do her best to fight for it.

On Friday, Santana almost spilled coffee on herself because of how badly her hands were shaking. She had done her best to pick out a suitable professional outfit, memorize how she would present her credentials, and learn as much about the company as possible. She had found out that Market Connections Initiative was actually under new leadership with its new CEO, Richard Brooks, only having been in the position for a year. The company had several different branches each being renowned in its industry for accruing mass amounts of revenue for the company as well as for innovation. Even the company employee-supervisor relationship was rated extremely high. Santana had also found out that the Marketing department, specifically, had won the coveted Industry Blue Badge last year, signifying that MCI's Marketing Department was not only best in the state but best in the entire United States. Santana tried researching more about the possible people that may be administering her interview but found virtually nothing. It seemed a lot like the CEO, Richard Brooks, had taken credit for the Industry Blue Badge win. Santana wondered what the person in charge of MCI's Marketing Department thought of that. She hoped it wasn't another company where no one got any credit except the Executives, even when they hardly contributed. She guessed that she would just have to wait and see.

Walking into the lobby of Market Connections Initiative, Santana felt incredibly intimidated. Not only was the building massive, but it was outstandingly decorated. Santana was sure that she looked out of place as she walked up to the receptionist's desk, dodging a few fast-walking, impeccably dressed individuals. Even the people here looked fancy. Santana felt like she was losing a bit of her nerve so she repeated her go-to mantra in her head. You can do this. You're a valuable asset. You have ideas and experience. You will work hard and do great things. She caught the attention of the receptionist and tried to make her voice sound more confident than she actually felt. "Hi. I'm Santana. Lopez. I'm here for an interview for the Marketing Department." She breathed a sigh of relief once she realized that she actually did sound pretty confident.

"Okay. Go through those doors and ask for Marsha Walters." The receptionist pointed to two gold-framed glass doors across the lobby on Santana's left. "She'll be conducting your interview."

"Thank you." Santana told the receptionist, who looked extremely busy but also calm. Santana wished she could be that type of person. Instead, pressure made her a bit nervous. Well, more than a bit. Even so, she mustered up the courage to walk with her head held high towards the ten-foot-tall doors and into the next room. She saw another desk. Clutching the folder containing her resume and portfolio tightly to her side, she approached yet another receptionist. "Hi, I'm here for Marsha Walters." Santana tried to make eye contact with this receptionist but the man didn't even give her a glance. All he did was press a button on his headset. Santana waited.

"Go right in." He finally spoke, his eyes still glued to his computer.

"Thanks." Santana told him, heading towards the only door left. There was no label on the door so she didn't really know what she was walking into. She only hoped that this Marsha Walters person wasn't too hard on her.

Upon entering the room and hearing the door close behind her, Santana took a deep breath. Marsha Walters, who she assumed was the woman at the desk at the back of the large room, didn't look too intimidating. In fact, Santana sort of found her rather friendly looking. "Ms. Walters?" Santana asked. She approached what she hoped would be the final desk.

"Santana Lopez." Marsha said, rising from her chair to shake Santana's hand.

Santana gave a firm handshake and sat down in the chair opposite the behemoth desk. It looked like an expensive wood but Santana couldn't tell. She placed her folder on the desk. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too. Is that your resume?" Marsha asked, reaching for the folder and opening it.

"Yes, and my portfolio of projects that I've worked on so far in my current position as Marketing Associate at Jacobson Inc." Santana gave her best smile and actually felt like she was off to a good start. She was feeling more confident by the second.

"Ok very good, let me take a look at this." Marsha began to run her finger down Santana's resume. She paused at the first few lines. "Oh, New York University, that's my Alma mater." The older woman smiled up at Santana. "Did you like it there?"

Santana felt a swell of confidence in her chest. This wasn't going badly at all! "I loved it there." She said honestly.

Marsha nodded, still with a smile on her face and began reading again. Every so often she would nod or say "mmmhmm" in approval of something that she read. However, right as it seemed Marsha was about to start the question portion of the interview, the relative quiet of the room was interrupted by a loud knock. Both Santana and Marsha looked towards the door to see who had interrupted but no one came in.

"I better go see who that is. I'll be right back, Ms. Lopez." Marsha said to Santana before walking to the door. She opened it and disappeared behind it before Santana could even see who had interrupted. Several minutes passed during which Santana sat in silence and wondered what was taking Marsha so long. Santana resorted to going over her answers to possible interview questions in her head just to be extra prepared even though Marsha seemed not too scary so far.

A few minutes after Santana had gone through her last interview question in her mind, the door opened. Santana turned in her chair ready to continue with her interview but it was not Marsha who came through the door. No, this woman was not Marsha at all.

"Santana Lopez." The mystery woman said, strolling into the room.

Santana could only watch, confused, as this new blonde woman waltzed into the room and took Marsha's place at the desk. "Uh…hello?"

"Brittany S. Pierce, nice to meet you." The woman stuck out her hand across the desk.

Santana was now able to see even more clearly the beauty of this person. Brittany Pierce, whoever she was, was gorgeous. Although she was dressed in jeans and a simple blue t-shirt, Santana was absolutely stunned. "Nice to meet you, too." She could only utter out this sentence in her confused haze. Where was Marsha? Who was this woman? Holy crap she's really pretty.

"Is this your resume?" Brittany Pierce asked. She picked up the folder containing all of Santana's papers.

"Yes, and I included a portfolio of all the projects I have worked on so far in my current position as Associate-"

Brittany Pierce cut her off. "Ms. Lopez. Why are you here?"

Santana studied Brittany's face. Then she watched in total bewilderment as the blonde woman slid her entire folder across the desk in a perfect sideways line and right over the edge of the desk. She heard the thunk of her folder and its contents hitting the bottom of a metal trash can. "What?"

Brittany Pierce then leaned forward on bother her elbows and repeated her question. "Why are you here?"

Santana was kind of pissed off now. Not only had she spent hours perfecting that folder of documents but who even was this woman? Santana countered with her own question. "Why did you just throw my folder into the trash? My resume is in there-"

Brittany Pierce just smiled at Santana. "Ms. Lopez, I don't need to see your credentials nor do I need to see whatever projects you think give you any credibility for the job opening."

Santana gaped at the woman. "Excuse me, Ms. Pierce, but who did you say you were?" Santana asked this because, at this point, she was wondering if this woman was an escaped convict who had strangled Marsha and was going to strangle her next.

"Call me Brittany." The blonde said nothing more.

Santana didn't know what exactly she should do at this point. Thankfully Brittany started speaking again.

"You do know people get headhunted for positions at this company?" Brittany continued to stare her down.

Santana shifted nervously in her seat. Now her palms began to sweat. She still had no clue what this was. Was this part of the interview? "I do know." Santana just decided to tell the truth.

"And you decided you could just bypass that entire, professional, process and land yourself an interview?" Brittany didn't shift once.

Santana decided that Brittany didn't exactly look threatening. But she did look imposing. She felt imposing. Who is she?

"You think you're better than everyone else?"

Santana scoffed, completely forgetting that scoffing was not at all professional. "Look, Brittany, it was my friend Kurt that got me this interview. I in no way intended to imply that I was better than anyone else. To tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure what's going on right now. Who are you? Where's Marsha?" Santana felt herself begin to go red in the face with the frustration of this baffling situation.

"You think you've got what it takes, Santana Lopez?" Brittany asked. She sat back in the wooden desk chair.

Santana frowned.

"Convince me." Brittany told her.

Santana began to mentally sort through all of her qualifications, wondering which ones she should start with. She wiped her palms off on her black skirt and cleared her throat. "I graduated from NYU with a degree-"

"Stop." Brittany interrupted.

Santana ground her teeth together.

"I don't care about what you did or what you're currently doing. I want you to convince me that you're the person that should be hired. We're looking for something that can't be found on a resume, Santana. Can you give me that?"

Santana was lost. What did this woman even want from her? What kind of interview was this? Also, she still wasn't entirely sure of Brittany's mental stability.

Brittany finally spoke when Santana continued to silently stare at her in confusion. "How about this-"

Now it was Santana's turn to interrupt. She didn't prepare all of this material just to be messed with by a crazy, although extremely pretty, blonde woman. So, she finally spoke up. "No, how about this: you tell me who the hell you are, where Marsha is, and why I should tell you anything at all." Santana was beyond ticked off. Market Connections Initiative was supposed to be a reputable company; it was supposed to be one of the best in the world. Yet, here she was being interrogated by some random woman who was wearing street clothes and looked more like a model than an interviewer.

Brittany raised her eyebrow at Santana's outburst. "Aggression. Interesting. We can work on that."

Santana was furious. Not only were all her credentials overlooked, but Brittany was blatantly patronizing her. Santana had had enough. With one last scowl at Brittany Pierce, Santana stood up, walked to the door, and left. As soon as she shut the door behind her she was met with Kurt bouncing on his toes in front of her.

"How'd it go!? Tell me, tell me!" Kurt clasped his hands together.

Santana was surprised to see him there. She thought he would be off in a different part of the building. She overlooked that in favor of telling him about the weirdness that had just happened in the room behind her. "Kurt, this ridiculous blonde woman just came in and interrupted my interview with Marsha." Santana lowered her voice, incase Brittany could hear her through the door. "I think she's insane."

Kurt gasped. "Santana. Did you finish the interview?"

Santana was wondering why Kurt looked so worried. "What interview?" She pointed at the door. "That was not an interview. I think there's actually been some weird mix-up or mistake or something." Santana couldn't even explain to Kurt what exactly had happened but she didn't like the look he was giving her. "What? Do you know that woman? She said her name was Brittany-"

"Pierce." Kurt finished. He put his head in his hands. "Santana. That was Brittany Pierce." He pointed to a plaque on the wall.

Santana looked at the plaque. She hadn't see it on her way in. It was a shiny silver piece of embossed metal on a wooden background. It read:

Brittany S. Pierce

Chief Marketing Officer

Below it was the Market Connections Initiative company logo.

"What?" Santana asked aloud, looking from the plaque back to Kurt.

Kurt just sighed. "Brittany is the friend I was telling you about…" He waited for Santana to catch on. "She's the one who I gave your card to…the one who set up your interview. She also happens to be the Chief Marketing Officer."

Santana looked at him in horror.

Kurt winced. "She's also the CEO's daughter."

Santana felt faint. How could this have happened? How did this slip by her? Most importantly, why didn't Brittany simply tell her who she actually was?!

"Oh dear." Kurt said, looking at Santana. They both seemed unsure of what to do next.

"I yelled at her." Santana finally said, now mortified. She saw Kurt look behind her and heard the creak of an opening door.

Brittany walked out of the room. "Yes, you did yell at me."

Kurt was still standing in front of Santana, just looking between the two women. "I'm gonna…go. See you guys later." He turned abruptly and disappeared out the same gold-framed glass door that Santana had entered through.

Santana had no actual idea of how to proceed in this situation. She stood dumbfounded in front of Brittany S. Pierce, Chief Marketing Officer for Market Communications Initiative. Her brain was racing but her mouth wouldn't move. Thankfully, Brittany spoke instead.

"How about we try that again," The blonde asked, opening the office door and gesturing for Santana to follow her inside, "but this time with less hostility?"

Santana could nod and sit down on the same chair she had abandoned in her angry huff. Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap.