Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 68th cycle. Now cycle 69!

"Keep to the Shadows"
(Older) (Quinn &) Santana/Brittany, Claudia (OC)
Trinity series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Santana did not like having people come up to touch her belly. If they asked, she might be inclined to agree, but she'd had so many of them either ask and not wait for an answer before going for it, or not even asking at all, that Brittany was sure the next one who tried it would end up kicked in the gut.

She was still grumbling about the last one as they headed in to the restaurant that day. Hopefully this lunch would help to cheer her up again. Claudia had been out of town for days, off on some conference across the country, and now she was back, so of course they had to invite her to lunch and find out how it had gone.

They were getting so close to it now, their baby being born, and for how aggravated Santana would get over the breach of personal space she had to endure, it was barely a blip in the grand scheme of things. She was anxious for the birth of their child, and not only because of how uncomfortable she could get, so close to the end. They would talk about what it would be like, to hold that little person in their arms, knowing it would be theirs. It would be the product of all their years together, from their beginnings in Lima, to their growth in Boston, and then the fruition of New York.

"Look, here she comes," Brittany tapped Santana's arm and she looked up in time to spot the short woman breezing through the door and walking up to meet them. "Hi!" Brittany stood to greet her.

"I didn't keep you waiting?" Claudia asked, moving to say hello to Santana. "Please, don't get up, look at you," she smiled.

"How was the conference?" Santana asked, once they were all sat again. Claudia took a breath, drinking from the glass of water in front of her before she could reply.

"It was fine, it was… You know these things are never exactly exciting, it's mostly about being away, the hotel, the sights… And I didn't even get to see all that much," she shrugged.

"Were there a lot of people you knew there?" Brittany asked, and Claudia turned to her.

"Well I…"

"I remember last time you went on about how you'd run into that friend of yours from med school?"

"Right, no, no one I knew this time," she denied.

"Bet you're glad to be back home then," Santana put in, and Claudia gave her a smile.

"Yes. But, really, there wasn't anything all that interesting to share about this one, so come on you two, how are things here? Santana?" she asked her as both friend and doctor.

"I've been a good girl," she vowed. "Been taking it very easy since the bed rest. Not like she'd let me do it any other way," Santana turned a smirk to her wife, who smiled with nothing short of pride.

"Everything's ready, the nursery… All it needs is a baby."

"And that shouldn't be much longer," Santana added. "On that note, I need to go to the bathroom… again," she stood and waddled off. Brittany watched her go, waiting as patiently as she might have while they were off on a Trinity job. As soon as the bathroom door shut behind Santana, she turned to Claudia.

"So the baby shower…" she asked. "I know I'm not supposed to know about it, but Catalina slipped, so…"

"I can't tell you about that," Claudia shook her head. "It's supposed to be for both of you, remember?"

"I know, but I'm not the one who's pregnant," Brittany pointed out.

"It's still your baby, too," Claudia insisted.

"Yeah," Brittany had that smile, that giddy twist of the lips she got whenever she thought about the child. It had been their salvation in these difficult months since Quinn's death, and that notion was not lost on her or Santana. "But it's been harder on Santana than it's been for me, so I want to be part of it, to do something special for her."

"The best you can do is to be by her side all this time, and you've done that. The shower is off limits, got it?" Claudia gave a pointed look.

"Yes, Mama," Brittany laughed. Claudia bowed her head, like her mind had flown off elsewhere. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Nothing," Claudia shook her head.

"You look like you just saw a ghost," Brittany wouldn't let it go.

"No, really, it's just… Sometimes I think about Lucas and I, whether we would ever have kids of our own." Brittany could swear she saw something else in the woman's eyes, like she was thinking about something else, but she decided to ignore it.

"You could," Brittany smiled. "You know, and then our kids could grow up together, with Hattie and June's, too… One big family. That's us."

"It is," Claudia smiled back. "Just don't mention it to Santana, alright? I can get a bit… superstitious about these things happening or not if it's out there."

"Don't worry about it. It'll be our little secret."

"Right, secret," Claudia nodded, finishing off her water. When Santana returned, they ordered lunch, and the discussion inevitably turned back to the baby. They had some names in mind, it couldn't be helped, but both Santana and Brittany felt that the best thing to do would be to wait until the child was born. When they would see it, have it in their arms, they would know. The name would come to them.

They would go their separate ways after lunch was over. Claudia was heading home, while Santana and Brittany had plans with Hattie and June in the afternoon and evening. Hugging and saying goodbye to their friend, heading back out on to the street, Brittany kept her promise, but she still couldn't stop thinking about the concern in her eyes. It had to be all this baby talk. If she wanted one, too, but couldn't yet, the talk had to be upsetting. They'd have to be careful from now on.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!