"Wake up! Wake up!" Santana groaned as she was brutally attacked by pillows, successfully pulling her out of her sleep. "Wake up Tana!"

"Go away!" she said, rolling over so that she was lying on her stomach. "Is, Mari, go away!" she yelled.

"But its time to wake up!" Isabel said. Santana sighed and yanked the pillow from the closest six year old. "Tana!"

"Go. Away." Santana growled. She heard footsteps and knew her mother was entering her room.

"Santana Maria Lopez, time to get up." her mom said, leaning against the wall. Santana groaned again.

"I can't, Mom."

"Why not?" her mother questioned in a no nonsense tone.

"The little monsters are on top of me." the teenage Latina said. Her mother laughed.

"Isabel, Marisol, get off your sister." she said. The twins groaned.

"But you asked us to wake Tana up. We're just trying to help." Marisol said. Santana laughed harshly.

"Yea, hitting me with pillows. Great wake up call, guys. Just get the hell off of me already." she said sarcastically. The twins slowly got off of her bed and she sat up to see her baby sisters looking like they were about to cry. "Wait, guys, come here."

"No." Isabel said. Marisol glared at her older sister.

"You were mean to us. We don't like you." she said, pulling her twin out of the room.

"Santana, that was completely uncalled for. I should make you miss out on your date tonight." Santana instantly shook her head.

"No, Mom, please. Its my first date with Rachel. If I cancel on her, she'll think I'm skipping because I don't like her, but I really do. I really like her." she pleaded. Maria sighed.

"Fine. But only because its the first date and you do seem to really like this girl. She's all you've talked about for weeks." she said. Santana grinned. "But, you have to apologize to your sisters and you have to bring Rachel in tonight. She's picking you up, right?" Santana nodded. "Then bring her in. I still don't think its fair that your father has already met her."

FLASHBACK

"Hey, Rachel, wait up!" Santana called out, running after the diva. The two had been casually flirting with one another for awhile and Santana was finally ready to ask the smaller brunette out on a date.

"What's up?" Rachel asked with a bright smile. Santana bit her lip as she shyly took the girl's hands in her own, pulling her off to the side.

"I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out on a date with me Saturday night? I know people generally go out on dates on Friday nights, but I have this thing with my family that I can't get out of." she said, leaning against the school building. Rachel blushed and nodded, stepping close to Santana.

"I would love to go out on a date with you Saturday night." Santana grinned.

"Awesome. That's... That's awesome. I can't wait." she said. Rachel giggled and nodded in agreement.

"You ready, San?" Santana looked over to see her father standing near them. "You said that you needed a ride home, right?" he asked. Santana nodded.

"Yea, thanks." she said, smiling. He looked at Rachel. "Rachel, this is my dad. Dad this is Rachel."

"Hi Dr. Lopez." the tiny brunette said with a smile.

"Please, call me Carlos." he said, smiling warmly. She nodded hesitantly.

"That may take awhile, I have to admit. My parents always taught me never to address adults by their first names." Carlos grinned.

"A lady with manners and respect. I like that. You don't see that in a lot of teenagers today." he said.

"I completely agree, sir. That's why I try to make sure mine are always on." the diva said, smiling up at Santana.

"Are you two..." he trailed off. Santana blushed.

"We're going out on a date Saturday." she explained. He nodded.

"Hopefully, I'll see you around. It was nice meeting you, Rachel." he said. The diva nodded enthusiastically.

"Likewise, I'll see you tomorrow, Santana." she said, smiling at the Latina before walking off to her own car.

END FLASHBACK

"My car wouldn't start that day and he was picking me up after Glee Club practice." Santana said with an exasperated sigh. Maria laughed.

"I still want to meet her." Santana nodded.

"Okay, that's fine." she agreed, getting out of her bed. "I'll brush my teeth and my hair and then I'll go find the little monsters."

"Sounds good." Santana smiled and nodded, walking toward her en suite bathroom.

"Hey little girls, what's cracking?" she teased, holding back a laugh as she noticed them sitting angrily on their beds.

"Go away." Isabel said. Santana raised an eyebrow, tightened her ponytail and adjusted her black-rimmed glasses. "You're mean."

"Aw, Is... Do you really think that about your big sister?" Santana asked, leaning against their doorframe.

"Yea. I don't need two sisters. I just need one." Isabel said. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Well guess what? No matter what, I'm always gonna be your big sister." she explained, smirking as Isabel and Marisol frowned. "So why don't you just go ahead and talk to me."

"You were mean to us. We just wanted some attention from you." Marisol said. Santana bit her lip.

"All you talk about is Rachel now." Isabel added on. Santana sat down on Marisol's bed.

"Is, come here." she said softly. The younger twin hopped over and immediately clung to her big sister as she hugged them. "I know that I've been a little... obsessive with my talking about Rachel lately. Its just, when you really like a person you want to talk about them to people."

"Do you talk about us to people?" Marisol asked, trying to dry the tear stains on Santana's t-shirt . Santana grinned.

"All the time." she said, hugging her baby sisters. They grinned. "Look, I'll make it up to you. Today, after I put some make up on, we'll go spend the entire day together. I'll even take you guys out to lunch at your favorite restaraunt, that pizza game arcade place." They cheered. "And afterward, you guys can help me get ready for my date with Rachel. I'll even let you guys be the ones to open the door when she comes to pick me up. How does that sound?"

"Good." they said, smiling.

"Awesome. I'll go get ready. You guys get ready." the teenager said, standing up and going into her room.

"Where are we going?" Marisol asked from the backseat. Santana grinned into the rearview mirror.

"I know how much you two love the mall." she said. They cheered. "Then you guys can choose what we do after lunch. You both have to agree though. We can go to the laser tag, bowling alley, arcade, and indoor mini-golf place or we can just go see a movie. It doesn't matter to me."

"Are we gonna get to watch you buy clothes?" Isabel asked. Santana laughed.

"If that's really what you two weirdos want to do." she said, pulling into the parking lot and finding a spot. "Come on, monsters. Let's get going." she said, opening up one of the back doors for her. "If we're shopping for me, then we're gonna buy me a new outfit for my date tonight."

"Are you gonna ask Rachel to be your girlfriend?" Isabel asked as they entered the mall and headed toward Santana's favorite store. The older Lopez sister smiled softly.

"That's sort of the plan, Is. You two stay close to me." she said. Marisol got a evil look in her eyes. "No. Marisol, don't."

"Catch me, Tana!" Santana groaned and ran after the devious twin. "Can't catch me, Tana!"

"You little brat." the teenager growled, reaching out and grabbing the six year old and swinging her around. "Don't do that again." she said, tickling the child. "Yea, not so happy that I caught you huh?"

"Does this one belong to you too?" Santana looked over, remembering Isabel.

"Thank you so mu... Hi." she said, suddenly shy. Rachel smiled shyly.

"Hey." she said, waving. Santana blushed, looking down. Marisol and Isabel shared a look before poking Santana in each of her legs.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Who's that?" Marisol asked.

"Yea who's that?" Isabel asked. Santana smiled.

"That's Rachel. Rachel, these are my six year old sisters, Isabel and Marisol." she said. Rachel smiled down at the twins.

"Tana really likes you."

"Really likes you." Isabel confirmed. Santana's eyes widened.

"Okay! That's enough of that. Why don't you two just... go sit on that bench." The girls scowled at their sister and walked away. "We're spending the day together."

"That's really sweet. I didn't know you had sisters." Rachel said.

"Not that many people do. I don't hide it, but they're so young that our paths don't really cross when I'm out with people." Santana said. Rachel nodded with a smile. "I'm really excited for our date tonight." the Latina whispered, stepping closer to Rachel with a smile on her face.

"So am I." the diva said, grabbing Santana's hand. "But... Go spend the day with your sisters. I'll pick you up at seven." Santana grinned.

"Sounds good. I'll see you tonight." she said. Rachel nodded with a blush.

"Tonight." she whispered, biting her lip shyly. Santana leaned in, kissed Rachel's cheek, and stepped away.

"Where'd they go?" she asked, looking for her sisters.

"Candy store." Rachel said, smiling as she walked away. Santana grinned and walked toward the candy store.

"Sup Q?" she asked, leaning against the counter. Quinn, who worked at the store, chuckled.

"The twins' energy level." Santana groaned, but smiled at her friend anyway. "You okay? You've got a goofy Finn smile and... Wait. This is about Rachel, isn't it?"

"Yep." Santana said, biting her lip.

"Big date tonight, right?" Santana nodded.

"I'm officially in love with that girl." she said. Quinn rolled her eyes.

"She's not even your girlfriend yet." she reminded the Latina. Santana nodded.

"I plan on fixing that tonight." she siad. Quinn grinned. "But... She met the twins and as soon as she heard that we're spending the day together, she immediately left, telling me to focus on my sisters."

"Damn. I know how important that is to you." the blonde said. Santana nodded. "I'm really happy for you, S."

"Thanks, Q." Santana said. Quinn smiled. "Okay. We've got shopping to do. Is, Mari, let's go."

"Bye Quinn!" they chanted. She smiled and waved.

"Bye!" she said. Santana waved. "Later, S."

"Later, Q."

"Wow, Marisol, that's a lot of food." Santana said as her tiny sister carefully made her way over to their table. They were in the kids room where the restaraunt had two large screens, one showing Disney Channel and one showing Nickelodeon, currently sitting in the Disney side.

"I can eat it all." Marisol promised.

"I'm not questioning that. I'm questioning whether or not you can keep it all down." Santana said, grabbing about half of what was on her sister's plate and splitting it between herself and Isabel.

"But Tana!" the girl protested. Santana smirked and took a bite of one of the pieces of pizza on her plate before sending her sister an air kiss. "You're mean!"

"That's what they tell me." Santana replied, drinking her water. "Hurry up and eat if you want to play games." They nodded and finished eating before leading their big sister to the huge arcade. "Something tells me we're not going to need to do anything else after this."

"How long can we stay?" Isabel asked, looking up at her sister. Santana smiled, looked at her phone, and crouched down to the younger twin.

"Its twelve thirty now. As long as we're home by five or five thirty, we'll be good. Okay?" she said, brushing some hair out of her sister's face.

"Okay! Let's go get tokens for games!" she said, rushing after her twin.

"Those children are fucking lucky we're rich." Santana muttered under her breath as she walked after her little sisters. "Okay look. I've got a set amount for each of you. Once you go over it, that's it. We're done. No arguments."

"Okay." they said. Santana smiled, bought three game cards with even amounts of money on them and allowed her sisters to pull her around the arcade.

"Okay, little ones, are you tired yet?" Santana asked as they pulled into their drive way later that evening. No response was heard, so she turned around to see the twins sleeping. "Oh darn. Now who am I going to get to help me get ready for my date with Rachel?" she wondered loudly. As if she said a magic word, both sets of eyes immediately opened.

"We can help! We can help!" Santana grinned and turned off the car before getting out and helping her sisters into the house. "Mommy, guess what?"

"I was wondering if you were ever going to come back. Its almost dinner." Maria said, walking into the hallway. "Did you have fun?"

"Yea! We got to meet Rachel!" Marisol said. Maria raised an eyebrow.

"Am I the only one in this family who hasn't met her?" she questioned. Santana rolled her eyes.

"We ran into her at the mall and they wanted to know who she was. It wasn't that big of a deal." she explained, going up to her room. "Monsters, are you coming? I's needs to be gettin' ready now!" The girls squealed and ran after their big sister. "Okay. Here's how this is gonna go down. I'm gonna give you options of what I'm thinking about wearing and you get to choose from those options. However, if your options clash and look completely awful together, I get to overule. Also, you get no say on shoes, make up, or jewelry. Sound good?" They nodded. "Awesome. Now, go downstairs and eat dinner while I take a shower."

"Okay!" they squealed, running downstairs and leaving Santana smiling to herself. Just as she was about to head to her shower, she heard her phone ringing and reached over.

Incoming Call

Rachel

Santana took a moment to smile before quickly answering the call. "Hello?"

"Hey!"

"Hey Rach. What's up?" the Latina asked, getting her shower stuff ready.

"I just wanted to make sure that we're still on for tonight before I began getting ready. I wans't sure if something came up and your parents needed you to babysit your sisters or anything like that."

"Rachel, Rachel, calm down. Its all good. We're still on for tonight. My parents have known about this since the day we made these plans. They know that tonight is not the night to suddenly need a babysitter." Santana said, chuckling at the adorableness that was Rachel Berry. She could hear a sigh of relief.

"Good."

"But, just so you know, my mom wants to meet you. She got jealous when she found out my dad and sisters had all met you and she hadn't." Santana warned. Rachel chuckled.

"That's quite all right."

"Awesome. I gotta go ready. Gotta look hot for my date, ya know?" Santana joked, laughing along with Rachel.

"I'll see you in a little bit."

"Bye." Santana said, smiling as she hung up the phone and headed to the shower.

"All right monsters. Before you I have set out two options for each category." Santana said in fake seriousness as she stood in front of her sisters in black Nike running shorts, a Cheerios t-shirt, and her black-rimmed glasses on her face. She'd put her contacts back in when she did her make up. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the perfect outfit for your incredibly gorgeous big sister to wear on her date. Just know that in case of a disagreement, I will be the final judge."

"Okay!" the twins said. Santana grinned.

"Okay. First up, jeans." she said, holding up a pair in each hand. Marisol and Isabel pointed at the same ones. "Easy enough. Jacket?" Again, the twins agreed on the same jacket. "Awesome. Now shirts-"

"I like the red one."

"I like the blue one." Santana sighed.

"I knew it was too good to be true. Okay, let me look." she said, holding the shirts out in front of her. "Mmm... Mari, I'm gonna have to go with the blue one tonight. I promise to wear the red one on my next date with Rachel, okay?"

"But what if there isn't one?" the girl innocently asked. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Trust me. If things go my way, which they usually do, there will be several more dates with Rachel." she promised. Marisol grinned and nodded. "Awesome. I'm gonna go get dressed real quick. Let me put on a movie for you guys." the older sister said, putting on some animated movie before heading into her bathroom. As soon as she was done, she went back out and did her make up and put on her jewlery before finding her favorite pair of boots and slipping them on. Just as she was putting on her lip gloss, she saw a pair of headlights through her window and looked toward her sisters. "You guys better hurry if you want to beat Mom to the door."

"Okay!" they said.

"Wait! Tell me how I look!" she said, causing them to turn around.

"Good." Santana grinned and leaned forward, playfully kissing both of her sister repeatedly.

"Tana, you're gonna make us miss her!" Isabel squealed.

"All right, go!" she said, releasing them. They immediately ran downstairs.

"Mommy don't open the door! Tana promised that we could open the door for Rachel!"

"Okay, okay!" Maria said, holding her hands up in surrender, though she remained behind her youngest daughters in the case that it wasn't Rachel at the door.

"Rachel!" Isabel squealed. A small brunette smiled brightly.

"Hey!" she said, hugging the twins.

"Hello, Rachel. I'm Santana's mother." Maria said kindly, smiling at the girl. Rachel immediately stood up.

"Hi Mrs. Lopez. I'm Rachel Berry."

"Please call me Maria." Rachel smiled.

"It may take me awhile, simply because of how I was raised." she explained. Maria smiled.

"Well, I would never ask you to go against what your parents taught you."

"I would." Carlos said, entering the hallway.

"Nice to see you again, Dr. Lopez." Rachel said, smiling.

"Rachel..."

"Carlos, leave her alone. She's being polite and she's following what her parents taught her, which is a good thing." Maria scolded. Carlos grinned.

"Eventually, she'll crack." he said mischieviously. Rachel laughed along with the adults. "Girls, go get your sister."

"I'm already here." Everyone looked over to see Santana standing behind them. "Hey Rach." she said with a big smile.

"You look amazing, Santana." Rachel said, smiling.

"You do too. Ready to go?"

"Of course. It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Lopez, and great to see you again, Dr. Lopez. I promise to work on it." she said. The adults smiled. "I'll see you two later as well, okay?" she said to the twins.

"You're gonna come back, right?" Isabel asked.

"Of course." she promised before being pulled out of the house by Santana.

"So tell me all about your sisters." Rachel said as they waited for their food at Breadstix. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"I thought tonight was about us." she said carefully. Rachel smiled.

"It is. It is. I just... This part of your life is new to me. Its only natural that I have questions." she said. Santana smiled.

"You are Rachel Berry. Okay... Well, they're six. Marisol, the oldest, she's more outgoing than Isabel. They care a lot about each other though. Basically, they're my world. I honestly do not know what I would do without them." she said.

"That's really sweet. I can tell you care a lot about them." Rachel said softly. Santana nodded, sipping her water. "I wish I had siblings. I mean, technically I have Beth, but well... I don't really keep in contact with Shelby."

"Yea, how did you handle that whole having her work at McKinley thing?" Santana asked gently. Rachel shrugged.

"It was difficult at first, but I got to the point where I could just ignore her." she said. Santana nodded.

"I always thought what she did was really bitchy. You didn't deserve that." she said softly. Rachel smiled and grabbed Santana's hand. "You wanted to hear about the twins, though, right?"

"Definitely." Rachel said, shooting her a grateful smile. They continued to talk as they ate their meals, happily enjoying each other's company. "This has been really fun, Santana." Rachel said, smiling softly.

"I agree... We should do this again... And again... And again." Santana said with a playful smile as she signed the receipt. Rachel blushed and looked away. "I'm... What I'm trying to say is will you be my girlfriend?" Rachel looked back over at the Latina.

"Of course." she said as they stood up. Santana grinned and kissed the diva.

"Let's get out of here, okay?" she whispered. Rachel smiled and nodded, allowing her girlfriend to pull her out of the restaraunt and lead her to her car. "So what's next? Movie?"

"We could just go for a walk." Rachel suggested. Santana smiled softly.

"Sounds great." she said, redirecting their path to take them to the park that was right next to Breadstix. "So... You've got me all alone in a dark park, Berry. Now's your chance to do whatever you want." she teased. Rachel rolled her eyes and grabbed Santana's hand. "Wow... You're pretty tame, aren't you?"

"Shut up. I just want to be alone with you."

"I can respect that. Just know that you can kiss me if you want." Santana teased, leaning in close. Suddenly, Rachel whipped around and kissed the Latina.

"I can, can I?" she asked softly. Santana nodded slowly. "Good to know."

"I had an amazing time tonight." Santana said as they walked up to her house. Rachel smiled up at her girlfriend and nodded her agreement.

"So did I." she said, leaning into the Latina. Santana smiled softly and kissed the diva. "You better get inside. I'll be amazed if your parents were able to get those two to bed." Santana looked over to see two small figures peering out of the window.

"If those two want any chance of hearing anything about tonight or even their nightly story from their big sister, they better be in bed when I get up there." she said loudly, smirking as the figures instantly ran away. "That's what I thought." she muttered triumphantly. Rachel giggled.

"I'll call you tomorrow?" Santana nodded, smiling softly.

"Sounds great." she whispered, kissing her girlfriend sweetly. "I can't wait to announce our relationship in Glee on Monday."

"Neither can I. I should go though. My, uh... My dads are probably waiting." Rachel said awkwardly, smiling as she walked toward her car. Santana smiled, walked into her house, said goodnight to her parents, and walked upstairs.

"I can think of two little monsters who better be in their beds in about five seconds." she announced loudly before poking her head into their bedroom to see her sisters under their covers. "Oh good. You're still up." she said, faking surprise.

"Did you ask her?" Marisol asked. Santana raised an eyebrow, picked Isabel up out of her bed and sat down on Marisol's bed, holding both twins in her lap.

"Yes, I asked Rachel to be my girlfriend." Santana answered. The twins looked at her expectantly. "What?"

"Well?" Isabel asked.

"Well what?" Santana teased. Both girls sighed.

"What'd she say?" Santana smiled.

"Oh, you want to know what she said. Well, I didn't know that. All you asked was if I asked her." she said. They rolled their eyes. "She said yes, monsters." she whispered in their ears.

"Yay!" they squealed. Maria poked her head in.

"Santana, you got them even more riled up!" Santana smiled sheepishly at her mother.

"Sorry." she apologized.

"Rachel is Tana's girlfriend!" Isabel announced. Maria smiled.

"Good job, mija. Now you two, get to bed." she said, looking at the twins. Santana smiled and grabbed the book she'd been reading them.

"I'll read one chapter, okay? Then you really do have to go to bed, because its getting really late."

Santana smiled as she rang her girlfriend's doorbell. "Hey Rach!"

"Santana, what are you doing here?" Rachel asked, peering back into her house nervously. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"Rachel, what's going on?" she asked, immediately suspicious. Rachel shook her head.

"Nothing. You just... You should go home."

"Why?" Santana asked, hurt. Rachel shrugged. "Rachel, I came to meet your dads. Are they home?"

"No." Rachel whispered.

"Oh... okay... I'll come back then?"

"You can't! They're never here." Rachel yelled, pulling her girlfriend into her house before crying. "They left when I was twelve. I've been raising myself!"

"Wait, what? But you always talk about your dads." Santana said, completely confused.

"Its all an act. I hate my dads for leaving me like this. Your house... Your house is a home. Mine is just a temporary living space until I leave Lima." Rachel whispered, biting her lip. Santana pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Rachel." she whispered, rubbing her back in a comforting manner. "I'm so sorry."

"Do you know what it feels like to have not one, but three parents abandon you?" Rachel asked. Santana shook her head. "Its sucks. I try so hard and I get involved in so many things not only to take my mind off of the pain, but so that one day when I'm famous and successful they'll have to look at all the pictures of me plastered in the magazines that they put in the checkout lines in grocery stores or see advertisements for my latest movie or whatever wherever they go. I want it to hurt them. I mean, yes its always been my dream, even when they were here, but now it will just be a bonus to the fact that I will get to silently rub it in their faces that I still made it without them. Is that awful?" the diva asked.

"No. Its a completely relevant and realistic reaction. I understand exactly where you're coming from with this, Rachel. You're hurt and angry and confused. I promise that I will help you get through this, okay? I promise." the Latina whispered. Rachel nodded, holding onto her girlfriend. "I promise." she whispered.

"Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother, you're staying alive, staying alive." Rachel sang as she walked up behind her girlfriend, hugging the Latina from behind.

"I'm not a brother." Santana said, chuckling as she turned around in her girlfriend's arms.

"But you are a mother." Rachel whispered. Santana smiled at the thought of her three and a half year old son, Matthew. She had him right before she moved to Lima and even though she was in Glee and on the Cheerios, that boy was truly the best part of her day.

"Speaking of which, he's coming to glee today." Santana said. Rachel smiled. "My mom has to work late, so she's dropping him off soon."

"You know I love Matty. And he's gonna be so proud of his mom." Rachel said, kissing Santana.

"Mommy!" Santana grinned as she looked up to see her mom walking toward the pair while carrying an excited Matthew.

"Hi baby." she said, taking the small boy into her arms and hugging him. "Thanks, Mom."

"I'm sorry I can't watch him." Mrs. Lopez said. Santana chuckled.

"Mom, its fine. Really, it is." she said, kissing her son's head. Matthew grabbed his mother's face and kissed her cheek. "Thank you baby."

"I have to go. See you tonight." Mrs. Lopez said, hurrying off. Matthew waved at his grandmother before looking at his mom.

"Matthew, say hi to Rachel." Santana said softly. The boy looked over at the diva and smiled.

"Rachie!" he squealed, reaching out for the diva, who happily took him.

"Hi Matthew." she said, hugging the boy.

"Rae, let's get him to the choir room." Santana suggested. Rachel nodded and the three walked to the choir room. "Hey Matt, want to see something?" Santana asked, taking him back in her arms. The boy nodded quickly and she walked over to where the suits from disco week were. "See that white suit?"

"Yea."

"Mommy won that." she whispered in his ear. He gaped up at her.

"How?" sh

"By singing baby." she said, tickling him. He giggled furiously. "You gonna be a singer like Mommy someday?" she asked.

"Yea!" Santana grinned and went to sit down. "Rachie, guess what?"

"What?" the diva asked, smiling up at the boy.

"I'm gonna sing like Mommy." he said proudly. She grinned and hugged the boy.

"You're gonna be so talented, Matty." she whispered to him. He grinned. "Now-"

"Aaaah!" Santana yelled, waking up from her nightmare. She glanced at her clock to see that it was close to twelve thirty. "Screw it." she whispered, grabbing her phone.

Calling

Rachel

"Hello?" a groggy voice said.

"Rach?"

"San?"

"Hey, sorry to wake you up so late." she apologized.

"Its okay. You must have a good reason for just calling me up at at twelve thirty."

"I do... I had a nightmare. I haven't had one of those in years." she whispered.

"Oh San... Are you okay?"

"I guess." she said.

"What was it about?"

"I had a son. We were still in high school and I had a son." she whispered. Rachel gasped.

"It was just a dream, sweetheart."

"I know... I'm sorry to wake you up."

"Never apologize fo needing me." Rachel said. Santana smiled.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." she said.

"Good night."

"Did you get any more sleep?" Rachel asked. They hadn't seen each other all day and Rachel had been worried about her girlfriend.

"Yea, I got some sleep. Finally." Santana said, hugging her girlfriend tightly. "Thanks for being there for me last night."

"Of course. That's my job." Rachel said, kissing the Latina. As soon as rehearsal started, Rachel pulled Santana up to the front of the room. "Santana and I have an announcement to make. We are officially dating."

"Finally!" Quinn said, clapping and cheering along with everyone else. Santana and Rachel grinned.

"We are so glad that you all support us." Rachel said, hugging her girlfriend.

"Seriously, guys. It means a lot to us." Santana agreed, smiling at their friends.

"We're just glad that you guys finally decided to make it official. We were tired of having to pretend that nothing was going on between you two." Kurt admitted. Mercedes nodded her agreement.

"You two were really bad at keeping your own secret." she admitted. Santana chuckled.

"What can I say? I wants my mack when I wants it." she teased, kissing Rachel's cheek playfully.

"Santana, stop that. We have to rehearse now." Rachel scolded, sitting back down.

"Of course, babe." Santana said, following her girlfriend's actions.

Rachel turned around as she heard her name being called and saw her girlfriend rolling up to her. "Hi..." she said carefully, not sure if Santana would be in a good mood or not.

"Sup gorgeous? From this angle, you look really tall." Santana teased. Rachel let out a breathy laugh. "Hop on, I want to talk." the Latina said, wheeling off when Rachel was in her lap.

"Where are we going?"

"Where do all the gleeks go when they need a heart to heart? We're going to the choir room." Santana said, entering the room.

"Heart to heart? What about?"

"We haven't really talked since my accident. Not about anything important." Santana said. Rachel bit her lip. "This isn't forever, Rachel. I'm going to walk again."

"But what if you don't? It doesn't matter to me, I'll love you no matter what, but I know how much it matters to you." the diva whispered. Santana sighed.

"The doctor said it wasn't permanent. He said I'd be walking by Nationals. I will be dancing with you on the stage." she promised.

"But what if-"

"Enough with the what ifs! I believe I will. Why can't you?" Rachel looked away.

"Artie and I, we were friends when we were younger. After his accident, he was so sure he would walk again. I believed he would too. But he never did. Seeing him so upset broke my heart. That, combined with the disappointment I felt because my own dreams were trashed, nearly broke me. I couldn't handle seeing his heart break, so I stopped hanging out with him a much until I was practically alienating myself from him. I felt terrible, all I did was write a note explaining why I couldn't be friends with him anymore. I do not want you to go through that type of pain, Santana." she said. Santana bit her lip.

"I... Rach, I didn't know that you and Artie were friends." she whispered, not knowing what else to say. "I'm so sorry."

"I was so scared when I heard that you were going to be in a wheelchair, because I know how much your freedom and cheerleading matter to you." Rachel said. Santana nodded. "I'm so glad that Artie and I are reconnecting, but I don't want you to go through what he did."

...

"Abrams!" Santana called out, wheeling up to Artie. "How come you never told me that you and my girl used to be friends?"

"I wasn't aware it mattered." he said. Santana glared. "Yea, Rach and I were friends. And we're starting to reconnect again. What does it matter?"

"She's been freaking out ever since my accident and now I know why." Santana said. Artie nodded. "Can you talk to her? I've been working on walking... Just... Just keep her sane until I'm ready, okay?"

...

"Artie, I'm glad that you want to sing a duet together, but-"

"No buts. I already asked Santana if it would interfere with her physical therapy and she said it was cool." Artie said. Rachel sighed.

"Okay." she said.

...

"Go get Rachel. Now." Santana said.

"I'm here. What's wrong?" the diva asked, standing in front of her girlfriend.

"I am so tired of you being taller than me." Santana said, using the piano to pull herself up before holding onto her girlfriend. "I'm working on it, Rae. I told you, I'm going to walk again. I need you to help me. Help me take my first steps."

"Santana." Rachel whispered. The Latina smiled through her tears as Rachel helped her walk. "You're walking."

"I'm walking." Santana whispered.

...

"So... Do you miss having to lean up to kiss me?" Santana said. Rachel nodded without turning around.

"I actually do, to be honest." she said, knowing that things were getting better with Santana's progress.

"Have no fear, tall... ish Santana is here!" the Latina teased, turning the diva around.

"God, you're walking by yourself!" Rachel squealed, kissing her girlfriend. Santana laughed and hugged Rachel. "By the way, you're such a dork." she teased. Santana shrugged.

"I've decided to just embrace it." she said, grabbing Rachel's hand. "Let me walk you to class."

"Please do." Rachel said, kissing the Latina before walking off.

"Aaaaah! Why does this keep happening to me?" Santana yelled, sighing in frustration before picking up her phone.

Calling

Rachel

"Hello?"

"Hey, I'm sorry." Santana whispered.

"I told you. Don't be sorry. What was it this time?"

"I was temporarily paralyzed and then I started walking again." Santana explained.

"At least that has a positive spin on it." Rachel said, trying to be optimistic. Santana sighed as her bedroom door opened to see the twins standing there together. Raising an eyebrow, Santana waved them in.

"Yea... I'm gonna try to get back to sleep. See you tomorrow. Thanks for this."

"Of course, baby. I hope it gets better." Rachel said, hanging up.

"What are you two doing up?" Santana asked as the twins climbed into her bed.

"We heard you scream. We wanted to make sure that you were okay." Marisol explained. Santana felt her heart melt.

"I'm okay, monsters. Thank you for checking on me though. It really means a lot to me." she said, hugging them close.

"Can we sleep in here tonight?" Isabel asked. Santana nodded.

"This weekend, if Rachel is free, we're gonna all spend the day together." she promised them before falling asleep.

"Santana?"

"Just a sec." the Latina called out, putting the bar back in it's spot and sitting up. "Hey." she said, smiling as her girlfriend fully entered the Cheerios weight room.

"Hi." Rachel said, walking over to the cheerleader. "For some reason, I find your gray Cheerios t-shirt and black shorts to be incredibly sexy." the diva said, kissing Santana.

"It's cause I'm Santana Lopez and can make anything look good." the Latina said, taking in her girlfriend's jeans, tank top, and flip flops. "Why are you in McKinley wearing something other than your school outfit?"

"Because it's seven thirty. I'm almost positive nobody else is here anymore." Rachel said. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"It's that late?" Rachel nodded. "I'm going to be so sore tomorrow."

"Luckily, its Friday and you have the weekend off." her girlfriend assured her. Santana smiled gratefully.

"How did you know where to find me?"

"Your mom called and asked if I knew where you were and then Brittany told me you were here." Rachel explained. Santana nodded. "Why are you still here?" the diva asked. Santana shrugged.

"Wanted to work out. Get rid of some anger." she said, smiling sheepishly up at Rachel. The diva wrapped her arms around her still-sitting girlfriend's shoulders and kissed her sweaty temple.

"Aw… poor baby. Does Sanny want to talk to Rachie about it?" she teased halfheartedly. Santana glared up at her girlfriend playfully and nodded.

"Sue told me that if I didn't lose enough weight, I'd be back down at the bottom of the pyramid. As a senior. As head cheerleader. Do you know how embarrassing that would be?" Santana asked. Rachel growled.

"You don't need to lose any weight." she said. Santana shrugged.

"Sue says I do."

"Well, I say you don't." Rachel said, sitting on her girlfriend's lap. Santana smiled softly. They'd been together a week and Santana was officially the happiest she'd ever been. "You're perfect."

"Thank you." Santana whispered.

"Tell me the other reason you're in here." Rachel prodded gently. Santana sighed.

"Its just... I keep thinking about how your dads could abandon someone like you and it just makes me so fucking angry! Like, you're so amazing, yet the will never know that because they couldn't stick around long enough to find out. The only productive way to get rid of that anger was to lift weights. I… I think that may be where my weird dreams have been coming from. My anger toward your fathers." she explained. Rachel smiled softly. "But enough talking." the Latina said, kissing her girlfriend softly before moving to lay on her on the bench. "You're so fucking perfect." she breathed against her girlfriend's lips.

"So are you." Rachel whispered, kissing back. Santana smiled softly. "Wait. I want to let you finish." she said, pushing Santana away and moving to sit down.

"Do not sit there!" Santana yelled. Rachel jumped away from the bench.

"Why not?"

"Karofsky got staph from that bench. Nobody uses it anymore." she explained. Rachel made a repulsed face. 'I'm done. We can go."

"If you insist." Rachel said, leading the way out of the weight room.

"Why is Rachel talking to Jesse?" Quinn asked. Santana looked up from her phone and raised an eyebrow.

"No idea whatsoever. But I'm gonna find out."

"San, be nice to him."

"I'm always nice." she called out over her shoulder, walking over to her girlfriend. "Is everything okay?" she asked, looking at Rachel, who smiled up.

"Everything is perfect." Santana smiled back at her girlfriend. "Jesse, you remember Santana, right?"

"She's pretty hard to forget, especially when she's physically harmed you."

"Don't mess with Rachel and we wouldn't have had an issue." Santana said, accenting it with a shrug. Rachel gave an amused smile before walking off. "What's your angle?"

"Angle?" Jesse repeated. Santana nodded.

"Are you trying to get her back?" she asked. He shook his head.

"That's not it at all. I see how happy she is just from the way she was talking about you earlier." he said. She nodded warily. "Congratulations... Just take care of her, okay?"

"I will." she promised, walking off to find her girlfriend.

"Is everything good?" Rachel asked, wrapping her arms around Santana's waist.

"Everything's great. Come on, we have a date with a couple of twins." she said, leading the way to her car.

A/N:... I have no explanation for how long this one turned out exept for the fact that for the first time in a very long time I had an extended amount of time to be able to write freely. This chapter took many turns that I was not expecting and did not have in mind when initially writing this, but I think it turned out pretty well. I had a freakishly long debate (probably longer than necessary) about whether or not to put this as a chpater in Together Forever, but instead decided to make it a separate one-shot in the off chance that I do decided to write a sequel. Just keep in mind that if you get one sequel it will be very long, but if you get more than one, they will be shorter. You'll be able to tell by the length of the next chapter, should there be one, but you never know. Even if I write a long second chapter, I may end up writing a third. It is summer break, after all!