Santana Lopez never imagined she would be a 28-year-old single mother to two children. This wasn't her plan, it wasn't ever an idea in her head, yet here she was. She made it work, things may get crazy but she made things happen. As she sat at the breakfast bar in her three-bedroom apartment in the middle of the city, sipping her coffee and looking over her schedule for the day, she took in the silence before the storm. When she saw the clock turn to 7:45, she stood up and leaned her head into the long hallway.
"Gabriella! Antonio! You best be out of bed and getting ready!" The Latina yelled to her children. The 8-year-old boy and the 5-year-old girl were the hardest to get up and out the door for school every day, and Santana knew that this was karma paying her back. She was exactly the same way from the time she went to school until she graduated from college. Sleep was her friend, and it usually came back to bite her in the ass.
After another 15 minutes of yelling, she finally heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and she put the two bowls of cereal at the breakfast bar, pouring some sugary, fruity shit for her daughter and Raisin Bran for her son. It was quite clear who took after her and who took after their other parent, at least personality wise. In the looks department, Gabriella was Santana's mini-me, and Antonio? He looked exactly like the love of Santana's life, or the one who used to fill that spot. It was almost as if each child was a perfect combination of the two of them, something that sometimes made Santana smile, but other times made her miss the past too much.
"Mami! Don't forget that I have dance after school today! It's my first day of jazz and I can't miss it!" Gabriella, who they called Ellie, said as she ran into the kitchen and climbed up onto the stool. Santana turned and looked at the little girl, making sure she didn't try to put on her princess dress again to wear it to school. As many times as she told her daughter it wasn't appropriate for school, Ellie continued to try to wear it from time to time.
"Don't worry, mija, I have it on our schedule, okay? I'm picking you and Tonio up after school, we're going to take him to his music lesson, then I'm taking you to dance. We've got it under control, right?" She said, smiling at her daughter and grabbing the brush and a hair tie to put her daughter's hair up in a ponytail, the only style she would wear. As she did this, her son came into the kitchen, clearly not as awake or perky this morning.
"Morning mijo!" She said, ruffling his hair and just getting a grumble from the boy. He sat down and started eating his breakfast, not one for talking in the morning, a lot like Santana herself. "Music lesson today, so don't forget to put the books in your backpack, got it?" She asked, simply getting a thumbs up in return. She just laughed to herself, wondering why the universe had given her a mini-me in her attitude as well.
Mornings like this were hectic, but honestly she was glad she got to see her children every day. Even though this all wasn't part of the plan, she wouldn't give her children up for anything, they were her joy and her life. When she looked up at the clock and saw that it was 8:15 already, she clapped her hands, dumped her coffee and grabbed her purse. "Shoes on, backpacks gotten, let's go babies!" She exclaimed loudly. They had a schedule they needed to stick to. It took ten minutes to walk to the school, then it was a 20 minute taxi ride to Santana's work, giving her an extra 15 minutes to grab her second cup of coffee before actually arriving to her job. It was a daily routine, and even being a few minutes off could throw off the entire day. This was how their life had to be. Planned to a T. It was the only way Santana was going to survive raising two kids on her own.
As they made their way to the door, Santana's phone buzzed in her pocket and she grabbed it quickly, looking down at the text she had received. She didn't even need to look at the name to know who it was from, and she knew that this day was not going to go as planned whatsoever anymore.
Text from Brittany Pierce: Hey San. I'm on my way back from the airport, we got back from my trip a day early. I'd like to see the kids tonight. Can I meet you at the Starbucks on the corner near my apartment to pick them up after school? Thanks.
There was a time where a text from Brittany would make her smile, would even make her happy. But now? It was just a bump in the road, a dent in her plans, and another chance to have to explain to her children why their mother leaves them all the time, but she couldn't exactly refuse to let Brittany see her own children.