Later that night, as Santana and Brittany climbed into bed after chatting with the pride until one a.m., they cuddled close to one another and snickered under their breath at the sounds coming from Penny's room where she and Riley were making love. Blaine and Kurt had sat together on the front porch swing and eventually kissed after an hour and were now fast asleep in Kurt's room while Quinn and Brooke were snoring on the pull-out couches.
During dinner, Brittany received a text from Puck and Louis asking if they were still good to come over tomorrow to which she replied they could and told them goodnight. And now, as Santana and Brittany faced each other in Brittany's bed having unmade the spare bed on the floor and tucked the mattress back under Brittany's bed, Santana leaned in and captured Brittany's lips in a kiss, rolling herself on top of the woman slowly and gently, slipping her tongue into a waiting mouth and sliding it against Brittany's.
"Mm," Brittany hummed into the kiss before Santana pulled back and looked her in the eyes, "I don't think I can make love to you for the first time with Penny and Riley going at it across the hall."
Santana smiled in understanding and nodded, rolling off of Brittany and resting her elbow on the pillow, leaning her head in her hand, "All right. Well, we can just go to sleep and… try again tomorrow night… in the back of your truck."
Brittany smiled widely and rolled herself closer to Santana, cuddling into the woman and pecking her collar bone, "In the canopy." She said, "We can bring the spare comforter and some pillows in there and my laptop. And we can watch movies and then make love for hours and hours with the stars and moon shining in through the windows."
Santana smiled and kissed the top of Brittany's head, "Sounds perfect." She said, nuzzling her nose in Brittany's watermelon-scented hair and wrapping her strong arms around the woman. Brittany was clad in a large, baggy, Queen t-shirt and a pair of Santana's new, purple boxers while the brunette remained in her boxer-briefs and put on one of the men's t-shirts Brittany got her, "The pride loves you." She whispered as she felt Brittany's hot breath against her collar bone, smiling when she felt the blonde close her eyes.
"I love them. They already feel like family." Brittany muttered, "And I'm super happy for Penny and Kurt. Kurt's ex was a real dick… and so were all his other exes and Blaine's the best guy ever. And Penny…. Whew, well, Penny's never been in love in her life. And I can see the color in her eyes has changed since she laid eyes on Riley. Plus she hasn't had sex in months."
"It's nice." Santana said, "But she's gotta be careful with Riley. The girl's amazing but she's guarded. Although they are mates so she should let her guard down a little around us now because of Penny. Which is great because Riley's an amazing girl… and she hasn't had the best luck with women in the past… they all just slept with her because of her dick."
"It's that big?" Brittany asked and Santana snorted out a chuckle.
"I have no idea. But some girls like the idea of sleeping with a woman who has a penis." She said, "But judging by the sounds coming out of Penny's bedroom… she has a big dick."
Brittany laughed and buried her head in Santana's chest, "Gross." She giggled, "I didn't want that image in my head."
"Sorry, babe." Santana chuckled. Their laughter died down and Brittany swallowed as she sniffed and rested her head on Santana's chest and cuddled closer to her.
"When you guys have sex with people who aren't your mate can you have babies with the person you slept with?"
"No." Santana replied in a whisper as she closed her eyes and sighed, "We can only have cubs with our mates."
"Thank God." Brittany said earning a chuckle as she smiled cheekily, eyes closing, "How many people have you had sex with?"
"Uh… seven." Santana replied and Brittany nodded against her chest, "You?"
"I don't wanna say." The blonde replied and Santana chuckled.
"Just tell me." She said, "I'll bet Riley's slept with more."
Brittany inhaled deeply and sighed, clearing her throat and replying, "Fourteen." She said and Santana smiled, "But most of them were one-night stands."
"Riley's slept with over ninety women."
"Holy fuck." Brittany said with a shocked laugh and Santana nodded, holding her mate closer and pressing another lingering kiss to the top of her head.
"Do you want kids?" Santana asked after a momentary silence and Brittany sighed with a happy smile.
"I do." She replied, "I want lots 'cause I never had siblings. Do you?"
"Lion spirit animals are built to want and have kids." Santana replied, "If you stick with me we'll probably have more than five… and that's just two pregnancies."
"Whoa… I mean, I read in Dr. Baynham's article that it's never more than one unless it's adoption – which is rare – or surrogacy. But more than five with just two pregnancies? I have no idea how I'll get my body back after that." Brittany said and Santana smiled softly.
"Human mothers who mate with spirit animal fathers get their figures back in a month after giving birth." She informed the woman, "No loose skin or saggy boobs or any of that. And the stretch marks go away by themselves. All you'll have to do is work to get your abs back."
Brittany gasped excitedly and raised her head, eyes now open, "Marry me." She said and Santana chuckled, eyes open and a large smile on her face, "How easily could I fall pregnant if we make love?"
"Uh… well, without a condom you're sure to get pregnant." Santana said, "But only one type of condom works for me and doesn't break or snap or hurt."
"Which one?"
"Durex." Santana replied, "That extra sensitivity one."
"I love those!" Brittany squealed, reaching into the now open drawer of her nightstand and pulling out a box of Durex, Extra Sensitivity condoms, showing them to Santana with a large smile. Santana smiled and leaned up, pressing a kiss to Brittany's cheek as the blonde put the condoms back in their place and shut the drawer, "What do you wanna be when you grow up?" She asked, resting her arms on Santana's chest and letting her chin rest on her arms.
"I wanna build furniture and houses and stuff." Santana replied as she licked her lips, "What about you?"
"I told you, loser. I wanna be a vet." Brittany said and Santana chuckled, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.
"Loser?" She asked and Brittany pulled her lips into her mouth.
"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean it." She said and Santana continued to laugh as she leaned up and kissed Brittany's forehead. The blonde smiled widely and managed to steal a kiss from the brunette's lips before letting her head hover above the woman's as the room across the hall went silent. Brittany leaned down and joined their lips, rolling herself on top of Santana and rolling her hips softly into the woman earning a soft hum against her lips. Santana rolled them over and rested between Brittany's legs while the blonde continued to roll her hips up and against Santana's hardening member.
The couple proceeded to make love softly, slowly and quietly, climaxing at the same time and falling asleep in each other's arms.
August
It'd been three weeks since the pride arrived at Brittany's house and they were now all on their way to meet Riley's parents; Riley had called them with the landline at Brittany's after finding her father's number in the phonebook and they'd agreed to meet at a very specific location at the shopping center close by – a store called Cub's Cocoon which was, incidentally, the baby store her parents owned which had a door at the back which led to the area for lion cubs.
They hopped out of Penny's, Kurt's and Brittany's car and made their way in behind Riley and Penny who were holding hands – now an official couple along with Blaine and Kurt – and talking softly to each other as they led the others to the store. Louis and Puck had made real connections with Brooke and Quinn and the boys were both slowly working their way to a relationship with the two women.
"All right," Riley said to the six people behind her and Penny, "This is it."
They all looked up at the sign that said Cub's Cocoon in bright gold letters and made their way inside with Brittany walking in front of Santana, the woman's arms slung over her shoulders as she held tan hands and licked her lips, "What does Riley's mom do for a living?" She asked and Santana cleared her throat as they made their way to the counter at the back where a dark haired woman was fiddling with receipts.
"She's an author and an OB/GYN." She replied and Brittany nodded, "But she writes baby and parenting books for spirit lions only."
"Got it." Brittany said, "Is that her?"
"Ma!" Riley exclaimed, gaining the woman's attention as she let go of Penny's hand and raced over to the counter while the woman behind it fanned her face with a large smile and tears in her eyes. Riley hoisted the woman into her arms and spun her around with a large, teary smile on her face. Santana and the rest of the pride smiled happily and moved over to greet Dr. Alice Baynham as soon as Riley had put her down and kissed her forehead, "We missed you so much." Riley said as the woman wiped her tears and cupped her daughter's cheeks.
"I missed you all too." She said, "Where were you the past seven years?"
"The zoo. Animal control caught us when we were in lion form for our seventeenth year and took us to the zoo. San finally broke out and came back for us." Riley explained to her mother as the woman hugged the rest of the pride and sniffled, cupping all of their faces and pecking their foreheads.
"Good Lord." Alice said with a shake of her head as she wrapped her arms around her tall daughter and gave her a squeeze, "Oh, we missed you! Now, introduce me to these three gorgeous people before we go to the back to see your father."
"Oh! Right, uh… ma, this is Penelope Gerber; my mate." Riley said and Penny moved over to Mrs. or Dr. Baynham and gave her a hug.
"It's really great to meet you, Dr. Baynham." She said and Alice smiled in surprise as she hugged the girl back.
"You too, sweetheart. Thank God my Riley's not messing around with all those girls anymore. And you're by far the prettiest of them all." She said, pulling out of the hug and cupping Penny's cheeks as the girl smiled bashfully and ducked her head, "Now, now; don't be shy – something tells me you know you're stunning. Look at those eyes. My grandbabies are gonna be gorgeous."
"Thank you, Dr. Baynham." Penny said and Santana smiled, wrapping her arm around Brittany and kissing the blonde's head.
"Call me mom." Alice said, "You're gonna be stuck with me for the rest of my life."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Penny said and Alice smiled brightly, wrapping her arm around Penny's shoulders and looking at Blaine who was holding Kurt's hand.
"And I'm assuming this very stylish young man is your mate, Blaine?" She asked and Blaine smiled, giving Kurt's hand a squeeze and nodding.
"Yeah. This is Kurt Hummel." He said and Alice smiled before looking at Brittany after introducing herself to Kurt who smiled and gave her a shy wave.
"And you are just gorgeous." She said, smiling at Brittany who blushed and tucked her head in Santana's neck, "Oh, boy, look out; the King's found her Queen."
"It's nice to meet you, Dr. Baynham. I'm Brittany Pierce." The blonde said and Alice chuckled.
"It's fantastic to meet you all." She said, turning to Brooke and Quinn and raising her eyebrow, "And you two? Where are your mates?"
"Uh… well," Quinn said, scratching her head.
"We have met them but they're not here." Brooke answered for Quinn and smiled, tucking a strand of her cherry hair behind her ear, "We're not exactly official items with our mates yet but we're getting there. The boys are a little… slow when it comes to asking a woman out."
"Aren't they all?" Alice laughed and then moved away from Penny to the entrance of the store, shutting the doors and locking them with the keys hanging around her neck. She then moved toward the back door and motioned for the pride to follow her, opening the back door and walking in with the eight other people following her in and Santana shutting the door behind them. Brittany gasped when they walked in and smiled at the sight of all the adorable lion cub stuff; furniture, sweaters for the winter, toys, what looked like huge litter boxes and parenting books, "Richard!" Alice called out and the pride heard shuffling behind the counter in the back.
"Over here, Al!" A male voice called out and Riley smiled widely – excitedly – racing over to the counter and gaining her father's attention.
"Dad!" She exclaimed in a shaky voice, tears lacing her tone and he looked up as she raced around the counter to hug him.
"Oh, my sweet girl!" He exclaimed as he pulled her into his arms and gave her a huge squeeze, tears in his eyes and a smile on his stubbly face, "Oh, you're here. You guys are safe. Thank God."
"I missed you, dad." Riley said as a tear slipped from her eye and she hugged her dad tighter, "I missed you so much."
"I missed you too, champ." Richard said and patted his daughter's back, "I missed you too."
Alice then introduced the three mates to Richard who smiled brightly when he met Penny who he told to call him dad and then kissed her cheek before they all gathered around the counter and spoke about their years at the zoo while Alice pulled Santana and Brittany away from the group, saying she needed their help with something, before leading them to another door which read Dr. Alice Baynham, OB/GYN. She walked them in and shut it behind them before patting the table and smiling at Brittany who sat down with a frown.
"All right," Alice said as Santana frowned, arms folded and eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, "I have a sneaking suspicion that you, Ms. Pierce, are pregnant. So, I'm just gonna check you out. Everything off from the waist down while I get the ultrasound machine ready."
Brittany looked at Santana, who was smiling excitedly, with wide eyes and her mouth agape while Alice sat on her stool and rolled toward her machines after giving Brittany a paper sheet, turning her back to the women, "Everything off from the waist down, Bee." Santana repeated Alice's words as Brittany's mouth closed itself, "It's gonna be fine, Bee. It's probably nothing. Let's just check to be safe, okay?"
Brittany swallowed and nodded, "Okay." She said before nodding even firmer, "Yeah, okay. No, you're right. Gonna be fine." Brittany began to take everything off from the waist down and then frowned when her pants and shoes were off, "Do I have to take my underwear off?" She asked Alice who was grabbing the ultrasound gel.
"No, those can stay on." Alice chuckled, rolling back to the machines and humming before pulling one towards the women while Brittany lay on the table under the sheet, "All right, I'm going to do an ultrasound but if I can't see anything then I will need you to take your underwear off for a transvaginal ultrasound, does that sound okay?"
"When you say transvaginal do you mean that transducer thingy goes up her—"
"—vagina. Yes." Alice said with a smile, "But it's not this one…" She said, digging around next to the machine and pulling out a longer, narrower transducer, "It's this one."
"Jesus Christ." Santana breathed out and Brittany snorted, grabbing her hand and sniffing.
"I've had one before, babe; it doesn't hurt."
"You've had a transvaginal ultrasound before?" Santana asked with a raised eyebrow and Brittany nodded with an eye roll.
"Not because of a pregnancy scare." She said, "Just to check everything out because my OB/GYN couldn't see properly with the abdominal ultrasound… but that's because he's an idiot. Even his intern could see properly with the abdominal ultrasound."
Alice chuckled when Santana growled in anger at the sound of the man and Brittany kissed the girl's hand, "Okay, let's check you out." Alice said, lifting Brittany's shirt to just under her breasts and then looking at her stomach, "It's a little swelled right here, can you see that?" She asked, pressing on Brittany's lower stomach and watching the blonde nod with scared eyes, "Don't worry, it's normal when you're pregnant with lion cubs. You start showing quite early but human mothers are still pregnant for nine months. You only start showing so early because you're most likely carrying more than one or two." She explained and Santana, now in full protection mode, nodded as she kissed Brittany's hand, "This is gonna be cold." Alice warned before squirting a lot of the gel onto Brittany's stomach and then running the transducer through it, tapping a few things on the machine and raising her glasses – which hung around her neck on beads – to her eyes. She moved the transducer around Brittany's belly and nodded, "Right there," She said, pointing at three little pips on the screen, "Triplets." She told the couple before tapping something on the machine and smiling widely when three strong heartbeats echoed through the room.
"Oh, my God." Brittany said with a large smile as tears pooled in her eyes. Santana sniffled and kissed her hand, closing her eyes and letting her tears fall down her cheeks, "We're having cubs."
Santana smiled happily and nodded, running a hand through her hair and giving Brittany's hand a squeeze as she leaned down and pressed their lips together, "It's a little soon but… this certainly speeds things up." She said as she looked back at the screen with a smile while she observed her three tiny cubs, "We've only been together three weeks." She informed Alice who nodded.
"Richard and I were together four days before I fell pregnant with Riley." She said, "We found out the next week and were married a month later."
"How far along is Brittany?" Santana asked curiously.
"Three weeks." Alice said, "I'm assuming these babies were conceived during your first time?"
"Sounds about right." Santana said with a nod before smiling widely at her mate who was staring at the screen in awe and love, "We're gonna have cubs, Bee."
"We're gonna have cubs." Brittany said with a nod, a complete and utter love-struck smile on her face, "Can we get a picture?"
"Of course." Alice said.
"Hold on; how much is it?" Santana asked and Brittany rolled her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Baynham; Santana doesn't have a job." She said, "But I do so it doesn't matter how much it is. We want a picture, San; these are our cubs."
"Baby, I can't let you pay for this, you barely—"
"How 'bout this?" Alice interrupted Santana as she printed a picture and wiped off the transducer before doing the same to Brittany's belly, "I will give Santana a job here and take the price of the picture off her first paycheck. You can build baby furniture for both stores. How's that sound?"
Santana smiled and looked at Brittany who nodded, "Sounds perfect, Al. Thank you." She said with a grateful grin. Alice nodded and took the picture out of the machine, handing it to Brittany and tucking the transducer back in its place.
"All right; you start tomorrow." Alice said, "Your due date is estimated the twenty-sixth of March but they may come a little later. I'm going to give you the four parenting books I wrote for human mothers and spirit lion fathers and I want you to read them thoroughly… twice. Okay? You need to know everything about everything. This is not like a normal pregnancy; it'll be weird at first and then you'll pop before you're even six months. And you'll be waddling around for the last three like a penguin."
Brittany nodded firmly and looked down at the picture, "Is there any chance of a miscarriage?" She asked.
"No." Alice said, "Never with lion cubs. You can tell whoever you want. And start getting ready for these babies because they'll be here before you know it, okay? Also, Santana, Richard and I will provide you with all the materials you need to build a house with more than ten bedrooms; each cub needs their own room so you should get building on some huge land as soon as we send the materials over, all right?"
"Yes ma'am." Santana said with a nod as Brittany smiled down at her cubs, one hand on her belly while Santana linked their fingers on her belly, "Thank you. I'll pay you back."
"Not necessary." Alice said, "If your parents were in Lima it'd be their duty to provide you with everything you needed to build your own house. So they can pay me back. You don't have to worry about a thing other than getting that house built, furnished and tech-savvy in a time-space of six months."
"Tech-savvy?" Santana asked and Alice smiled.
"It's all in the fourth book." She assured the girl who nodded before she turned on her stool while Brittany handed Santana the picture and stood to put her pants and shoes back on, a bright, happy smile stuck on her face as Alice rolled the machine back to its place with the others, "I want you two to come back when you're eight weeks to check on the heartbeats and then again at eighteen weeks to determine the sexes."
"We'll be here." Santana said, taking Brittany into her arms and leaning in, pressing a soft kiss to her lips and smiling, "We're having cubs." She stated again and Brittany's smile only widened.
"We are." She said as Alice stood and moved over to the door.
"Okay, let's get you those books."
"How much are they?" Santana asked and Alice raised her eyebrow at the woman as she opened the door.
"No charge for you two. But if you lose them before your next pregnancy, you're paying for another set." She teased and Santana chuckled, linking her fingers with Brittany's and following Alice out of her exam room. Santana shut the door behind them as they continued to follow Alice straight ahead to the bookshelf while the entire pride was preoccupied talking to Richard at the register, "Okay," Alice breathed out as she got to the shelf and scanned it for her parenting books, "Lion Fathers and Human Mothers. The first book; it explains everything you need to know about what to expect. Half a Year and Almost There, the second one which tells you everything about the last six months of the cubs' first year." She said, handing those two books to Brittany who took them and observed the covers, "Mommy and Cubs: What to do. Third book and very important; it tells you everything about the cubs' first six months in the world." She said, handing the book to Brittany before scanning the shelf for the fourth one, "Ah!" She said, spotting it and pulling it off the shelf, "Fourth and last book: Lion Cubs: Furniture, Potty-Training and Cries. Everything you need to know about their rooms, what they sleep in, what they pee and poop in and what cry means what. It also tells you everything you need to know about how tech-savvy your house needs to be. Read them all-"
"—twice." Brittany finished and took the outstretched book from Alice as the pride now paid their attention to the couple who were smiling happily at Alice, Santana looking down at the sonogram picture and Brittany looking down at the four books in her arms, "Thank you, Dr. Baynham. Very much."
"Call me Alice, Brittany." Alice said, touching Brittany's shoulder with a smile, "And you're both very welcome. Congratulations."
"Congratulations on what?!" Riley called over to them and the three of them looked her way as she wrapped her arms around Penny and raised her eyebrow at her mother and her two pride members.
Santana looked at Brittany and raised a questioning eyebrow earning a nod before she turned back to the pride and smiled widely, "We're having cubs!" She exclaimed and the seven people at the register gasped and squealed and whooped and cheered while Riley raced up to Santana and hoisted her into her arms, spinning her in a circle while the rest of the pride approached and hugged Brittany, congratulating the couple.
"We're having cubs!" Riley cheered, pumping her fist in the air as the rest of the pride attacked Santana with hugs while Riley hugged Brittany and Alice and Richard chuckled, "Congratulations, you two." Riley laughed out as she gave Brittany a squeeze and then felt her lower stomach, "Did mom give you guys a scan?"
"Yeah," Santana said, holding out the photo to Riley as the pride gathered around her and peered down at it, "We're having triplets."
Riley looked down at the picture with a smile as the rest of the pride mirrored her actions before she stuck her fist in the air again and yelled, "We're having triplets!" The pride cheered, Santana, Brittany, Richard and Alice chuckled and the happy couple embraced each other while the pride screamed in excitement over the three blossoming cubs. Santana leaned in and joined her lips with Brittany's, smiling into the kiss as the blonde held onto the books tightly with one hand and cupped a tan cheek with the other.
"Marry me, Brittany Susan Pierce." Santana whispered into Brittany's lips and the blonde's smile only widened.
"I'd love nothing more."
It'd been three weeks since Santana and Brittany found out they were expecting triplets and got engaged. In those three weeks:
Santana started working at Cub's Cocoon and received the materials she needed for hers and Brittany's house. They'd picked a huge slab of land about six hundred meters away from Brittany's current house – which used to be her parents'.
Santana had bought Brittany an engagement ring and given it to her during Brittany's one month mark in her pregnancy.
Quinn and Puck had started dating and Quinn was now living with him in his apartment.
Louis and Brooke had eloped drunkenly and were married, happy and living in his apartment.
Penny and Riley were happier than ever, still living in Brittany's parents' house and Kurt and Blaine were as well. Santana and Brittany were staying in the house while Santana built a house of their own. The land was ginormous and Santana's plan was building five houses for each couple in the pride and then connecting each house to Brittany's parents' house which she'd renovate – with Brittany's permission – and turn into a Pride Room where the entire pride would spend time together. She planned to break down all the inner walls that made bedrooms and seal up the front door and back door, break down the front porch and let Brooke start a small garden outside the windows she planned on putting there. Her plans for Brittany's parents' house were huge and, with Brittany's permission, she planned on starting her renovations once their cubs were six months old.
Brittany had read through all four parenting books three times and was now on her fourth time reading the first one, Lion Fathers and Human Mothers.
Santana had read all the books twice and her lion had memorized every word in each of them. She'd started building the large base of their house and had jotted down every single thing she needed to put in for the cubs; sound-proofed rooms so they wouldn't wake up their siblings when they cried and intercoms acting as baby-monitors in each room of the house in order for Santana and Brittany to tap into their cubs' rooms before they go to bed and hear them when they cry in the night. She'd noted every piece of furniture they needed and planned on designing a completely new "litter box" that was built into the ground so the cubs wouldn't have to struggle to climb in once they learned to walk in lion form and could later be emptied out and used as a large Zen garden once their cubs had learned control over their lions and were potty-trained. She'd also designed a brilliantly helpful, large bassinet – made for one cub until they're two – and shown it to Alice and Richard who gave her a raise and told her to start building while she was taking breaks from building the house with the pride; the bassinet was an oval shape that could fit in the middle of a queen-sized bed and had a soft mattress build in with soft padding on the wood structure so the cub who slept in it wouldn't hurt themselves, it was also raised a meter and a half and beneath it was a cupboard in which you could keep all the necessary changing, cleaning and grooming items for that cub – it was brilliantly clever and Richard and Alice loved it. Santana had also begun building furniture for the store that they were already selling including changing tables, build-your-own cribs, rocking chairs and car seats. She just continued to bring in raises and Brittany was somewhat relieved at that information however she was starting to panic as she reread the parenting books and overwhelmed herself with everything their cubs would need and how little time they had to do it all in.
Sam, Brittany's ex-boyfriend, had shown up and been almost scared to death when the entire pride shifted and growled at him as he approached a pregnant – and showing – Brittany. Santana stood in front of her mate and roared angrily at the boy who shrieked and got in his car, driving away and never returning.
Brittany and Santana had Skyped Santana's parents – who were in Spain – and told them they were expecting triplets after they were introduced to Brittany.
Santana's parents arrived in Lima and were staying at their old house.
"Baby," Brittany called out as she approached the one quarter built house while the rest of the pride worked on it with a sweaty Santana who looked in Brittany's direction and smiled, moving up to her and wiping her forehead with her hand, "It says here that when our cubs are born they'll only be humans for twenty-four hours and then for the next five months and twenty-seven days they'll be lion cubs; I can't take care of a teeny, little lion baby. I don't even know how to take care of a teeny, little human baby!"
Santana smiled and held onto Brittany's shoulders as the blonde waved Lion Fathers and Human Mothers in the air in a panic, "I'm here." She said softly, "We'll be fine. I was a cub once too and I know how to take care of them, I promise. I've read the books and I am confident that we'll be perfectly all right. The house is one quarter of the way done and once it is finished, which will be in about three months, we'll furnish it and get Louis to soundproof the kids rooms. I'll hook up the intercoms and you and I can go furniture shopping and buy anything and everything you want, okay?"
"Three months… okay, three months is good. I'll be halfway through my fifth month by then so, that's good. We'll still have four months to do everything else." Brittany said, breathing deeply and slowly as she rested her hand on her belly, "Okay. It's gonna be okay."
"That's right." Santana agreed with a smile as she leaned in and pecked her fiancée's lips, "You wanna see how well the house is coming along?"
"Yeah. I really do." Brittany said, dog-earing her page in the book and shutting it, walking over to the house with Santana and smiling, "You've built the frame for upstairs." She observed, "Fuck, it looks amazing."
"It does, right?" Santana said with a wide smile as she watched some of her pride members cement the stones for the outside fireplace and stick them onto the other stones already in place while the others built the outside wall, "I'm thinking we add on a little upstairs and make a part of the roof on the third floor a pool. What do you think? Too much?"
"No, that sounds amazing." Brittany said with a nod and a smile, "And it can heat up in winter." She suggested and Santana nodded.
"That's what I was thinking too." She said and Brittany smiled, moving towards the house with Santana following close behind her. She stepped up onto the finished cement base of the house and smiled.
"How many rooms is it again?" She asked.
"Twelve." Santana replied, watching her fiancée walk around the base, stepping over the wooden frames and smiling.
"How many bedrooms are gonna be downstairs?" She asked as she stood in the large room which had chalk on the cement that read Living Room.
"Six. And six upstairs." Santana replied, "When we have more cubs, we can move the older ones downstairs to fill the rooms down there and then the younger cubs will be upstairs with us so we can get to them faster. Each room of the house – even the bathrooms – are going to have intercoms in them. They'll be touchscreen too; state-of-the-art."
Brittany nodded as her fiancé spoke as she walked around to every room downstairs and widened her eyes at the size of each one of the six bedrooms, "These bedrooms are huge!" She exclaimed and Santana chuckled.
"They're gonna need a lot of space when they get older and we're gonna be in this house for the rest of our lives." Santana said, "Also, I was thinking; as soon as we have all the cubs we're gonna have, the rooms that they're in at the time will be their permanent rooms. What do you think?"
"I agree." Brittany said, moving back down the wooden porch steps that Santana and the pride had already built and taking Santana's hand as she turned to face the house and sighed happily, "It's gonna be so beautiful, baby. You're so good at this." She smiled as she looked at the house and licked her lips, "Can I see the blue prints?"
"Yeah, sure." Santana said, taking Brittany's hand and leading her to the table she'd set up which held the blue prints and unrolling them, "All right, this is the one I drew up about an hour ago for the roof."
Brittany looked at the drawing and nodded; it was a large rectangle with the measurements off to the side and a circle coming off the bottom left corner that read end of chimney. On the right line was a circle in the middle that read roof of breakfast nook. And then, in the top right corner was a small rectangle that read end of staircase to roof and then a smaller rectangle coming off of it that said roof floor. Then there was a large path way coming off the rectangle that was the end of the staircase leading to a large square with a large rectangle in the middle that read pool and a smaller rectangle off to the side against the wall that said pool pump. The rest of the large third floor read ROOF and Brittany could just see it now.
"Okay, I like that. I love where you've placed the pool." She said, "Will the floor of the roof be cement or…?"
"That's what I'm thinking but we'll color it so it's not so… ugly. But we might brick it too. And the stairs will be covered by a roof and a door." Santana said and Brittany nodded as she rolled up the third floor blue print, revealing the second floor blue print, "Okay, this is where our bedroom is as well as the cub's bathroom which you can see has two doors; one that leads into the house and another that leads into our room."
"Right. Yeah." Brittany said, looking over the plan and smiling at how beautiful it was; the same circle coming off the bottom left corner was there but now read chimney of fireplace as well as the same circle coming off the right wall which still read roof of breakfast nook. A small rectangle coming downwards from the top left corner read staircase to roof and lined along the top wall were five rooms – all the same size – labeled Bed 7, Bed 8, Bed 9, Bed 10 and Bed 11. A few centimeters in front of the large rooms was a long line moving from the right wall all the way to where Bed 7's wall ended and moved downward a few inches before moving right again and ending at a rectangle that read staircase from first floor. On the other side of the rectangle was a line moving all the way to the left wall with a semi-circle in the middle of it that read archway. A few centimeters off the bottom wall and a few inches away from the wall with the arch was a long line moving all the way to the right wall with three separate rooms drawn in beneath it. The room on the left had a semi-circle in the middle of the wall which read archway as well and inside the room it read family room with a rectangle stretching across the bottom left corner moving inward which read fireplace and was clearly linked to the outside fireplace. Next to the family room, in the middle, was a room that read Cub and Master Bathroom with a square drawn in the middle which read litter box built into floor. And right next to the bathroom, on the right, was the biggest bedroom out of all of them that read master bedroom. Santana had drawn on doors to all the rooms and there was another archway on the wall across from the master and bathroom leading to the hallway where the other five bedrooms were. And between all the rooms was a large area with words in brackets in the center reading (put couches in the middle of this area), "I love it; it's big, it's spacious and it's easy to move around." Brittany said, "And I like how you've made two ways to get to this hallway here where the cubs' rooms are."
"Yeah, I really thought that one through. I mean, if they wanna come to our room they'll come through this arch here across from the family room by the stairs whereas if they wanna go to their rooms they'll turn right after coming up the stairs and then turn right again." Santana said studying the blue print before rolling it up again and showing Brittany the blue print for the first floor, "This is the busiest floor of the house." She said and spread it out as Brittany studied it with eager eyes.
Five bedrooms – all the same size as the ones on the second floor aside from the master – were lined up along three quarters of the back wall and labeled Bed 1, Bed 3, Bed 4, Bed 5 and Bed 6 while Bed 2 was right across the hall from Bed 1. Separating Bed 2 from the other rooms was a long hallway moving to the right and ending where Bed 6's right wall ended. Right where it ended was a long line moving downward from the top and an archway in the middle of that long line as well was an archway at the end of the hallway on the lower wall of it. A perfect square rested where the archways lead and read family hall. There was a rectangle just below it with the bottom wall of the house acting as its back wall and a door drawn in; this room read downstairs bathroom. To the left of the long line moving from top to bottom in the last quarter of the first floor was that same circle coming off the right wall that read breakfast nook. About an inch in front of the breakfast nook was a long rectangle stopping just in front of the archway which read carpet. Above the carpet was the kitchen and below it was the dining room. Brittany smiled as she looked up at the unfinished outside fireplace and then looked at it on the blue print, coming off the bottom left corner and inward was a rectangle stretching across the bottom left corner, also linked to the outside fireplace, which read fireplace. A large, perfect square rested where the indoor fireplace was and coming into it was Bed 2 as well as, in the top right corner of the square, a backwards, sideways L shape which read staircase. Where the L ended was another archway and in the middle of this square it read Living Room. In the bottom right corner was a small rectangle which read Coat Closet. And coming out of the living room's archway was a long rectangle ending were the hallway to the bedrooms ran across the three quarters of the house which read Front Hallway. Right across from the living room's archway was another archway leading into the family hall. And on the bottom wall of the front hallway was a very thin rectangle that read front door. Starting at the middle of the outer wall of the living room and ending three quarters into the outer wall of the downstairs bathroom was the front porch, coming off a few inches in a rectangle with another rectangle coming off that porch, this one smaller, which read porch steps. And, lastly, in the top left corner of the kitchen was a door leading onto the large back porch which ended a two centimeters away from each side wall of the house. It had porch steps coming off it in the middle and Santana had drawn a large circle around the entire plan and labeled it front and backyard.
"So, this is our house?" Brittany asked, looking at her fiancé who was furrowing her brows as she looked at the plans, "This is where we're gonna be living for the rest of our lives in the next three months?"
Santana inhaled a deep breath, rolling up the plan and smiling as she exhaled, "This is it." She said, "Do you like it?"
Brittany smiled brightly up at her fiancé and wrapped her arms around the woman, pressing a kiss to her lips as her small baby bump pressed into Santana's stomach, "I love it." She replied as she pulled away, "It's going to be so fucking gorgeous." Santana smiled widely and pecked Brittany again before the blonde asked another question, "I can see that the left side wall is built with bricks but how come Louis, Brooke, Blaine and Kurt are cementing those bluish, greyish, purplish stone-rock thingies to it?"
"Because the outside of our entire house is going to look like it's made of those bluish, greyish, purplish stone-rock thingies." Santana replied and smiled at Brittany's adorable blush.
"Well, I think it looks amazing so far." She said, resting her free hand on her belly while still holding her book, "I can't wait to see the finished product."
November
At Brittany's eight week check-up their triplets' heartbeats were way stronger and Alice confirmed that all three of their cubs were healthy and growing beautifully.
Santana and the pride had built the left and top walls of the first floor and had started to build the floors into the second floor. Her father, Matteo, had stepped in to help while her mother, Maribel, went through colors for the bedrooms and names for the babies with Brittany who both her parents absolutely adored. The house and Brittany's pregnancy were coming along beautifully and the blonde had a gorgeously pronounced – yet still small – baby bump while the left side wall of the house was full of the stones and the back wall was halfway there but still fully built to the frames of the second floor. Santana and Matteo had started building the right side wall with bricks and cementing it over to make it prettier from the outside and inside. And, of course, once that wall was fully built they'd start with the rocks while some of the other pride members started building the front wall of the house and so on.
Brittany and Santana were looking forward for their eighteenth week check-up to find out the sexes of their cubs and were counting down the days as they arrived at week sixteen.
"No, no." Santana said as she paced the back porch of Brittany's house with her phone to her ear as the blonde came out of the house with a hot cup of tea. Santana gave her a smile as she sat on the back porch swing and sighed, sipping her tea and licking her lips as she listened to Santana talk, "No, I need more of the stones you sent me last time." She told the building store Richard had recommended to her and nodded when the person on the other end of the phone told her the name of what she wanted, "Yes, that's the one. Yeah, I need the same amount you sent over last time." Brittany sniffed, blinking her eyes open bright and early this autumn morning, and licked her dry lips as she watched her fiancé order more materials for their house which was now halfway done. Santana had told her it'd probably take another two months instead of one more as she was in the middle of her fourth month of pregnancy and the house planned to be done in a month but it'd rained a whole lot which delayed Santana's work by two weeks, "That's perfect, yeah and then I'm gonna need the materials for the roof that I ordered two months ago." Santana said, burying her free hand in her hair and halting her pacing as she listened to the woman on the other end speak, "Yeah, send over all of it; I gave the guy the measurements for the roof when I ordered the materials so you should have it all there. I'm Santana Lopez." Brittany frowned as Santana did and watched her fiancé roll her eyes, "The account you're putting it on is Matteo Lopez but I, his daughter, ordered the materials under my own name." She said and then frowned again before nodding, "Okay, sure." She said before covering the receiver with her hand and sitting down next to her fiancée, pecking her lips and smiling at her, "They're looking for my order sheet. I need those materials today or it'll all be delayed another week. And it can't be delayed anymore." She told the woman who nodded in understanding and swallowed her mouthful of tea, "Good morning, by the way."
"Morning, love." Brittany said with a sleepy smile, still clad in her pajamas as Santana removed her hand from the receiver and leaned back into the swing, continuing to speak to the woman on the other end.
"Brilliant. Can you have that all sent over here today? I need it literally as soon as possible." She said, scratching her chin and sniffing as the woman spoke. Brittany rested her hand on Santana's thigh as she finished her tea and put the mug next to her on the swing, rubbing her belly with her free hand and sighing as she looked out at the forest, "Oh, perfect. Thank God." Santana said before chuckling, "That's perfect, thank you. I'll meet you outside in an hour." She continued and Brittany gave her a thumbs-up, "Thanks. Bye."
Santana hung up and tucked her phone in the pocket of her sweat pants before resting that hand on Brittany's belly and swinging her other arm around the woman's shoulders, letting her cuddle into her, "They can get it all here today?" The blonde asked and Santana kissed the top of her head.
"Yeah. Half of it is already loaded in the truck so they'll be here in an hour." Santana said with a sigh of relief, "Are you excited for December second?"
"I am." Brittany smiled, "We're gonna find out if we're having two boys and a girl or two girls and a boy or three girls or three boys. I can't wait."
"I like the colors you and mom picked out for their rooms. All those different shades of yellow." Santana said as she rested her cheek against the top of Brittany's head and inhaled the cold, fresh air, "But we're finding out the sex anyway so if you wanna paint their rooms according to their gender then we'll do that. Either way, I'm happy."
"I mean, we could but that's kind of risky 'cause what if we have three girls and then paint all three of their rooms pink and then the next three come along and they're all boys… then we move the girls to different rooms and the boys' rooms are pink?" Brittany said, "I don't know, I think we should paint them all – all eleven – that bumblebee yellow."
"Done." Santana said, "And what color is our room gonna be?"
Brittany smiled cheekily and glanced up at her fiancé, "Scarlet." She replied, "'Cause it's warm and cozy and passionate."
"Great." Santana said with a large, loving smile, "Then we'll go pick out the paints after the materials are delivered today. How's that sound?"
"Sounds good. They all just have to be the perfect color. Are the floors of the bedrooms gonna be carpet or wood with carpets on them?"
"Wood with carpets on them. We'll pick out the carpets to match the walls of each room." Santana said, "Also, I was thinking; if we have more than one of the same sex and those two or three are identical we could get custom made clothing with the names we pick out for them on the clothes. That way we always know who's who until we can actually tell them apart… you know, for the day they're born and then their six month birthday."
"I love that idea!" Brittany exclaimed excitedly and Santana chuckled with a nod, kissing the top of Brittany's head, "And they can all have, like, the numbers one, two and three on them so we remember which one came out first."
Santana snickered and nodded, "Perfect. I'll ask Alice to order those after we know the sexes and what names we want." She said, "We can also design them ourselves if you want. I mean, the ones they'll wear for their first twenty-four hours as babies before they shift for the rest of their first six months."
"I love it. Love it, love it, love it." Brittany said with a nod and chewed on her thumb nail before she felt a flutter in her belly, "Whoa!"
"What? What, what?" Santana asked, concerned.
"I felt a little kick." Brittany said, pressing Santana's hand that rested on her belly further into it where she felt the kick and laughing when she felt another, "Did you feel that?"
"No." Santana said with a frown, "I won't be able to feel them kick until week twenty, babe. How does it feel, though?"
"It feels so… weird." Brittany said and Santana frowned in concern.
"Bad weird?" She asked and Brittany shook her head.
"Wonderful weird." She breathed out with a large smile. Santana smiled back and pressed a kiss to her pink lips, licking the inside of her upper lip and pulling it into her mouth, deepening the kiss.
"Yo! The truck from that store's here with the materials." Riley said, poking her head out the back door and patting the frame, "Let's go get it unloaded and get back to building; we're off schedule as it is."
"On my way." Santana said before pressing another kiss to Brittany's lips and smiling at the woman while Riley jogged through the house and exited through the front door, "I've gotta go help out but then we can head to the store and pick out the paints and carpets for the bedrooms, yeah?"
"Yeah." Brittany said with a giddy smile, pressing one last kiss to Santana's lips and watching the brunette stand and jump off the back porch, walking around the house and disappearing from sight. Brittany sighed happily and closed her eyes as she felt tiny little kicks every other minute, smiling as she started to slowly rock the swing and hum while rubbing her belly.
Three months and two weeks ago she'd found a large lion on the side of the street and now she was engaged, pregnant with triplets and waiting for her and that lion's house to be finished just six hundred meters away from the house she grew up in. There was no way in hell that she could've been happier than she was in that moment. And it was all moving so fast but Brittany's mother always told her: 'Life's not fun if it's moving too slowly. Enjoy it.'
Thank you for all the alerts, guys! I'm loving the reviews!
Now, I understand that this story is moving pretty quickly but I've planned it all out and it's meant to be moving this fast. So just sit back and enjoy it; I have a sequel and a trilogy planned out already.
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