A/N
I think it's important to know that I speak better English than my English teacher, and she doesn't really speak the language that well.
I also think I am disappointing with this story. I was very happy about how the first chapter turned out, but the last chapter and this one aren't written that well. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I just can't seem to fix it.
However, the response to this story has been great, so it's totally my own insecure mind that's thinking this way. If you know what's wrong: please (I am begging you) tell me how I can improve this story and ideas are still always welcome.
I am just going to stop my rant here and thank everyone who has reviewed already. Those little messages really make my day :)
"What are you going to do about school?" Callie asked as they sat down at the dinner table that night. The four of them had gone around Seattle for the bigger part of the day, and decided to just have dinner at their place.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm not going. It's not like I could get into a new school in October." Santana knew it was actually very possible to change schools. It was only high school.
"Uhm, you can, and you are. What else are you going to do? Sit on our sofa till you're eighteen?"
"I was thinking about getting a job, finding a place of my own, getting my own 'Happily Ever After', whatever. No rush," Santana tried to explain. She was in really no rush, when it came to moving on with her life. She thought she had had enough stress in her life for the moment, and tried to relax as much as possible. At least for a few weeks.
"Okay… Have you ever thought about what you are going to do when you can't find a job, or when you need new clothes? Are you assuming we are just going to pay everything for you?"
Both Latinas were getting irritated, and all Arizona could do was keep her mouth shut and focus her attention on Sofia, who was also noticing the tension in the room. It was safe to say the relaxed atmosphere, that had hung around them for the greater part of the day, was slowly disappearing.
Arizona had thought it was a little weird, that morning, when the two Latinas were suddenly acting like they had known each other their whole lives. Now, she realized Santana was just avoiding all the questions. It had all been an act.
"Well, no, but I thought you knew you were going to have to pay for things like food, clothes, school… Do you seriously think I would stay here if I had a choice? I don't know you! I think it'd be the same if I would've asked someone I met at the gas station if I could move in!" Santana stood up from her chair so quickly, it had fallen to the ground.
Sofia was startled by that action and started crying. The relatives, both, ignored her and let Arizona take care of it. She rolled her eyes and pulled Sofia out of her high chair and took her to the toddler's bedroom. "I'll just leave you two to it."
She, too, got ignored, and she rolled her eyes again. She closed the door behind her, trying to calm the toddler down.
In the other room, Callie had stood up, too. She was taller than the younger girl, so the action had the wished effect. "Why didn't you do that then, huh? I didn't ask you to come here! I was living my life happily, with my wife, my daughter, my… my Mark. Suddenly, I'm living with a seventeen-year-old, without any warning. God, you've only been here for a day, and you already make me want to kick you out! You-" Callie's rant was cut short by Santana, yelling.
"Why don't you do that then, huh?" She asked, repeating the question her aunt had asked her.
Callie let her shoulders slump a bit, softening her voice. "Because you are my family, Santana. And, unlike your parents and unlike mine, I like to keep my family close to me. It may not feel like it, but you are part of my family now, too. And this is what family does for each other." Callie regained her calm posture, "You. Are. My. Family," She said slowly, emphasizing every word.
"Oh yeah? Where have you been these past five years, then? You let them scare you away. That is the opposite of close. You came to my thirteenth birthday, and that was the last I saw of you for five years." Santana threw up her hands in frustration. At least the volume of her voice had gone down a bit, too. "And that's only because I came to you. Were you ever planning to call me? To try and have some of your family on your side? I don't think so," She continued slowly.
Callie just looked at her, not knowing what to say. She was embarrassed, but mad at the same time. Her niece didn't have the right to say these kind of things, but she did.
Santana took a deep breath in and picked up the chair, placing it where it stood before it had fallen to the ground. "And if you'll excuse me, auntie CalCal, I'd like to go to my room." She brushed past Callie and slammed the door behind her, as she entered her room.
Callie dropped her head in her hands and sighed loudly. She heard another door open and shut softly, and heard her wife's soft voice behind her, as she was clearing up the table. "Sofia's out cold. She must be exhausted after such a long day." She placed her body against her wife's back and placed her arms around her waist. "She didn't mean those things."
"But she did," Callie told her wife, "And it's true. I let them scare me away and I left the rest of my family behind."
"Oh, honey. It's not like you had a choice. When your parents and sister left you, they automatically took the others with them. She's just upset and now she's taking it out on you," Arizona said softly, "Let her cool down a bit. We'll talk to her tomorrow… without Sofia in the room." She smiled when her wife let out a short laugh and they finished the dishes. "C'mon, let's go to bed."
Callie smiled at her wife as they slowly walked to their room. "I love you, you know that?"
"Well, let me see… You remind me at least ten times a day, so I guess I'm beginning to believe it"
"You're a goof."
"Am not"
"What the hell did he do? Did he jump in a tree shredder or something?" Callie asked as she checked out the patient that had just brought in.
"Worse: he fell. Head first, so he got stuck. I don't know if he's lucky or if he'd better be dead," the paramedic answered as she handed over the chart.
Callie tried to patch the guy up as much as she could, but a skull fracture was something she had to do surgical.
"Book an OR and page Sloan," She told the intern closest to her and watched as he nodded, while he scrambled away quickly.
It turned out the guy needed a few more surgeries than one, and Callie was exhausted. She had to stand in an OR for seven hours total, but she couldn't go home yet, since she still had to do his post-op.
She walked into his room and saw a young blonde girl sitting on a chair next to his bed, holding his hand. The girl looked up when she noticed her and smiled tiredly. "I can go if you need me to. It's no problem," the blonde said as she stood up.
"Oh, no, you can stay. I just have to check his incisions. Are you his daughter?"
"Yeah, Brittany Pierce," the girl said as she extended her hand.
"Dr. Callie Torres. I can't really shake your hand, right now, but it's nice to meet you." She smiled at the girl.
"Right…" Brittany let her hand rest by her side again.
"Can you tell me what happened? Is your mother coming?"
"No and no. They're divorced and I was with my mom, when he fell, so I don't really know what happened," the blonde told her, shrugging.
Callie smiled sympathetically, "How long have you been here?"
"Six hours, but I'll manage."
Callie took off her gloves and threw them in the trash can. "Well, I'm going home now, you should too." She smiled one last time at the girl and left the room. She was glad she could finally go home after such a long day, but soon remembered she may have to talk to Santana.
She was so not looking forward to that.
Arizona had been at home the whole day, as she would be the rest of the week, and hadn't seen Santana once. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to give her a room with a bathroom. She couldn't really do anything about that now.
She was preparing dinner, when she finally heard a door open and was surprised it wasn't her wife coming home, but Santana, giving a sign of life.
Arizona knew she had to be careful around the girl, since she could run back to the safety of her room any minute. "Hey. Have you eaten anything today?"
The girl shook her head, refusing to say a word. She grabbed a soda can from the refrigerator and turned to leave again. "I'm making dinner, so we'll eat in half an hour," Arizona told her.
"I am not eating your food. Callie made it clear she doesn't want to pay for anything," the Latina said on her way to her room.
"Well, what do you think you're drinking, then? You are eating with me in half an hour," the blonde said sternly.
"No, I am not," Santana told the blonde. "You can't force me!"
"I'm just saying what's best for you."
"Yeah, well, don't." She was about to open the door to her room, when Arizona spoke again.
"We're not going to kick you out." She watched as the girl halted with her hand on the doorknob. "Callie is your family and that makes me your family too. I've always been taught to love my family unconditionally, but you are making this very hard. Frankly, we don't owe you anything, since we let you stay here for free, but I am asking you: what do we have to do to get your trust, or whatever you need to be nice to us? So, yeah, she wasn't there for you these past five years, but I bet you weren't that unhappy. You didn't need her. You just said that to make her feel guilty. You're just pissed, because your family didn't love you no matter what, and now you're taking it out on us. You don't have any right to do that, and still, she let you. But, when I say you need to eat, you are going to eat!"
Santana was kind of startled when Arizona raised her voice a bit. She did have a point, though.
She gritted her teeth and spit out a forced "Fine", before entering her room.
"Are you finally going to tell me why you're there?" Sasha Paulson asked her best friend, that night.
"Why are you pushing this so hard?"
"Because you said you aren't coming back! It's not like I could kick your ass for anything, and we barely speak anymore, so it's not like it would matter if I ignored you for the rest of our lives. Besides, it can't be that bad," she tried to argue.
Santana let out a deep sigh, "I guess you're right about that. But still… I'll tell you when I made a new friend," she said jokingly. "And I'm not that sure about not coming back, anymore. I hate it here, Sasha. They're already asking questions and I just got here. And-"
She got interrupted by Arizona's voice, "Santana, food's ready."
The Latina groaned into her phone, "Ugh, I got to go. Talk to you later?"
"Sure. G'night."
"Bye." She broke the connection and put away her phone.
"Santana! Food-"
"God, I'm coming!"
She groaned once again when she left her room."
"Come on, Sofia, eat your peas," Callie said trying to get her daughter to eat.
"So, anything interesting happened today?"
The question was meant for everybody around the table, but of course, Santana didn't say a word.
"Well, there was this guy who fell into a tree shredder."
That got Santana's attention. She looked up sharply and noticed Arizona doing the exact same thing.
"What? How the hell did he do that?" Arizona asked.
"We don't know. His neighbors found him when they heard a scream and called an ambulance, but he was alone at home, so no one saw what happened. He and his ex-wife are divorced and his daughter was with her. From what she told me, it appeared she was his only family around, so the poor girl had to sit there all alone for six hours. I send her home, when I was leaving."
"Wow, that's sad," Arizona commented.
Callie let out a hum of approval.
"Is the girl okay?"
It was Santana who asked that, in a little voice, and both Callie and Arizona looked up to find her staring at her plate.
"Uhm, I guess so. She was just tired and she was pretty shocked – I mean, c'mon, her dad got his head stuck in a tree shredder – but she'll be okay."
Santana nodded, and continued eating in silence.
"I'm taking Sofia to the zoo tomorrow, that way she can at least have a little fun before I have to go to work again," Arizona told them, while wiping the toddler's chin.
"That's a good idea. She's never outside anymore. Maybe you can take her to the park afterwards?"
Arizona nodded thoughtfully and was about to say something, but Santana was first. "I can take her to the park if you'd like. I like her and believe me or not, but I've been taught to love my family too." Callie was confused now. "Little steps, right?"
Arizona smiled and nodded. "Right. You can take her to the park." Then, she turned to the toddler, "Are you coming to the zoo with me? And to the park with Santana after that?"
They all laughed when the youngest Latina clapped excitedly and started babbling happily.
"We still have to learn her how to speak properly, though."
Santana was walking through the park with Sofia in a stroller, when the toddler suddenly started clapping her hands loudly. "What's wrong, hun? You want to go see the ducks?"
"Yes, yes!" the toddler yelled, pronouncing the 's' sound as 'sh'.
"To the ducks we go, then."
She parked the stroller next to the pond and said down on the grass, with the toddler in her lap. Her heart melted when she started squealing again. "You got to stop being so cute, young lady. My heart can't take it. And don't tell your moms, but I seriously think you are the cutest baby alive."
"You're right about that."
She turned her head and saw a gorgeous blonde girl standing behind her.
"I have some bread you can give to the ducks," the blonde told her. She held out the bag for Santana to take and smiled when she accepted it.
"Thanks," Santana said when she broke off a piece of bread and gave it to Sofia. "Go throw it at the duckies, Sofia."
The toddler did as she was told and turned around with a big smile on her face when the ducks caught it.
"Is she yours?"
Santana laughed loudly, "God, no! No, I'm way too young to have a two-year-old. She's my aunt's daughter, I'm just taking her for a walk."
"You live here? I've never seen you around before."
"I've been here for two days, and this is the first time I've come outside the apartment."
"Will I see you around?" the blonde asked when she noticed Sofia was out of bread.
"Maybe you will." Santana winked at the blonde and placed Sofia in the stroller again.
She was about to walk away, when the blonde spoke again. "My names Brittany. What's yours?"
The Latina turned around and smiled at Brittany. "Santana Lopez."
"Nice to meet you Santana Lopez."
Santana smiled even bigger this time, before turning around and going home.
A/N 2
Also, to those who have given me some ideas: I am considering all of them and maybe a few of them will be used in this story. Credit to you, of course :)
Love y'all :)
