I woke up with a start, breathing heavily and trying to gain a sense of where I was laying. I could still feel the cold blade as it had pierced through my skin, leaving a dark crimson to stain my shirt. I felt a shift beside me and suddenly the room was filled with light. I didn't realize I was crying until I was being hushed and wrapped into the strong arms of my Latina girlfriend.
"Bad dream?" she asked as she held me tightly.
"Nightmare," I replied as I listened to the steady heartbeat beating in my ear.
"Want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
"It'll do you some good, but I won't make you talk if you don't want too."
I curled myself closer into the warm body, and sighed heavily. This is the third time this week that I have woken up to a nightmare like the one that I did. She didn't push for an answer, and I think maybe it was time that I did.
"They all begin the same," I whispered as I played with her fingers. "I'm standing in a room with some guy and I can never see his face. I'm always trying to get away from him but I never can. He somehow always catches me and kills me in front of you."
"Oh baby girl," She whispers as she pulls my face to look at her. "It was just a bad dream, no one will hurt you Brittany."
"But the dreams feel so real San."
"I promise nothing bad will happen to you."
"You can't promise that," I whispered as I sat up and slowly got out of bed, making sure to put on one of the robes hanging on the back of the door.
"Britts?" Santana interrupted me before I could walk out the door.
"I just want to go check on the kids. Make sure they are ok."
She gave me a small nod as I walked out of our bedroom and into the hallway. Walking down it quietly, I arrived at the first door and opened it slowly. Our 10 year old son Jeremy lay in bed with his sheets all over the place and one of his feet hanging off the bed. As quietly as I possibly could, I walked over to his bed and put his foot back on the bed. I tucked the blankets back around him and kissed his forehead before walking quietly back out the door and closing it. Jeremy is our oldest child, and biologically mine. He looks like me from the blonde hair and blue eyes to the tall height, but he had his mami's protective nurture, always making sure to look out for his younger siblings.
Coming up to the second bedroom, I carefully eased the door open to my 7 year old son's room. Keaton is my little athlete. He looked a lot like Santana but he is the perfect mixture of both of us. Unlike his older brother, Keaton is laying perfectly still in his bed with the blankets still tucked around him. I kissed his head and padded softly out of the room, making sure that his door was still slightly open. He tried to be the tough athlete all the time but he is still my little boy that is scared of the dark. Hopefully that innocence never leaves him.
The third door held our 4 year old daughters Lena and Alisia. Although they came from me, we also used Santana's eggs so that we wouldn't know who the twins actually belonged too. We did the same with Jeremy and Keaton but those 2 turned out to be identical to San and I while the girls were a perfect mixture of us both. Dirty blonde hair and tanned skin peeked out from under the blankets, making them look like little angels.
"Mama?" Alisia's voice whispered into the room as I tucked Lena into her bed and kissed her head.
"Hey baby girl," I whispered as I sat down beside her. "You should be sleeping."
"Bad dream," Alisia whimpered out as she crawled out of her blankets and into my lap with her stuffed penguin.
"Well let's go to the rocking chair and you can tell me all about it."
Alisia nodded her head as I picked her up into my arms and carried her out of the room so that Lena wouldn't wake up. I bring her back into mine and San's bedroom where we have a rocking chair in front of a fireplace. We had it in our bedroom since moving to this house 5 years ago so that calming the twins at night would be easier. As I sat down in the chair, Alisia cuddled into my chest as I rocked us back and forth. Santana took a seat on the window bench beside me and looked at us with concerned eyes.
"What's wrong baby girl?" Santana asked as she rubbed our daughter's back soothingly.
"Bad dweam mami," Alisia whimpered out, regressing slowly as she stuck her thumb in her mouth and whimpered some more.
"What was your dream about sweetie?" I asked as I continued to rock is softly.
"You hurt, mama," Alisia whimpered out as she started to cry. "You hurt."
"What do you mean Lena?" San questioned as I sat stunned in the rocking chair.
"Mama got hurt. Bad man hurt mama. We bury mama."
At hearing what my daughter had dreamt, tears cascaded down my face. I tried holding them but to no avail they slipped through. I could see tears falling down San's face and knew what she was thinking. Our daughter was dreaming of my accident.
~~~~FLASHBACK (2 weeks before)~~~~
"So what are your plans for today?" San asked as she made sure the boys were buckled up in the backseat.
"Well we have to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. I guess after that we will see what we do," I replied as I watched her finish and come over to me and the girls.
"You girls will be good for mama?" San asked the twins as she bent down to give them both a hug.
"Promise," Lena giggled out happily as she pulled her quieter twin back into the house. I looked at Santana and hugged and kissed her goodbye.
"See you when you get home."
"I'd have it no other way."
"Good. Now go before you are late."
"What are you gonna do if I am?"
"I could do plenty of things but I can't really say any of them in front of innocent ears."
I watched a small smirk grace her lips as she got lost in her thoughts. I gave her a playful smack to her ass before saying goodbye to Keaton and Jeremy and walking back into the house with the twins.
"Alright girls, let's get you two dressed," I stated as Lena and Alisia were sitting on the couch watching cartoons.
"Where we going mama?" Lena asked as she jumped off the couch, Alisia hopping off right beside her and smiling a toothy grin at me.
"Up?" Alisia asked as she reached up to me. I gave a small chuckle before picking her up and bringing her into the twin's bedroom with Lena following right behind.
"Well we have to get you two dressed and then we are going to the bank and grocery store. After that, we can do whatever you girls would like to do," I replied as I started looking through the dressers. "Now what would you like to wear?"
"Dress," Lena stated with glee as she started jumping on her mattress.
"No jumping on your bed princess," I stated as I pulled out one of the yellow sundress from the closet and a pair of leggings. "Now put these on and go get the hair brush." Lena nodded and started taking off her pajamas, switching to the outfit on the bed. Knowing that she was starting to get dressed, I turned to Alisia on her mattress to see what she would like to wear. "Alright baby girl, what would you like to wear?"
Soon after much prompting, Lena and Alisia were dressed and standing by the putting on their shoes. Both girls had their hair in a braid, and where Lena was wearing a yellow sundress, Alisia was wearing a blue t-shirt with a cartoon turtle on it. Both of them were wearing a jean jacket over top.
"Alright girls, let get this show on the road," I stated with a smile as I lead them out of the house and into the garage. Making sure the door was locked; I unlocked the car doors and buckled the girls into their booster seats. I got into the front seat and turned the radio on so the girls could listen to it as we drove. I would usually put the kid's cd on, but because the bank is so close I decided just to put on the radio for now.
Pulling up to the parking lot of the bank, I got the girls out of the booster seats and walked inside with both of them holding onto one of my hands. It wasn't very busy, but there was still a good amount of people in the line. I felt a sudden drop in my stomach, and held on to the girls a little tighter.
"Mama?" Lena called as she looked up at me.
"Yes princess?"
"Can we go to the park after?"
"Is that what you and Alisia want to do this afternoon?"
"Yes please."
"Alright, than after we get groceries we can go to the park."
"Thank you, mama."
"You're very wel-"
"EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND!" A shout sounded before total chaos broke out. People started pushing and shoving, and I found myself pulling the girls behind me to protect them from whatever harm that could happen.
"I SAID ON THE GROUND!" the voice yelled once again as a shot rang out. I felt myself stumble a bit as someone bumped into me in their haste to get on the ground and cover themselves. But it was the coolness of the blade that pierced my skin that made me whimper, and not stumbling into one of the bank robbers. He pulled the blade out and stabbed me again before he shoved me to the ground and ran over to the counter to get the money as his partner walked in front of us with a gun. Lena and Alisia sit beside me, exposed to the two men. I carefully lifted myself up a little bit and quietly told the twins to lay under me and to not move.
"Mama," Lena whimpered out as I hugged her and Alisia close to my body, making sure to cover them well.
"I'm right here princess," I replied softly as I kissed her head and tried to forget about the pain in my abdomen. "I won't let anything happen to you or your sister."
"Bleeding," Alisia whimpered as she touched where that stab wounds were.
"I know baby girl. But right now I need you to play the quiet game. Can you do that for me?"
I felt the two girls nod against my shoulder as I tried to pull myself together and be brave for my girls. They shouldn't have had to see any of this and yet here we are, in the middle of a bank robbery and I might die. I begin to feel a bit dizzy thinking about it, so I peeked my head up to see if anyone was near me at the moment. I caught the eyes of a man and he looked at me with concern as I grimaced at a shot of pain that went through my body. My vision began getting a little clouded, but I kept trying to stay awake for my daughters. I could hear sirens approaching and it gave me a little bit of hope, but not as much as when I felt a vibrating in my pant pocket.
"Alisia," I whispered very quietly for only her to hear me. "I need you to get the phone from mama's pocket. Can you do that for me?"
I felt her nod before feeling her reaching down into my pocket and taking out my phone. "Good girl. Now can you tell me whose name it says?"
"Letter S, mama." The sirens are getting louder and the two robbers are starting to bolt out the door. The man that I looked at before was whispering into a woman's ear and then to a man beside him.
"Alright I need you to press the green button. It's going to be mami, but you need to be very quiet when you are talking to her. Ok baby girl?"
"Ok mama."
Alisia began quietly talking to Santana, and I could feel Lena moving a bit so she could hear her mami's voice as well. There was a loud bang and a crash, and I looked up in time to see the two men that were near me struggling against the bank robbers. Two other men join the scuffle while the woman that the man first talked to, crawled over to me.
"Are you hurt?" The woman asked gently.
"Stabbed in the abdomen but my girls-"
"We need to get pressure on your wound. You have probably lost a lot of blood. I'm going to pull you over to the wall and I will try to slow the bleeding down. We can set your girls right between you and the potted plant so that they are safe."
"Thanks," I stated quietly as I tried to lift myself up a little bit. With the help of the woman, I was able to get both Lena and Alisia to crawl out from under me and sitting by the plant, both of them still talking on the cell. As soon as they were out from under me I felt the strength in my arms give and fell back to the floor, cries from the twins being the last the last thing I heard before darkness overcame.
~~~~End Flashback~~~~
Pulling myself out of the horrible memory, I hugged Alisia close to my body. "I'm right here baby girl. I'm right here and no one can take me away from you."
"Pwomise?" Alisia asked from around her thumb as she looked at me with tears in her eyes.
"I promise."
"Mami?"
"I promise too baby girl," Santana answered as she pulled us both into a hug. We sat like this for what felt like hours, until a cry was heard from another room. I looked up at San and saw her sigh softly.
"I'll go check on Lena. You get Alisia into bed." I nodded my head and stood up with Alisia in my arms. I felt her shift a little bit and look at me with tired, droopy eyes. San walked quietly out of the room to get our other daughter, knowing that she will end up in our bed as well. Almost every night since I got back from the hospital, one or both of the girls would end up in our bed. I walked over to mine and San's bed and sat down on it, settling Alisia under the covers. With a little coaxing, she laid curled up into my side, sleep beginning to take over her small body.
"Mama?" Lena sniffled as she was carried in the room by Santana. "Want mama, mami. Bad dream."
"Hush princess, mama's right here," I replied as Santana sat her on the mattress. Lena crawled over her sister and into my lap, causing Alisia to grunt in discomfort from being crawled on. San sat with her back resting against the headboard, and pulled Alisia closer to her so that I could put Lena down when she fell asleep. "Mami and I won't let anything hurt you."
It didn't take very long for both girls to fall back, and into what was hoped to be, a peaceful sleep. I watched them for a few minutes before looking back up to catch my wife's eyes. I smiled and leaned over the girls so that i could give her a kiss.
"I love you Brittany Susan Lopez-Pierce," she whispered.
"I love you too Santana Diabla Lopez-Pierce," I replied back.
When I woke up the next morning, I smiled as I felt the extra body laying behind me. I looked behind San to see Jeremy laying behind her. Figuring that the boys must have come in a few hours after the girls, I turned onto my back so that I could lift myself to sit against the headboard. After I got comfortable, I felt Keaton snuggle closer into me. A small smile graced my face as thanked the lord for allowing me to live through the bank robbery to have these moments with my family.
