"I don't want to go" She sniffles, the palm of one podgy hand wiping roughly across her blotchy red face.
"I know, Gracie. I know" you reply, crouching down to face her. You tuck a stray blonde curl behind her ear, insides knotting at the sight of her tear streaked face.
"I don't even really like the bath!" She huffs, an exasperated expression etching its way through her tiny face. "My hair gets all sticky in my eyes and my feet get slippery and I fall over and hit my-" She stops, another hiccup robbing her lungs of the breath that it would take to finish her sentence.
"Baby," you whisper. "I am so sorry, your mummy made me bring you-"
"Santana." Brittany warns firmly, still standing upright behind you.
You grit your teeth, refuse to look at your wife and take a deep breathe.
This was a ridiculous idea in the first place. No one needs to know how to swim, you reason. Who seriously needs to know how to swim? Swimming is for old women and fish. That is it. That should be it.
But not in Brittany's world. After weeks of intense debate and heated discussions, that always end in you giving in because Brittany's hand has worked its way magically under your tank top, you finally agreed to enrol your horrified four year old into swimming lessons for beginners. And you haven't heard an end to it since.
"Grace, look at me," you urge, putting your finger on your girls chin to bring her big blue eyes, that are currently locked on her mummy's in a fierce battle of wills, back down to meet yours. "I promise it will be fine. They won't make you do anything you don't want to do. If the lady is mean to you, you yell for me straight away, okay? You just shout out for your Mami and I will come straight in, is that a deal? Will you be brave for me, darling?" You ask, extending your pinky.
She blinks once, raises one hand up to have a thumb to suck, and grabs the other hand around your pinky, every finger hanging on for dear life.
"There's my girl" You smile, pride bubbling up and over into your voice. Her eyes light up because she knows how happy you are with her and for a moment you can't quite believe how lucky you are to have someone who adores you as much as she does.
Practically glowing, you turn around and go to give Britt a triumphant smile, but her eyes are fixed on Grace, giving her the biggest grin you have ever seen. If possible, you love her a little bit more.
You scoop up your daughter easily, her body relaxing into your shoulder and her head coming up to nuzzle into your neck. You can feel fear beginning to seep back into her bones as they stiffen up, so you grip her harder, letting her know that her Mami is here.
As you approach the edge of the changing rooms, you look down to see her bottom lip starting to wobble. You can almost watch as the noise of squealing children drifts into Grace`s little head, terrifying her beyond anything that we are able to experience as adults.
You reach the arched doorway that signals the end of the changing rooms and the start of the swimming pool, so you come to a halt, poking your head around the corner to see if you can see anyone to point you in the right direction.
The pool is separated into six different sections, all going width ways. Up one end, a man who must be in his mid-twenties, looks vaguely hung over as he grins dopily at his collection of 10 boys, all around 11 years of age. He stands on the side of the pool, bouncing a ball as the boys all stare up at him, awaiting instruction that he begins to give animatedly. He runs forwards and backwards over the breadth of his section of the pool, skidding and sliding to a halt every so often as he gives his orders. Laughter shakes through his class as he twists and turns. The instructions end with a particularly large bounce of the ball that he does not catch, causing it to land with a splash in the middle of the pool. He pumps his fist in happiness as you wonder briefly how people like him are allowed to be classified as grownups.
Clearly not in agreement, you hear a soft snort of laughter from Brittany behind you.
Rolling your eyes, your gaze travels the rest of the pool, noticing that the rest of the teachers are all friendly looking females.
The children in the classes get smaller and smaller as your eyes make their way further along the pool, until you settle on the very end section. A few bouncing toddlers are spinning round on their backs, floats clutched to their rounded tummy's, faces lit up with a childlike glee that you often see in Grace`s face when you tickle the bottoms of her feet.
One middle aged woman with short brown hair sits on the side, observing the children with a glowing expression that would make you think that she was looking at something far more advanced than a few three and four year olds floating on their back.
Another younger girl bobs about in the pool, her blonde hair scraped back into a pony tail that she waves about dramatically when one boy gets a face full of water, in an attempt to prevent the onslaught of tears that even you can feel coming.
Amazingly, her attempts work.
Spotting you, the middle aged lady calls to the blonde girl and points in your direction, turning her point into a wave as her face breaks into an even wider smile that shows all of her teeth. She is looking directly at Grace but her gaze flitters up to you occasionally.
Grace stares back, the corners of her mouth tugging up slightly.
The blonde girl catches your eye and greets you with an equally friendly smile, hers slightly more adolescent in comparison to the motherly glow coming from the older lady.
You smile back as she clambers out of the pool, jumps to her feet and begins to waddle over to you like a penguin, earning squeals of laughter from most people in the pool, including Grace and Brittany.
After flashing a wink back at her class, she turns to face the three of you, pushing escaped pieces of hair back onto her head. She looks incredibly friendly and you falter for a moment, forgetting that some people have friendliness come so natural to them.
It was her job, you suppose.
"So who have we got here then?" She smiles, addressing Grace directly.
"Grace Marie Lopez-Pierce" Grace says, as her thumb is tugged out of her mouth with a pop.
"She is a little bit nervous" You inform the girl, your barriers immediately coming up to see how she will handle the thing that means most to you.
"Oh no, that's not good! Well, I`ll tell you what, Grace Marie Lopez-Pierce, do you want make a deal with me?"
"It depends…." Grace mumbled, shyness causing a red to tinge at her cheeks.
"Well, how about we go over there, sit on the side, watch the other boys and girls play for a while and when you think that it looks enough fun, you can join in?"
I felt Grace nod into my neck, but her arms stayed firmly dug into my shoulder.
"How about if I let mummy take you onto poolside and sit for a minute with us?"
You stiffen and you feel Brittany do the same next to you.
You can feel the blonde girl looking straight at you as you close your eyes for a second, waiting for her to say it….
"That's not my mummy, silly"
Confusion knots in the young girls eyebrows and her mouth opens as if she is about to say something.
"That's my mummy" She says confidently, pointing at Brittany. "This is my Mami" Grace giggles, poking her finger into your chest, sighing as if she cannot see how this girl can be so silly as to assume you are her Mummy when you are so clearly a Mami.
Realisation clicks in the girls face as she spots Brittany, for the first time.
"I see" She nods, this news seeming not to faze her in the slightest.
Brittany coughs awkwardly behind you as a moment of silence passes. You feel her hand come down to rest on your back reassuringly.
"Well how about you Mummy and your Mummy come on with you? Would that be a good idea?"
Nice save, kid. Nice save.
"Yes!" Beams Grace, nodding enthusiastically.
Entirely unprepared for this, you open your mouth, ready to make up an excuse, but with a glance behind you to the jubilant smile on Brittany`s face, the words die on your lips.
Sighing, you smile sheepishly and let yourself be tugged forward by the blonde girl, ready to turn your little girl into a little fish.
Authors note: I am not sure if this is any good, let me know if you would like me to carry it on! Thanks