Title: Miracle
Rating: G
Length: 1812 words
Spoilers: up to 2x16
Disclaimer: Glee is not mine
Summary: Rachel didn't believe in miracles. Until Santana. Part 1 of the Believe series. Prequel to 'I Love New York'.
A/N: The 'Believe' series is a
series of 12 stories. 2 for each pairing within Faberrittana. It is a
prequel to 'I Love New York'. But still, though these may be
prequels, they will be loaded with a lot of romantic subtext (and a
bit of maintext as well!) so you don't miss out on the Faberrittana
romantic experience.
A/N2: This series is set after
Original Song and will end during the time period of New York, so
this is me cancelling out the back 6.
A/N3: Santana may be a bit OOC here
but if you wait for the next Pezberry installment of the Believe
series (number 5, I think), there will be an explanation for
Santana's behavior.
Miracle
Some
people say miracles don't happen anymore.
Some
people don't believe in miracles at all.
Rachel
Berry was one of those people. She had no time for such foolishness.
She believed that good things never came without a price, people
could never change instantaneously and happiness didn't just come in
the blink of an eye.
Nope.
Rachel Berry didn't believe in miracles. That is, until sophomore
year, when she saw that smile. The smile that made her believe that
anything was possible. Santana's smile, of all people.
Santana
had a wild temper. Even at the best of times, Rachel would be on
guard whenever she was in the presence of the fiery Latina. One could
never know what could trigger the fury that always seemed to be
lurking underneath the surface when it came to the dark-haired
Cheerio. And of course whenever you were in her radar, you could
always be sure that a hurtful, but amusingly creative barrage of
insults would be hurtling your way. Santana always did have a way
with words, even if that way was slightly twisted and cruel.
But it
all changed last year, when Santana, Quinn and Brittany joined New
Directions. Rachel wasn't fooled even for a minute. They didn't have
any reason to be in Glee club, because it was, like, social suicide.
If it had been just Quinn, then Rachel could have accepted that the
blonde would join just to keep tabs on her boyfriend. But the whole
Unholy Trinity? That raised a whole lot of warning flags in the
diva's mind. They were surely out to sabotage Glee club. She just
knew it. Then, she noticed something odd during one of the Glee
club's impromptu jam sessions.
Santana
was smiling. Not a smirk, not a malicious grin, but a full-blown,
wide, beaming smile. Rachel almost fell out of her chair.
That
smile was just pure joy. That smile made Rachel see a whole
new side to Santana. That smile turned Rachel's whole world upside
down. It made Rachel question everything she ever knew about the
girl. It seemed that Santana really enjoyed being in Glee club. So
when Santana confessed to liking Glee club when they were at
Sectionals, Rachel really did believe her.
This
year though, Rachel had noticed something else whenever she saw
Santana. She seemed angrier, always lashing out at people. But
something was making Rachel's psychic senses tingle. Something had
happened to Santana. Rachel tried to trace back through past events
to try to pinpoint when exactly this shift in mood had occurred.
Rachel smacked herself on the forehead. Of course! It was when
Brittany started dating Artie. She should have seen it before, but
she had been preoccupied with her relationship with Finn. But now
that she was single again, she was much more aware of the people
around her. Especially Santana. The Latina girl exuded a feeling of
loneliness, that the diva knew oh so well.
How
could she have been so blind? It was quite obvious really when
Santana sang 'Landslide' with Brittany and Miss Holliday a couple of
weeks ago. Brittany's look of disappointment was very evident when
Santana flinched at Rachel's 'sapphic' comment. And things still
didn't seem to get better when Sam broke up with Santana right before
Regionals. Rachel would have thought for sure that Santana would
pursue Brittany now that she was free. Instead, the two girls seemed
to grow even further apart. Brittany and Artie were still going
strong, with Brittany joining the decathlon team.
Santana
still tried to put up a tough front, but Rachel could see right
through her. Santana was not a person who made many friends and this
rift between her and her bestfriend.... Well, it just made for a very
sad Santana.
Rachel
couldn't bear it anymore. Whether she admitted it to herself or not,
she missed seeing Santana smile. Santana needed a friend and so did
she. That's why she now found herself standing outside the door of
Santana's house one Friday afternoon, mustering up the courage to
ring the doorbell. Rachel didn't call ahead or anything, she just
figured that this way, there would be no place for Santana to run and
hide. Finally, Rachel's finger found it's way to the buzzer. A few
moment's later, the front door opened.
“What
are you doing here, Rachel?” Rachel was dumbfounded. Santana's eyes
were puffed up like she had been crying for quite some time. It was
also a testament to the Latina's depressed state that she couldn't
even manage to throw in an insult like she usually did when talking
to the diva. So, Rachel just stood there, staring.
“Hey,
midget, I asked you a question!” The taller brunette barked out.
That snapped Rachel back to her senses.
“Santana,
have you been crying?”
“Why
do you care?” Rachel didn't bother answering the question. Santana
wouldn't believe her anyway. Instead, she held out the foil wrapped
plate in her hands.
“Here,
I baked you some cookies.” Santana suspiciously took a peek under
the foil, half-expecting something nasty to come jump out at her, but
what met her gaze was just that: a plate of cookies. She gingerly
took one and took a bite. Ooohh... ginger and cinammon. I like.
“Fine,” she spluttered out around a mouthful of cookie. “You
can come in.”
Rachel stepped through the doorway. It was eerily quiet inside the
house.
“Santana? Are we the only ones here?” Santana swallowed her
cookie and immediately grabbed another one.
“Yeah. My dad's in a conference down in Florida and my mom's
attending a business seminar in Texas and our housekeeper has just
gone home for the weekend. So, yeah, we're all alone here.”
Rachel suddenly grew anxious as the full gravity of the situation hit
her. She was alone, in a house, with Santana Lopez. Santana
suddenly spoke up, in a soft voice that Rachel had never heard her
use before.
“What are you doing here, Rachel?” the Latina asked again.
“You're lonely.” Santana sighed. She didn't feel like arguing
today.
“Yeah.” Rachel nodded and her eyes flitted downward.
“I just wanted you to know that if you need a friend...” Rachel
lifted her eyes to meet the gaze of the taller brunette. “I'm
here.”
Santana tilted her head back and closed her eyes. How did it come to
this? That Rachel Berry, of all people, would be standing inside her
house, offering her friendship? Santana opened her eyes and leveled
her gaze to meet Rachel's once more. My angel.
Rachel was waiting for any kind of response from Santana. What she
didn't expect was that Santana would sweep her into a very
unexpected, very sudden embrace. And that moment was all it took for
Santana to break down into tears (again). Rachel was too shocked to
say anything so she just went with it and wrapped her arms around the
sobbing Latina.
The two girls just kept holding on to each other, neither one aware
of time passing by. Santana was a mess and Rachel... well, Rachel was
just glad to be needed for once. After what seemed like an eternity,
Santana pulled away slightly, still keeping her arms wrapped around
the shorter girl.
“I'm sorry, Rachel. I'm sorry for everything. The slushies, the
insults, for trying to attack you whenever you got annoying.”
Santana broke out into sobs (again) and buried her face in Rachel's
hair once more. Rachel sniffled. It was then that she realized that
tears were streaming down her own face as well. She rubbed Santana's
back in an effort to bring a semblance of comfort to the weepy
Latina.
“Shhh... It's okay Santana. Let's let the past be past. I just want
us to be friends.”
“Why, Rachel?” Santana mumbled through Rachel's hair. She then
reluctantly pulled out of the embrace, suddenly self-conscious about
the position they were in. Both girls were left with a feeling of
emptiness as they separated from one another. Santana took a deep
breath, resisting the urge to hug the petite diva again, before she
continued. “Why me? You've seen how I am. I'm horrible to people. I
don't care about anything. I don't care about anyone. No one should
want to be my friend, least of all you.”
Rachel put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot as she made a
moue at Santana.
“First of all, Santana, what you're saying is not true. You are not
an uncaring person. I know you care about Brittany.” Santana
flinched at the mention of Brittany's name, but only slightly. “I
know you care about Glee club. I knew you weren't lying about it at
Sectionals last year and I still hold firm to that belief until now.
And contrary to popular opinion, you are not a horrible person, just
misunderstood. Your constant lashing out can be attributed to your
deep-seated insecurities and your instinctual protectiveness.”
Santana opened her mouth to attempt a retort, but Rachel waggled a
finger at her. “Hold it, I'm not finished. Now my point is that you
are not a bad person. You do not hurt other people just for the fun
of it. You do it to protect yourself or the things you care about. In
your own way you're actually very sweet. So I will not tolerate any
more thoughts about you being a despicable example of a human being.
And if you persist in this line of thinking, I will be forced to make
you sit through a PowerPoint presentation I made on the dangers of
low self-esteem. You-”
Rachel stopped in midsentence as she noticed something about the
taller brunette standing before her.
“Santana, you-- you're smiling.”
“Relax, Berry. You're just so damn adorable when you're ranting.”
Rachel smiled back.
Some
people say miracles don't happen anymore.
Some
people don't believe in miracles at all.
But
whenever Rachel Berry would look back on the memory of seeing
Santana's smile she knew she would never be one of those people.
She
believed.