Pierce Family Repairs

by Fever-Induced

Brittany Pierce and her siblings work for their father in a family repair company ranging from handy-work all the way to design. The Lopez household seems to be falling apart with problem after problem arising and the only ones that can handle it all are the Pierces. What happens when Brittany takes a liking to a certain Latina mother of two?

1. Chapter 1

Hello hello my lovely readers!

It's been a couple of months since anyone's really heard from me so I thought I'd start off with a big author's note for y'all to read.

Yes, this is a new story, wow, I know. I bet you're wondering how I can be starting yet another one when I already have so many in progress.. Well that's a question I don't even have an answer for lol. But if you've creeped on my profile page before you would have noticed a section that's designated "nagging ideas" and these are plot lines for stories that have been rolling around in my brain for a while. It happens a lot, and this particular story has been lingering in the back of my mind for a long long time now.

And if you've creeped more recently you may have also notice that I added a poll! If not, go check right now! It's literally asking my followers what they want to see me do next! Someone voted for Pierce Family Repairs so they got it. Another person (or maybe the same person, I can't tell) asked for me to focus on Motocross, which I'm trying. Motocross lost a lot of inspiration since I started it in March of 2012, an entire two years ago. If anyone recalls it was my first ever attempt at Brittana fic and I think overall I bit off more than I could chew at the time. But I'll try to get out another chapter and do the basic plot I wanted to for it since y'all wanna see it. So maybe a chapter for Motocross is next, unless you all vote that you want to see something else.

The options on the poll are for me to focus on the stories already posted; Motocross, Personal Trainer Problems, Cops and Drugs, Class in Session, and Texts From Last Night. Or start those "nagging ideas" mentioned in my profile which are Pierce Family Repairs, Oh The Irony, an untitled songfic, Snapshot, Doctor Doctor, and an untitled story with mechanic!Santana and motocross!Britt. In my profile there are short summaries of what these new stories are about so if you want to see any of them let me know, you're allowed to vote for no more than two options.

Well. With all that said, I'll get on with what you're really looking for, the new story.

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Pairing: (AU) Brittany Pierce & Santana Lopez

Rating: M

Word Count: 6K

Disclaimer: I do now own Glee or any of its affiliated places. I'm writing this purely for entertainment purposes.

A/N: So I'm not entirely sure what inspired me to do a story like this. Details on what's going on in their lives will be a little odd at first, but right off the bat I'll make clear that the main girls are not in high school anymore, they're definitely older than that. Everything else will start a mystery and then slowly fall into place, enjoy reading.

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"Noah!" A raspy voice called through the house. "I hear splashing! What did I tell you about running the bath without me?"

"Mami, I didn't," a young male voice called back. Santana Lopez peered into the bathroom where her five year old son was sitting. In a puddle of water.

"Aye dios mio, Noah. What have you done?" She shook her head, adjusting the sleepy girl on her hip. Santana stepped into the small space, lowering her hand and patting her son on the head, rubbing his neatly trimmed Mohawk, he'd wanted one after looking at old pictures of his father.

"I wanted to sail my boat! But you said I couldn't make a bath by myself, so I used the toilet!" He explained, beaming up at her and flashing a wide grin, dimples and all.

Santana faltered, offering her own small smile. How could she be angry when he was smiling at her like that. "C'mon, you're soaked Mijo, get out of those clothes and get ready for a real bath, okay?"

Noah pouted for a moment but after a firm look from his mother he reluctantly began stripping free of his clothes and fiddling with the knobs for the bath tub now that he had supervision. Santana have his head another pat, before turning her attention to her daughter and giving her chubby cheeks a few kisses to wake her up. "Carmen," she cooed, "Bath time, sweetheart."

The bundle of attitude in her arms squirmed, her tiny fists rubbing at her eyes and then mocha orbs pinched partially shut as she stared at her mother. "Mami," she started, pausing to yawn, "No bath!" the toddler harrumphed.

"Yes bath," her mother cooed, brushing their noses together in an eskimo kiss. The young girl giggled, pushing at Santana's cheeks while smiling. "Sticky little girls and boys need to get cleaned up before bed," the older Latina reminded her daughter, turning her head to feign munching on her hands, "Or the monsters will lick their hands clean at night!"

The little girl squealed and twisted violently while Santana laughed softly and set her on the ground. "No monsters!" Carmen yelled, eyes wide as she looked pleadingly up at her mother.

"Well then it seems like you need to take a bath then, huh?" She smirked as her daughter pouted and wobbled towards the bath tub. Three years old and not incredibly steady on her feet, it worried Santana but mostly because she was paranoid about everything when it came to the two loves of her life.

"Done!"

Santana blinked, turning towards her son to see him beaming at her already sitting in the tub which was filled with water and bubbles. "Good job Mijo," she cooed, "You're a master bath maker! You're gunna teach Carmen someday right?" He nodded vigorously as Santana knelt and helped her daughter out of her dress so that she could join her brother.

Noah was splashing his boat around and when a wave crashed over the side of the tub, onto Santana's lap she scowled, a firm, "Noah," leaving her lips.

The boy froze, turning his attention to his mom, quickly realizing his mistake his lips turned into a sheepish smile. "Sorry Mami, I'll be more careful."

She flashed him a smile, though it quickly turned to a frown when she noticed something missing as she lifted Carmen over the lip and into the warm water. "Hey bud, where'd the other boat go?"

"It sunk," he said cheerily, pushing the boat in his hand towards his sister who tried to grab at it.

Santana scrunched her eyebrows together. "Mijo, where did it sink?"

"The ocean!" He told her, eyes bright and shining as he went on, "There was a super huge storm and it got too much water and it sunk to the ocean floor like blub-blub blub" he demonstrated with his current toy, before pulling it above the water and rocking it on the surface, "The rescue boat didn't make it to help."

Santana narrowed her eyes, tilting her head to the side. "We haven't been to the ocean," she murmured, eyeing him warily.

He rolled those eyes in a fashion so similar to her usual eye roll, that it had her heart clenching, "Duh, Mami. It's pretend! Don't be silly." His laughter was contagious and it got Carmen giggling too.

But Santana still knelt at the edge, chewing her lip thoughtfully. After a few minutes her dark eyes turned towards the toilet in the corner, surrounded by a puddle. She groaned and crawled over, peering into the bowl to find the tip of a mast pointing out from the bottom. "Oh, Noah," she sighed, returning to her kids to start with their soapy rub-down. "You can't shove things in the toilet like that okay? You know it doesn't belong there. If you want to sink your ships you have to wait until bath time so that they don't get stuck anywhere."

"Bad Noah!" Carmen called out, giggling as Santana scrubbed under her armpit.

The boy pouted up at his mom and she gave a half-smile back at him. "Don't worry, bud, just don't do it again. I'll try and get it out later." He slowly smiled back at her and she ruffled his hair. "Now let's get this shaggy squirrel washed!" She teased, pouring water over his head causing his to spit out water as he laughed.

"It's not shaggy!" he squealed, batting away his mother's hands as she rubbed shampoo into his hair, so that he could do it himself. "Daddy just took me to cut it, you know that!"

"Oh, yes," she drew out the words dramatically. Santana turned her attention to her daughter, asking her to tilt her head back, and cupped the girl's eyes pouring a few cups of water over her head to wet her hair. "I remember. He brought you home with a tummy ache because you ate too much ice cream."

Noah flashed a proud smile and she laughed at him, scratching her fingertips against Carmen's scalp and rubbing the shampoo deep into her hair. "It was so good Mami! We need to go again soon!"

She rolled her eyes good naturedly, "Sure, Mijo, maybe this weekend. We can all go to the park and go on the swings, then grab some ice cream. You too, Mija."

Both children threw their hands up and cheered, talking about the flavors they wanted right away, making their mother laugh. "Alright, alright, calm your tiny tushes. We've got plenty of time to decide."

The rest of the bath went by quickly, laughing and splashing together like the happy family they are. Santana was toweling off Carmen and letting the tub drain when a set of giggles drew her attention to her damn sun, butt-naked and dashing out of the bathroom. "Get back here you little punk!" She called over her shoulder, "You didn't brush your teeth!"

"Hold on Mami!"

Santana rolled her eyes, leaning down and tilting her daughter's head to meet her eye, whispering, "You better listen better than he does when you're five." The girl just giggles, her smile straining her chubby cheeks.

Noah comes skidding to a halt in the doorway, hands on his hips and dressed ridiculously. Santana can't contain her laughter at the sight. His Mohawk was sticking up in all different places and the mask on his face was crooked. "Batman huh?" She giggled, raising an eyebrow.

Noah pumped his arms into the air, saying, "Heck yeah!" He grabbed the edge of the cape and pulled it around to obscure half of his face and growled from behind it, "I am a symbol of fear."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Your father is letting you watch too many movies."

Noah grins and saunters through the bathroom past his mother, who pinches his butt right on the bright yellow bat symbol, making him squeak, "Mami stop! I'm brushin' my teeth!"

"Good," she says between giggles, wrapping Carmen in the towel and hoisting her into the air and announcing, "Pajamas!" The brunette toddler grinned down at her mother and Santana's heart never failed to warm at the sight.

Little Carmen Lopez wiggled her arms out of her towel and held them out. Santana acquiesced the silent plea and pulled the little girl into her arms, hugging her tight as she walked out of the bathroom. "Get those back molars, Mijo," she reminded him, hearing a small grunt in return.

Once in Carmen's room, Santana playfully tossed the girl onto the bottom bunk, tickling her pudgy tummy. When the toddler could barely manage to push at her mother's hands and her face was red from laughing so hard, Santana relented, smiling and content with her life. She pulled away, waltzing to the dresser asking, "Which PJs baby-girl?

"Tinkerbell!" Was the instantaneous, though breathless, reply.

Santana chuckled softly and rifled around the assortment of clothes until she found the large purple t-shirt with the fair emblazoned on the front. "Alright, arms up!" When her daughter followed the hint, Santana swooped over and slipped the top onto her tiny form, giving her cheek a smooch after it popped through the collar. "Now run along to your brother so he can help you brush your teeth." Carmen was already on the floor running, before Santana could finished, she sighed, calling out, "Don't run! And watch the water in the bathroom!" She smirked to herself, hearing her daughter's footsteps soften to a walk.

Santana pulled back the sheets on the top and bottom bunks so that her kids could climb right in when they were done. Afterwards she sat on the bottom bunk, Carmen's and played with the small teddy bear in her hands. It used to be hers and then it was Noah's and he gave it to Carmen shortly after she was born, it had brought tears to her eyes watching her son hand over his most precious stuffed animal. Especially since it had been nearly an entire month of him throwing tantrums from not being the center of attention any more until he came to the conclusion himself that she was there to stay. There had been a transition that Santana had watched, the tipping point being when he cuddled into bed with her and his month old baby sister, clutching the teddy bear to his chest and quietly whispering, "Car, your turn," and gently pressing the fuzzy animal against the baby's chest. She had immediately latched onto his tan hand, gripping it with her pink fingers and his round hazel eyes had turned to Santana wide with fear. But she'd just cooed at the baby, "Carmen, say hi to Noah, he's your big brother." Carmen had simply gargled and tugged his hand towards her mouth.

Santana sniffled softly, rubbing at her damp eyes. Now her babies were growing up so fast. They barreled into the room seconds later, drawing her attention upwards just in time for them to catapult themselves onto the bed with her. She play wrestled them until she was pinned beneath both bodies and sighed in defeat. "Now that you've beaten up your mom, I guess it's time to go to bed, huh?" She was answered with only giggles and cuddles.

As tempting as it was for Santana to lay there and fall asleep, she had cleaning up to do. "C'mon, mi bebes, time for bed." There were some disapproving groans, but Santana playfully wrestled her son into her arms while Carmen giggled at them. Once Noah was up the ladder and diving under the sheets Santana carefully tucked her daughter into her bright pink sheets. "Goodnight Carmen," she whispered, pecking her baby girl on the lips, "I love you."

"I love you too, Mami," she whispered back, tugging the sheet up so that it covered half of her face.

"Sweet dreams," Santana murmured, running her palm over her daughter's hair before straightening up. She climbed the first few rungs on the ladder and grinned at Noah. "You know you can't sleep in that," she told him, tugging on the cape. The young boy sighed, unlatching the collar around his neck and carefully draping it over the edge of his bed. "This too," Santana said with a soft laugh, plucking the mask off his face. "Are you warm enough Mijo?"

The boy in question dove back under his sheets, peeking his head out to flash a lopsided grin, saying, "Yeah."

"You sure?" she eyed him warily. It was the summer, yes, but she knew the house ran a little cool. But her son nodded vehemently and she chuckled, tucking the Justice League sheets round him more securely. "Alright, Noah. Goodnight son, I love you."

Noah relaxed against his pillow and Santana couldn't stop herself from peppering his cheeks with a few more kisses after the nightly goodnight kiss on the lips. He laughed quietly and she pressed a final one to his forehead, ruffling his mohawk. "I love you too, Mami," he whispered leaning up and kissing her cheek.

Santana offered him a sweet smile before climbing down. She paused in the door frame a finger on the light-switch and murmured, "Sleep tight bebes." Then flicked the switch and closed the door quietly behind her.

Regretfully she had to go to the bathroom and fix the problem that Noah had created. She rubbed at her temple and peered into the bowl. With a sigh she searched for her phone, dialing a number that had been memorized many long years ago. It went through on the fourth ring and Santana was met with a somewhat irritated voice.

"Yo, San, what's wrong? You know I'm at work."

"Yeah, I know Puckerman. Just thought you'd like to know what your son did before bath time,"

"I don't have time for whatever cute shit he did right now, I'm going to get in trouble. And he's your son too, remember that," he huffed.

"Not when he does shit like this, he inherited your stupidity I swear. He sunk one of his toy boats in the fucking toilet and it's stuck. What the fuck am I supposed to do now?"

A loud groan, "Fuck really?" Puck sighed, and Santana could see him pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "You have to use a plunger to un-clog it."

"A plunger… Do we even have one of those?"

"We do, Santana, it's under the freaking sink."

"Oh, right, yep there it is," she mumbled, pulling it out from exactly there. She eyed it warily for a quiet moment. "So.. how do I plunge?"

"Wow, no. Don't do it, I'll give a call to the local repair company and they can do it for you."

"What? No way, Puck, I can unclog a toilet! I'm not wasting a ton of money to have some creep ass-hat come into my home with my sweet babies here."

"Fine, fine," he sighed, "Just call me back when you're done so I know things went smoothly alright?"

"Yeah sure, talk to you soon."

"Uh-huh."

After they hung up and Santana tucked the phone into her back pocket she stood in front of the toilet and stared down into the bowl. After a glance to the plunger she shrugged and shoved it down. "How hard can this be?" She muttered to herself, attempting to dislodge the stupid toy boat.

Ten minutes later Puck got another phone call, this time from a frantic Santana screaming over the sound of rushing water. "You broke the toilet?!" He nearly screamed.

"It wouldn't fucking come out! And the plunger snapped and I tried yanking it out and it all just kinda fell apart!" She screamed right back. The initial loud noise of the toilet cracking and shooting water had woken the kids up, and they were currently lingering by the door jam, watching their mother with worried eyes.

"Calm down! Grab towels and a mop to clean up the water, I'm calling the repair guy to see if he can make it over tonight. Hopefully you didn't fuck it up too bad."

"Gee thanks Puck," she snarled.

"You're welcome," he said firmly before hanging up on her.

Santana deflated, her shoulders sagging as she turned away from the toilet. "Oh," she let out a surprised gasp when she realized the kids were standing there. "Hey guys," she said softly.

"Did I break the toilet," Noah whispered, his wide hazel eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"Oh, no, Mijo," she whispered, kneeling down at his feet and taking his hand. She chuckled quietly, "Your silly Mami thought she could fix it by herself. But she forgot, she doesn't know a thing about toilets!" He cracked a small smile at that. "But your dad called someone to come and fix it for us, hopefully they can do it tonight."

He perked up at the mention of his father. "Is he coming home too?"

Santana chewed on her lip, "He's not."

"Oh, okay," the little boy sounded displeased. Of course he would be, every little boy's father was his hero.

"Can you go to the linen closet and get me the mop?" She asked him, poking his stomach. "And you," she grinned at sleepy eyed Carmen, "Can you pick Mami out some PJ's? These are soggy again," she made a grossed out face, sticking her tongue out for full effect. With her children giggling and scampering off to do as she requested, Santana peeked over her shoulder at the mess she had made.

Her phone chimed, signaling a new text message. With the swipe of her finger she let out a relieved sigh, thankfully the repair guy was available. She narrowed her eyes at the screen. "Pierce Family Repairs," she murmured to herself. It sounded familiar. As she read further she realized why, they were the local family that basically made repairs their own home business, all the kids worked with the father. It was kind of charming that they worked together well enough to do that, instead of being one big dysfunctional mess.

With nimble fingers she shot a gracious thank you back to Puck, and a reminder that she wasn't angry at him, her attitude was because of the situation. It wasn't an outright apology for being nasty to him, but it was as good as he'd get. Within moments he was sending another text, telling her that it would only take fifteen minutes for them to come over, and that she shouldn't do anything other than turn off the main water valve.

Of course, Puck got an incoming phone call as soon as she read that. "Where the fuck is it?" she asked frantically.

He paused, scratching his head in thought. "Good question, San."

"Puck!" She nearly screeched, waiving her free hand in the air frantically. "I don't want the damn house to flood, c'mon, you should know this stuff!"

"So should you!" He huffed, shaking his head. "But it should be in the main closet by the door. You know, the one with practically everything?"

"Right. Yeah, I knew that. Thanks Puck." She hung up quickly, nearly barreling over Noah in her haste to get to the closet. She was pulling out the vacuum and trying to lean into the furthest part of the overstuffed closet when the doorbell rang.

With a huff Santana blew strings of wet hair out of her face, sticking her tongue out at Carmen who giggled at her. She tripped over herself trying to come back out of the closet, knocking over the vacuum, and called out, "Just a second!" to the repair man as she caught herself from face-planting, so it came as more of a high-pitched squeak.

After a few more moments of fumbling around she weaseled her way to open the door. When the wood swung back to reveal three people instead of one, Santana took a step back, blinking at them all. "Oh, I wasn't expecting so many people, hi." She offered a small smile.

"Yep," the middle aged man standing front and center spoke first, "With Pierce Family Repairs you get at least two people to come over, we just happened to have a third available this time. All my sons have picked up a single specialty of mine, but Britt here has a knack for all of it," he said proudly, patting his daughter on the shoulder.

Santana's eyes flickered between the three of them. Damn, the Pierces were one heck of a good looking family! It momentarily distracted the Latina, who stood there silent for an awkward moment, before she snapped out of it. "Right, well, thank you so much for coming over as fast as you did. It's kind of a mess already, I was just trying to shut off the main water valve," she explained, ushering for them to enter.

"No worries, it's not that big of a hike. Do you mind if Brent goes and takes a look at the bathroom?"

"Yeah sure, it's just around the corner," she stepped through the kitchen to point it out and the shortest of the three blondes saluted her before heading that way with a grin. Santana turned to the other two, smiling awkwardly.

The eldest offered his hand, "James Pierce, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you too Mr. Pierce," she nodded, shaking his hand firmly before turning to Brittany, saying, "I'm―"

"Santana Lopez," the blonde finished for her, grinning as she shook hands firmly, "I know who you are."

Instantaneously the smile vanished from Santana's face, a low, "Oh," escaping her mouth before she could stop herself. Of course she was known, it was all over town that she got pregnant at eighteen and it was a no wonder that Brittany was aware, they did look to be around the same age.

"Yeah, you were a main factor in bringing the Cheerios a lot of their championships," she continued, as if Santana's reaction hadn't happened even though she gave a gentle squeeze to the Latina's hand before finally dropping it. "Well, I wasn't really there personally or anything, but the papers wrote about it all the time and I heard it from your peers here and there." The blonde gave a sheepish smile, "If I had gone to McKinley instead of being homeschooled I probably would have joined the squad."

"And the Decathlon Team too, you little genius," came the snarky reply of her brother as he rounded the corner. Brent shifted his attention to his dad, saying, "It's a mess in there. I'll grab some tools." He nudged his sister in the ribs as he passed her, telling her, "Quit the chit chat and get that valve shut off too!" before he was headed out the front door.

"Right," Brittany and her father exchanged a look. She turned to Santana, "Where is it?"

"I'm gunna make sure he knows what he's doing, excuse me," James excused himself before following his son out the door.

Santana sighed, closing the door behind the men and jerking her thumb at the previously hidden mess. "Through there," she admitted. Brittany took a moment to size it up before she began clearing away a few things. "Here let me help," Santana insisted, squeezing her way into the space to help. Which she should have thought through, because once they had moved enough things around for Brittany to reach the valve the blonde still had to stretch into the back of the closet. It made for a very tight fit with Santana standing there with her.

Brittany grunted softly, twisting the rusty piece of metal until the pipes rattled and the flow of water was cut off. Once done she swiveled her head to face the Latina, finally realizing how cramped it was in the closet. She straightened up, brushing against the shorter woman only to hear her let out a hiss. "Sorry," she murmured.

"No, I'm just really wet."

"What?" the blonde asked, eyes wide.

Santana, realizing her slip, shook her head, "My clothes! From the water everywhere, I'm kind of drenched."

"Oh," Brittany laughed quietly, "Right."

"Britt you out of the closet yet?" The blonde in questioned rolled her eyes and the two women shuffled awkwardly out of the closet until they could see Brent standing there a smug little smile on his face. "Oh, there you are!" He feigned surprise. "Hi Santana."

"Stop being such a dweeb," Brittany mumbled, tip toeing over the boxes. Hearing something get knocked over she spared a glance over her shoulder to see Santana wide eyed and holding a box that was upside down. She raised an eyebrow.

"I caught it.. but it was already upside down.." Santana flashed a lopsided smile, which had the other two laughing quietly. Brittany extended her hand, and after setting the now empty box on the ground, Santana accepted the help to clamber over the rest of the boxes. "Thanks."

"No problem." They smiled at one another for a moment before they were interrupted by a soft voice.

"Mami?"

The Latina whipped her head around to see Carmen standing there, PJs still grasped in her tiny hands. "Hi there, babygirl," she cooed, flashing a quick smile to the Pierce siblings before going to her child and crouching before her.

"Your jammies," the young girl announced, pushing them into her mom's hands.

"Thanks bebe," Santana murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Carmen settled her hands on Santana's knees, looking past her at the strangers. It took only a second of silent before she spoke again, "They're pretty," mocha eyes clashed and Santana smiled fondly.

"Yes they are, sweetheart. They're here to fix the toilet, that's Brittany and her brother Brent, say hi."

The tiny girl squinted at the blondes for a long moment. Brittany was waving and smiling brightly while Brent stood at his sister's side awkwardly. "Goodnight," she said instead, turning on her heel to head back to the bedroom.

Flabbergasted and embarrassed, Santana looked between her guests and the retreating form of her daughter. "I'm―Wow―Sorry, she's usually a lot more sociable," the brunette rubbed the back of her neck, "But she's a little cranky, getting woken up by a broken toilet and all."

Brittany nodded in understanding, "No biggie. You should get changed though, don't want to be wet much longer without doing anything about it." The two women exchanged subtle smirks, even as Santana's flared with heat.

Though not subtle enough, since Brent found the need to interject, with a drawn out, "Right. Britt, let's get to work okay?"

With the Pierce siblings headed to the bathroom for some damage control, Santana slinked away to change. She peeked into her kids' room first and saw Carmen had tucked herself back into bed, but Noah was sitting on top of his bunk as if waiting. "What's up?" She asked him.

The boy leaned his arms against the railing, causing his mother to step forward, brain already processing what to do if he fell. "I heard talking."

"Yeah, dad sent people over to fix the toilet."

He beamed, "Can I say hi?"

"Let them work first and if you're still awake, yes." Noah pouted slightly. "Hey now, none of that nonsense, you're not even supposed to be awake right now." She waggled a finger in his direction until he relented with a sigh and flopped backwards into his pillow. "Try to sleep though, Mijo."

He merely grunted in reply and Santana chuckled under her breath before closing their door. Santana could see Brent was using the discarded mop to clean up the soaked floor, and someone else was bent over leaving Santana conflicted because she couldn't remember which Pierce was wearing those pants, but they seemed to have a really nice ass. Her confusion was ended when the ass accidentally backed up into Brent and he scowled, slapping the wet end of the mop against it, causing an irritated Brittany to whirl around with heated eyes.

"Can you not?" she practically hissed, eyes narrowed into a firm glare.

The short haired blonde raised one hand in defense, "Calm yourself, I slipped."

Brittany glared at him a moment longer until a chuckle drew both Pierce's attention out to where Santana stood. The Latina stilled and wrung the pajamas in her hands for a moment before offering a half-smile and lowering her head as she ducked into her room.

After quickly toweling off and ringing out her hair, Santana pulled on the plaid pants her daughter had picked out, but ignored the brightly pattered top that didn't match. Instead she grabbed a t-shirt, then tied her hair up into a bun, before peeking out of the bedroom door into the nearby bathroom.

"What's the diagnosis?" She asked, gaining the attention of all three Pierces.

James weaseled his way out of the small space and approached her with a smile, saying, "Unfortunately you'll need a new toilet."

Her features fell immediately, "What why?"

He chuckled low in his throat, "Well, Ms. Lopez in your attempt to unclog the toilet it actually cracked, most likely due to age. But it happened in more than one place which is why there was so much water when it began to leak." He noticed the way her face continued to fall, and reached out to put a hand on her shoulder in a comforting fatherly way, "It's not a problem though, just the toilet has been compromised, from what I can tell the piping is fine. So we'll just remove the toilet and cap off the pipes until you can buy a new one. Give a call and I can even put it in for ya if ya'd like."

Santana smiled gratefully, "Well, that's better than having to redo my entire bathroom," she said with a laugh. When there was no reply right away, her laughter trailed off, eyes darting to the two children behind him, Brent looking awkward yet again and Brittany chewing her bottom lip. "Wait," she looked back at James, "Do I?"

He offered a sympathetic look, "You should re-tile the floor." At her questioning look he cleared his throat and continued, "Granted, the water wasn't sitting for long but this isn't exactly the newest house on the block and I wouldn't take any chances with it, mold can grow and that's not something anyone wants, but especially with your young company, it's better to be safe rather than sorry."

Santana squirmed at the subtle mention of her children and nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I agree completely." She wrung her hands, eyebrows scrunching and creasing her forehead, "Until this gets fixed we won't have a bathroom. What am I supposed to do until then?"

James took off his cap and rubbed the top of his head, "Sit tight? Use a friend's?"

Santana rubbed her thumb and forefinger against her forehead and exhaled slowly. "I suppose something can be arranged." She shrugged her shoulders around and looked at the older man again, asking, "So what's next?"

"First decision, you can have us back tomorrow or we stay here for a little while and rip out the toilet.

Santana frowned. Letting them keep working would mean one less night of not having a toilet but the kids wouldn't be able to stay asleep through the racket and be cranky all night and through tomorrow. The Latina rubbed at her forehead again before relenting, she sighed and dropped her shoulders, "I guess you should just come back tomorrow."

"You sure, kiddo?"

Santana smiled softly and pulled her hair down, running her fingers through it while she spoke, "Yeah, it's a little late. We can survive for a bit without use of the bathroom."

"All the water is out of commission for now, until we get the toilet capped off, but we'll come bright and early to do that."

Santana nodded, looking a little defeated though. The Pierces gave her fond smiles and began to file towards the front door. Brittany paused, lingering by Santana, and reached out, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's not too bad. I'll make sure he give you the discount," she told the woman with a bright grin.

The Latina laughed softly, "Thanks."

The two of them headed for the door. But after a few steps, Brittany couldn't help but shyly admit, "I thought you had a son." It had the brunette freezing, and when Brittany realized the woman was no longer beside her she turned and looked at her, features soft and apologetic. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's alright. I know how news gets around. I was the biggest gossip in high school, head cheerleader gets pregnant from football player boyfriend, it had practically been a headline in the paper for how much people talked about it." Santana sighed yet again and offered the barest of smiles to the blue eyed woman. "You're right though, I do have a son. Puckerman and I had a little baby boy, a happy little accident that I would never take back. I'm sure you know the story."

Brittany sheepishly looked away, hands in the pockets of her pants and nodded. "Yeah, it's hard to ignore town gossip." She risked a glance up at Santana's face and found her staring back with an expectant look on her face. Brittany swallowed thickly before lowering her eyes to the ground between them. "I know you and Noah Puckerman had been dating at the time but trying to raise your son apparently something happened and you guys decided not to be together anymore?" It sounded more like a question, rather than admittance to what she knew, as she made eye contact again.

Santana nodded in affirmative and Brittany released a small breath. The brunette crossed her arms and straightened her back, continuing the story the woman had begun, "Puck and I raised our son, Noah," Brittany smiled slightly at this information, and the way Santana's eyes lit up at the mention of her son. "We did it together for a while, until we realized that the relationship we had wasn't really what it used to be. We weren't meant to be to be together, it was more familial than anything. Like brother and sisterly love, y'know?" She didn't wait for an affirmative, merely blazed on. "Puck was still cleaning pools at the time and things were really hard for us. We both tried dating people, but nobody wants to get involved with someone with so much baggage to handle. Then one day, Noah's two, spending time with my parents for the weekend, and Puck's over and we're drowning our sorrows in beer and crying over how terrible things were. In a stupid haze of misery and alcohol we wound up in bed together and I landed another bun in the oven. Voila, nine months later we have little Carmen on our hands. She's the ball of sweetness who you so graciously met earlier."

"You love her," Brittany said with a soft smile.

"Of course," Santana replied with an equally soft smile. "They're the best things that have ever happened to me."

"And Puck?"

Santana couldn't help but roll her eyes, "I wouldn't be able to do it without the moron."

"Where is he now?" She asked with an inquisitive tilt of the head.

"Why don't we save that for tomorrow?" Santana suggested with a smirk.

Brittany giggled quietly, bobbing her head up and down. "Deal. Hey, maybe Carmen won't be as grumpy," she grinned.

Santana laughed under her breath, "Yeah, we can only hope."

They paused at the door, Santana leaning against the edge of the wood, hand wrapped on the doorknob while Brittany hovered in the arch of the doorway. "So," the blonde started, awkwardly elongating the word. The Latina quirked an eyebrow and Brittany's cheeks flushed softly as she shifted on her feet. "Well, what time do you want us to come over tomorrow?"

Santana chuckled quietly, resting her temple against the cool wood. "Well, the little monsters wake up early all the time so whenever your family wants to drop in go ahead."

Brittany nodded swiftly and backed up a few steps, "Alright then, I'll see you bright and early tomorrow. Bye Santana."

Santana gave a small wave and smile to the blonde, calling out, "Bye Pierce."

The blonde threw a short glare over her shoulder and Santana laughed before directing her eyes passed the woman. She could see Brent lazily propped up against the side of their pickup truck and waved at him, earning a dopey smile in return. Santana rolled her eyes before closing the front door and clicking the lock into place. With a tired sigh she slunk back into the house, exhausted and entirely ready to fall into bed.

---

On a side note, we all know what Brittany and Santana look like, Heather Morris and Naya Rivera, obviously. I've picked actors for the brothers and I'll put pictures up on my Tumblr as they pop up in the story.

But, that's the end of Chapter One! Let me know if you want to see more, or if this is a horrible, horrible idea.