Disclaimer: Glee is the rightful property of a guy named Ryan Murphy and a terrifying corporate entity known as Fox.

Notes: Several 'Santana and Rachel meet some years later in New York' storylines have occurred to me. For the time being, this is the one that's getting a bit of sunlight, so to speak.

Bless the Meddlers

(Meddlers Are the Enlisted Men of Fate)

"Come on, Rachel, I finally got my friend to agree to a setup and I really think she'd be perfect for you. You know that you've been having terrible luck on your own." The girl was only about an inch taller than Rachel, with light brown hair and a dangerously infectious smile.

Rachel winced, Candice was right. She'd had three relationships with men since she'd left Lima behind and each had been worse than the last. She'd decided as she'd walked away from Mark that it was definitely time for her to start her 'experimenting' stage with the fairer sex. It wasn't like she didn't know that she thought girls were attractive. She'd just not tried dating any. Four misguided attempts later she'd had a handful of kisses, some awkward groping and a new respect for why lesbians hated bicurious women so much. "...Fine. I'll meet your friend. Provide me with the essential facts- where, when, and who- and I will give this meeting a chance. If, on the rare chance that it actually *is* worse than my date with 'Jenny the dance major' I know where you live and at least five things that make you absolutely miserable."

For the briefest moment Candace looked worried, but then the look was replaced with what appeared to be absolute confidence. "You won't regret it! I told her to be at Beans and Things tomorrow at 3:30." At this point Candace was already walking backwards, increasing her volume to be heard over the growing distance. "She'll be wearing an NYU sweatshirt- and you know that you don't see that many of those in our artsy fartsy little coffee house." And then the girl was gone before Rachel could ask any of her questions. She had several along the lines of: So how did you meet this NYU girl? Why can't you just tell me her name and give me a real description? And mostly, and what's wrong with her that she needs you setting her up?

Of course, Rachel could at least partially answer most of these. Candace flitted from group to group and human project to human project. The girl probably had a secret ambition to befriend the population of the entire city if not the entire state. Not giving her more than a somewhat dorky clue of what to look for was probably a bit of misguided romanticism. Her friend seemed like the type that would have enjoyed saying 'she'll be the one with a single red rose lying on the table in front of her'. This idea had probably been rejected by the other party. As for the last… well, Rachel didn't really have an answer but since she was in the same situation she figured she wasn't in a place to judge too quickly.

It was 3:28 as Rachel slipped through the door of Beans and Things. She'd had to kind of book it to get there on time. Candace hadn't really given her a lot of time, a fact that she'd been grumbling about for the last few minutes. She let it go though, in favor of wondering if her date was the type to arrive early or late. That always said something about a person. Maybe it didn't say anything too deep, but it was still a good revelation that you could count on making early on in a relationship. There were way too many things that could hide for a very long time.

Her eyes scanned the faces and torsos of the other patrons, coming to rest on the face above the proud NYU logo. Rachel's mouth fell open and for a shocked second or two could only frantically think 'oh my God' on repeat. After that she thought about making a run for it before stoically squaring her shoulders and walking towards the woman who still had her eyes glued to a book. That was something Rachel took as a blessing just before she took a steadying breath and sat down across from Santana Lopez.

(Yesterday afternoon)

"And how may I be of assistance to Hobbit Mark II?"

Candace frowned at her Hispanic friend, "Why do you call me that?"

Santana waved a hand dismissively, "Doesn't matter. It's more or less a term of endearment. So..?"

"I know the perfect girl for you," Candace beamed.

It was time for Santana to frown this time. "I don't know; blind dates… It's not as if I can't get one on my own."

Candace gave the other woman her best unimpressed look, "You can get any number of first dates." She watched in satisfaction as Santana actually flinched at the emphasized word. "You've even worked enough things out that your disastrously short relationships are mostly not even your fault," this time the emphasis had a healthy dose of sarcasm to it.

"Excuse me, but how was Lisa my fault?" Santana had tried, God, how she'd tried but that had gone from bad to ugly to 'natural disaster' as she watched helplessly on. There were places she still feared to go because of the small chance she might see the blonde terror known as Lisa and get verbally dissected in public. Again. What was it with blondes? Santana wondered.

"The only thing about Lisa that was your fault," Candace said a little dramatically, "was that you picked her. You have horrible judgment when it comes to women. You need someone to screen for you."

Santana really wished she had a good argument for that. "… Alright, I'll do it... but no corny gimmicks like having her find me because I've got some stupid flower sticking out my ear, or anything even remotely like that."

(Present time)

Upon hearing someone sitting across from her, Santana raised her head. The face in front of her was unmistakable- even if the girl did look quite a bit more fashionable, in a casual college sort of way.

It'd been what, four, five years since she'd seen Rachel Berry? Closer to five, she decided, but no one forgot that particular spitfire of a diva. A diva who was currently sporting a series of expressions ranging from mild amusement to extreme awkwardness. "Let me guess," Santana broke the silence, "you know this totally pushy woman named Candace Williams?"

And then Rachel was laughing and the tension was broken, "In a nutshell." She shook her head, "I spend my life immersed in musicals- I make it my business to envision unlikely scenarios and try to make them feel real. That said, I don't think there's any way I could have envisioned the number of coincidences that had to line up in order to put the two of us in this coffee shop."

"It is pretty crazy," Santana concurred, "I don't even think I told her where I'm from." She paused, considering, "Then again, it's Candace. I've suspected for a while that she's got some super stalker skills. She's probably got some CIA class dossiers on the both of us."

When Rachel found herself laughing again she wondered if Santana had always been so amusing. She supposed that the Latina had, but that it was harder to appreciate it as the target. It also helped that the abuse being thrown at their mutual friend was not only mild but was obviously not really meant… though, then again, Candace did always know a little too much about people. "She might just," she agreed before they lapsed into what started as a reasonably comfortable silence.

Rachel tried to keep her face straight as her thoughts raced. It was an amusing situation and oddly nice to see Santana again and have an actual, pleasant conversation with her but someone was going to have to address the 'purpose' of it all. Nicer version or not, there was no way that the woman who had once dubbed her 'treasure trail' wanted to date her. "Ah, well," Rachel stood, "I guess I should go. Don't be too hard on Candace, alright? I'm sure in her strange way that she meant well."

Before Rachel actually started walking away, Santana spoke up, "Wait," Rachel did and she continued. "I don't know about the whole 'date' thing," she really couldn't imagine the little singer she'd been so hard on could tolerate the idea but she hated to end on a bad note, especially when she had this chance to smooth some things over, "but if you don't mind, I think I'd really enjoy catching up." The Latina put on her best 'charming but not trying to seduce you' smile, "So tell me, what've you been up to?"