Oops.
A/N: Hello there! So this one shot is an AU. Shelby is the mother of Santana Lopez, and Santana and Quinn are cousins, which makes Judy Fabray and Shelby sister-in-laws. In a big family, chaos and drama tends to ensue...especially when secrets are spilled.
...
The noise from the back yard flooded into the house. The loud music, chatter, laughing and random squeals of delight from the younger kids all mixed together as most of the family enjoyed the beautiful fall weather in the back. Further into the house, two of the adults had separated themselves from their husbands and parents, brothers, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews in order to have a conversation beyond all the noise of the party. Somehow, said conversation, had turned very sour very fast as tempers began to flair.
"Yea Shelby? Well maybe you should stop fretting over all this petty shit and start paying more attention to your daughter and what she's doing with her free time!" Judy Fabray raised her voice as she glared at her sister-in-law in the kitchen of her house.
"Mom!" Quinn scolded with a shake of her head. She looked between her aunt and mother. She hated when they fought. They both always said things that were hurtful to each other and it never ended well. Whose idea was it to have this stupid family get together again? Who brought the wine? Damn them. And where the hell was Santana? How long did it take her cousin to go pee? Seriously.
"Don't worry about my kid. She is fine. She is great, responsible, trustworthy and respectful. How dare you try to bring her into any of this, she is your niece. Shame on you Judy." Shelby shook her head and took another sip from her glass. She loved her sister-in-law but she hated when she got like this. She loved to make herself look like she was better than them, and never cared about who she was stepping on in the process. It was immature and beyond annoying. "Shame on you." Shelby repeated with another nod.
Judy let out a small laugh. "Responsible? Yea right!" Judy scoffed. "Your daughter thinks she might be pregnant." The blonde woman blurted out with a raised eyebrow.
The room froze. "Excuse me?" Shelby said quickly as she set her glass of wine down on the kitchen counter nearly choking on the liquid.
"Mom!" Quinn snapped as her jaw dropped at her mother's sudden outburst that she had trusted her with nights ago.
Shelby looked between the mother and daughter standing in front of her. Her sister-in-law was looking at her strongly, the look on her face was serious. Her niece's face looked a few shades lighter than normal. She watched as her niece chew her lip nervously as she looked between herself, Judy and over her shoulder towards the closed bathroom door. Shelby's brows furrowed as she clenched her jaw closed. "That can't be true..."
Judy nodded her head. "You would know if you weren't so buried in your work all the time."
"Mom, enough." Quinn hushed as she attempted to grab the wine glass from her mother's hand. Clearly the woman had had more than enough to drink. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, she couldn't bring herself to look into her aunt's eyes. She had to think of a way out of this. She wanted to kick herself for telling her mom the secret that her cousin had confided to her in the first place. Santana was going to kill her.
Quinn shook her head as she watched her mother down the rest of the wine in the glass before handing over the empty crystal. She frowned at her. Correction, she wanted to kick her mother for being so stupid and blurting out such a secret at such an inappropriate time and place in such an inappropriate manner. Fuck all of this.
"Quinn?" Shelby's voice was quiet. She looked at the young girl longingly, silently begging her to tell her that what her mother had said wasn't true.
"Tia...I..." Quinn looked over her shoulder at the still closed bathroom door. How could it be that less than a minute ago she was cursing Santana for taking so long in the bathroom and now she was sending up a silent prayer for her cousin to remain in there? The blonde slowly looked back at her aunt but when she met the woman's eyes she quickly had to divert her gaze.
"Shelby, Quinn came to me and told me a few nights ago." Judy said as she took a step closer to the woman once she realized her daughter wasn't going to speak. Her anger suddenly vanished as the reality of the conversation took way. She was of course planning on telling her sister-in-law the news she had learned but of course this wasn't how she had planned on it coming out. Her wine buz instantly disappeared causing her to feel incredibly awful for her outburst. There was no turning back now.
"No." Shelby said firmly with a shake of her head. She was used to her sister-in-law saying hurtful things when they both got drunk and got into these fights, but she was not used to Judy saying ridiculous lies such as this one.
"Mom..." Quinn pleaded with her mother to stop talking when she recognized the look in the older blonde's eyes.
Judy shook her head at her daughter before looking back over at Shelby. "Santana told Quinn, and my daughter came straight to me. She was so upset, she told me everything."
Shelby frowned at the woman in disgust. "And you didn't tell me?" She let out a breath as she stood up straighter and smoothed out her shirt. "No. This is impossible. Santana is a virgin." She said strongly back at the woman as her logic finally caught up to her. She knew her daughter, and knew that they had an open enough relationship that when Santana was ready she would come and talk to her about sex. She knew her daughter.
Judy's inappropriate laughter cut through to Shelby's thoughts, making the woman's posture sink as her shoulders suddenly felt heavy. Why was she laughing? What was she laughing at?
"MOM!" Quinn screeched at her mother. She was absolutely horrified with how this conversation was going, yet she had no idea how to put the breaks on it.
Shelby's jaw dropped when she heard Quinn's worried tone. What? How... The woman shook her head... she couldn't even form a sentence right now. She had no idea what was happening. Her baby was a virgin...wasn't she? She would know if she wasn't...right...?
Judy cleared her throat as she forced herself to stop laughing. The smile instantly faded from her face as she took in Shelby's worried, confused and hurt face. The blonde mother rolled her eyes at herself, hating the fact that she was cursed with fits of inappropriate laughter as a coping mechanism to stressful situations. She sighed heavily at Shelby. "Sweetie, you seriously don't know?"
Shelby looked at her sister-in-law with a pained shocked expression. "Judy, I swear to God-"
Judy waved her hand and cut Shelby off before she could start on her rant. She wasn't meaning to sound harsh now... not in this moment. Not after seeing Shelby's clueless face. She had sworn that her sister-in-law had known. "Shelby. I...I thought you knew." She said gently before turning her attention to her daughter. "Quinn?"
Quinn looked over her shoulder again at the closed bathroom door that she could see from across the house. She chewed her lip. This had taken such a bad turn...she had no idea how it got to this point. She looked back up at her aunt who was waiting impatiently for her to speak before she refocused her attention back on her mother. "I...plead the fifth...?" She tried.
"Quinn Nicole." Judy scolded her daughter. She looked at the younger girl with raised eyebrows urging her to tell her aunt what had happened. When Quinn continued to chew on her lip rather than produce words, Judy finally let out a sigh. She took a step towards Shelby. "Shel, I walked in on Santana and some boy having sex in my house. On my couch." Ripping the band aid off quickly was always her approach.
"You're lying." Shelby said as she looked back down at her niece before looking back at Judy. She shook her head quickly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You're lying." She said again.
Judy firmly shook her head and continued. "I stopped it, sent the kid home and then had a conversation with her." She looked her sister-in-law squarely in the eyes. "It wasn't her first time...or first guy... I made her promise that she would tell you..."
Shelby let out a nervous laugh as she threw her hands up in the air with a groan. "Well clearly she did not."
"Clearly..." Judy said strongly as she glared at her daughter.
Quinn noticed the glare and instantly looked back down at her feet. She felt like if she continued to chew on her lip then she would have no lip left... but it was the only thing she felt like she could do in this moment. This was getting really bad. Really really bad.
Shelby watched the silent exchange between Judy and Quinn and crossed her arms over her chest again as she felt tears begin to sting her eyes. "Why the hell didn't you call me? You should have told me. I had a right to know." She broke the silence as she looked at Judy.
Judy nodded her head in agreement. "You did have a right to know, that is why I had that conversation with San. After she went home, the next time I saw her...both her and Quinn told me that the reason she was grounded was because she told you about what had happened."
"When the hell was this?"
Judy looked up at the ceiling with an exhausted sigh. "I don't know Shel...it was months ago. She was grounded for a while..." She looked back at the other mother. "That is why I didn't question it. I had just figured..." she trailed off as she shook her head. She was annoyed with herself in this instance just as much as she was now annoyed with the younger two girls. She couldn't believe she had fell for their lie. She couldn't believe they had lied right to her face.
Shelby searched her memory for a time when Santana had been grounded as she frowned. Her daughter was barely ever grounded. She was a straight A student, captain of her cheerleading squad, and a very polite young woman. There wasn't ever really a reason to ground her. Suddenly Shelby remembered something, but the thought caused her jaw to drop. She looked at her sister-in-law. "Do you mean when she was grounded for skipping school? That was...that was like, 4 months ago, Judy." She knew exactly when it was because it was the first and only time Santana had ever gotten in trouble at school.
Judy shifted her focus back to Quinn with another glare. She wanted nothing more than to take Quinn into the next room and give her a firm spanking, but she knew that it wouldn't do anything and knew that this was certainly not the time. When Quinn didn't speak for herself or meet her gaze, Judy sighed. "Well I thought she was grounded for something else...neither of them told me about the skipping school incident. I had just assumed...and then when I saw the birth control in her purse-"
"Birth control?!" Shelby suddenly screeched cutting Judy off mid-sentence. She looked down at her niece with raised eyebrows as her mouth hung open in shock. How the hell had she not known about any of this?
Quinn instantly looked up at her mother with a glare. She was throwing EVERYTHING out into the open right now. This was just getting worse and worse as the seconds creeped by. The blonde slowly met her aunt's eyes. There was no way of getting out of this now. She swallowed the lump that was now in her throat before she forced herself to speak. "Tia, She went to a clinic...we went together. It's free..."
Before the blonde could continue Santana suddenly entered the kitchen. She threw her hands on her hip with an attitude. "What are you guys fighting about now? Seriously? Your bickering matches are getting old, Quinn and I hate playing referee..." the brunette slowly trailed off as she noticed the strange looks her three family members were giving her. Quinn had a pained expression on her face, Tia Judy looked at her with a firm frown and sad eyes, and her mother had a look of sadness mixed with anger. What the hell was going on?
"What? What is it?" Santana finally asked the now silent room.
"You're pregnant?" Shelby broke the silence as she asked her daughter suddenly. She looked directly into her daughter's eyes as she asked.
Santana's eyes bulged as she felt her stomach drop. This was NOT what she was expecting. She quickly forced herself to recover. "What? No.. who...who told you that? That's ridiculous."
Shelby continued to watch her daughter as Santana suddenly refused to meet her gaze. She watched as Santana looked at Quinn, and then watched as Quinn slowly shook her head before looking away from her cousin. The look of sorrow and the silent apology that Quinn had on her face was making Shelby's stomach twist. The more the silence passed the more and more she felt nauseous. She wanted nothing more than for Santana to deny any of this... but unfortunately her verbal denial was not convincing. On the contrary, it was more confirming. Shelby couldn't find words, she felt like her mouth instantly ran dry.
Judy watched the silent exchange between Quinn and Santana and took a step forward towards her niece. She laid a hand on her shoulder gently, causing Santana to meet her eyes. "I did, Santana." Judy said strongly, answering the young brunette's question.
"You did? Tia Judy...I don't...I don't know what you are talking about..." Santana's eyes shifted uncomfortably side to side.
"Quinn told me the other night, sweetie."
"You what?!" Santana snapped her head over to her cousin, not being able to believe the words that just left her aunt's lips. When she saw the look of regret on Quinn's face she instantly knew it was true. "How could you?" she blurted to her cousin as tears began to fill her eyes. She couldn't believe her cousin betrayed her like this, with something so important.
"Oh god!" Shelby exclaimed as she shot her hand over her mouth. She looked at her baby with wide eyes. "So it's true then? It's...you...you're pregnant?" Shelby asked weakly as she looked at her daughter directly.
Quinn spoke up for Santana who was still looking at her with watery eyes. "She doesn't know. Not for sure...She-"
"Shut up Quinn!" Santana snarled at her cousin after picking her jaw up from the floor. She couldn't believe her cousin right now.
"Santana," Her mother's voice boomed. "You shut your mouth." She looked back at Quinn and nodded her head. "You continue." It was a demand. One that neither of the girls dared to disobey.
"I..." Quinn trailed off as she looked at her angry cousin. Santana might as well have been spitting out fire with the look she was giving her. However, beneath the anger she could see that Santana was masking betrayal, hurt and fear as well. Quinn shook her head as she looked away from her cousin at the floor and wrung her hands nervously. None of this was supposed to happen. This wasn't her intention when she had decided to tell her mother.
Quinn knocked lightly on her parent's bedroom door. As soon as she did she immediately regretted it and instantly began to turn around to head back to her room. What was she doing?
"Come in," Judy's voice sounded through the door.
Quinn felt her lip tremble at the mere sound of her mother's soothing voice. She needed her mother. She needed to cry on her shoulder and be hugged. She had just received news from Santana that she was worried that she was pregnant. While she had stayed together and was strong for her cousin, now that she was home she couldn't pretend anymore. She wasn't okay. None of this was. She was so nervous and scared for her cousin and had no idea what to do. She wanted to do right by Santana. Since they were only a few months apart they had been more like sisters growing up... and with this news, Quinn wasn't about to let anything happen to Santana. They were only seventeen. This was something that was way over their heads. Santana had been a wreck and like usual, her mother and father were at work. The amount of tears she had watched her cousin cry over the past hour was not okay. She wasn't okay.
Quinn wiped the tears that were running down her face before slowly opening her parent's bedroom door. Her mother was sitting on her bed with a book in hand but she quickly set it on the nightstand next to her when she saw that it was her daughter who entered.
"Quinnie?"
That was all it took for the floodgates to open. As soon as she heard her mother say her name the tears instantly started running down her face at a rapid pace. Quinn quickly walked across the room and climbed onto her mother's bed before she let out a loud sob into her mother's chest.
"Oh sweetie, what is going on? Are you okay?" Judy asked, her voice full of concern.
"No..." Quinn managed to croke out between sobs.
"Are you hurt, sweetie? Let me see." Judy managed to pry her daughter away from her chest so she could take in her daughter's appearance, searching for any injuries.
"It's not me, mom... It's San..." Quinn lowered her eyes.
Judy frowned. "Okay..." She paused as she waited for Quinn to continue. The tears continued to pour down her daughter's face which added to her worry. When Quinn didn't speak again Judy decided to push for the answers. "Sweetie, is Santana hurt?"
Quinn chewed her lip as her conversation with her cousin echoed through her mind for the millionth time. She finally brought her eyes up to meet her mothers and took a deep breath. "She might be pregnant."
The blonde adult felt her eyes bulge. She was not expecting this. "Might?"
"Well...she...she's late... She hasn't taken a test yet. I-I tried...I offered to go get her one b-b-but she didn't want to...not yet. She's scared mom. She's so...she's so terrified. What...what do I do? What should she do? What if she is?"
Judy opened her mouth but nothing came out. Her mind was racing as she tried to compute everything her daughter was telling her.
"Mom?" Quinn's quivering voice forced Judy to focus.
"Sweetie, go grab my phone from the kitchen and I will call Santana-"
"No!" Quinn cut off her mother as she wiped at her tears. "You can't call her! She can't know that I told you!"
"Quinn-"
"No mom!" Quinn cut her off again. "I mean it. I swore to her that I wouldn't say anything. I swore it. I...I'm already breaking that promise.. she can't know. If you call her...she'll know I told."
Judy sighed heavily as she looked at her daughter's determined eyes. "Well baby, what do you want me to do with this information?" When Quinn didn't answer she lifted the blonde's chin. "Hm?"
"I... I don't know...I didn't mean to... I just needed to..." Quinn shook her head at herself. She wasn't able to finish any sentence. She took a deep breath in attempt to collect her thoughts. "Just tell me how to be there for Santana...and if things get bad... I promise I will come to you again. But until then...I just... I need you to be here for me and tell me how to be there for her without me breaking her trust.""
"Quinn, Tia Shelby told you to speak, so speak." Judy instructed her daughter sternly, bringing her back to the present.
Quinn sighed heavily, and avoided her cousin's eyes as she bowed her head and tried to get away with not looking at her aunt's face while she spoke. "She hasn't taken a test yet. Her period is...it's really late, and um...this guy...he...he doesn't like condoms and she uh...she forgot about her birth control a lot-"
"Quinn!" Santana interrupted with a screech. She couldn't believe her cousin was throwing her completely under the bus like this. She was just throwing every single thing out in the open and it wasn't fair.
"Sh!" Shelby snapped at her daughter before nodding her head at her niece to continue speaking.
"Um...so yea..." Quinn continued to wring her hands nervously. "She doesn't know yet but we were gonna get a test after the party was done tonight and take it...that way the party wasn't ruined..." Quinn trailed off and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe that all of this was happening. The amount of sorrow she felt for her cousin didn't feel deserving of her betraying actions.
"So much for that." Santana said as she hung her head.
"I can't believe this." The tone of her mother's voice was absolutely heart wrenching to the brunette teenager. The amount of disappointment and sadness mixed with betrayal and anger made Santana want to curl into a ball and die.
"I'm not... I'm not pregnant mom." Santana heard her own voice say suddenly as she looked up to meet her mother's gaze.
Quinn felt herself release a breath of relief but before she could relax completely she frowned. Something about Santana's posture was off. She furrowed her eyebrows at her cousin, but Santana's focus was too glued to her mother to even notice.
"Santana?" Shelby took a step forward as she felt a weight from her chest begin to be released.
Quinn's frown deepened as she continued to watch the interaction. How had her aunt not noticed the same thing she was noticing right now?
"I just..." Santana broke Quinn's thoughts as she began to speak but quickly trailed off as she looked over her shoulder towards the bathroom she just left, wishing nothing more than to still be in it. "I just took a test and it said negative, so we're good." She shook her head. "I'm good," she corrected.
Suddenly her mother was walking up to her, brushing past her quickly heading for the bathroom. Santana's heart started beating extremely fast. "Ma?" When her mother continued towards the bathroom without stopping Santana raised her voice a little more. "Where are you going?"
Shelby stopped and then turned around to face her daughter, ignoring her sister-in-law and niece who were still standing quietly in the kitchen next to her daughter. "I want to see it."
"See what?" Santana asked nervously.
"The test, Santana. I want to see the test." With that Shelby spun on her heel and marched straight to the bathroom her daughter had just exited from.
Santana felt like she was sweating. She hurried after her mother, but wasn't fast enough. By the time she arrived at the bathroom her mother was already rummaging through the small garbage can. "Mom..." Santana tried but to no avail, the woman continued to pull all the contents from the garbage can. "Mom, please stop." Her eyes were now watering as her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her throat.
"Where is it?" Shelby asked without looking away from the now empty can. She began to separate through the trash again a second time that was now on the floor.
"You're not going to find it..." Santana said slowly and quietly as she hung her head.
Shelby froze before turning around to see her daughter's face. As soon as she saw Santana hang her head she automatically knew. "You lied to me? Again?" Shelby's voice started to raise without control as she stood up, leaving all the trash around her feet.
"Ma...please...please don't do this. Not here..." Even though Santana couldn't see them, she knew that more of her cousins and aunts and uncles along with her abuelo and abuela were around the corner and all throughout the backyard. This was a family get together. She didn't want to do any of this here, not where more people could find out.
"Why would you lie to me?"
Santana brushed a few of the tears from her cheeks before looking down at the pile of trash that surrounded her mother's feet. "I don't know... I just... I don't want to do this. Not with everyone here..."
"Santana are you pregnant?" Shelby asked bluntly again. She needed an answer. This back and forth, beating around the bush, the lying...it needed to stop.
"I don't know."
"Santana..." Shelby said in a warning tone. She reached her hand over and raised Santana's chin gently with it, forcing the younger brunette to look her directly in the eyes.
Santana's eye's reluctantly fell on her mother's as she gathered the courage to answer. "I swear Mom, I... I don't know yet." The teenager ripped her chin free from her mother's grasp. "My...my period is late...really late..."
"How late?"
Santana took a deep breath as she wiped away more tears from her face. She looked down at the pile of trash again before she answered. "Tomorrow will be three weeks..."
"Ay dios mio!" Shelby shouted at the ceiling as her daughter's words hit her ears. Three weeks late? How could this possibly be happening? She shook her head as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Santana! I can't... What are we going to do, mija?" She calmed her voice as she spoke to the crying brunette she opened her mouth to say something else when a thought suddenly hit her. With a heavy sigh she lightly hit herself on her forehead in frustration. "What am I supposed to tell your father?"
"No!" Santana instantly shot her head up to look at her mother. The tears seemed to pool even more in her eyes at her mother's words. "What? Why? Don't... Mom, you can't tell daddy." She shook her head. "Please..." she begged.
"Sweetheart, we don't keep secrets from each other. And this? You..." her eyes drifted down to her daughter's stomach. She shook her head. "We need to go get a pregnancy test. Right now." She looked back into her daughter's eyes. "Once we figure out the results we will go from there and discuss how we will tell your father about all of this."
"Mom, please. I don't want to tell daddy..." Santana shook her head as the tears fell down her face at a more steady stream. "I might not be...If I'm not..." She trailed off instead of saying the word. "Then there won't be a point in telling him anyway."
Shelby waved her hands. "No Santana. That is not how this is going to work. One of your aunts and cousins already know. They knew before me, your mother. I found out from them, that you not only have been having sex, that you have done it under Tia Judy's roof, you've already been with multiple partners, you lied to your aunt about telling us, you are on birth control, you've been having unprotected sex and that you may or may not be pregnant. Your father will not be finding out about this the same way I had to. I would never wish this feeling on him."
"But Mama..."
"No 'buts' Santana. If you feel you are old enough to make those decisions for yourself and engage in adult behavior than you are old enough to have an adult conversation with your parents." Shelby sighed. "I will not be keeping this a secret from your father. End of story."
Santana looked at her mother's face and could tell by the look on it that she wasn't going to change her mind about this. The teen felt her chin quiver at the thought of her father finding out how she had been spending her free time lately. A sob erupted from her lips as she buried her head in her hands and began to cry heavily. This wasn't supposed to happen. She didn't want her parents to know. She didn't want to be worried about becoming a mother at sixteen.
Shelby watched as Santana cried hysterically into her hands. It broke her heart but it also made her angry and disappointed. For now she had to swallow her own emotions and be there for her daughter, her baby girl. Shelby shook her head... she wasn't much of a baby anymore, especially not with the possibility of having a baby of her own. The thought churned her stomach, this wasn't what she wanted for her daughter, this wasn't how things were done in this family. Another loud sob from Santana urged Shelby to reach out and pull her daughter into a tight hug.
"I know sweetie... We'll figure this out. We will figure this out right now." The older woman rubbed circles into the teenagers back for a few more minutes before she pulled Santana away and wiped at her tear stained face. "Come on, San, let's get going."
Santana bit her lip, fighting the urge to throw up and fighting the urge to take off running without looking back. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to take a pregnancy test...that is why she had put it off for so long. She certainly didn't want to take one with her mother. But now she had no choice. Somehow she felt herself nod her head at her mother as she felt her hand being grabbed and her being led out of the small bathroom. She walked slightly behind her mom, hand in hand, with her head hung low in attempt to hide her puffy tear filled face from anyone that might be walking by. She looked the opposite direction so she didn't have to see her cousin or aunt even in her peripheral vision as her mother maneuvered them both out of the house. Santana barely registered her mom's quick exchange with Tia Judy before the car was being unlocked and she was being urged to get in. Her mind was running a mile a minute and her stomach felt like it was in her throat.
...
What felt like hours later mother and daughter were sitting at the patio table, waiting for the last minute to tick by. No words had been shared other than Shelby giving Santana the directions on how to complete the test. Never in a million years would she have ever thought she would have to be explaining how to take a pregnancy test to her sixteen year old daughter. Once Santana emerged from the bathroom they had both retreated to the outdoor patio to wait the designated time. The timer sounded from her phone letting them both know that the wait was over. Shelby looked up and caught her daughter's watery eyes. She opened her mouth to offer some words but nothing could come to mind. The answer to her daughter's future was a simple turn away.
Santana watched as her mother's hand slowly reached along the table in order to turn the test over and reveal the answer they had both been waiting for. Just as her mother's hand clasped around the plastic, Santana squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn't able to look at it. She couldn't.
"Thank god." Shelby breathed an enormous sigh of relief from her lips as she felt tears sting at her own eyes. The mother looked as Santana's eyes immediately flew open at her response and eagerly darted down to see the negative symbol herself.
The brunette teenager felt like the world had been lifted back off of her shoulders. That negative sign was quite possibly one of the best things she had ever seen in her life. She rested her head in her hands as she propped her elbows up on the table. "I'm not... I'm fine. I'm going to be fine. I'm...I'm not..." As Santana murmured to herself she felt a small smile fall on her face. She didn't have to say the word, because she wasn't. "I'm going to be fine. I'm okay. I'm okay." Sure she still had a lot of hell in front of her that she was going to have to deal with...telling her father for starters, but at least she wasn't going to be a mother herself. It wasn't something she was ready for. It was something she knew she couldn't do right now... and now she knew that she didn't have to do it. It felt like the biggest relief in the world. "I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay..."
Shelby wiped her eyes as she watched her daughter chant to herself. She was sure that one of the reasons she was saying the mantra over and over was in order to persuade herself. The more Santana said it, the more cracked her voice became before suddenly the young girl was crying again. Shelby gave the girl a sad smirk and reached over to grab her daughter's hand, causing the brunette to look up at her with watery eyes again.
"You are going to be just fine." Shelby said with a nod.
A/N: Thanks for reading, would love to hear your feedback.