I love this pairing so much, just so you know. Haha.

i.

Santana's never been into Justin Bieber, just to be clear. It's just that Sam opens his abnormally large mouth and she knows he's singing to Quinn (his girlfriend, in case you didn't know – he never talks about it), but it's still so… hot.

She smiles at him and waves her arms in the air and decides, then and there, that she'll have to seduce him. He's cute, and she hasn't slept with him. This must be fixed.

She knows she's heartless. She does.

She just can't bring herself to care enough to change her habits. You can't teach old dogs new tricks, right?

Sam glances at her, and she grins wider.

Let the chase begin.

ii.

Santana knows that the easiest way to get Sam to go for her will be to boost his reputation. (Oh, and to tell him the truth about Quinn. He seems to believe that ridiculous gumball story she fed him). So she convinces him to meet with her in the library and finally gets him to accept the truth.

"She really did cheat on me?" he asks quietly for the fifth time.

Santana rolls her eyes. "Yes. I kissed Finn at his dumb booth, gave him mono, and he passed it onto your girlfriend. It's not that hard to follow, Blondie."

Sam shakes his head. "But why would she do that to me?"

Santana shrugs. "Cuz she's a bitch?"

Sam winces.

"Look," Santana says, "I'm not gonna sit here and tell you some bullshit about how she didn't mean to hurt you and that deep down she really cares or whatever. I'm just going to tell you what I know, alright?"

Sam gives a slight nod.

"Quinn's a heartbreaker. She dated Finnocence and cheated on him with Puckerman, resulting in the epic drama-filled scandal known as 'Baby Gate.' Then she abandoned her spawn and also cut her ties with Puck, leaving him heartbroken. He'll deny it though," she adds, "so don't tell anyone that." She pauses, licking her lips. "And now there's you."

Sam sighs. "So what should I do?"

Santana smiles. "You fight fire with fire. Show her she can't just jerk you around."

Sam raises his eyebrows.

"You date me," she finishes.

Sam shrugs. "Okay."

"Okay?" She blinks in surprise. Honestly, she didn't expect it to be this easy.

He nods. "Okay." Then he smiles at her, and her heart skips a beat.

Santana shakes it off. Her heart doesn't skip a beat. She doesn't have a heart.

She covers up her moment of possibly having feelings by saying, "Good. But now we lay down some ground rules. If you plan on getting on this, you need to know a few things."

"Ground rules?"

"Number one," she presses on, as if he hadn't said anything. "No more of that alien language, alright? It's kind of lame."

"Txo nga plltxe ha," he responds.

"What?"

"It's Na'vi for 'If you say so.'"

She rolls her eyes. "I do say so."

He shrugs again. "Well, what else do I have to do?"

She smirks. She's already got him right where she wants him: wrapped around her finger.

iii.

"So should I, like, take you out or something?"

She stares at him. "Like on a date?"

He looks confused. "Aren't we dating?"

"Well, yeah," she answers, panicking a little bit. What's she supposed to say? That she's not used to dating guys? That she usually just sleeps with them and then acts like she doesn't really care because, well, she doesn't?

"I guess we can go out," she tells him.

"Cool," he replies.

"But nothing stupid."

"Of course."

She eyes him for a few seconds, then adds, "Avatar counts as stupid."

"Dammit."

She laughs. He looks so cute when he's frustrated. (She is allowed to think he looks cute without getting attached, okay? She can do it.)

"What about Breadstix?" he asks. "Can I take you to Breadstix?"

She smirks. "Yes. You can take me to Breadstix."

"Great," he says, grinning at her. He takes her hand in his own, rubbing the back of hers gently with his thumb. "I'll pick you up at seven."

She finds herself nodding, and then he drops her hand and turns to walk down the hallway.

She tries not to think about how good it had felt when he held her hand. She's Santana Lopez – she doesn't care about such trivial things as handholding. (But she feels slightly empty now that he's gone).

iv.

He walks her to the doorstep after their date. She thinks it would be a lot easier to stay unattached if he wasn't such a gentleman.

He leans over and kisses her on the cheek. "Sìltsan txon," he whispers.

"What?"

"I said, 'Good night.'"

She rolls her eyes. "What did I say about the alien language?"

"I think you secretly like it," he teases, his breath hot against her ear.

Her heart thumps wildly and she forgets where she is for a moment. Just for a moment. Then she snaps out of it and pushes him away. "You wish, Evans."

He smirks. "You'll come around."

She scoffs. "As if I'd ever learn that—" She's cut off when he presses his lips to hers. The kiss is soft and sweet and not at all what Santana is expecting.

Before she's even done processing, he pulls away.

"You'd better get inside," he says. "I don't want your dad coming out here and seeing that I'm holding up his daughter."

"Like he cares," she replies.

He smiles, squeezing her hand one last time before walking down the stairs. She watches him go, and this strange feeling comes over – almost like she's sad to see him go.

He's almost to his car when he turns around and yells back once more, "Sìltsan txon!"

Santana rolls her eyes.

v.

She had her doubts, but Berry's party is actually turning out to be a lot more enjoyable than she would have expected. She actually has quality booze and she gets to spend a lot of time making out with Sam, which is awesome. Until 'Spin-the-Bottle.'

Santana gets up to refill her cup and the next thing she knows everyone's gasping and laughing and she turns around to see Sam and Brittany both looking at her. Why the hell did she get up during Sam's turn? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Just a reminder," she says, aware that Brittany and Sam seem to now be tuning her out and are leaning towards each other. "I owns that guppy mouth! Those Abercrombie lips belong to me."

Sam closes the distance between him and Brittany and Santana knows it's just a game, but as soon as his lips touch Brit's, her heart seems to fall into her stomach and she sees red because her boyfriend is making out with her best friend right in front of her and game or not, this is not cool.

She steps over to stand behind Sam. "This is not—" Sam and Brittany keep kissing, oblivious. "Hey, honeys!" She smacks the back of Sam's head. "This is not a Big Red commercial." She resists the urge to flip him off and settles for saying, "No me gusta."

Finally, Sam and Brittany break apart, and Sam smiles sheepishly at her. She glares at him. She reclaims her spot next to him as Rachel spins the bottle.

Sam leans over to whisper in her ear, "It's so hot when you speak Spanish."

She smiles despite herself, and suddenly she's not so mad at him anymore.

vi.

"Did you like it?" she asks him, biting her lip. She originally assumed the alcohol was what made her so jealous at Rachel's party, but she's been thinking of the kiss for a week straight now, and she hasn't been drinking since. She knows she shouldn't care – it's just Brittany – but she can't help it. She does.

"Did I like what?" Sam asks.

"Nothing," she says quickly. The last thing she needs to be insecure in front of him.

"Santana," he says slowly. He takes both of her hands in his own and his blue eyes practically scorch her soul, he's staring at her so intently. "You can tell me anything. We need to trust each other, you know. I trust you," he offers.

She smiles at him weakly. Her heart thumps wildly in her chest. She vaguely wonders when she became okay with this sensation of caring.

"Tell me," he commands softly.

She lowers her gaze. "I just… Did you like it when you kissed Brittany? At Rachel's party?"

He laughs. Laughs.

She glares at him. She should've known better. This is why she makes an effort to not care.

"San," he says, chuckling. "I don't even remember kissing Brittany."

Her lip twitches and she tries to not smile. "You don't?"

He shakes his head. "No." He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Rachel's party was crazy and I was drinking and I barely even remember anything, let alone kissing Brittany."

She nods. "Right. Sorry. I was… being stupid."

"It's okay to tell me when something's bothering you," Sam tells her gently.

"Whatever," she says, leaning over, her lips millimeters from his. "Now less talking, more kissing, okay? I wants to get my mack on."

She smiles into the kiss as he obliges.

vii.

Rachel can write a song for Regionals? Well, fine. So can Santana.

She stares at the paper for a while, and then she begins scribbling furiously. She didn't even know she could write something so heartfelt.

She smirks when she's finished and surveys her work. Her heart sinks as she begins to read it. It's so clearly all about Sam. This is a disaster. He's supposed to be a distraction. She's not supposed to have genuine feelings for him or anything.

She sighs and crumples up the paper, throwing it in her trashcan. No way is she going to present some vulnerable shit to the glee club.

She gets out a new paper and writes some generic stuff about her badass persona. She makes sure there's no depth, no emotion, just snarky fun. Just the way everyone sees her. Just the way she wants them to.

How did she get in this deep?

viii.

Quinn and Finn break up after making the mistake of getting back together, and Santana has this feeling that Quinn will try to get back with Sam. And she has a feeling Sam will let her. So she makes the decision to end things before he gets a chance to.

"I'm setting you free," she announces, meeting him at his locker.

Sam wrinkles his brow in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't have to do this with me anymore," she clarifies. "You're free to go date whoever you want."

She turns to go, ignoring the pain in her chest. It must be heartburn or something; she can't care enough that the thought of not being with him is actually hurting her. She can't be that far gone.

He catches her arm. "Hey, whoa, Santana," he says, spinning her back around to face him. "Why are you doing this?"

She shrugs. "Quinn's back on the market."

"So?" he asks. "Santana, the only person I want to date is you."

She ignores the way her heart beats erratically in her chest. She smirks instead. "If you say so, Evans."

He takes her hand as they walk to glee and replies, "Oe si."

She sighs. "Na'vi, again? Really?"

He grins. "You know what it's called! You are coming around."

She rolls her eyes. "Don't make me break up with you again."

He puts his arm around her and draws her to his side. She looks up at him and sees that he's smirking. She wants to hate him sometimes. Too bad he's the one person (besides Brittany) that she just can't.

"Oh, I don't think you'd do that," he tells her serenely.

"And why is that?" she asks, cocking her eyebrow.

"You like having me around too much."

Her heart pounds, and she hates the fact that he's right. When did she get so soft?

He smiles again, though, and she finds she's caring less and less about why she shouldn't like him. (It's just so easy to be with him. That's what scares her.)

ix.

There are two weeks of school left and she and Sam are fooling around in her room when it happens. She's kissing his neck, and he sort of moans and then whispers, "Nga lawne lu oer."

She giggles against his skin and asks softly, "And what does that mean, Avatar boy?"

"It means 'I love you.'"

She freezes, sitting up abruptly. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no.

Sam sits up, too. "San? You don't have to say it back or anything. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sprung that on you—"

"You can't," she interrupts him. "You can't love me."

She knows he's staring at her; she can see him out of the corner of her eye. "I do, though, Santana," he says quietly.

"No," she whispers, shaking her head. "You don't. I'm not like everyone else. No one loves me, especially not you."

"Why do you always do that?" he demands. "Why do you assume I'm better than you?"

"Because you are," she replies. How can he not see that? "I don't deserve any of this – the way you make me feel, the happiness I've had. I don't… I don't deserve you." She wipes at her eyes, trying to keep the tears from flowing, but it's no use. They're practically gushing down her cheeks.

"You should go," she manages to choke out, but he doesn't listen to her. He hugs her, wrapping his arms around her frame and pulling her onto his lap. He rocks her back and forth, smoothing back her hair as she cries.

"You're beautiful," he whispers into her hair. "And you're special. You may not be perfect, but I'm not asking you to be, San. I love you for you. And I know you keep trying to push me away, but I care about you too much to let that happen."

"I'm heartless," she sobs. "You shouldn't love me, Sam, because I'm way too selfish and way too heartless."

"You're not," he tells her. "You think you are, but you're really not."

She knows she is, but she's crying too hard to argue.

"It's okay to let yourself fall in love, Santana," he tells her, squeezing her even more tightly. "I promise I'll be here to catch you."

He's too good for her. "Why do you want to be with me?" she whispers.

He sighs. "You don't bullshit with me, San. You're honest. You're hilarious. And you get me. Just like I get you, whether you want me to or not."

She bites her lip. "Thanks, Sam. I… I know I'm not the easiest person to deal with, and I know I ruined this."

"You didn't ruin anything," he says, kissing her forehead. "We can just sit here for a while. I don't mind."

She nods. "Okay."

She knows that if she didn't love Sam before, she loves him now. And she doesn't know why, but she's still afraid to tell him. She's still afraid he'll leave eventually. And she doesn't think she could handle the pain.

x.

He meets her dad after they've dated for three months. He stutters a little bit and shakes his hand and addresses him as Dr. Lopez and Santana thinks it's adorable. (She's never actually introduced a boy to her dad before).

All in all, it goes over pretty well, and Santana tells him that when they drive over to the movies.

"You think?" Sam asks.

Santana smiles and reaches over to grab his hand and squeeze it lightly. "Seeing as the last boy he met was Puck as he was trying to sneak out of my bedroom window at three in the morning, I'd say yes," she laughs.

Sam smiles, but Santana notices it doesn't reach his eyes.

They pull into the parking lot.

Santana meets Sam on his side of the car. "Hey," she says. "What's wrong?"

"Did you love him?"

Santana honestly did not expect that. "Who?"

"Puckerman," Sam answers, staring at the ground.

"No," she answers. "I didn't."

He looks at her. "But you hated whenever anyone else had him."

"Not because I loved him, but because I was possessive." She sighs. "When Puck started dating other people, it just hurt because it meant he didn't want me. I didn't want him to love me. I just wanted him to want me." She shrugs. "But it doesn't matter now."

"I want you," he tells her quietly. "I promise I always will."

She smiles. "Oe neu nga nìhawng."

His jaw drops. "Nga nume Na'vi?" he asks.

She nods. "Srane."

He laughs, picking her up and twirling her around. "You're awesome, and I love you, and I really don't tell you enough."

She giggles and blushes. She takes a deep breath, then says, "Nga yawne lu oer nìhawng. I love you, too."

He kisses her, and she forgets all about the movie and the fact that she's still so scared of what this means for them and she even forgets her own name.

"You really are my dream girl," he tells her. "Just so you know. No one's ever learned Na'vi for me before."

She shrugs, smirking. "You're worth it."

"Wanna blow off the movie and go watch Avatar?"

She rolls her eyes. "You're not that worth it. And you promised you'd take me out, didn't you? Or are you ashamed of me?" She bats her eyelashes at him.

"I could never be ashamed of you," he says, throwing his arm around her. "I'm just ashamed of being seen in public with you."

She shoves him playfully. "Shouldn't I be ashamed to be seen with you? I mean, you speak an alien language."

"So you do, now that I've converted you," he points out.

She laughs. "Fair point."

"That only means one thing," Sam declares.

"What's that?"

"We're perfect for each other."

Santana smiles. She suspects he might be right.

Fin.

Na'vi translations, according to navilator . com.
Txo nga plltxe ha - If you say so
S'iltsan txon - Good night
Oe si - I do
Nga lawne lu oer - I love you
Oe neu nga nìhawng - I want you, too
Nga nume Na'vi? - You learned Na'vi?
Srane - Yes
Nga yawne lu oer nìhawng - I love you, too