A pretty Santana-centric chapter, but the next few will be oozing with Pezberry goodness. That's the plan, anyway. Enjoy!

There are many, many things Santana is amazing at; dancing, singing, and making a big mess still look exceptionally organized. She knows it's kind of pointless because her mom will be going in her dresser, closet, drawers and just about everywhere she can, to organize it herself. Obviously, only after she yells at Santana in Spanish about when she's gonna learn to get her shit together and "just fold them, mija, honestly Santana, we've been through this for the last 18 years, blah, blah, blah."She was just about done organizing (shoving) clothes into her dresser and on to piling books and DVDs in the corner of her "room" when—

"Mrs. Lopez! Hi!"

She pushes the curtain aside and pokes her head out, "Ma?" Santana pulls herself up and walks over to Kurt and her mother cheek kissing before she turns to Rachel and does the same.

"I thought I was meeting you at the airport." Santana says as her mom pulls her into a tight embrace, and Santana basks in it for maybe a second longer because, God, she missed her Mami.

"I knew you would be late, so I just took a cab." Mrs. Lopez says in a duh tone that Santana realized at a very young age is where she gets her sass from. And her mom's totally right because she should have been at the airport a half hour ago.

"Oh yeah." Santana says easily before picking up the luggage and puts it at the corner of the loft for the time being.

Mrs. Lopez lets out a small laugh and shakes her head "Nice place you guys got here." She says with a whistle as she makes herself comfortable on the couch and it may sound sarcastic to other people, but Santana knows it was a sincere comment, but probably because she thought it would be much worse than it actually is.

"So, how are you kids doing?" she asks, it's really a formality at this point since Santana called her and filled her in just last night and Kurt, Rachel and Santana are kind of still just standing by the door.

"Good!" Kurt pipes after no one really says anything, "Still hangin' in there." He makes a noise that Santana assumes is supposed to be forced laughter and walks over to the chair next to the couch and sits down while the two girls follow, Santana sitting between her mom and Rachel.

"Where do you want to go for dinner?" Santana asks, trying to break the god awful tension in the room right now.

"I figured I'd make you kids dinner since I'm sure you all haven't had a single home cooked meal since you left Lima." It's kind of true, it's pretty much been fast food and take out on a daily basis. Except the cereal. Cereal is a good meal at any time of the day. "So, where's the closest grocery store?"

The closest market is only a block away and her mom wanted to see exactly what the neighborhood her daughter is staying in was like. Which really isn't too bad Santana insists and she decides to leave out the homeless men who constantly ogle at her whenever she walks by.

They've finished picking out different types of food and Santana doesn't even bother asking what exactly her mom is making because anything is better than pizza, cheeseburgers and take out Chinese food at this point. Her mom decides to take on the job to buy toiletries and different things for the loft as well and Santana's not going to object to that either.

Mrs. Lopez reaches for body wash and Santana shakes her head, "We can't buy that anymore." She says and picks up a different bottle before throwing it into the shopping cart.

"But that's your favourite." The older woman says, making a face. Santana's used the same Vanilla scented body wash since she was 16 and she vaguely remembers the temperamental Cheerio from just a few years ago, stating very clearly it's the only body wash she wants in her bathroom.

"Rachel can't stand the smell anymore…makes her nauseous." Santana says simply and Mrs. Lopez lets out a small laugh and nods her head.

"How long will that actually last?"

"How long will what last?"

"The whole nausea thing." Santana says easily, "I mean, I'm trying to read up on this stuff but I can only read about it for so long, and pregnancy is really gross, Ma."

Mrs. Lopez smiles and shakes her head, "It depends, mija." She says softly, picking up a package of toilet paper and they walk in silence for a while because Santana is actually just waiting for the lecture her mother was probably preparing on the way up here.

"Santana, you know I trust you. And you know that me and your Papi will support any decision you make, because I didn't raise a stupid girl." Santana nods still looking straight ahead as they walk down another aisle, "And you know I like Kurt and Rachel too-

"Mom, I know." And she does, so she's scrambling for the right words to explain more thoroughly, and maturely, because that's kind of the whole point of why she moved away from that god awful town and she will do everything in her power to not let her parents regret their decision of letting their 18 year old daughter pack up and leave without much of a solid plan at all.

"Look I know, the situation at hand isn't very ideal," Santana says, trying to use the most mature way to begin this conversation. She turns to face her mother because at this point she thinks she knows where this conversation is leading. "But it's not really changing my plans either. I mean, I went to an audition last week and I think it went pretty okay…and I'm still taking my singing lessons. I'm even thinking about doing the extension dance classes in NYADA, and who knows, maybe I can get in next year even though I don't really know what I want yet, but I know the option is there..." She knows she's rambling, but the more she talks, the more the whole thing is kind of making sense, and she's wondering if her mom needs as much convincing as she does, "anyway, I think I might have gotten a job at some diner."

She knows her mom is holding back her laughter but instead she holds up both hands, "Hey, I'm your mother and they said it's in the job description to ask these questions."

Santana shrugs and holds back a smile and silently thanks whatever God there is for giving her such a cool mom. "Happy to keep you in the loop, Ma."

"Well I'm glad you're not just spending all that money we gave you." She nudges Santana a little and they keep walking, "Even though I did see a couple of pairs of heels I don't remember packing for you before you left."

Santana fake gasps and uses her best insulted face, "I actually have no idea what you're talking about, Mother."

Mrs. Lopez rolls her eyes and puts a hand on her daughter's arm, letting out a deep sigh "Santana, I want you to know how proud of you I am, mija." She says softly, and with everything that's going on right now, Santana feels a small shift in the weight on her shoulders. "For knowing what you want and going after it. I guess me and your Papi lucked out huh?" Santana gives her a small smile before linking their arms together as they walk.

"I guess I can't take all the credit." Santana shrugs and places a small kiss on her mother's cheek, "but yeah, you two did make a pretty sweet kid."

"Mrs. Lopez, that was so delicious." Rachel says, trying and failing miserably at an attempt to not look like she hasn't eaten in days. (Which would be a complete lie because they've had to do two grocery runs in the past week because she just can't seem to stop eating the entire apartment.)

Mrs. Lopez smiles as she leans back on her chair, Santana mirroring her and placing her hands on her extremely full belly before saying, "Seriously, mom, you've totally outdone yourself tonight." And Kurt mumbles something along the lines of "Just so good" while still stuffing his face with food.

"Well now that we're all pretty satiated," The older woman says, placing her elbows on the table before—

"Ma, no." Santana says because she has a fairly good idea as to where this conversation is heading.

Mrs. Lopez waves away her daughter's comment and makes a face, "I just wanted to say, that if any of you need help with whatever, that my cell phone is always on. I'm not going to pry, I just want all three of you to know that." She says firmly and then looks at Rachel, "Have you been to the doctor's since?"

The smaller girl shakes her head and before she even realizes what she's doing, Santana reaches under the table and takes Rachel's hand.

"Well we need to make you an appointment and Santana and Kurt, you make sure she goes because I need to fly out once the conference is done tomorrow night."

"I thought you just said you weren't gonna pry…" Santana mumbles, and Rachel tugs at her hand which means, shut up you idiot and let her speak.

Mrs. Lopez shakes her head and lets out a sigh, "I talked to your dads before I came and they wanted me to make sure you," she looks at Rachel, "are doing okay, and from what I can tell, you three are doing just fine."

Rachel smiles and Santana notices her eyes and the tears that are threatening to fall again.

"Dios mio, Ma, look what you did now." Santana huffs jokingly and Rachel lets go of her hand just to smack her arm with it.

"I can't help it, okay?"

The goodbyes were fairly short. Santana, Rachel and Kurt walked Mrs. Lopez back down to street level to hail a cab. She says goodbye to Kurt and Rachel, reminding Rachel that she can call if she ever has any questions and Santana tries to choke back the tears when her mom takes her into her arms again and says, "You come visit soon, alright? Your Papi misses you." Santana nods and opens the car door for her to slide in before they watch the cab disappear down the road.