Hi everyone! Hope you like this story! I'm always looking forward to hearing from you...

- Claudia

Present Day

Santana looked around her bedroom filled with pictures of her family and couldn't help but get teary. The party noises filtered from downstairs through the closed door and Santana smiled, reassured that everyone was having a good time. She walked to her side of the closet and standing on a small stepstool, reached to the back of the topmost shelf to retrieve a small wooden box with B&S engraved on the top. She ghosted her fingers over the engraving, noting the dust that had gathered on it. She hadn't looked at it in years, but she got a strong urge to do it and she couldn't resist. She carried it gently to the bed and placed it on her lap. After taking a deep breath, gearing for what she'd see, she opened the latch and let the lid fall back. A smile crossed her lips at the memories staring back at her. With trembling fingers, she went over the various items in the box, pictures, clippings, letters, jewelry, movie stubs, and other paraphernalia that she saved over the years. Each item on this box held a memory. Some were happy, some sad and some heartbreaking. She focused on a picture at the very bottom of the box. She held it up and could barely recognize the nervous girl smiling back at her wearing a demure dress and a blue backpack. She turned the picture over and read the caption in her mom's neat handwriting: "Tanita's first day at McKinley High". It took a while to conjure up that day in her mind, because it seemed like a lifetime ago…

Freshman year

Santana changes for the third time that morning, and walks expectantly into the living room, where Abuela is waiting. Santana wrings her wrists and straightens her dress, as Abuela puts down her coffee mug and looks her over.

"Is this one better?" Abuela takes a minute to look at Santana, and the small Latina is practically jumping in place. Abuela finally smiles and claps.

"That's the one, Santana, perfect!" Santana lets out a happy squeal and runs over to hug her Abuela. Alma holds her and kisses her head. "You'll be great today, Tanita, don't worry."

"Thanks for sleeping over last night, Abuela. I was super nervous!" Alma smiles as she remembers her granddaughter's call the day before.

"Abuelaaaaaaaaaaa pleaaaaaaaase can you come over?" Alma immediately straightens up, thinking something is wrong.

"What happened Santana? Todo bien?"

"Sí Abuela, sólo que… I'm starting high school tomorrow and I'm freaking out… I need oatmeal cookies." Alma smiles at Santana's small voice and sighs.

"Ok Tanita, I'm on my way. Put your mamá on the phone, please." Alma hears Santana yell "MOOOOM" and laughs. Maribel then picks up the phone.

"Sorry mamá, I told Santana that I would make the cookies this time, but she insisted they don't taste the same…"

"It's ok mija, I'm on my way, can you pick up everything at the store for me?"

"Sure mamá, see you soon!"

Alma had rushed over and made Santana the oatmeal cookies she liked so much, and they had talked and talked all afternoon. Santana insisted on hearing Alma's experience on her first day of high school, and Alma was quick to tell her that high school experiences were different here in the States, but told her the story anyway: How she had met the nicest boy that first day, and he later turned out to be her first husband. Santana was starry eyed, wondering if that would happen to her, too.

Santana lets go of her grandmother and rushes to the kitchen, where Maribel is already eating breakfast. Santana sits down and Maribel pushes a plate of toast her way.

"Eat up, Santana. You need your energy today." Santana reluctantly grabs a piece of toast and drinks some juice. Maribel looks up at the clock and stands up. "Ok mija, get your backpack and come back so I can take a quick picture, and then hurry or you'll miss the bus." Santana rolls her eyes at her mom, but smiles for the picture anyway.

Santana says goodbye to her mom and abuela at the door, before walking to the bus stop two blocks down. She feels nervous about starting at a new school, not sure how she'll like the people she met at orientation. She also wonders how soon she can try out for the Varsity Cheerios, because her coach at JV told her she had a good chance. She has heard so many scary stories about Coach Sylvester, but she hopes she can get on her good side.

The bus is thankfully half full, so she can have a seat all to herself. Abuela always said that she needs to be confident and strong, more so than others, so she hopes she can project that image, even though she feels like fainting as the imposing McKinley High building comes into view. She has her schedule memorized so she won't appear to be just some lost freshman, so she furtively glances at the classroom doors trying to find her first class: Spanish. She thought it was a waste of time to take that class since, hello, she's been speaking it at home since she was one! But mom insisted, so here she is. She takes a seat in the right corner of the last row, to get a good view of the rest of the class. Almost everyone looks as nervous as Santana feels, though some come in in groups, chatting. There are these two guys, one who is taller than a lamppost and the other who looks like a skunk is sitting on his head, who come in talking and making jokes and sit in front of Santana. Skunk Head Guy looks Santana over and nods in her direction. She just nods back and looks away. Typical bad boy attitude, I know your type, dude. She looks around as the class starts filling up, there's a four-eyed guy in a wheelchair with these weird gloves who takes the seat in the front of the class, and some pig-tails girl who comes in carrying what looks like 4 different dictionaries. A burly dude sits next to Santana and just half smiles at her. She decides to ignore him. When the bell rings, the teacher walks in. He writes his name on the board "Mr. Shuester" and turns around with the widest shit-eating grin Santana has ever seen and a ridiculous vest. When he says "Buenos días, clase!" Santana immediately knows this guy's going to be unbearable. She rolls her eyes and sits back, ready to hate everything that comes out of his mouth.

The rest of the day goes by without much incident. Santana is used to people watching, so she spends most of her lessons that day gauging her fellow freshmen and talking to those who seem interesting. She finally learns that Skunk Head Guy is called Puck, and Lamppost Dude's name is Finn. After lunch, she spots a sign-up sheet for Cheerios and immediately walks over to put her name down, but sees that there's a line. She stands in line behind a blonde girl, who turns around suddenly. Santana gets a flash of hazel eyes and is momentarily speechless.

"Hi, do you have a pen? I left mine in my locker." The blonde smiles.

"Y-yeah, sure, here you go." Santana hands over the pen and the blonde smiles as she turns to write her name.

"Thanks, see you around!" Before Santana can say anything else, the blonde is gone. Shaking her head a little, Santana moves forward to write her name on the sign-up sheet, noting that the blonde's name is Quinn.

When she gets back home, Alma is still there, watching her telenovelas. Santana comes right in and gives her a kiss, sitting impatiently next to her, knowing full well that she's not allowed to talk until there's a commercial break. When a man starts talking about the wonders of a certain shaving cream, Alma mutes the TV and turns around to give Santana her full attention.

"So, tell me, Tanita. How was your first day?" Santana takes a deep breath and launches into a lightning-speed summary.

"It was fine, I got to meet some people, my Spanish teacher is a dud, I didn't get lost, thankfully and I signed up for Cheerios!"

"That's nice! Is that like the cheerleading team you were in?"

"Yes, but this is on another level, they are super competitive and go to championships and stuff. Try outs are this Friday and I'm really nervous, abuela." Alma pats Santana on the knee.

"You'll be fine, niña, don't worry. Now, go upstairs, freshen up, and when my novela is over, we can have some more oatmeal cookies, how's that?" Santana smiles and rushes up to her room to drop her school bag. She thankfully doesn't have any homework, but she wants to start reading up on the books they gave her, so she doesn't fall behind. She hates studying and doing homework, but mostly, she hates looking stupid, so she's not going to let that happen.

After eating what felt like a million cookies, Alma kisses her granddaughter goodbye and leaves. Santana settles in front of the TV, where she falls asleep. When Maribel comes home later that night, she wakes Santana up for dinner and Santana retells her first day experience.

The next day, when she walks into English class, she spots the blonde from yesterday sitting in the middle of the room. The blonde girl turns and smiles at Santana, motioning her to sit in the empty spot next to her. Santana walks over and takes a seat. The blonde girl looks at her and flashes a pageant smile her way.

"Hi, I'm Quinn Fabray." Santana shakes Quinn's hand and smiles back.

"Santana Lopez, hi." Quinn crosses her legs as she eyes Santana.

"So, I saw you signed up for the Cheerios, too. Were you in a cheerleading squad in middle school?" Santana relaxes a bit. Talking about cheerleading is something she can do.

"Yeah, and I was in the JV squad, but I hear the Cheerios are in a whole other league." Quinn nods wisely.

"Oh yes, I hear Coach Sylvester makes them practice pretty much every day. It's a big deal being a Cheerio, you know…"

Santana suddenly feels a knot in her stomach. "I hope I get in, then…"

Quinn sighs. "Me too. Are you practicing for tryouts?"

"Not really, why, should I?" There's a touch of panic in Santana's tone, but Quinn just shakes her head, reassuringly.

"I don't think so, I mean, you already know routines, right? So that should be fine." Santana relaxes. As the bell rings, the girls get their things ready for class. Santana now breathes easier knowing she probably just made a new friend.

Santana and Quinn spend the rest of the week getting to know each other, gearing up for Cheerios tryouts and what it would mean to them to get in. Finally, the bell rings for their last class on Friday, and the two girls meet in the hallway to walk together over to the football field for tryouts. Walking in, they see that the entire Cheerios squad is there, practicing on one end of the field. On the other, a group of girls sits together on the bleachers under a sign that says "Tryouts". The girls walk over to the group of girls just as they hear a whistle blowing and a voice thundering from a megaphone.

"ALL RIGHT HOPEFULS! Fall out in rows of 5!" Coach Sylvester is striding over from the other side of the field. The group of girls quickly gets into rows of 5, Santana and Quinn making sure they are in the first row, front and center. Santana takes a quick look behind her and notes that there are between 20 to 30 girls here, freshmen, sophomores and even some juniors. She takes a deep breath and looks straight ahead to calm her nerves. Coach Sylvester is followed by a mean looking Cheerio and a woman in a tracksuit with a clipboard.

"This is Brandy, Head Cheerio, and this is Two. That's all you need to know about the one with the clipboard, she'll be tracking your performance today. We will decide which ones of you have what it takes to be a Cheerio." Coach Sylvester walks between the rows of girls with her megaphone in tow, while Head Cheerio Brandy just smirks, and Two starts taking notes furiously.

"This is a two-part process, FIRST, you will be tested on your athletic abilities, THEN you will be given a routine to perform, where we will see your cheering abilities."

Coach Sylvester and Head Cheerio Brandy sit behind a table in midfield while Two stands behind the girls. Coach Sylvester blows her whistle, and tryouts start.

It's more brutal than Santana had imagined. They make them run, squat, jump and tumble. After each rep, Coach Sylvester cuts one or two people, so only half of the original group make it to the second part of tryouts: The routine. Santana is so focused on doing well, she only registers that Quinn is still there, which gives her some reassurance. At least she's not in this alone. She has no time to check on the rest of the girls there, because they are constantly moving and doing reps. After an hour, sweaty and aching all over, the last 10 girls are finally given a break to drink some water while Coach Sylvester, Head Cheerio Brandy and Two get together to deliberate.

Quinn downs half her water bottle. "Jeez, I feel like I'm dying."

Santana splashes some water on her face. "I know what you mean; I just hope real practice isn't as grueling as this."

"I have a nagging feeling it's gonna be worse… But hey, it's all worth it right? To be a Cheerio?" Santana nods her agreement, because she can't talk or she'll vomit. She puts her hands on her knees and lets her head drop, trying to catch her breath. After 5 minutes, Coach Sylvester blows her whistle and the girls immediately stand to attention.

"All right, everyone, make one single line by the bleachers. If I call your name, come up here." The girls rush to form a line, Santana is on one end of the line, while Quinn is somewhere in the middle of the line. Santana feels her stomach churning. Relax Lopez, you nailed it, you know you did.

Coach Sylvester stands in front of them, glaring. She points somewhere to the other end of the line and calls out on her megaphone. "Generic Blonde Number 5, here." She points down the middle. "Generic Blonde Number 3, here." With a jolt, Santana sees it's Quinn. Coach Sylvester looks over to where Santana is, and then she points straight at her. Santana's heart stops for a second. "Charo, here." For a second, she wants to correct Coach Sylvester and tell her that's not her name, but she stops herself and walks over to the front, next to Quinn and a taller blonde, who Santana notices for the first time.

"The rest of you get out of my practice!" Coach Sylvester hands her megaphone over to Two, and looks over the three girls.

"Congratulations girls on making the team. Now if you thought that was hard, you have no idea what's in store for you." Coach Sylvester smiles her half smirk and motions Head Cheerio Brandy over. "Brandy here will get you your uniforms after practice and go over the schedules with you. Just so you know, you WILL be required to attend practice one full hour before the rest of the squad because you need to get up to speed. Now we're going to go over to the rest of the squad to start your real practice. Let's go." And with that, Coach Sylvester leads the girls over to the rest of the squad. The three girls fall silently behind her, scared to talk. Head Cheerio Brandy leans over to the girls and whispers:

"Welcome, bitches! Hope you can keep up." And then she goes to join the rest of the team. Coach Sylvester presents them as "the newbies" and grabs the megaphone back from Two to make the Cheerios pair up for stretching exercises.

"Ok, Tall Generic Blonde, Charo, together. Regular Generic Blonde, Black Katy Perry, together…" She goes on pairing Cheerios, as Santana turns to the tall blonde. She notices bright blue eyes sparkling as the tall blonde smiles at her.

"Hi, I'm Brittany." Her smile is so genuine, Santana is speechless.

"Santana." The Latina smiles, as they start to stretch.

Santana can't help but stare at Brittany throughout practice. She just makes things look… effortless. Whenever Brittany catches Santana looking, she smiles at the Latina, completely unconcerned by her staring. During their water break, Brittany goes over to Santana to talk, and Santana introduces her to Quinn. The three girls immediately hit it off, talking and laughing.

When practice is over, HC Brandy takes the girls to the Cheerios' HQ and hands them their uniforms and practice schedules.

"Cheerios always wear high ponytails and clean uniforms, if Sue ever sees you with dirt on your uniform she'll cut you from the team. Make sure to brand everything with your name so you don't misplace it. At every practice you drop off your uniform here to get it dry cleaned and you pick it up before next practice. That's why you get three sets. Here's your official Cheerios swag bag, everything here is mandatory for you to wear because it comes from our boosters. Questions?" The three girls look at each other dumbstruck and back at HC Brandy and shake their heads. HC Brandy smiles. "Good. See you on Monday!" And with that, she walks away, leaving the girls to sort through all the new stuff they have. They chat excitedly as they go through their new backpacks, sneakers, uniforms and even socks. Brittany then pouts.

"How are we supposed to brand these? I don't want to burn them…"

Santana shakes her head and chuckles. "You won't have to, Brittany, I think she meant just sew our initials on them or something like that." Brittany looks dismayed. "You can probably ask your mom to sew them if you don't know how to."

"I think it's best to put labels on them, actually. Makes it look neater, don't you think?" Quinn chimes in, smoothing the fabric of her uniform.

Brittany shrugs. "I guess. Whatever is easier."

Santana notices Brittany's tone and leans over to whisper. "If you want, I can help sew them in for you, Brittany." Brittany turns to her, smiles and nods.

Quinn's phone then rings, she moves away to answer it.

"Thank you for that, I just don't think my mom knows how to sew."

Santana shrugs. "No problem, Brittany, I can help you."

"Great!" The girls smile at each other, as Quinn walks back over.

"That was my mom, she's waiting for me outside. Either of you girls need a ride?"

The two girls shake their heads. Quinn shrugs and waves at them as she walks out of the changing room.

Brittany turns to Santana, as she puts all her things away. "So which way are you going?"

"Oh, my mom is supposed to pick me up after work, I thought this would take longer, so now I have to wait til 7." Santana puts her bag aside and sits down, playing with her new Cheerios water bottle. Brittany zips her bag up and sits beside Santana.

"Ok, so I'll wait with you…"

Santana shakes her head in protest. "No, really, you don't have to."

Brittany shrugs. "It's no big deal. I rode my bike over, so I can leave at any time. I'll just tell my mom I'll be a little late." Without waiting for a response, Brittany fishes out her phone and starts typing. She then turns to Santana, a triumphant smile on her face. "Done!"

Santana can't believe the blonde girl. She looks down and smiles, genuinely touched. "Thanks…"

The next hour flies by, as the girls sit cross-legged on the floor, a sewing kit between them, and an intent look on Brittany's face as she finishes up the last P on the last sock. "This is harder than it looks…"

Santana chuckles. "Yeah, I practically cursed my way through sewing classes at my grandmother's church. But I guess they were useful."

Brittany puts her newly BP branded equipment aside and takes a deep breath. "Done! Yay!" She puts her hand up to high five Santana, who hesitates a moment before putting her own hand up and high fiving this bubbly tall blonde girl. Santana's phone buzzes and she picks it up.

"It's my mom, she's on her way. Let's walk out." The girls stand up and pick up their bags, then make their way to the front of the school. Brittany unlocks her bicycle and wheels it over to Santana. As Maribel's car approaches, Santana turns to Brittany, unsure how to say goodbye.

"So, um, thanks for waiting with me."

Brittany shrugs and half smiles. "No problem, thanks for helping me with the sewing! Now I can mend Lord Tubbington's sweater vest." Seeing Santana's puzzled look, Brittany grins. "Lord Tubbington is my cat, he needs his vest now that nights are getting chilly."

"Oh…" Santana chuckles. "Well, I'm glad I could help keep Lord Tubbington warm then! I'll see you on Monday?"

"Definitely, see ya!" Brittany starts to angle her bike, gives Santana a small wave and turns. Santana watches her go for a bit, and then gets in the car with her mom. She gives her mom a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for picking me up, ma."

"No problem, mija. Who is that?"

"That? Oh." Santana smiles. "That's Brittany, she's in the Cheerios with me."

Maribel smiles. "I'm glad you're making some friends already!"

Santana looks back at Brittany. "Yeah, me too."

Next Monday, Santana is up and ready for school a full 20 minutes before she actually has to leave. Her uniform is pressed, her sneakers are immaculate and she has so much hairspray on, she's worried her dad's cigarette is going to ignite her head. She does a little twirl for her parents, who are both having breakfast in the kitchen.

Maribel gives her daughter a kiss as she puts a plate of toast and eggs in front of her. "You look great, mija. Eat up!"

Santana picks up a napkin and puts it over her chest before picking up a piece of toast and gingerly eating. "Thanks, ma."

Eduardo Lopez puts down his newspaper to look at his daughter. He has a slight frown. "Hija, you couldn't ask for a longer skirt?"

Maribel and Santana roll their eyes in sync, but it's Maribel who speaks first. "Basta Eduardo, that's how those skirts are. Besides, she has shorts beneath it, don't you?" Maribel raises her eyebrows as she stares meaningfully at Santana, who hesitates for just a fraction.

"Y-yeah, papi, I have shorts under my skirt, don't worry. This is how they're supposed to look. It's part of the Cheerios mystique."

Eduardo purses his lips and lets out a "hmmmmph" before disappearing behind his newspaper again. Santana finishes her breakfast quickly and gives her parents a kiss each before setting out to school.

This is it, Lopez. Head high, you're now part of an elite. You got this.

She walks into school in her new uniform, noticing how people notice her now. She walks to her locker determinedly and puts her stuff away, when she spots a fellow Cheerio right next to her, with a smile. She looks up and finds those piercing blue eyes sparkling. She immediately brightens up.

"Hi Brittany! You look great!"

Brittany looks down and sheepishly smiles. "Thanks… My dad took like a million pictures of me this morning before we got in the car… looks like our lockers are right next to each other…" Brittany fishes out a piece of paper from her backpack and opens the lock with the new combination.

"Wait, you've had this locker all last week? I didn't see you here…" Santana sees Brittany blushing behind her Algebra book.

"Well, I had a different one but they changed me this morning because I left some mice in there on Friday and they died…"

Santana is horrified. "Why did you have mice in your locker?"

Brittany looks at Santana with sad eyes. "Because they were homeless so I thought I'd let them live in my locker. But I forgot to leave food for them…" Santana is about to laugh before she catches Brittany's tone. She stops herself because she doesn't want to hurt the blonde's feelings.

"Well, don't leave any more wildlife in your locker ok? It's not a nice place to live, anyways…" Santana smiles and Brittany smiles back.

"Deal."

The two girls walk together and say goodbye in front of Santana's classroom.

Santana notices that being a Cheerio changes everything. People treat her differently, even teachers, and she loves that feeling. Like people think she's on a different league, and they are afraid to approach her. The most important change is that she now has two friends to share this with. Brittany, Quinn and Santana become almost inseparable, working extra hard during Cheerios practice so they can keep up. One Cheerio is good, but as Quinn says, three is way better.

A few weeks later, it's the football team's first game. As Coach Sylvester loves to point out, the football team is awful so they'll just use their halftime show as another practice for their Regional's routine. Santana is nervous because it's the first time they are performing with the Cheerios in front of a crowd. They are all on the sidelines watching as the football team gets slaughtered.

"Ugh, I don't think I can do this…", Santana says for the tenth time. She holds her stomach and turns, as Brittany puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Relax, Santana, you'll be fine. There aren't even that many people here." She starts to look around the stadium when she spots something on the top of the right side bleachers. Her face falls. "Oh no…" She covers her head with her hands. Santana quickly turns around to see what happened.

"What's wrong? Finn dropped the ball again?" When she notices a bright red sign on the bleachers, she chuckles and turns towards Brittany, who is now facing the other way. "Now THAT'S adorable…" Brittany lets out a moan which just makes Santana smile even wider.

"Stoooooooooooop, it's not!"

Santana walks over to Brittany and makes her turn around. "Oh, c'mon! 'Go Britt'? Is that your parents? I think it's great that they showed up!" Brittany finally puts her hands down and looks at Santana, pouting. "C'mon, wave at them at least." Santana grabs Brittany's wrist and makes her wave towards her parents, who wave enthusiastically back, her dad pointing at the sign and smiling. Brittany lets out a little laugh.

"They're so embarrassing…"

Santana shakes her head, smiling. "No, it's sweet… they're proud of you." Santana feels a small pang in her heart, remembering how her parents didn't even look away from the tv to ask if she wanted them to come. "And they should be, you're a great Cheerio." Brittany's eyes glimmer.

"You think so?"

"Totally, your moves are awesome! I wish I could make it look as easy as you do…"

Brittany blushes and smiles. "Well… I think you're pretty awesome, too."

Santana links arms with Brittany and walks her over to the rest of the Cheerios. "Now let's go show them just how awesome we are, ok?" Brittany nods as they join the rest of the team and gear up for halftime.

They are amazing, but only receive a silent glare from Sue. HC Brandy assures them it's the most they're ever gonna get and to get used to it. After the game ends, Brittany drags Santana over to meet her parents. Pierce and Whitney climb down the steps and rush over to give Brittany a hug.

"Oh honey you were great! I almost had a heart attack when you did those flips!" Whitney wipes Brittany's cheek, where she left some lipstick.

"True, Britt, you were awesome!" Pierce is beaming as he puts his arm around his wife.

Brittany is now visibly blushing. "Thanks mom, dad… Um, this is Santana!" She gives Santana a nudge and Santana smiles timidly at the Pierce's. Whitney gives Santana a quick hug.

"Nice to meet you, Santana! You were amazing, too!"

"Um, thanks, Mrs. Pierce, that's nice of you to say…" Pierce claps his hands and rubs them together.

"So, Brittany, mom and I were wondering where you want to go for dinner, to celebrate your first Cheerios appearance!" Brittany looks over at Santana, whose face falls.

"Oh, dad, um, we don't have to go anywhere special – " Whitney interjects.

"Yes we do, honey, we know how hard you've worked, it's only right to celebrate!"

Santana starts to feel uncomfortable, so she starts to back away. "I'll let you guys figure this out, I gotta go catch the bus home." She looks up at Whitney. "Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Pierce." She turns to Brittany. "See ya, Britt."

Pierce cries out: "Wait, Santana!" Santana freezes and turns around, afraid Mr. Pierce is going to yell at her for being rude. "You don't have to take the bus, how about you come with us to dinner and then we'll drive you home?" Whitney and Pierce have matching smiles and start nodding. Santana turns to Brittany who mirrors her parents and mouths say yes. Santana is startled, shakes her head to clear her thoughts and clears her throat.

"That's real sweet of you Mr. Pierce, thank you."

Whitney does a small jump. "Great! Ok girls, grab your things and we'll wait for you in the parking lot!" Whitney and Pierce turn around and walk hand in hand towards the parking lot. Santana turns around to look at Brittany, who's biting her lip.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to, Santana."

"No, I want to, I was just…" Santana sighs and throws her arms up. "I wasn't expecting an invitation, to be honest… but it sounds great." She smiles at Brittany, who lights up.

"Awesome, let's go then!" She grabs Santana's hand and the two girls hurry to the changing room to grab their things.

Present day

A knock on the door distracted Santana. She saw a blonde figure come in.

"Hey Q." Santana smiled as she tried to wipe away a stray tear.

"Hey, I was wondering where you ran off to…" Quinn noticed the open box in front of Santana. "San… how long have you been up here looking at this?"

Santana shrugged as Quinn sat next to her. "No idea, a while, I guess. I was feeling nostalgic." Quinn picked up a picture of the three girls in matching pajamas and chuckled.

"Was this our first Cheerio summer camp?"

Santana nodded. "Yeah, right before sophomore year. That's the summer we decided we were gonna be top Cheerios come hell or high water."

"God, we were so power-hungry…"

"We wanted to be popular and that was the way to get it, that's all." Santana shrugged again as Quinn put the picture back in the box. She pointed to a bracelet. "Is that what I think it is?" Santana picked it up and sighed.

"Yeah, that's my friendship bracelet… Britt gave it to me that first Christmas in high school. We wore it every day…" Quinn saw Santana's eyes start to water again, so she closed the box firmly.

"Ok, that's enough of that."

"Q, what the hell?" Quinn placed the wooden box on the bed and turned Santana so that they were face to face.

"I get it, you still miss her, but today is about Sophia. Not about you and Britt. She's downstairs being entertained by Mercedes and Rachel, but she has already asked about you a couple times, and next time I won't be able to distract her with ice cream. So check your make up and come back down, ok?" Quinn gave Santana a kiss on the cheek before turning away and closing the door behind her.

Santana stared at the box next to her and inhaled deeply. Quinn's right. That's enough memories for now. She grabbed the box and placed it back on its spot on the top shelf. After reapplying her mascara, she walked back down the stairs and towards the small back yard, where she could hear several voices singing Frozen's "Let It Go". She groaned as she approached Quinn. "I thought they'd have sung that song already!"

Quinn laughed as she handed Santana a drink. "It's their 4th time singing it. I don't know who's more into it: Rachel, or Sophia." Santana rolled her eyes.

"Please, the dwarf never gets over that song."

Quinn elbowed Santana and frowned. "Don't call her that San, c'mon, how many times do I have to tell you off."

Santana rubbed her side and rolled her eyes again. "Fiiiiiiiiine… Just cause she's your dwarf…"

Quinn chuckled as the song faded out and both joined in on the applause. Just then, Sophia spotted Santana and yelled "Moooooom!" before running into Santana's arms. She grabbed both of Santana's cheeks. "Did you see us mommy? Did you see? Me and tía Rachel sang a duvet!"

Everybody laughed. Santana placed a kiss on Sophia's forehead and hugged her tightly. "I heard, mija! And it's called a duet… That's when two people sing together!" Sophia let out a small "oh…" and Santana put her down. "I think it's time for cake, don't you?" Sophia clapped her hands and jumped up and down excitedly.

"I'll go get it!" Mercedes walked back to the kitchen with Quinn and Rachel to get the cake, while Sophia grabbed her mom's hand and dragged her to the little arts and crafts corner Mercedes created for the kids. Sophia held up a picture above her head so Santana could see it.

"I drew this, mom! It's us, see?" She pointed at the two figures in the middle holding hands. "That's you, the big one, and that's me, the small one!"

Santana smiled at her daughter as she took the picture from her. "I see us, mija! Is that a microphone in my hand?"

Sophia nodded vigorously. "We're singing together! Like we do during bath time!"

"And what are we singing?" Santana braced herself for the answer she knew was coming.

"FROZEN!"

Santana muttered "Of course we are…" before she sighed and put the picture back down. "Well, I think it's an awesome painting, Sophe. Do you want to put it on the fridge later?" A smile came across Sophia's face. "I'll take that as a yes!" Santana embraced her daughter before turning around and seeing Mercedes carry in a big bright blue cake and setting it on the table. "Let's go get some cake, mija."

As everyone gathered around to sing happy birthday to Sophia in front of a big 4-shaped candle, Santana couldn't help but marvel at her little family gathered around the backyard. Sophia blew the candles and everyone clapped.

"Can I go play now ma?"

"Yes, mija, I'll cut the cake and call you when you can have some."

"Cool!" Sophia ran off to join Luke and Chris, who were sword-fighting with old paper towel rolls.

Santana started cutting the cake and putting it on the plates Rachel brought from the kitchen.

"So, I've been instructed to tell you to cut it with the Frozen songs."

Rachel pouted. "But Sophie loves them!"

"Yes, but the rest of us have heard enough of them to last for a lifetime…"

Rachel sighed and said "fine", before turning towards the kids. "Boys! Careful with those swords ok?"

Luke and Chris stopped for a second and shouted out in unison "Yes, mom!" before they continued to play with Sophia.

Santana rolled her eyes. "They're just paper towel rolls, Berry, chill… They won't hurt themselves."

"I know, but sometimes they can be a little rough and I don't want them to hit Sophia too hard!"

"She's a Lopez. She can take it…" Santana chuckled as she spread the plates on the table before calling the kids and adults over for cake. She made Sophia and the boys sit down before she gave them a piece of cake. "Now eat slowly, ok? Provecho."

"Gracias, ma!" Sophia dove in and ate a big piece of cake before smiling brightly at her mom.

Santana grabbed a piece of cake and moved over to the other table, where the adults were eating and laughing.

"What's so funny over here?" Santana sat next to Mercedes and took a bite of cake.

"We're betting on how long before Sophia asks Rachel to sing Let It Go again." Mercedes cracked up.

Sam chimed in. "And what you'll do to her if she says yes." Everybody laughed as Santana rolled her eyes.

"And I told them you said no more Frozen, so I would only tell Sophia we had to sing something else." Rachel straightened up.

"Like you have ever been able to say no to Sophia!" Rachel shot Quinn a look that made the blonde laugh louder. "Sorry love, but it's true… You turn to mush when it comes to little Sophie." Rachel muttered "not true…" as everyone laughed again. Quinn put an arm around Rachel and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"That's what happens for letting you come over so much! I need to get my baby away from all your Broadway show tunes before it's too late." Santana smirked at Rachel, who just pursed her lips. "But seriously, she couldn't stop talking about the day you took her on a tour of your show, she loved being on that spotlight."

"Ohhhh Santana you should've seen her, twirling center stage… My whole crew fell in love with her! She was much more excited than when we took the boys the first time, remember Quinn? They immediately started playing with the curtain and I had to drag them to my dressing room before my stage manager had a fit." She laughed at the memory. Just then, Sophia ran over with bits of frosting all over her face. Santana grabbed a napkin and tried to clean Sophia's mouth while the little one tried to speak.

"Hold still mija, let me clean you up."

"Ma, ma, I finished my cake!"

"I can see that, half of it is on your face…"

"Can I sing with tía Rachel now? Pleeeeeeeeeease?" Sam snorted and Mercedes elbowed him on the ribs. Santana raised an eyebrow.

"That's up to your tía, baby. Ask her." Sophia turned her big hazel eyes to Rachel and wrung her wrists, an exact copy of her mom.

"Tía, can we sing a song now?" Rachel took a moment to take a sip of her drink and wipe her mouth before turning to Sophia. Quinn had a hand over her mouth to cover her chuckles.

"What do you want to sing, Sophe?"

Sophia jumped in place. "FROZEN!" Rachel avoidedd meeting Santana's eye, because she knew the Latina was shooting daggers at her right now.

"How about we sing a fun song with your mom and tía Quinn? And then we can do a quartet instead of a duet!" Sophia looked at her mom and then at Quinn, who both nodded and smiled at her.

Sophia looked back at Rachel. "So, no Frozen?"

"Why don't we try something else? What other songs do you love, Sophe?"

Sophia frowned as she tried to think. "mmm well, mami and I sing Cranberries sometimes. I like Just My Imagination."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Of course you do…"

Rachel clapped her hands. "Excellent! So let's do that one, ok?" Rachel gave Quinn and Santana a pointed look, as Mercedes, Sam and Maribel clapped loudly. Quinn and Santana got up and walked up to the small stage set up in the middle of the backyard. Rachel worked on the sound system as the girls got ready. Suddenly, a familiar tune came blaring from the speakers and Sophia started to dance around her mom.

Santana started to sing

There was a game we used to play
We would hit the town on Friday night
And stay in bed until Sunday

Sophia jumped in to sing with her mom

We used to be so free
We were living for the love we had and
Living not for reality

All the girls sung

It was just my imagination
Just my imagination
Just my imagination...

Rachel grabbed Quinn's hand as she sang the next part while Quinn harmonized.

There was a time I used to pray
I have always kept my faith in love
It's the greatest thing from the man above
The game I used to play
I've always put my cards upon the table
Let it never be said that I'd be unstable

Santana kneeled so that she was face to face with Sophia as they sang together

It was just my imagination
Just my imagination
Just my imagination...

There is a game I like to play
I like to hit the town on Friday night
And stay in bed until Sunday
We'll always be this free
We will be living for the love we have
Living not for reality

It's not my imagination
It's not my imagination
It's not my imagination

The girls danced around as the song faded out and they did a little bow as Mercedes, Sam and Maribel stood up clapping and whistling. Santana hugged Sophia "That was great, mija."

Sophia planted a kiss on her mom's cheek. "You were great, too mami!" Sophia turned towards Rachel. "Now can we sing Frozen?" The girls just lost it and laughed.