January 2010
Walking down the streets of New York with a coffee in hand and a few paparazzi across the street snapping pictures of her, Santana felt completely in her element. This was where she belonged; New York, New York. It'd taken four years to get her dreams on track and she was finally where she wanted to be; the lead singer of one of the most famous bands in the world, Nightingale, and financially secure.
In January of 2006 she moved up to New York to follow her dreams after amiably breaking up with the love of her life and promising to find her – wherever she was – once she'd reached her dreams. She and Brittany had been madly in love since they met in freshman year of high school and their break-up was all in good-nature; Santana moving to New York to chase her dreams of becoming a famous singer and Brittany, unbeknownst to Santana, moving to Los Angeles to work on becoming a screenplay writer after one last night together in which the two lovers made love until sunrise. And now it was exactly four years later and they'd both achieved their goals with Santana being PEOPLE and Elle magazine's sexiest woman alive and a major sex symbol and Brittany being one of the writers for the most popular show on TV, Tequila and Cigarettes, having won an Emmy for her work. They'd barely kept contact with each other, only occasionally sending each other texts on birthdays, Christmas and other holidays albeit desperately wanting to be closer.
"Oh, my God! Santana Lopez! Brenda, it's Santana Lopez. Look!" Squealed a young woman who looked to be in her late teens as she and her friend approached Santana with large, nervous, excited smiles on their faces. Santana chuckled and stopped in front of them, "Oh, my God. It's you! It's really you! Santana from Nightingale."
"Yeah." Santana chuckled with a nod, "Hi. You're Brenda and you are…?"
The woman gasped and squeezed her friend's upper arm, "I'm Lisa." She replied and Santana nodded.
"It's nice to meet you two." She said politely and they squealed earning a laugh from the singer.
"Can we get your autograph?" Brenda asked shyly and Santana nodded.
"Sure. Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?" She asked and Lisa began to dig in her purse, frantically looking for something to write on and write with. She pulled out Nightingale's newest album and a sharpie and bounced on her toes as she handed them to Santana and giggled with eagerness. Santana smiled and looked over the album, proud of her work with her two band mates, Jude and Liam – the lead guitarist and drummer in Nightingale. She then uncapped the sharpie with her teeth, coffee in her right hand, and earned a gasp from the two girls.
"Santana Lopez's spit is on that sharpie cap." Lisa said in awe, "I'm gonna frame it."
Santana's eyes widened in amusement for a split second and she snickered, holding the album carefully with her right index finger against her coffee cup and frowning in thought, "Should I make it out to both of you?" She asked and Lisa shook her head.
"No, that's mine." She informed the woman who smiled and nodded, scribbling a small message and signing the cover.
Brenda's eyes widened as her face flushed and she lifted her shirt when Santana handed the album back to Lisa, "Would you sign my bra?" She asked and Santana chuckled.
"Uh, sure." She said, stepping forward as Lisa read the message on the cover of the album.
"Lovely Lisa, never give up on your dreams. All my love, Santana Lopez." She read out loud and squealed, jumping up and down on the spot while Santana signed Brenda's bra with the sharpie and put the cap back on which still rested between her teeth. She gave the sharpie back to Lisa and sniffed, "Oh, my God. I love you so much. I know all your songs and I have a poster of you on my bedroom wall." Lisa gushed and Santana smiled, flattered.
"Wow. Well, thank you. I'm glad you like our music." She said and Brenda slapped her hands to her face, trying to get her rouge to disappear.
"Can we also get a picture? 'Cause my mom won't believe that we really met you if we don't." She said and Santana nodded.
"Of course, yeah." She said and Brenda giggled in euphoria, taking out her phone and standing on one side of Santana while Lisa stood on the other side. The two girls threw their arms confidently around Santana's shoulders, pulling her into a human sandwich as Brenda snapped the picture. Brenda looked at the picture and squealed again.
"This is amazing. Do you mind if I tweet this?" She asked and Santana grinned.
"Not at all. Go ahead." She said and Brenda smiled widely, tweeting out the picture and then making it her wallpaper.
"Thank you so much!" Lisa exclaimed happily and Santana nodded.
"Anytime. It was nice meeting you, ladies." She said and stepped to the side, watching as the two girls walked away squealing and gushing to each other. Santana inhaled deeply and shook her head with a chuckle bubbling on her lips, starting back down the sidewalk and frowning when she spotted a man with a Mohawk walking towards her, not having noticed her, "Puckerman?" She asked and caught the man's attention, watching as he slowed to a stop and made eye contact with her, "Oh, my God. I haven't seen you in, what; four years? How are you?"
Puck sniffed and licked his lips, not cracking one smile as he spoke, "I'm good." He said, "You?"
Santana frowned and inhaled to speak, "I'm great." She replied and Puck nodded, glancing at his feet before looking back at Santana and shooting her a subtle glare, "Did I do something wrong?" She asked hesitantly and Puck scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Did you do something wrong?" He snapped and Santana jerked her head back at the tone, "I think you know exactly what you did."
"Uh… I can't think of anything." She said, utterly confused. Puck clenched his jaw and hardened his glare, shaking his head at her, "Seriously, if I did something please tell me. I'm drawing a blank here."
Puck let out a bitter chuckle, "I can't believe you just left her to do it alone." He said and Santana frowned.
"Left who to do what alone?" She asked and Puck narrowed his eyes at her. She shook her head, muddled, and gave him a questioning look.
"Brittany." He said firmly and her frown only deepened.
"Britt and I parted on good terms." She said, "I remember the day I left like it was yesterday. She even said goodbye at the airport. Britt and I are good. We still talk every now and then." Puck stared at her blankly, jaw unclenching slightly, and sniffed, "Noah, what are you talking about?"
"You really don't know?" He asked and Santana shook her head, "Seriously?"
"Seriously. I have no idea what you're talking about. What did I do that was so bad?" She asked and Puck gasped.
"Oh, God." He said, coming to the realization of the situation, "She didn't tell you, did she?"
"Didn't tell me what?" Santana asked, becoming slightly frustrated at his aloof attitude.
Puck sighed and licked his lips, clenching his jaw once again and running a hand along his head, scratching the back of it and giving it a disbelieving shake, "You know what? Do you wanna go grab some lunch? I'll explain everything." He said and Santana sighed, swallowing and giving her old friend a nod.
The two silently made their way to the closest restaurant, a few paparazzi snapping pictures of them as they walked inside, and got a booth in the back away from all the cameras. They ordered their drinks in silence, awkwardly looked around the restaurant and only breaking the silence once their drinks were in front of them and their food orders were on a ticket in the kitchen.
"Are you gonna tell me what I did now?" Santana asked and Puck sighed.
"You didn't actually do anything wrong but I was under the impression that you'd deliberately left her when she needed you most." He said and Santana frowned.
"Is Brittany in trouble or something? Is everything okay? Is she sick?" She asked, concerned and Puck shook his head.
"She's fine." He said, "She's doing well for herself. She's living in L.A. now and is one of the main writers for Tequila and Cigarettes. She also created the show."
"Wow." Santana said, impressed, "That's great. What are you doing now?"
"I'm a personal trainer." Puck said, "I train people who wanna lose weight and get fit. It's good money too."
"Congrats." Santana said genuinely, "And are you and Q still together?"
Puck smiled and nodded, "Yeah, we have a son too. His name's Christopher and he's turning three this year. And Quinn's four months pregnant with our second."
"What?" Santana said with a smile, "That's amazing. Why didn't anyone tell me? I mean, I did try and get in touch with you guys but I never heard back."
"Yeah and I'm sorry about that. We were all pretty pissed at you." Puck said apologetically.
"Why?" Santana asked and Puck licked his lips, lifting his coffee and taking a sip before inhaling a deep breath and clearing his throat.
"Santana," He started, "Before you left four years ago did you and Brittany have one last night together?"
"We did." Santana confirmed. Puck nodded and exhaled with nerves.
"So he is yours." He mumbled to himself and Santana frowned.
"What?" She asked, even more confused than she had been before.
"Santana, Brittany fell pregnant." Puck said and watched Santana's brown eyes widen in utter shock, "His name's Eldad and he's turning four on September eleventh." Santana's mouth fell open and her brow furrowed as she thought back to her last night with Brittany. It all added up; they slept together in January of 2006 and nine months later – in September – Brittany gave birth to her son. If he was four this year then that meant he must be hers, "Brittany told us that she told you she was pregnant and left you messages but you just never replied. Clearly that never happened." Puck said as the waitress put their food down in front of them, pulling Santana out of her thoughts, "Thank you." He said to the waitress who nodded and walked away, "And we were all so pissed that we decided not to approach you about it because it'd just make things worse. But now I know that we should've."
"I have a son?" Santana asked, in a complete and total daze, looking at Puck with hurt and shock all over her expression.
"Yeah." He said, "His full name is Eldad Alexander Lopez." Santana covered her mouth with her hand as her dark orbs stung with unshed tears at the news, "Santana, I'm so sorry I never came to you. I mean, thinking back now, what Brittany told us just didn't sound like something you'd do."
"Why would she do that?" Santana asked, her voice barely above a whisper as a small, salty tear fell from her eye and drifted down her cheek, "How could she not tell me?"
Puck reached across the table and cupped her hand with his, giving it a squeeze, "That's something you need to ask her." He said.
"Oh, I'm going to. Believe me." Santana said firmly, "And I'm going to have a relationship with my son."
Puck smiled softly and nodded, running his thumb along the back of her hand, "I'll give you her address. We can fly down to L.A. together tomorrow."
Landing in LAX next to Noah Puckerman with almost all of her stuff is something Santana never thought she'd be doing. The night before she'd called her manager, producer, PR rep, band mates and publicist to let them know she had to move to Los Angeles and that they were just going to have to make it work. She and Puck had taken her private jet while Jude and Liam agreed to move down using the band's private jet two or three weeks later to make sure the band stayed together.
She and Puck got their luggage, Puck absolutely stunned at the fact that Santana had people to actually carry her luggage for her, and made their way through the airport, dodging screaming fans and flashing cameras, to the front doors where a limo was waiting for them. The driver, who was named Kyle, opened the back door for them and shut it once they were in before helping to put all the luggage in the limo and the car behind them brought simply for the luggage.
Once Kyle was in the driver's seat once again, he opened the window separating the front of the limo from the back and cleared his throat while Santana opened two beers and handed one to Puck, "We've booked the Supreme suite at the Hotel Covell for you, Ms. Lopez. Shall I take you there to get settled in?"
"Do you mind, Puck? Or do you wanna go home?" Santana asked and Puck pulled out his phone, typing out a text and clearing his throat.
"Quinn wants me home." He said and Santana nodded.
"Just give Kyle your address and he'll take you." She said and Puck gave the man his address, chuckling in amazement at the fact that he was in a limo being driven home.
The two friends finished two beers each before they arrived at Puck's house and he climbed out with Santana. Kyle and the man who was driving the car with the luggage behind them, Kent, got his bags and carried them to his front door while he and Santana hugged each other goodbye.
"I'll see you soon, yeah?" Puck asked and Santana gave him a nod, "And, don't worry, I'll explain what really happened to Quinn so she doesn't go ape shit on your ass."
Santana chuckled and nodded, "Thanks, Puck." She said gratefully and Puck nodded, patting her shoulder and pecking her forehead.
"You've got Brittany's address?"
"In my pocket." Santana confirmed and Puck inhaled a deep breath.
"Good luck, Lopez." He said and she gave him a smile.
"Thanks." She said and Puck nodded, clearing his throat and looking at his front door as he dug his keys out of his pocket, "And, when this is all smoothed over, I wanna meet Christopher."
"Of course." Puck said with a nod, "Eldad's his best friend."
Santana smiled brightly at the mention of her son and looked at her feet, "Great." She said and Puck smiled.
"Nervous?" He asked and she exhaled through puffed up cheeks with a nod.
"Extremely." She said, "But I'm excited too… and I've never been more pissed at Brittany since we met in the ninth grade."
"Go easy on her." Puck reminded her, "She obviously has a reason for not telling you so just promise me you'll hear her out."
"Of course I will. But I'm still pissed off." Santana said, "She had my son—I'm sorry, our son, and didn't even tell me she was pregnant."
Puck sighed and nodded, "Well… I have a feeling it'll all work out." He said and Santana inhaled a deep breath.
"I hope so."
Santana flopped back onto the couch in her suite at Hotel Covell and sighed, digging in her pocket and pulling out the slip of paper with Brittany's address on it; she couldn't quite grasp the fact that she was looking at the address of the house that Brittany lived in with their son. Their son that she didn't even know existed. Their son who Brittany didn't tell her about. Had she hurt Brittany that badly when they went their separate ways? Did the blonde secretly resent her for leaving? Is that why she chose not to tell her that they had a child? It all felt so surreal to her; she was a mother. She had a little boy and that little boy had even been given her last name; Eldad Alexander Lopez. She smiled to herself thinking of his first name; Brittany had always loved the name Eldad since she heard it on season six of Friends. She'd wanted to name her son that ever since she heard it for the first time. And now that son was actually real; he was alive and living with her while Santana had been living her life in New York completely unaware that he had even been born. How could Brittany not tell her? How could she go four years without mentioning him? How, with all the times they texted each other on birthdays and holidays, could she not have told Santana that they conceived a child together and that she'd chosen to keep that child? Did she not think Santana would want him too? Did she think Santana would desert her? Did she think Santana wouldn't be a good parent? Did she really think that Santana wouldn't want to know her son?
How could she have kept Eldad a secret for all these years?
A/N: Did you enjoy the first chapter? If so let me know and don't be shy to leave a review with your concerns, suggestions, opinions and questions.
Thanks for reading and if you want more I'll post the next chapter soon.