Pieces (13/16)
Title: Pieces
Pairing: Rachel/Santana, Shelby
Length:52,788
Spoilers: Up to season 3
Summary: Rachel never expected to find out she's a werewolf, and once the reality of it sinks in, she feels like a monster. Surprisingly enough there's someone unexpected who helps her keep onto the humanity inside her.
Note: This is written for the Glee Big Bang.
Rachel sighed as she walked through the front door and was safely inside her living room. She paused and looked out one of the windows facing the backyard, seeing the garage. Frowning, she put her things down and walked outside. Once she got to the garage, she saw her dads inside, looking around the mess. Rachel suddenly felt guilty, and was about to walk away, but Leroy saw her.
“Oh, Rachel, you’re back.” He said, smiling.
“What happened?” Rachel asked, pretending not to know.
“There was a wolf running around last night,” Hiram said, scowling as he looked at the mess. “And it got in here.”
“That’s…” Rachel began. “Unfortunate.” She didn’t know what to say, considering she was the one who caused the damage. Hiram sighed and rubbed his neck.
“Paying for this is going to be hard…” He groaned and Leroy walked up to him.
“We’ll get through it,” Leroy said, kissing Hiram softly. “Don’t worry.” Rachel watched the two, feeling horrible. She had created the mess, and now they had to fix it. What was worse was that they had no idea it was her all along, and she couldn’t tell them it was her. That the wolf was her.
Having seen enough, she walked out and went inside. She sighed as she walked to the fridge and opened it, looking for something to it. She looked at all the vegan food and scowled, remembering the meat and insides. She closed the door and started walking upstairs when the doorbell rang. She frowned and walked to it and opened t, finding Santana on the other side.
“Santana? What are you doing here?” Santana had a smug grin on her face and Rachel wasn’t sure what to expect from Santana.
“See, Rachel, you keep pushing me away and I ain’t having that, so,” Santana walked closer to Rachel, and Rachel quickly took a step back. “I don’t care what you say, I’m forcing myself in and you can’t push me away.” Rachel stood, speechless. Nothing worked on Santana.
“Why are you doing this?” Rachel asked softly. “I’m only trying to protect you.” Santana sighed.
“I don’t need you to protect me from anything, I can take care of myself fine, and I’m doing this because I love you,” Santana said softly and looked at Rachel. “I want to give us a chance.” Rachel opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off from a voice from farther inside the house.
“Rachel, who’s that?” Rachel sighed and turned around.
“It’s my friend, Santana.” Rachel said, looking at Hiram and Leroy who had just came in.
“Hey.” Santana greeted, walking into the house completely and waving at them.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were having a friend over,” Leroy said, smiling. “Well, we’ll be in our room.” He said and they walked away, with Hiram trailing behind. Once they were gone Rachel turned to Santana, who was grinning at her.
“Looks like I’m coming over.” Santana said and Rachel sighed, closing the door.
“Don’t you have a home to go to?” Rachel asked and Santana shrugged.
“Already told my parents I’m coming over.” Santana said and Rachel sighed again.
“Well, since you’re already here would you like something to eat?” Rachel asked and Santana nodded.
“Sure, why not.” Rachel led Santana to the kitchen, and as she stood by the counter she watched Rachel quickly make a sandwich, and give it to her. She raised an eyebrow when she realized Rachel wasn’t going to make another one, but didn’t say anything. Instead, they walked to the table and sat down with Santana eating. After a few bites she looked at Rachel and slid the plate to her.
“I’m not very hungry.” Rachel said, remembering the taste of the rabbit still. Santana sighed and opened up the sandwich, taking out the meat and cheese, leaving only the lettuce and tomato on. Rachel opened her mouth to protest again, but Santana looked at her sternly and Rachel closed it again. Sighing, she grabbed it and took a small bite, which got a smile from Santana. When Rachel was finally done she put the plate in the sink and turned to Santana.
“Want to go upstairs, then?” She asked and Santana nodded. She followed her up the stairs and Santana noticed her door right away, being the only one with a gold star on it. Just as she was about to enter it, she stopped and properly looked at the star. Rachel stopped and turned to see Santana smiling at it, and she could help but feel flustered by the soft smile on the taller girl’s face.
“Nice,” Santana said as she walked in and looked at Rachel. “You are a star, by the way.”
“You know,” Rachel said softly as she walked into the room too and sat down. “It’s really nice when you compliment me.”
“I like complimenting you,” Santana said, grinning. “Actually, I’d like to compliment you all the time,” The grin fell off her face and she sat down next to Rachel, looking at her seriously. “I… I want to be more than friends.” Rachel sighed and looked down, not liking where Santana was headed.
“I know, I know you do but we can’t.” Rachel said and Santana’s face fell.
“Why?” Santana asked. “I know you want this too, so why can’t we be together?” Santana paused, waiting for an answer, and when she reached up and cupped Rachel’s cheek. She turned Rachel’s head, making her look at her, noticing the way Rachel leaned into the touch despite her words. “Tell me you don’t want this and I’ll leave it alone.” Rachel opened her mouth to tell Santana exactly that, but she couldn’t. Rachel wanted Santana; she wanted them to be together. She had wanted that for a long time now. Telling Santana that they couldn’t be together was she should do for Santana’s safety, but she couldn’t. She was too selfish for that. Rachel looked away and Santana sighed.
“Then tell me why we can’t be together.” Santana said softly and Rachel laughed humorlessly.
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.” She said softly.
“Try me,” Santana said, hoping Rachel would finally tell her everything. Rachel looked at Santana, weighing the choices. She could tell Santana about the wolf and that was the reason she was shoving everyone away. Shoving Santana away. Or she could lie and make something up, but a part of Rachel thought that Santana didn’t deserve that, it was either the truth or nothing. Santana watched as Rachel thought it over and she took one of Rachel’s hands, making the smaller girl look up at her in surprise. “You can trust me enough to let me in and tell me.”
As Rachel looked at Santana, she really believed she could trust her. That she could tell Santana what she really was and everything would be okay in the end. Suddenly, her brain and mouth weren’t in sync and before she registered what she was about to say, she blurted out the very words that could ruin everything.
“I’m a werewolf.” There, it was out and Rachel couldn’t take it back. She watched as Santana looked at her blankly before blinking and opening her mouth and closing it quickly.
“Huh?” She finally said and frowned. “Rachel, seriously, you don’t have to tell me some crazy thing, just tell me the truth.”
“I am telling you the truth!” Rachel yelled angrily.
“You expect me to believe that?” Santana asked back, just as angry now. “I’m not stupid Rachel, you can’t expect me to believe that.”
“But it’s true!” Rachel repeated, wanting Santana to believe her and as Rachel thought about how to get Santana to believe her, she figured there was only one way. Santana stood up and backed away slightly, looking at her in disbelief.
“Rachel, that’s-” She started angrily but Rachel cut her off.
“Last night you saw a wolf in your backyard.” Rachel said and Santana looked at her with wide eyes.
“How did you…?” Santana started but trailed off and Rachel looked down nervously.
“Yeah, um, that was me,” Rachel said softly. “I was eating in your backyard and you came out and yo udidn’t notice me until I came up to you.” Santana slowly shook her head.
“But that can’t be possible.” Santana said.
“Then you got scared and were afraid of me but then you petted me,” Rachel continued, as if Santana hadn’t spoken at all. She smiled lightly as she remembered feeling Santana’s hand through her fur. “It felt nice.” Rachel frowned again and looked up at her. “That was me, Santana. I am a werewolf.”
Santana looked at her silently with wide eyes and didn’t say anything for a long time. When the silence became too much, Rachel took a step towards her and Santana took a step back. Rachel felt her heart drop at the action and she looked at Santana with a hurt expression.
“Don’t, just, don’t.” Santana said sharply and Rachel winced at the words.
“I’m sorry, Santana,” Rachel’s voice cracked as she apologized. “You wanted to know the truth, so I’m telling you. I never meant for everything to turn out like this.”
“Yeah, well maybe you should have thought about that before,” Santana snapped and shook her head. “I have to go.” Santana said quickly and Rachel bit her lip as she nodded. Santana brushed past Rachel and just as she was about to walk out, Rachel spoke up.
“I understand if you never want to speak to me again.” Santana paused and looked at Rachel. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again and turned around and walked out. Rachel wrapped her arms around herself and sank to the floor, crying.
She had done it; she had finally pushed Santana away like she wanted to in the very beginning. Then why did it hurt so much? Now that Santana thought she was a monster, she was sure Santana wasn’t going to talk to her again. Rachel should be happy about that, now Santana was safe from her, but she could help but feel empty on the inside.