Authors Note: I'm so sorry for not uploading my stories in a while. One of the unfortunate things about working is that time slips away from you plus I've been dealing with some personal things. I don't know when I'll regain the interest for my other stories to be honest but I'm cooking up some Orange Is The New Black Stories, I'm not planning on writing any Alex/Piper stories. I find those characters overrated and the side characters much more interesting. Anyways hope you enjoy and as always read and review.

Gloria Mendoza hated Valentine's Day. It was an idiotic concept, one that was invented by greedy, corporate fat cats to sell their products. All of her girls through out their morning shift would just gush over how much their boyfriends doted on them during this ridiculous holiday.

Gloria never had that, on Valentine's Day she would get her children ready for school. She would help Julio tape lollipops to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cards he would give out to his classmates and she would tease her son Bennito about the crush he had on one of the girls in school. At night when the boys were asleep Artuto would stumble in with whiskey on his breath.

He would accuse her of cheating and she would do her best to cover the bruises with foundation the next morning. God knows why she volunteered to oversee this party (all she really wanted to do was curl up with the small bottle of hooch she bartered for) but Caputo had specifically requested her. Gloria figured it would be in her best interest not to piss off the assistant warden so she sucked it up.

She had one job and one job only which was to keep the food and drinks flowing. She was surprised by how many cookies these women put away in such a short period of time.

"Hey Maria have you seen Maritza and Flaca, I sent them to go get the extra cookies we made back there?"

Maria shrugged and continued serving. Gloria rolled her eyes and made her way back towards the kitchen. It was dark but her eyes soon adjusted. She could hear muffled groans and followed the sound to see Maritza and Flaca. Maritza's head was between the taller girl's legs and Flaca was struggling to keep quiet. Luckily neither of them spotted Gloria and she slipped away unnoticed.

"Hey did you find them?" Maria asked as Gloria began laying out more cookies

"Yeah Flaca said that Maritza wasn't feeling well so they left early" Maria rolled her eyes, "Oh so they get to leave early"

"Well maybe if you showed up on time you might get to leave early too by the way this is the last batch, I can't make any more because some white girls are fucking in the kitchen"

Maria looked at her puzzled "Wait so why didn't you kick them out?" Gloria shrugged

"It's Valentine's Day plus I owe someone a favor, look don't ask it's a long story." Maria rolled her eyes and continued serving the other women

The next morning Gloria was surprised to find Maritza already in the kitchen prepping for the morning rush. She was usually the last person to show up for work but here she was setting up the food trays.

"So did you have a fun time last night?" Gloria asked as she went to get some eggs

"Oh yeah it was fun I guess, sorry I kind of disappeared, Flaca wasn't feeling too well"

"Right there must be a flu going around and a rash apparently" Maritza looked at her puzzled until Gloria touched the small bite mark on her neck.

"Looks let's cut the bullshit I know about you and Flaca"

Maritza gave her a dark look and folded her arms defensively. "Oh so what Flaca and I are out of the family now. I mean I get it the old heads aren't down with it but I don't care, I love her and nothing is gonna change that."

Gloria started laughing much to the confusion of the younger girl.

"First of all Maritza chill the fuck out this isn't an after school special, look with as much shit as the world throws at you how I or anybody else feels about who you're in love with should be the least of your problems. I know how you feel about her and if you want my advice you should hold onto it because not alot of people are so lucky, myself included"

Maritza looked at her puzzled. "Wait so what's with the third degree?"

"I don't want you or anybody else fucking in my kitchen, just use the chapel like everybody else"

Maritza blushed and chuckled nervously, "You um saw that"

"I'm not a peeping tom and I'm serious I mean we fucking cook here for God's sake" Maritza giggled softly and hugged her. The rest of the women filed in and chatted aimlessly about the various rumors that stemmed from the dance. Gloria would often catch Maritza staring at Flaca with a dreamy expression on her face and as she caught glimpses of the way they would tease each other and the love they held for one another, she came to the conclusion that maybe Valentine's Day wasn't so bad after all.

Authors Note: So I hope you enjoyed as always read and review. Gloria is my favorite character, I like her more than Red and hope she gets to stay in the kitchen. I also think that Maritza is super hot and has a thing for Flaca (that kiss was too passionate for it not to mean something drunk or not) plus I kind of want some gay/bi Latina characters next season. Anyways read and review