[Prologue]
It had been nine years since they left Lima.
New York held all of their dreams so that's where they went, but it was never an easy struggle to the top. The day they left Lima was one of the proudest days of Santana's life seeing the looks on each and every teachers face when they heard Brittany was going to Juilliard, it put a burning inferno of pride in her heart knowing her girlfriend, her beautiful, amazing, talented girlfriend whom she'd believed in since day one had proved everyone wrong. Maybe Brittany was a math genius, but dance was her passion.
Santana got her place at the New York School of Medicine and so they ran, they ran out of Lima as fast as they could and never once looked back; they'd spent so many late sleepless nights talking about all the things they were going to do - Graduate, get married, Brittany wanted to open up her dance school, Santana wanted to be a surgeon, they were going to buy a home somewhere in the suburbs and have two pet rabbits called Bunny and Clyde, a duck called Dog, a dog called Duck, and maybe a few babies too.
Well in nine years they'd accomplished more than they could have dreamed of as teenagers, Santana was a leading surgeon in Cardiology at City hospital. Brittany was an accomplished dancer, she had choreographed routines for some of the biggest names in the music industry, from Beyonce to Gaga - even Bieber too. Eventually she opened up a little dance studio in a back street across town. It wasn't much but it was what she always dreamed of, adorned with photos of herself with some of the biggest stars who she choreographed for, eager to teach the next generation of smooth movers. Brittany lived for her dance studio and the smiles of the children who she taught, but it made Santana's heart ache that they were missing out on the joy of children.
It was no secret that Santana and her family had always been secure for money, her trust fund went into seven figures but that wasn't the life she wanted for herself, she wanted to do great things from her own accord - not her parents. It was rare that she splashed out on luxuries, especially when she had Brittany around to keep her so grounded, but she did always dream of buying Brittany a big home to nest in, somewhere they could make a beautiful home for just the two of them.
As soon as she saw the 'For Sale' sign outside of the particular large red bricked home she drove past on her way to work, she imagined their future children playing in the front yard and building snowmen and she was sold. Their home had more space than they knew what to do with sometimes, in the end they made a game of walking from room to room in their home and verbalising their fantasies of the future - how the large room third down the corridor would be the beanie bag room that Brittany had always dreamed of, how the small walk in cupboard at the top of the stairs that seemed to serve no purpose would be where they put a fireman's pole, another one of Brittany's brain storms.
They got married in the spring after Santana passed medical school, Rachel and Quinn were the only people from Glee Club Santana wanted there, after all they were the only ones who they were still best friends with but she could never say no to her Britt-Britt, so they invited everyone, the only thing that was missing from their lives was someone to help fill their empty home, someone to take pride place in the room that they had tucked away destined to be where a crib and rocking chair would reside.
They had decided since they were teenagers that Brittany would always carry first, it wasn't that Santana didn't want biological children one day but something about the idea of seeing Brittany carrying her child made her heart grow warm at the thought. So after months of trying and months of tears, when Santana saw the text from Brittany telling her to get home ASAP, a little whisper from her heart begged it to be the news she'd waited to hear for the last six months, but a niggling doubt in the back of her mind tried to be realistic and said Lord Tubbington had probably ate all of the casserole again.
Santana burst through the front door, rushing through the hallway and kitchen looking for her wife as she tried to gather her breath from the mad rush home she had from the hospital. Brittany sat at the kitchen stool waiting for her, tense and quiet as Santana stopped and tried to meet her gaze, she couldn't read the look on Brittany's face all she could see was anticipation, for a moment she pondered whether this was going to be the news that she has been praying to hear, whether the news she'd wished for since she was sixteen was about to come out of her wife's perfectly pursed pink lips or whether it was going to be that Lord Tubbington had eaten her breadsticks again.
She approached slowly with caution, knowing every step she was taking was potentially towards the future growing in her wife's stomach that she was wishing so hard to be real.
"Britt? What's wrong? What did you need me to come home for?" she placed a tender kiss on her wife's collar bone and stared into those big blue eyes without trying to give her trail of thought away.
Brittany placed the soft palm of her hand on Santana's tanned cheek, placing a kiss on her temple silently before leading her hand in hand to the sofa "Santana I got you a present, it's on the coffee table for you come look." the blonde smiled as Santana compliantly followed and sat on the sofa, just as Brittany placed a plush monkey toy in her lap and looked at her expectantly with those big blue excited eyes.
The brunette stared in disbelief wanting to believe that her wife didn't just drag her out of surgery to give her a monkey, she prayed that those words she was dying to hear would tumble out of Brittany's lips, the seconds felt like hours and slowly Santana came to the conclusion that this was it, red hot tears began to burn in her eyes and explode into motion down her cheeks as she chastised herself for even thinking that god would let her and Brittany have the family she so badly prayed for, she drowned out Brittany's worried voice just taking in the small circular back rubs the blonde was placing on the small of her back, then she saw it.
The tag attached to the ribbon resting on the monkey's neck, her fingertips grazed over it, just enjoying the brief moment of hope for just a few seconds more until she turned it over, willing it to be what she thought it was going to be
'Hey Mami, I can't wait to meet you and since we both love monkeys I knew you'd love this. See you soon Mom, love your little boy/girl.'
Santana read It over and over again like a broken record, scanning it just to make sure she hadn't read it wrong in her eagerness. Then she saw the smile break out across Brittany's face, she couldn't contain herself another second.
"Britt, you're pregnant?" tears streamed down both their eyes as Brittany nodded furiously, climbing into her wife's lap and kissing her lips and cheeks over and over again.
"We're going to be mommies!" Brittany rubbed her tummy. "San I love you so much." she tearily smiled.
"I Love you too Britt-Britt" Santana wept, placing her hand so gently over Brittany's stomach, like she was carrying the most precious thing in the world, looking deep into the eyes of the woman who was carrying her future she scrunched her face in confusion for a moment, "Brittany how did you order a plush monkey online without it showing up on our bank statement?" Santana asked, aware that online shopping was one of Brittany's biggest vices.
"The baby got it San, our child is still a foetus and it can read and write! What a genius, right?"
Santana giggled so hard she snorted, "Yes Britt, our baby is a genius." she grinned, unable to ruin the effect for her wife, after all she only found out Santa didn't exist two years prior when they had to call emergency services because the ladder slipped and Santana was stuck on the roof dressed as Santa.