Santana frowned as she saw Rachel on her front porch. "What are you doing here, Berry?"

"There's a carnival in town. I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me." The cheerleader scoffed.

"Why me? We aren't friends. Why not ask one of your friends or your boy toy?" Looking down, Rachel sighed.

"Mercedes is visiting her grandparents and Kurt and Finn are on vacation. Besides, Finn and I decided that we were better off as friends." Santana raised an eyebrow.

"So we lost Nationals for nothing?" Rachel shrugged. "Anyway, I can't. I'm babysitting my little brother."

"By all means, Santana, bring him along. It's a carnival." Just then, a young boy appeared behind Santana. "Is this him?"

"Yeah, this is Cesar. Hermano, this is Rachel." Cesar looked up at Rachel. "She was asking if we wanted to go to the carnival with her."

"Awesome!" Seeing the boy's excited expression, Rachel grinned up at his sister. "Can we go, Tana?"

"I don't know, Cesar..." Looking down and seeing her brother's face fall, Santana sighed. "Okay, let's go. I'll drive, though."

"Why?"

"Because I like my car better than yours." Santana said, disappearing for a moment and reappearing with her purse and car keys. "Come on, let's go." When Cesar ran toward the driveway and jumped into the front seat, the cheerleader rolled her eyes. "Cesar, backseat." she called out, walking over. Letting out a soft laugh, Rachel followed the siblings, slipping into the front seat after Cesar moved to the back.

An hour later, the trio were having the time of their lives. They'd been on several rides and were now playing some of the games. Watching the brother and sister laugh together, Rachel smiled softly.

"I'm going to go get something to drink." Nodding, Santana and Cesar turned to play another game. Walking over, Rachel approached the nearest food stand. "Hi, can I get three bottles of water?"

"Anything else?" Noticing a cotton candy machine, Rachel smiled as she remembered Cesar's excitement over seeing the treat when they arrived.

"I'll take some cotton candy as well." Handing over money, Rachel looked around as she waited for her purchases. After a few moments, she saw Brittany.

"Hey, Rachel." Grabbing the cotton candy from the vendor, Rachel smiled at the familiar blonde as she walked over.

"Hi, Brittany." Looking behind her, she saw Artie rolling over. "Are you back together with Artie?"

"Yeah, I am. Are... Are you on a date with Santana?" Rachel shook her head.

"No, I'm just here with her and Cesar. Why would you think it's a date?" Brittany shrugged.

"Santana has always been into you. I just figured she'd finally asked you out." Eyes wide, Rachel looked back at where Santana was still playing the game with Cesar. "I just came over to say hi. Have fun with Santana and Cesar."

"Thanks." Rachel whispered, grabbing the water bottles and walking back to the pair. "Here, I got you two some water and cotton candy." When Cesar's eyes lit up, the brunette smiled softly.

"Thanks, Rachel! I won this for you." he said, holding out a small monkey. Staring at the boy in shock, Rachel took the monkey.

"Thank you, Cesar. I love it." Smiling at Santana, she hugged the boy. "This ride looks fun, do you two want to join me?"

"Of course." Santana said, smiling softly at the brunette as they began walking.

"I had a lot of fun today." Rachel said as she stood outside of her car. Chuckling, Santana nodded.

"So did I. Cesar had the time of his life. Thanks for letting him come."

"Well, at first, it was just a way to get you to agree to come, but... I had so much fun with him. He's a great kid." the brunette replied, smiling.

"He really likes you. I don't think he'd be opposed to spending more time with you."

"Would you be there as well?" Rachel asked. Santana grinned.

"That can be arranged. I have to get inside and help with dinner. I'll talk to you later, Rachel."

"Bye, Santana." Rachel whispered, getting in her car. Looking at the retreating girl, she couldn't help but think about what Brittany said.

Over the following month, Rachel hung out with Santana and Cesar nearly every day. However, after four weeks of the routine, Rachel had to go out of town for a musical theater camp. She'd finally returned after two weeks, and immediately had the urge to call Santana. However, she decided to go for a run.

"Rachel!" Pausing her run and taking out one of her earbuds, Rachel grinned as she saw Cesar running towards her.

"Hey, Cesar!" she said, hugging the boy. Looking behind him, she smiled shyly at his sister. "What are you doing here?"

"Tana brought me to play soccer with my friends. I scored three goals."

"That's awesome!" Making eye contact with Santana, Rachel waved.

"What are you up to today?" the cheerleader asked.

"Well, I got home from my musical theater camp last night, so I have some errands to run. I would love to hang out with you guys tomorrow, if you're free." Cesar nodded eagerly. "Cesar, I have a few errands I need to run, would you like to come with me?"

"Sure!" Rachel looked up at Santana.

"It's okay, right?" The Latina nodded. "Great. You can come if you want."

"No, it's okay. Cesar likes you."

"Santana likes you, too. She talks about you all the time." Eyes wide, Santana smacked her brother in the back of the head. "What did I say?"

"Go play until Rachel's ready to leave.." When the boy ran away, she turned to Rachel. "About what Cesar said-"

"I already knew. Brittany said something at the carnival." Santana bit her lip. "Do you want to go out tonight?"

"Wait, what?" Rachel smiled nervously. "Um... Okay. Yeah, that sounds good." Giggling, Rachel reached out and grabbed Santana's hand. "You should get going, Cesar keeps looking at you and his watch. I mean, he can't tell time yet, but still." Letting out a laugh, Rachel sent Santana a soft smile before walking over towards Cesar. "Hey, Berry."

"Yeah?"

"Pick me up at seven." Grinning, Rachel turned back to Cesar.

"Come on, Cesar, let's go." she said, leading him toward her car.

It had started off as an innocent date. Rachel picked Santana up at seven, given her flowers, and held open the car door for her. When they'd pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant she'd picked out, they'd barely parked the car before Santana pulled her into a kiss. "Wait, this isn't how this was supposed to go."

"What do you mean?" Santana asked, pulling away slightly. Rachel stroked Santana's cheek.

"I was going to treat you to a nice dinner and then take you to a movie. Then I was going to take you to home and tell you how much I like you and then we'd have our first kiss." Smiling softly, Santana kissed her cheek.

"That sounds great. I really like that plan. I'm sorry I ruined it." Rachel chuckled. "I believe dinner was first on your list."

"Yes, it was. Come on."

By the end of the date, Rachel was on top of the world. She and Santana had had a wonderful time. As she walked up to the front porch of the Lopez house, she grabbed Santana's hand and pulled her to a stop. "Santana..."

"This is the part where you tell me how much you like me, right?" The brunette nodded. "I'm listening."

"I had an amazing time on our date. I really like you and I would love to go on another date." Looking at Rachel for a moment, Santana pulled the diva into a kiss. "Is that a yes?" the brunette whispered as they broke apart.

"Yes, you dork." Santana replied, laughing softly. Rachel smiled widely. "I have to get inside. It's almost my curfew."

"I'll see you and Cesar tomorrow for ice skating." Santana nodded. "Good night, Santana." Rachel whispered, kissing the cheerleader's cheek. Waving, Santana walked into her house as the brunette made her way back to her car.

"San!" Laughing, Santana caught the brunette as she jumped in her arms. "I missed you."

"You saw me last night."

"Yeah, but I still missed you." Santana grinned. "You know, it's been two weeks, but I still can't believe Kurt and Mercedes walked in on us."

FLASHBACK

"You know, when I invited you over to swim, I imagined that we'd actually go swimming." Santana laughed, straddling Rachel on the lounge chair.

"This is a lot more fun." she whispered, pulling the girl into a kiss.

"Oh my god!" Breaking apart quickly, Santana lost her balance as she saw Kurt and Mercedes staring at them. Quickly moving her arms, Rachel steadied her girlfriend before looking up at her friends.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"We came to see if you wanted to go to the mall." Kurt explained. Santana shook her head.

"She's busy today." she replied, turning back to her girlfriend and kissing her neck. Smirking, Rachel moved to pull the cheerleader into another kiss when she heard Kurt clearing his throat and remembered that they were there.

"San." she whispered, tapping her shoulder. Santana sighed and pulled away. However, she stayed on the chair with her girlfriend.

"Okay, what is going on right now?" Santana turned to the pair. "This is a joke, right?"

"Does it look like a joke?" Kurt and Mercedes nodded. "Well, it's not."

"You two are hooking up?" Mercedes asked. Santana sighed.

"We're dating." she explained. The pair laughed, stopping when they noticed that Santana and Rachel weren't joining in.

"Seriously?" The couple nodded. "Wow."

"Can we go to the mall tomorrow? San and I are on a date." Nodding slowly, Mercedes and Kurt exited the backyard. "Once they wrap their heads around it, we are going to get so many questions.

END FLASHBACK

"That was an interesting experience." Santana chuckled.

"Puck is throwing a party tonight. Do you want to go?" Rachel shrugged. "It'll be fun."

"I don't know, San... I mean... Rachel Berry and parties don't mix." Wrapping her arms around her girlfriend, Santana pressed a kiss to her head.

"Two months ago, you would have said that Rachel Berry and Santana Lopez don't mix, yet here we are." Smiling, Rachel nodded.

"Okay, I'm in." The cheerleader let out a cheer. "Do you want to go get lunch?"

"That sounds perfect."

"Damn, babe." Santana said, grinning as she pulled the brunette close.

"I've been here for twenty minutes. I've been looking all over for you."

"I was going to text you, but Britt has my phone. She told me why, but I stopped listening after I realized it had something to do with Lord Tubbington." Rachel chuckled. "Are you ready for the first day of school?" The brunette shook her head, earning a frown from her girlfriend. "Why not?"

"I'm just... I'm worried our relationship will change."

"It won't, Rach, I promise. I really care about you and I'm not going to hide that." Rachel smiled softly. "Come on, let's go get something to drink."

"Okay."

Three days later, they were back at school. Rachel was at her locker when she heard a laugh that she had become very familiar with over the course of the summer. Turning her head slightly, she saw her girlfriend walking down the hall with a group of Cheerios. After a few moments, she bit her lip and looked back at her locker.

Across the hall, Santana was walking with her friends when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Smiling widely, she turned towards Brittany. "I'll see you later." she said, breaking away from the group. Walking over to the brunette, she hugged her from behind. "You look amazing." she whispered, pressing a kiss to her girlfriend's jaw.

"It's the first day of senior year, I thought I should dress up." Santana smiled softly, letting go of the brunette and leaning up against the lockers.

"Can I walk you to class?"

"Um..." Looking around, Rachel noticed the amount of people watching them. "I don't think so. I'll see you in Glee."

"Oh. Okay." Santana said, watching as Rachel closed her locker and walked away.

After school, Santana walked into the choir room to find it empty. Letting out a sigh of relief, she sat down in a chair in the front row.

"Hi." Looking up from her phone, Santana eyed her girlfriend carefully. "What did I do?"

"You didn't talk to me all day, Rachel. Hell, you barely looked my way." the cheerleader replied. Rachel bit her lip. "That's just not the Rachel Berry that I know."

"What do you mean?"

"When you were dating Finn, Jesse, and Puck, you paraded them around on your arm. You start dating me and all of a sudden, you don't want to do that?"

"Everyone was staring, San." Rachel whispered. Santana scoffed.

"You want to be an actress, Rachel, you need to get used to that. Besides, everyone was staring at us at the party."

"Yeah, but they were drunk." Santana glared at her girlfriend. "San..."

"Whatever, Rach. I thought we were going to be out, but clearly we should have talked about it." The brunette looked at the cheerleader. "Who were we kidding? We could never last." Eyes wide, Rachel grabbed her girlfriend's hands.

"Santana, don't say that. I really like you. I'm sorry for the way I treated you." Taking back her hands, Santana stood up.

"Rachel, you can't just treat people however you want and then just expect them to forgive you." Rachel looked down. "I'm going to sit by Britt." Santana mumbled, moving to a different seat. Letting out a sigh, Rachel sat down in the seat her girlfriend had been occupying.

After rehearsal, Rachel walked up to the cheerleader. "Can we talk?" Santana let out an exaggerated gasp.

"In front of people? Are you sure I'm worthy of that honor?" Rachel resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Santana, stop it. I want us to talk about this." Santana nodded slowly. "Come on, let's go to the bleachers."

"Okay." Santana mumbled, following her girlfriend through the school and towards the bleachers. As they sat down, Rachel turned toward the cheerleader.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted. You need to know that I care about you." Santana nodded slowly. "What can I do to make it up to you?"

"I don't know, Rachel." Seeing that everyone that was on and around the football field was staring at them, Rachel pulled her girlfriend into a kiss. "Why'd you do that?"

"Everyone was watching." Rachel said, smiling. Santana kissed her girlfriend.

"It's a start, Berry, but you have a long way to go."

"I promise, I'll make it up to you. Do you want to go get dinner?" Santana nodded with a small smile on her face. "Okay, let's go." Standing up, Rachel grabbed Santana's hand, starting to move before pulling her into another kiss. "I really do care about you, San."

"I know. I care about you, too." Santana said, smiling as she followed Rachel to the parking lot.