"She's fucked up" Puck tells Santana. "You should do something."
She shakes her head.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"We don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Admit that we care about each other."
…
"I don't like her" the eight year old Santana Lopez tells Brittany S. Pierce. "Why do we have to be friends with her?"
"I like her" Brittany pouts. "She's nice."
Santana scowls at Quinn who is sitting alone on a swing. She's new and pretty and does ballet. Of course Brittany likes her. And of course Santana hates her.
"She's one of the spoiled, evil girls."
Brittany ignores her and approaches the lonely girl. Santana trails after her, not wanting to be alone herself.
"Do you want to come to my house to play with us today?" Brittany asks Quinn.
Quinn's eyes meet Santana's. They scowl at each other for a few seconds and Santana is sure she'll say no. No one wants to mess with Santana Lopez, not even the older kids. She's notoriously famous for kicking people in the shins.
"Yes, please" Quinn says, smiling her trademark smile at Brittany. "I'd love to."
Brittany claps her hands in glee and Santana roll her eyes.
…
Brittany is soft and nice and loveable. Santana isn't and neither is Quinn. They fight throughout the entire play date until Brittany is almost in tears.
"Look what you did" Santana spits at Quinn. "You upset her."
"It wasn't me" Quinn argues. "I wasn't the one who shoved someone."
They glare at each other but when a single tear escapes Brittany's eye, they direct their attention to her. Quinn wipes her face with leftover napkin from lunch, carefully and almost motherly. Santana tickles her until she cries hard from laughing.
"I still don't like you" Santana tells Quinn as they walk home.
"I don't like you either."
"Good."
…
They both like Brittany though and Brittany loves them both. She sits in the middle and holds a hand each and tells them over and over how they'll be friends forever.
"You and me, Brit, we'll be, but not her" Santana mumbles, feeling jealous.
"I don't want to be friends with her until high school graduation" Quinn sneers, not used to sharing either.
Brittany squeezes their hands and tells stories about the prom dresses they will wear and the boys they will date and the cheerleading competitions they will win.
"That'll never happen" Santana says half-heartedly, because when Brittany tells it like that, it sounds wonderful.
"Never" Quinn echoes.
They can only ever agree on two things. How much they like Brittany and how much they hate each other.
…
In one way, Rachel Berry helps. One look at her and then one shared look and they have common enemy. Brittany doesn't get it so they end up laughing about Rachel's stockings and animal sweaters together.
"I like her shirt" Brittany shrugs.
Quinn and Santana exchange a look and snicker.
"Every time she speaks in class, I want to shoot her" Santana drawls.
"Or myself" Quinn adds.
Maybe it's because Santana hates how good Rachel singing voice is while she's still too shy to show off hers. Or maybe the fact that Finn seems a bit interested in her for Quinn's liking. Or maybe she's an excuse for them to bond after all those years. Maybe they're just too tired of fighting.
"Thank god for Rachel Berry" Brittany sighs happily as Quinn and Santana write hateful comments on Rachel's Myspace.
…
Quinn gets chosen as cheerleading captain and something shifts in their relationship. Suddenly she has authority over Santana, who can't stand it. She grits her teeth and takes order from her and wishes she could talk shit about her with someone. But she can't. They have turned into the trio of the school, the popular and pretty girls. It gives them power as long as they stand united and Santana doesn't want to ruin that.
"We have to join the Glee club" Quinn tells them in her new authoritarian way.
"'Kay" Brittany says.
"No" Santana refuses. "I won't. Not because you and your stupid boyfriend are having issues."
"Fine" Quinn smiles evilly. "Brit and I will join then, you don't have to."
Santana wants to slap her pretty face.
…
Santana has mixed feelings about Quinn turning out to be pregnant. In one way, she's pleased with her being kicked off the cheerios, leaving the captain spot open for Santana. Also, with her pregnant stomach she's not one of the popular ones anymore, the trio becomes a duo and Santana loves having Brittany for herself. One the other hand, she doesn't like seeing Quinn sitting alone. She doesn't like the hurt look on her face as Finn shouts at her, as Sue tells that she's a disgrace, when her parents throws her out. Santana doesn't like when other people fuck with Quinn, she's the only one who is allowed too.
"Why won't you let her rejoin?" Santana begs Sue. "She can stand in the back or something."
"Be careful, Santana, or I'll start to think that you actually care about her."
Santana looks away.
"Whatever."
…
Santana never gets to see the baby. After all the shit that kids put everyone through, Mercedes and Puck are the only ones to get to see her. Santana can understand Puck being there, he is the dad and actually kind of stepped up in the end. But Mercedes? She and Quinn haven't even been friends that long.
"Did you want to meet her?" Brittany asks carefully. "Beth, I mean."
"No."
"I think Quinn wanted you in the delivery room; she was too proud to ask."
Santana looks away.
"It doesn't matter. They gave it away anyway. Everything will go back to normal now."
…
It doesn't, though. Or maybe it does. They fight, like a real fight, in the hallway during the first day of school. Quinn shouts at her for having a boob job, but Santana knows that she's not really pissed about that, not really. And Santana shouts at her for being a slut, which is a stupid thing to say to a girl who only slept with one boy, one time. They shove and push and someone has to pull them apart. Brittany is crying again as they talk it out with Ms. Pillsbury.
"You two have a lot of unresolved issues" the guidance counselor says.
"I hate her" Quinn snarls.
"I hate her more" Santana childishly retorts.
"Why?" Brittany asks silently, her eyes are red and her hands are trembling on her lap.
Santana and Quinn finally exchange a look. Quinn looks almost scared and Santana can't really come up with a real reason for hating her.
"We always have" she says simply. "And always will."
…
Quinn once stole Puck from Santana so she gets her revenge by stealing Sam from her. It's childish since it's plain that none of them really like him that much. An eye for an eye, though, Santana thinks. It's like they're back in playground, pulling each other's braids over who got to play more with the only Barbie doll.
"What's up with you and Quinn anyway?" Sam asks as they're watching Star Wars for the eighth time.
"What do you mean?"
"Why are you friends if you don't even like each other?"
"It's complicated."
He doesn't ask more about it. Maybe he isn't that stupid after all.
…
As the school year goes on, it's more and more apparent that Quinn is messed up. She has a manic look in her eyes and talks about weird stuff and seems on the verge of tears all the time. Santana watches her deal with her shit from afar. She gets the same feelings she got when Quinn was pregnant. The feeling that the world was fucking too much with Quinn Fabray.
"She's fucked up" Puck tells Santana. "You should do something."
She shakes her head.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"We don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Admit that we care about each other."
…
It's not until that day in the hotel room in New York that something between them shifts. They start out down the same road, screaming at each other about Quinn's apathy, but end up somewhere new. Santana tucks her head close her Quinn's and whispers that everything will be fine. She promises it, all over again, for all the time she never told her. It will work out with your parents won't break up, Q, I know it. Finn doesn't care about that big nosed freak, Q. I know you're freaking out about being pregnant, but I'll help you through it. Your parents are crazy to kick their sixteen year old out, but it will be okay, you can stay with me. I know it was tough giving your kid up, Quinn, but it was for the best, for it and for you.
"It will be fine" Quinn echoes and Santana knows it's for all the times she never said it either.
They keep saying it, over and over, as Brittany cuts Quinn's hair in the bathroom.
…
It's prom night and Quinn has just won prom queen. Santana doesn't really care that much and she can tell that neither does Quinn, not really. They stand alone in that class room, all dolled up and beautiful in their dresses. In the glass cabinet is not only the cheerleading trophies they have won, there are Glee trophies too. Santana thinks about all the boys they dated, fought over, loved and lost.
"It's just like Brittany said" she says. "Here we are, after all this time."
Quinn smiles. They don't fight that much anymore. They still bicker and disagree but since that night in the hotel room, there's something behind all those words. Love, maybe. Maybe it has been there all this time; perhaps they just didn't want to see it.
"We should make her win" Santana suggests. "Rig the election like they did last year. She's the one who made this all happen."
"Her and Rachel Berry" Quinn says. "Our two common things. The one we love and the one we hate."
That's not really true. They don't hate that obnoxious midget anymore. And the two of them aren't the only two things that tie them together.
"She would love to win" Santana shrugs.
"We owe it to her, really" Quinn smiles. "Without her hysterical knee-highs, I would have killed you."
They write FINN HUDSON and RACHEL BERRY on two scraps of paper.
"I wouldn't want anyone else dancing with Finn anyway" Santana says. "Berry is the only one who will put up with being trampled for a entire dance."
...