I don't own One Day At A Time nor will I ever. No copyright infringement intended.
Schneider's not entirely sure when it happened but at some point, he started thinking of Elena and Alex as his kids. He helped out around the apartment and took care of them as much almost as much as Penelope and Lydia, and the change in their relationship occurred without anybody realizing. "You'll be here when Alex gets off school?" Penelope checked. She, Lydia, and Elena wouldn't be home until late and none of them wanted to leave Alex alone that long.
"I'll be here," he confirmed, trying to ignore the little flutter that rose up every time he saw Penelope (he was not falling in love with her. It absolutely wasn't a thing that was happening).
"Order pizza for dinner if you want - I'm sure Alex will be thrilled." Penelope smiled at him before heading back to the apartment to make sure everyone was up and ready to go for the day.
Instead of ordering pizza to eat at the apartment, Schneider picked up Alex from school and they headed over to one of their favorite pizza places. "Thanks," Alex told him as he devoured his second slice of pizza.
Schneider shook his head in amusement. "You're welcome. What else do you want to do, kid?"
Alex shrugged. "Don't know. I have some homework to do, and I want to put it off, but Mom would probably kill me."
He laughed. "She definitely would. We'll just rent a movie or something after you finish, how about that?"
"Sounds good," Alex replied with a thumbs up before tearing into his third pizza slice.
As soon as they finished, the two headed back to the apartment (with very few leftovers) and Schneider had to keep reminding Alex to stop procrastinating and finish his homework so they could actually have some fun. It took a while but when he finally did finish, the two rented a movie Penelope would not want her son watching (Schneider made Alex promise not to tell her, even though he figured it was futile because he'd spill the beans eventually).
At ten, Penelope came home and found the two of them playing a video game. She smiled at the sight. "You two get into any trouble today?" she teased.
"We did not. Everything went smoothly - Alex even did his homework," Schneider informed her proudly.
"Good for you, Alex. You coming over for dinner tomorrow?" Penelope questioned, already realizing it was a stupid question - of course he was.
He rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you even asked me that."
As per usual with their interactions lately - ever since Elena's quinceanera, actually - she felt something different (which she refused to acknowledge because nothing was going to change) for the man in front of her. Things felt charged between them in a way it hadn't before but she was determined to make sure that they stayed friends. She couldn't give in to whatever she was feeling, which was most likely go away soon (hopefully). Besides, Schneider owned the building she lived in! That was a big reason not to do this. "I will find out if you did anything wrong," Penelope threatened.
"Good luck!" Schneider called after them as he headed back to his own place.
Lydia critically eyed Penelope and Schneider just weeks later as they sat down for dinner. "Why is she looking at me like that?" a worried Schneider asked Penelope, Elena, and Alex.
"Nobody knows," Elena answered him, even though she suspected. She and Alex had had several discussions recently about their mom and Schneider - they thought it was weird but they loved him (he treated them well) and wanted their mom to be happy.
"Just roll with it and she'll tell us eventually." Penelope hoped it wasn't what she thought it was because her mother didn't need to meddle or give Schneider ideas (she had no clue that he already had ideas he was trying to ignore).
"You two will make beautiful babies," Lydia finally proclaimed, sending both Penelope and Schneider into coughing fits since they were in the middle of eating. Elena and Alex started laughing.
"Uh, what? Where did that even come from?" Schneider asked in a high pitched voice.
"You'll know soon enough," she cryptically replied.
"This is going to be interesting," Alex murmured, grinning from ear to ear when Penelope and Schneider moved a few more inches away from each other (not an easy task at all but they tried at least).
Things were about to get a lot more interesting for Schneider and the Alvarezes.
It all changed one day when a boy Elena knew (but not all that well) decided he wanted to talk to her, even though she clearly wasn't interested. "Come on, you can even bring a girlfriend along," George tried.
She threw him a look of disgust. "I'm not interested in hanging out with, even as friends. Please leave me alone."
He rolled my eyes. "Come on, we can just grab a bite to eat. It's not a date."
Unbeknownst to either of them, Schneider had pulled up to pick her up and Alex up just in time to witness Elena rejecting George again. He saw red when George still refused to leave and got out of the car, going straight towards them. "Get out!" he warned.
"Sorry, I was just trying to make a new friend," George defended himself. He wasn't interested in Elena romantically (and knew she'd never return his feelings) but he still wanted to hang out with her.
"Leave my daughter alone!" Schneider yelled, completely unaware of what had just come out of his mouth.
Elena did a double take and stared at him as George fled. "Thanks," she told him, surprising them both by pulling him in for a hug.
"No problem." Schneider still hadn't realized exactly what he said but Elena would definitely confront him about it at home. She hadn't realized he felt that way about her and it was really nice and sweet.
They drove home after Alex finally stopped talking to his friends and joined them in the car.
Elena waited until Penelope was home from work before she finally said something to Schneider. "So this guy wouldn't leave me alone - he said he wanted to be my friend but was really aggressive about it - and I can totally take care of myself but Schneider showed up to defend me."
A spike of fear went through Penelope's heart but she was so thankful Schneider had been there she hugged him. "We're never talking about this again," she warned.
"Noted," he replied with a smirk.
"Do you even know what you said?" Penelope questioned.
"No?" Schneider tried to think back but weirdly enough, most of it was a blur. Maybe because of adrenaline? He wasn't entirely sure.
"You called me your daughter, Schneider."
Dead silence. "What?" he finally asked in a strangled tone, his heart pounding.
"Yup. You said, 'leave my daughter alone', and he just left. I guess he could tell you're a little bit overprotective. Not as much as Mom, though."
Dead silence. Elena enjoyed the looks of shock on everyone's faces as they processed the bomb that had just been dropped on them.
Lydia broke first and smiled happily. She had secretly been rooting for this for a long time now, even though she hadn't mentioned it (much). "I knew it!"
"Did I make it awkward? I didn't mean to," Schneider finally said.
Elena shook her head. "No, you didn't. I think it's sweet. You've been like a dad to Alex and I for a while without us even realizing. We love our dad, of course, and you could never replace him, but Schneider, you've always been there for us when we needed you." Damn it, why was this making her emotional? She sniffled and hugged him.
"Everything she said," Alex agreed, joining in on the hug. Lydia followed suit a few seconds later.
Warring with herself, Penelope finally said "fuck it" and waited until the hugging had stopped before she grabbed Schneider's shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. "What?" he giddily asked when they pulled apart.
"I have feelings for you, and you love my kids. What more can I ask for? Damn it, Schneider."
He laughed. "Damn it, Penelope. I've been trying to ignore this for weeks but it wasn't working out very well."
"This is gross," Alex complained when they kissed again.
"I think we're going to have to get used to it. I need a girlfriend," Alex told them as she decided to go back to her room.
The five of them were a family and although there'd be bumps in the road (not everything could go smoothly), they were all determined to make sure this worked. And Lydia did not meddle (a lot).