Title: Building Bridges

Summary: Rachel walks into her room one night and finds a fairly drunk Santana Lopez sitting on her bed…set a couple weeks after Nationals in the summer break. Pezberry friendship-ish…I guess it's a bit OOC...

A/N: This epic randomness has been banging around in my brain for like two weeks and it's messing with my ability to get the next chapter of my other story 'So Far Gone' written and posted. This'll probably be just a random one shot for the time being but I will probably pick it up later on...or post erratically whenever I feel like it. Hope you all enjoy. Feedback is always nice and much appreciated if you have the time…

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or it's characters. I am just borrowing…etc etc…

-G-

Rachel sighed into the empty living room. Some summer vacation this was. She was watching TV alone in an empty house on a Saturday night. Finn had sent her a text earlier to let her know that Puck was having a party since his Mom and sister were away, but Rachel had chosen not to go. She knew that Finn wasn't the designated driver tonight and so she would just end up sitting alone all night while he got wasted. Well, that or incur the drunken angry wrath of one Santana Lopez who was still bitterly, bitterly sore over their loss at Nationals; which she now blamed solely on Rachel. So instead Rachel was sitting alone in the living room watching her favourite Streisand movies and eating plain popcorn. As 'Funny Girl' drew to a close Rachel checked her watch and saw that it was nearly 1am. She shut off the TV and took her empty popcorn bowl and her water glass into the kitchen, placing them in the sink, deciding that she would wash them in the morning.

She headed upstairs and into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth before bed, humming as she did. She was checking her phone as she walked into her room and so she didn't immediately notice that she wasn't alone. Rachel screamed when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and leapt back toward the door, about to make a run for it when she realised who it was that was sitting cross-legged in the middle of her bed.

"What the hell Santana?" she gasped, still slightly breathless with fright.

"Heeeey, Berry," Santana slurred, she was clearly pretty drunk.

"Did you break in here?" Rachel demanded, angry and extremely unnerved.

"No," Santana slurred, pushing her messy inky black hair out of her face. "I climbed in the window. It was open," the other girl beamed, swaying slightly.

"Are you going to murder me?" Rachel asked. "Because my room is soundproofed but the door is open so my Dads will certainly hear my screaming," Rachel rambled nervously, pointedly opening the door wider.

"Your Dads are in Costa Rica for two weeks," Santana told her with her signature smirk.

"How did you know that?" Rachel asked, feeling incredibly uneasy now.

"One of your Dads works at the hospital with mine. They've known each other for years," Santana explained, abruptly pitching to one side in her drunkenness.

"Oh so that's how Puckerman always knows when they're away," Rachel mumbled, mostly to herself, as things clicked into place in her head. Santana just smirked.

"Santana why are you here, breaking into my house in the middle of the night?" Rachel asked. Santana's smirk disappeared immediately and the other girl suddenly seemed a little bit more sober than she had been. And a lot more uncomfortable.

"How come you didn't come to Puckerman's tonight?" Santana answered Rachel's question with a question.

"I didn't know he was having a party," Rachel lied.

"Yes you did," Santana argued. "Finnept told me he texted you to tell you it was on. It was just the Glee Club. It was fun. How come you didn't come?" Rachel stared at Santana in confusion. The girl actually seemed upset that she had stayed home.

"Because I didn't feel like being ignored or yelled at all night," Rachel answered quietly. Santana stayed quiet for a moment too, staring at her hands folded in her lap.

"You should have been there," Santana told her in a sad little slurred voice. She looked up from her hands and Rachel was stunned by the sadness in the other girl's dark brown eyes. She had never seen Santana so open before and she edged forward, perching cautiously on the edge of the bed, her body turned toward Santana. Santana immediately unfolded her legs and shuffled forward so that she was mirroring Rachel's position beside her.

"Why Santana? Why should I have been there if you were all just going to make me miserable?" Rachel asked sadly, deciding to take advantage of Santana's sudden openness and try to get some answers. Santana mumbled something incoherent and Rachel leaned closer unable to hear. "I can't hear you Santana," she said softly.

"Because it wasn't the same without you...and because...I wanted to give you something," Santana raised her voice the tiniest bit and Rachel just barely managed to hear her this time. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, not sure what to say to that. Santana tried to push her hand into the pocket of her jeans but the alcohol in her system meant she only managed to end up on her butt on the floor next to Rachel's bed. "Damn it!" she yelled, bursting into tears. Rachel knew from her party earlier in the year that Santana was an emotional drunk and she hesitantly slid down onto the floor next to Santana, who was now sobbing angrily as she tried unsuccessfully to get her hand into her pocket.

"Do want me to help?' Rachel asked tentatively. She wanted to touch Santana, hug her or something to stop her crying but she figured that Santana would probably deck her if she did.

"No!" Santana half snapped, half sobbed. "Yes," she changed her mind as her crying began to taper off. "I don't know," her voice slurred badly on the last word and she sniffled. She contemplated a few moments before turning big, wide eyes on Rachel. "Help?" she asked pathetically.

"Ok. What am I looking for?" Rachel asked, fighting a smile as she reached toward Santana.

"It's paper," Santana sniffled a little. Rachel carefully slid her hand into Santana's pocket, capturing what felt like a folded piece of paper and pulling it out. It was a small, slightly crumpled paper heart, about 2 inches wide. "It has a note inside," Santana sniffled again and her words were still a bit slurred, but her eyes were pretty clear. When Rachel moved to unfold the heart Santana's surprisingly warm hand landed on hers. "Read it later," Santana told her, hauling herself to her feet and holding onto Rachel's bed to steady herself. She moved toward the window and against her better judgement, Rachel reached out to grab her arm. Surprisingly, Santana didn't pull away. In fact Rachel could have sworn that she pressed her arm tighter against Rachel's palm. But that could have been the booze...

"Come on," Rachel said softly. "I wouldn't want you falling out of the window and breaking your neck," Rachel tugged at Santana's arm to get her to move from the window toward the door. Santana sighed and let herself be led down the stairs to the front door.

"Goodnight Santana," Rachel said, letting go of Santana's arm to open the heavy wooden door.

"G'night, Berry," Santana's voice held the usual distaste she used when speaking to Rachel but when Rachel looked up she found her dark eyes surprisingly soft. Santana turned abruptly, almost falling down in the process and started walking down the path toward the road.

"Do you want a ride home Santana?" Rachel called out, feeling guilty.

"No thanks, I'm just going to Q's," Santana called back and Rachel nodded. Quinn and Judy Fabray had moved into a smaller house a few doors down from Rachel's after Judy had filed for divorce halfway through the school year.

"Ok," Rachel replied. Santana gave a half assed drunken wave over her shoulder as she reached the sidewalk. Rachel closed the door and leaned against it for a second before she rushed upstairs and into her Dads' room. From here she could watch Santana make her way down the road. After watching the girl until she walked safely up Quinn's driveway and she couldn't see her anymore Rachel went back into her own room, making sure to close the window tightly. She sat on her bed and wondered what the hell that was all about. Santana had seemed almost friendly tonight. Rachel realised that she still had the slightly crumpled paper heart clasped in her fist and she opened her hand, carefully smoothing over the paper, flattening it out on the palm of her hand. She stared at it for a little while, not sure if she wanted to open it. she couldn't fight the feeling that Santana was setting her up to get hurt again. She sighed deeply and turned the heart over, untucking four corners of the heart where they were neatly tucked into folds in the paper. The heart came apart fairly easily and soon Rachel was holding an unfolded note in her hands, confused and simultaneously amused.

No more slushies. If anyone breaks that rule, they answer to me.-Santana

P.S. I'm so going to fold this note into a heart when Tana isn't looking. She thinks giving you a paper heart would be weird but friends can give each other paper hearts...right? It just means you love them because they're your friends. – Love Brittany (Pierce. You know from Glee?)

Rachel couldn't help but smile at Brittany's rambling add-on but her brow creased again when she re-read Santana's brief note. Why was she doing this? Was she telling her that there would be no more slushies so that she would be more shocked when someone did slushy her? Was she actually reaching out and trying to make amends? The latter just seemed too good to be true. Rachel decided to talk to Brittany at dance class on Monday night. If she used enough big words she could probably confuse Brittany into telling her what Santana was planning. Rachel carefully stowed the note in her bedside table - slightly annoyed that she wanted to fold it up again but didn't know how - before climbing into bed and shutting off the light. As she lay in the darkness awaiting sleep, she briefly wondered what would be awaiting her when school went back in a few weeks time...

-G-

Random, I know. Don't really know where I'm going with it but it'll come to me...haha. Thanks for reading.