Sometimes, Santana wondered how she had gotten so lucky. She'd married her dream girl after living out her dream career and was nothing but completely happy with her life. She had been married to former pop star Rachel Berry (now Rachel Lopez) for twenty years and was still as in love as the day she had met her little diva. The spark in their relationship had never left and Santana had a feeling it would be there until the end of time. Rachel, along with their kids, were what made Santana want to wake up in the morning. Without them, she was nothing. Her achievements and fame meant nothing to her if she couldn't share it with her family and the love of her life.
"San, I have to get Alex and Kylie to the gym." Rachel said, breezing through their large kitchen. Santana, a former gymnastics champion herself, nodded before kissing her wife. "Remember to pick up some dinner after you pick up Michael from football practice, Eric from baseball practice, Oliver from hockey practice, Trevor from basketball practice, and Daniel from soccer practice." the smaller brunette continued.
"Hold on. I thought you were picking up Oliver and Daniel after dropping Alex and Kylie off. The hockey rink and soccer fields are near the gym." Santana said.
Sometimes it was incredibly difficult having eight kids, seven of who were all superstar athletes, especially ones who were so close in age. Santana had had twins (Alex and David), a year and a half later Rachel had had triplets (Kylie, Michael, and Eric) and a year and a half later Santana had had triplets (Oliver, Trevor, and Daniel).
Alex was the top male gymnast in the country and training for the Olympics, Kylie was an elite gymnast training for the Olympics, Michael was the top football recruit in the country in line for a full scholarship, Eric was deciding between seven baseball scholarships, Oliver was already being recruited for hockey, Trevor had already committed to a school for basketball, and Daniel was being recruited for soccer.
The only one who wasn't an athlete was David, Alex's twin brother, who'd been paralyzed in a car accident at age seven. Once upon a time he'd been in love with baseball, but now he was in love with music and making it.
"I can pick them up I guess." Rachel said. Santana raised an eyebrow. "Well, I wanted to meet the new coach. But I'll get them." she explained.
"Is that today?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded. "Kylie, Alex, let's go! You can't be late!" Santana called out. A sixteen year old girl came running down the stairs.
"I can't believe that I have to deal with that Puckerman girl." she grumbled. The older brunettes chuckled.
"Lauren is your best friend." Santana said. Rachel nodded. "You've grown up together." the Latina added.
"She never grew up." Kylie said.
"Neither did her father." Rachel pointed out, pushing her only daughter to the door. "Where's your brother?" she asked.
"He's coming." she said, going to the car as her brother came downstairs. Santana and Rachel looked over.
"Morning Alejandro." Santana said, smiling.
"Morning Ma." he said, grabbing a banana. "Morning Mom. Where's Ky?" he asked.
"The car. Did you check on your brother?" Rachel asked. Alex nodded.
"Yea, I got him out of his bed and into his chair." he said, walking to the car.
"Sometimes I wonder if he has survivor's guilt." Rachel whispered. Santana nodded.
"It's been eleven years though." she said. Rachel sighed. "Get going, call me after you meet the coach." Santana said, kissing Rachel.
"So you're Kylie and Alex Lopez's mother?" Rachel looked up and smiled at the man in front of her.
"One of them. My wife had to take care of our other kids." she said.
"Ah, yes, Santana Lopez. We trained together when we were younger. I'm Aaron Martinez. I remember when your son was in the terrible accident." he said. Rachel nodded slowly.
"It was a pretty terrible day." she whispered.
FLASHBACK
Rachel sighed as her phone rang and set down her knife. "Santana, you know how I feel about talking on the phone and driving, especially when you're driving our children!"
"Stop, Rae." Santana said, clearly crying.
"San, what's wrong?" Rachel asked.
"This car, it just came out of nowhere and hit me!"
"Are you okay? Oh God... You had Alex and David." Rachel whispered, suddenly feeling sick.
"Alex and I are fine, but David... It's bad, Rae. He couldn't feel his legs... The doctor said he probably won't ever walk again."
"I'm on my way." Rachel said.
...
"Santana." Rachel said, immediately hugging her wife.
"Please don't hate me!" Santana begged.
"I could never hate you, love." Rachel whispered, moving to check on Alex.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" she asked. He nodded.
"What about David?" he asked. Rachel kissed his forehead.
"I don't know, Alex." she whispered, sitting down and pulling him into her lap.
END FLASHBACK
"I'm so sorry." Aaron said. Rachel smiled slightly.
"Yes, well, he's actually become quite the musician, which makes me happy." she said, laughing.
"Your children are all talented athletes." he said. She nodded. "Alex and Kylie have very good chances of winning Olympic gold medals."
"That's the goal. It was nice meeting you. I'll tell Santana that she should come by sometime today." Rachel said, walking out.
"Alex, you're an a amazing gymnast." Aaron said.
"Thank you, sir."
"Just like your mother." Alex raised an eyebrow. "We used to train together. But I wanted to talk to you about the accident."
"Accident?" Alex asked. Aaron nodded.
"When you were younger. The one that paralyzed your brother."
"What does David have to do with anything?" Alex asked.
"I think it's holding you back." Alex glared.
"You don't know anything about me or my brother or the accident." he yelled, storming out of the gym.
"What was that?" Lauren asked Kylie. The brunette shrugged. "He's been weird lately."
"Lauren, shut up." Kylie said, knowing what was bothering her older brother.
"Why?" Ignoring the blonde, Kylie ran after her brother.
"Alex, what was that?" Kylie asked, approaching the bench he was sitting on.
"Nothing, Ky, go back to practice." he said. She shook her head. "Now, Kylie!"
"Alex, you can't tell me what to do. What's wrong?" she asked. He shrugged.
"Santana Lopez!" Santana turned around to see her old friend walking toward her.
"Aaron Martinez!"
"How've you been?" he asked, hugging her. She smirked.
"Have you seen my wife?" she joked. He laughed. "I've been good. Having eight kids in seven different activities can be difficult, but I like to think Rachel and I manage it pretty well. Speaking of my kids, where are my future Olympic gold medalists?"
"Alex got upset with me and stormed out of the gym and Kylie ran after him."
"He stormed out? Why? What happened?" Santana asked. Aaron sighed.
"I... I brought up David's accident." he said.
"You shouldn't have done that. Alex is sensitive about the accident." Santana said, running out of the gym.
"Alex, talk to me." Kylie whispered.
"He brought up David." Alex said. Kylie nodded and sighed. "It just upset me. I'm fine."
"Kylie, back to practice." The two turned around to see their Latina mother standing behind them.
"Yes ma'am." Kylie said, running back into the gym.
"Alex, are you okay?" Santana asked.
"I'm fine Ma. Really." the boy said, standing up.
"Alex sit down and tell me what happened!" Santana said. Alex sighed.
"He tried to talk to me about David and his accident." he said. Santana nodded.
"Alex, do you feel some sort of survivor's guilt?" she asked carefully.
"He's stuck in that chair while I'm training to become an Olympic gold medalist! How is that fair?" Alex asked. Santana bit her lip. "All of us are succeeding in sports and he can't!"
"Alex, your brother... He loves music. It's his passion. And he's so proud of every single one of you. Especially of you."
"He should hate me."
"But he doesn't." Santana whispered.
How did we ever get lucky enough to find a house big enough for the ten of us?" Santana asked, kissing Rachel when she reached the kitchen.
"We had it built, San." she said, hugging her wife.
"Alex tried to walk out of practice." Santana whispered. Rachel gasped. "Aaron brought up David... You were right, by the way. He does feel guilty about the accident."
"I knew it." Rachel said. Santana nodded. "We need to talk to the both of them."
"After dinner. We can talk to them." Santana decided. Rachel nodded. "Let's get the food on the table."
"So he just walked out?" Rachel asked as they got everything ready.
"Yea. Ky ran after him." Santana said. Rachel closed her eyes.
"Why have we waited so long to have this talk with him?" Santana shrugged and set the final fork down.
"We should have had it eleven years ago." Rachel nodded. "Kids! Dinner!"
"Okay, guys. Get upstairs and do your homework." Santana said.
"Alex, David, can we talk to you two?" Rachel asked. They nodded and Alex sat down.
"What's up?" David asked.
"We wanted to talk about something we should have talked about a long time ago." Santana said.
"Your accident, David."
"What about it?" he asked, confused. Santana took a deep breath.
"Your brother seems to think that you harbor some kind of resentment for him and your siblings and their careers." she said.
"What? Dude, no way!" David said, looking at his twin. Alex shrugged. "Come on, bro."
"Why did it have to be you? Why not me?"
"Cause you were meant to go to the Olympics. I was meant to do something in music." David said. Alex nodded. "I'm gonna be there when you win the gold."
"I think Alex will be okay." Santana said as they got ready for bed. Rachel smiled and nodded.
"I can't believe it took us that long to realize what was going on." she said. Santana shrugged.
"We have eight kids, Rachel."
"I know, but still." Santana sighed and pulled her wife close.
"You are the best mom ever." she whispered, kissing her softly. Rachel smiled.
"We're tied for that." she replied. Santana grinned. "We're crazy for having seven kids set to become professional athletes."
"Who ever said Rachel Berry and Santana Lopez were sane in the first place?" Santana asked, falling asleep with her wife.