A/N I wanted to upload this earlier but had computer troubles.

If you want something in the story, let me know.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. R&R

Chapter 2

Britt's pov

The first thing I noticed when I woke up a few minutes ago is that I'm laying on a very soft mattress instead of a hard couch or floor. I snuggle into the soft blankets and breathe in deeply. I really feel like I'm on a cloud.

I feel around me and sit up quickly when I notice that my little girl isn't laying next to me anymore. I rub my eyes and slowly stand up. I look around the strange room and slowly remember where I am.

I smile as I think back to last night. The way Santiago was with my little girl and how helpful my best friend was… I need to thank them in some way.

I hear giggling coming from somewhere in the living room and I smile at the sound. Oh, how I missed my little girl's giggles… I shake my head and walk out of the room and towards the couch, I stop in my tracks when I see the scene in front of me.

Gracie and Santiago are making breakfast together, my daughter is sitting with her back to me on the counter helping him. I hear Santiago make sound effects as he pours the pancake batter, well I presume it is pancake batter, into a pan.

Grace laughs at him and I just stand here quietly watching them act crazy together.

"Would you like a chocolate chip, Miss?"Santiago asks in a silly English accent and Grace laughs at him and nods her head.

"Yes, please… Sir." She softly giggles out and tries to do a salute which makes Santiago chuckle at her.

"Here you go, Milady." He says again in the same accent and hands her a few chocolate chips.

She eats them and I see Santiago grab the bowl with the batter , he pours a lot of the chocolate chips in it and stirs the batter again while making weird, funny sounds.

I slowly walk closer to them in hopes to not make myself known. I'm almost at the bar/island thingy when I hear San softly ask my little girl, "Do you smell that?"

Gracie shakes her head and moves her head a little higher, she takes a big sniff of the air and shakes her head again at Santiago. It takes everything in me to not laugh or giggle.

"What you smell?" she asks softly.

"I smell.. I smell… oh no! I think I smell a monster." He says as my little girl's eyes widen. I almost snort and get offended but keep quiet.

"Don't turn around, I think it is behind us." He continues and chuckles a little when he sees Grace's expression. He walks over to her and wraps his arms around her after he turns the stove off.

"Don't worry, princess. I will protect you." He tells her as he looks at me and sends me a wink.

Good lord, that wink…

I shake my head and take this as my cue to move closer to them. I see Grace hold tightly onto his neck as I make a few noises.

"Rawrrr…. I smell… I smell a little girl." I say with a weird accent and almost start to laugh at the face Santiago is making. It's a mix between slight shock and wanting to keep his laughter inside, it looks hilarious so I look away and at my daughter.

"I'm very hungry so you better come out of hiding." I start off in the weird voice but quickly change back into my normal voice and chuckle a little when Grace turns her head to me, eyes wide and mouth hung open in shock. It quickly turns into a big grin.

"Mommy!" she squeals out with a smile before she gets a serious look on her face which makes both Santiago and me look at her.

"No eating Gracie!" she says and pouts a little.

We both start to laugh at my adorable little girl and a smile breaks out on her face. I move closer to them and Santiago hands her over to me before turning back to the food.

"Good morning baby girl."I tell her and kiss her head as she snuggles into me.

"Morning mommy. We makes… food." Grace says after a few seconds of searching for the word.

"I can see that, it smells amazing." I tell her with a smile.

"Sit down, ladies. The pancakes are almost done." Santiago says and starts to make three plates of pancakes.

I sit down with Grace on my lap and we just cuddle in silence. A few minutes later two plates are placed in front of us on the bar.

On one plate there are three pancakes with on the top one a smiley face made out of whipped cream and a cherry was used as the nose. On the other plate is one chocolate chip pancake with a crown also made out of whipped cream and there are a few chocolate chips and cherries on it as the 'jewelry' on the crown.

Grace claps excitedly and I smile big. I look up as Santiago sits on the left side of us. I chuckle when I see at least 6 pancakes on his plate covered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

"What?" he asks as he looks up at us, "Why are you two giggling?"

"Would you like some pancakes with your chocolate sauce and whipped cream?"I chuckle out at him and laugh when he starts to chuckle too.

"Yea… I kinda like chocolate." he says with a grin and takes a big bite out of his pancakes.

"I can tell."I giggle out softly before I start eating and cutting up little bites for my little girl to eat.

We make small talk while we eat, mostly just talking about food and the dogs who are laying down on two separate pillows next to the coffee table. Grace finishes eating first and asks if she can watch some TV so I set her down and smile when she runs towards the couch.

When San, I can call him that now, stands up a few minutes later and starts to do the dishes, I realize that my best friend isn't here. I guess San was just too distracting but I keep wondering where my best friend is.

"Hey San?" I ask and he hums in response so I continue, "Where is Quinn?"

"Oh, she had a meeting at 9.30am with a client to buy one of the houses that has been up for sale for 3yrs now. She said she would be back around 1pm… which is in about an hour." he tells me and dries his hands on the towel.

"Okay. So I have another question, why did you let me sleep in? I mean I could've helped make breakfast." I say to him as he starts to put the plates and glasses in the cupboards.

He reaches up to put the glasses in the cupboard that's above the bar I'm sitting at and I almost lose my breath at the sight I'm seeing. His sweats are low on his hips while his shirt is riding up a little with the way he is reaching up and I can see some very nice abs and…

OMG! Holy… He has that sexy hip thing going on, you know that V thingy. Sooo hot.

A chuckle snaps me out of my stare and thoughts. I look up at him and see him smirk at me while my face slowly turns redder and grows hotter. I quickly look away.

"As I was saying before you started a staring contest with my abs…" he says through a chuckle and I look up at him before he continues again with a smile, "You looked absolutely exhausted last night so you deserved those extra few hours."

"Thank you, San. I did really need them." I say and smile gratefully at him. He just nods in return.

"So… we still have about 50min till Quinn gets here and she probably wants to know how long you are gonna stay and stuff… Do you want to take a shower? I can watch Grace, she asked me, well more like demanded me to watch Looney Tunes with her earlier."

I just giggle at him and he smiles at me. There are the dimples again….

"That's my Gracie for you. I would like to take a shower, I don't have shampoo though. I ran out a few days ago…" I say with a frown and look down.

Santiago puts his hand on mine and squeezes it, making me look at him.

"Just borrow some of Quinn's, she won't mind it. Take as long as you need." He says and stands up straight again.

"Thanks, San."I say and slowly get up. I walk towards his room to grab some clothes and walk towards the room San is pointing at, his way of telling me where the bathroom is since he has a cookie in his mouth.

I just chuckle at him and enter the bathroom. He just ate like 8 pancakes and he is already eating again….

I get undressed and turn the shower on. I put my clothes on a chair in the bathroom and see a towel laying next to it on a small table. I put it on top of my clothes and slowly step into the shower.

I close my eyes as I step under the showerhead, warm water falls on my body and I can't help but let out a big, happy sigh. How I missed this… the last time I showered was at some gross motel… and that was days ago…

I shake my head to get rid of the disgusting memory and just relax… I wash my hair and I think I won't come out of it for a while….

San's pov

"Santi… Santigo…. Nooooo. San?" a soft voice but with a little frustration in it calls out and I chuckle at the trouble the little blonde has with my name.

"Yes, sweetie?" I say as I grab a glass of milk for her and walk towards the living room where she is sitting on the couch.

"Watch TV with me?" she asks me softly again and I swear I just about melt right here on the spot at the look she is giving me. Big puppy eyes and a pout formed on her face.

"Of course, Sweets. I'm guessing Looney Tunes?" I ask her and chuckle when a big smile forms on her face.

I shake my head and sit down on the couch next to her and put the Cartoon channel on. We stay seated like this with a little distance between us for a few minutes before she shyly looks up to me… once again with big puppy eyes but also with something else…

"Cuddle?" I ask her knowingly that that is what she wanted.

She nods her head quickly and crawls carefully into my lap. I decide to get more comfortable and turn to lay down on the couch. Grace lays down on top of me and snuggles into me. I smile and wrap my arms around her before turning my head to check if my dogs are behaving themselves.

They are both laying on their special 'pet pillows' chewing on the bones I gave them earlier this morning. I actually have no idea what those pillows are really called but anyways… they are quiet and that's all that matters right now.

I look back at Grace but she looks sternly up at me and puts her hands on my cheeks and turns my head towards the TV.

"Watch." She orders me and I chuckle at her but do as I'm told.

About 30min later I notice that Grace has fallen asleep. I can´t help but smile at the little girl snuggled even closer into my chest. She is softly snoring and little puffs of air keep hitting my neck since she decided to nuzzle her head there a few minutes ago.

Though she is a little more comfortable with me now than she was last night, she is still very… I don't know… I guess guarded. She is a very shy girl and it seems like she is scared to ask me for anything.

I know it's not the shyness that makes it difficult for her to ask for things… I can see it in her eyes that she is scared of something.. someone maybe… Brittany has the exact same look in her eyes…

When Brittany entered our living room last night holding Grace closely to her chest, my heart just broke at the sight of them. They were both so scared and it looked like both of them didn't have any sleep for days.

The 'almost healed but still there' bruise on Brittany´s face worries me too. If I find out who hurt them, I will beat them up. Who would hurt such a sweet and beautiful woman? Who would even hit a woman at all?! Or scare this little girl so much that she is almost afraid of everything?

I heard and felt how this sweet little girl was whimpering a little last night when she fell asleep against my chest. It's the worst sound ever and I hope to never hear it again.

I haven't known either of them for long but I already care so much about them. It's kinda scary to me. I don't grow this attached to one person this quickly let alone two. I don't even really know them but I do know that I will do everything in my power to protect them.

"Mommy?" a soft but very shaky voice pulls me from my thoughts and I look down at the little girl on my chest. Her eyebrows are scrunched together and a scared look is on her face even though her eyes are still closed. Her hands are clenched shut in fists, gripping tightly at my shirt.

"Shhh, it's okay. It's just me, Santiago. Go back to sleep Sweets."I kiss her head and rub her back to comfort her. Grace curls more into me and eventually relaxes enough to slowly fall back asleep.

I let out a big sigh and continue to rub the girl's back. My eyes start to get heavy and I struggle to keep them open. I didn't get much sleep last night on this couch and when I couldn't fall back asleep around 7am, I decided to start cleaning out the guest room for them.

The only thing we need to do is shop for some more blankets, pillows and clothes for the both of them. They don't have much clothes seeing as they only have two small sports bags with them…

I make a mental note to take them to the mall later to buy some stuff before finally closing my eyes and slowly falling asleep.

Britt's pov

I took a long and refreshing shower, I really needed it. I feel much better now and if I could, I would've been in the shower all day…

I get dressed into a pair of baggy grey sweats and a red shirt. I look into the mirror and examine the yellow-ish bruise on my jaw and around my eye. I squeeze my eyes shut and shudder when the memory of how I got it flashes through my mind.

I shake my head quickly to get rid of it, I don't wanna get a panic attack with them around. I take a few shaky breaths before opening my eyes again. I grab a brush and try to will my hand to stop shaking so I can brush my hair.

A few minutes later I'm finally finished and grab the dirty clothes I've been using as my pj's and put them in the hamper. When I got out of the shower a couple minutes ago I saw a note laying on the counter saying I could put my dirty clothes in there.

I walk out of the bathroom and through Quinn's bedroom before entering the living room again. I stop next to the bar that connects the open kitchen and living room with each other and smile at the sight before me.

I shake my head with a smile as I remember the sight I saw earlier today. I thought that was cute and sweet already but this… this is just simply adorable.

On the couch is my little girl curled into Santiago, both are sound asleep. I can't believe that I'm actually seeing this… This would never happen back… there…

The only person Grace would cuddle with was me. Something about Santiago seems to make her calm, I don't know what it is but he also has that effect on me. When you're around him you just instantly relax.

I softly shake my head with a smile and take my phone out of my pocket to snap a quick picture of the two before walking closer and draping a blanket over them. I sit down on the armrest where San's feet are and just look at the two sleeping on the couch.

My staring gets interrupted by the sound of someone struggling to unlock the door. A chill travels through my body and I quickly stand up and inch backwards towards the window. I wrap my arms around my body and shake my head as my breathing starts to speed up.

I remember this noise, this can't be happening. My breathing speeds up even more and I start to panic. I keep shaking my head.

This is not happening…

I start getting flashbacks and tears start to roll down my cheeks as I slide down the wall and sit underneath the windowsill curling into my body.

He isn't here, he can't be here… He couldn't have found us…