CHAPTER 4
March;
"Saaaan!" I called as I propped my arms up on the edge of our bath tub before setting my chin over top. "Hurry up, the water is losing its hotness!" We had just come back from work, another long day, well long for me, not for San since she left for home early, and we just wanted a nice night in to relax. It was Santana's idea to start up a bath; she had called me while I was on my way home to remind me to pick up her vitamins and asked if I wanted her to get a bath ready. I was totally down for it, but when I agreed, I thought she was included in this bath, not me sitting in here alone for the past eight minutes. Baths aren't really fun when you're alone.
"Are you still in the tub?" I heard her ask from somewhere in the bedroom. I quirked my brow and looked down at myself, half my body still submerged in soapy water, then shrugged before looking out at the opened door.
"Uhm, yeah?"
"Then I don't think the water has lost its…hotness." I rolled my eyes at hearing her cocky tone, giggling softly until she presented herself at the door of the bathroom with a proud smirk pasted on her face. "You rollin' your eyes at me, woman?" She huffed, crossing her arms over her fluffy white robe. I eyed her carefully trying to see whether she was joking or if I really just set her off; that's become sort of an issue now since her hormones have her all over the place sometimes. Thankfully, she gave herself away by snickering.
"Get naked and come over here already." I demanded, my lips curling into a mischievous grin before nodding her over with the flick of my chin. She raised her brow at me and took her bottom lip between her teeth before smirking and slipped the robe off her shoulders, letting it pool at her ankles.
"Well, since you asked so nicely." She teased and moved towards the tub. I leaned back and held my hands up to her so she could ease herself in without slipping. She took them gratefully and dipped one leg into the tub then brought the other in slowly. I spread my legs a little so that she could wiggle in the space between them then lay back against my chest. As soon as she settled in, I wrapped my arms around her, setting my hands atop her growing belly, while hers rested on my knees and we just sat there content in each other's company.
"I like this." I hummed as I set my chin on her shoulder and leaned my head over until it was resting against hers.
"Me too." She sighed as she ran her hands from the tops of my knees down my shins then back up again, repeating the process a couple of times. It was such a calming thing that I could probably fall asleep right in this tub to her doing that. "How was work? Busy?"
I let out a breathy laugh as I rolled my head back against the tub, "Yeah, who knew filling in for a dancer at the Grammy's would cause such a spike in people wanting to work with me." She leaned further into me, resting her head back against my shoulder then tilted her chin up as the backs of her fingers grazed my jaw line.
"I knew." She grinned proudly, "You're so talented, babe, everyone wants a piece of you. People would be crazy not to want to work with you." I felt my cheeks flushing at hearing her speak so highly of me, it's crazy that at one point, before things really started picking up, I didn't think of myself as anything special. I had it engraved in my head that I was just another dancer, that though I've always been told how great I am, I'd never be successful; I'd never get my big break.
But I was so very wrong. I did make it and to know that I pretty much started from the bottom makes success taste so much sweeter.
"Thanks," I replied through a toothy smile before turning my head just a tad to press my lips to her forehead. She shrugged her shoulders casually as she cupped some water in her hands and poured it over her belly and watched the droplets roll off the sides. I moved my hands away from her tummy so I could pull her hair to the side and drape it over her shoulder then smoothed my hands down her shoulder blade.
"You're not going into work tomorrow, right?" She asked as she stilled her hands and moved them to squeeze at my knees.
"Mhm!" I hummed happily as I moved my hands back to her stomach and stared drawing hearts just above her belly button with my fingertip. "It's going to be a very special appointment, definitely wouldn't miss it."
She turned her head to me, smiling her cheek bunching grin again, then laid her head back on my shoulder. "I think I'm nervous.." She said quietly as she dropped her hands from my knees and started fumbling with them in the space between her boobs and belly.
"How come?" I asked just as quietly, taking in the way she seemed to shrink into a scared girl again. She just shrugged at first, letting her fingers tangle with her others, as her eyes stayed lowered. "You don't have to be nervous," I reassured and leaned in to pepper her shoulder with soft kisses, "I'll be with you the whole way." I wrapped my arms tighter around her midsection as I nuzzled against her cheek.
"I know you will." She grinned lovingly and brought her hand up to caress my cheek. "I guess I'm more anxious than nervous." She added after I started washing her hair, "It's like everything will change once we know, you know? We'll have to start thinking of names and setting up the nursery, knowing the gender makes everything so real. I mean, it's real now but at the same time we still don't know very much." She was rambling and I could just feel her body tensing up against me; she's clearly been having deep thoughts about this appointment.
"San, we've still got four months to do all of that.." I replied as I ran my fingers through her soapy hair, "There's no hurry in picking a name or decorating just because we find out if we're having a girl or a boy. We've got all the time we want, babe, there's no need to stress it."
"Yeah, I guess so.." She sighed unconvincingly and cupped some water in her hands and let it spill over her belly.
"We don't have to," I added as I washed the soap from her long hair, "We don't have to know if you don't want to.." Her hands stilled at her stomach as she turned her head to find my eyes.
"But that's not fair to you; I know how excited you are about this." She replied guiltily with her brows crinkling.
"San, I get excited about a lot of things." I giggled trying to lighten the mood, "And honestly, if it makes you feel comfortable we don't have to know till you're ready. It won't bother me not one bit. Boy or girl, I don't care as long as I get to have a cute little baby to go along with my cute wife." I teased and pressed my lips to her cheek quickly before continuing to wash out the soap.
"Really?" She asked breathlessly, "You'd do that?"
"Of course I would," I shrugged innocently, "If knowing the gender makes you nervous then we don't have to know. No biggie."
"Damn," She exhaled with a bright smile on her face, "I love you."
"Ditto." I winked then went back to washing her hair noticing the way her shoulders eased.
"It's your decision too though.." She added after a long pause.
"And my decision is whatever makes you comfortable." I replied matter of factly.
"Britt..that's cheating." She whined playfully, "You can't always agree with me, I don't want to take away from you because of my own craziness." I laughed and shook my head at her. "What do you want to do?" She tilted her head back, our eyes connecting instantly, as she sought an answer.
"I'd love to know what we're having, San, but we can wait." I answered as I tangled our fingers together beneath the water. She nodded slightly, her eyes closing like she was about to go into some deep thinking, then licked her lips. "You don't have to make a decision now, you know. We've got the rest of tonight and all afternoon to figure out what we want to do." I added and squeezed a little tighter at our joined hands, "Get out of that pretty little head, my dear." She smiled a crooked grin before nodding a little. "Come on, let's get dried off so we can eat!" I cheered and shuffled forward until my chest was pressed into her back. She scooted forward so that I could pull my legs back far enough to stand up behind her and step out of the tub to grab our robes and towels. I slipped into my robe quickly and slung the other robe over my shoulder as I helped San step out from the tub.
"Your hair up in a towel like that reminds me of a big dumpling." She mumbled as I handed her the robe to slip into.
"I don't see how you get that, but I'll go with it." I giggled as I tightened the knot around my waist. "I guess this means you're craving Chinese tonight?" She nodded happily before wrapping her arms around my torso and burying her face against the fluffiness of my robe lapels as best as she could with her baby bump in the way. "Oh, and I'm guessing you want to watch a movie too since you're extra cuddly tonight.." She didn't say anything, but her nodding against my chest was answer enough. "Alright, you go pick out a movie and I'll go find my phone and order."
About 45 minutes later, we were cuddled up on the couch half empty cartoons of take out littering the coffee table as Time Traveler's Wife played on the big screen. I was actually surprised that she picked that movie considering she was so cuddly earlier, I assumed she'd want to watch some happy movie instead, but that's what she chose. I always found the movie really confusing and I've seen it like six times already! I just don't understand how there are like four versions of this guy wandering around and how does the wife handle not having the love of her life around all the time? It's just, it's really sad and confusing and I don't like it.
"Oh God, this is the best part.." San whimpered as she pulled at my tshirt that I had changed into after ordering the food and buried her face in it. I shook my head at her, trying to keep from laughing, as I ran my hand down her back then over her hip until it was resting on the side of her stomach and turned my attention back on the screen. I was sort of trying to follow along with the storyline again when if felt the tiniest of movements beneath my palm. I had been smoothing my hand around at her stomach but when I felt something moving, I instantly froze. My eyes widened as I looked down at my hand on San's belly waiting to see if it would happen again. It was just a soft graze against my skin, but I still felt it. All this time, ever since San first started feeling the baby moving around in there, I couldn't feel anything. It was like they sensed me and got all shy or something or I'd just miss it, but this is different.
I continued to stare, waiting because I wasn't focusing on it before; I wasn't ready that time, but now I'm ready. I flattened out my hand and brought the other up to cup the front that way if they did happen to move again, there's no way I wouldn't be able to feel it. But seconds were turning into minutes and the hope of feeling something again was starting to dwindle. Just as I was about to pull my hands away, there it was again!
"San.." I gasped excitedly as I moved my hand slightly over her skin, feeling it hit against my softly as the baby inside her nudged at her belly. "San..I can-I can feel them." I was in awe, totally overcome with joy as I finally felt the baby kick for the first time. Sure I've felt Bella kick before when Quinn was pregnant, but it means so much more when it's my baby in there.
"I know." She grinned, her brown eyes softening as she looked to me, then overlapped my hands with hers. "They're saying hi." I felt tears pricking at my eyes as I nodded with a giant dopy grin on my face then turned back to stare at our hands. It was like the best moment in my whole life and it was so hard to contain my happiness, but thinking if I start getting too excited they might stop, I held back and just stared.
"Hi baby." I hummed as I moved our hands around her belly slowly feeling the tiny nudges against different areas of my hands, "Hi."
The Next Afternoon;
We were seated in the waiting room of our usual doctor's office, alone like always, as San sat next to me contently sipping on her slushie. We would've checked in on time if it wasn't for her practically grabbing the steering wheel and driving us to the nearest gas station because baby wanted a slushie. I had tried to tell her we could pick one up right after the appointment was finished, but she was adamant of having one now so I drove to the nearest gas station and let her go get what she wanted.
It was a bit of a hassle because San and I can't just randomly go into places like a gas station without being bombarded by the paparazzi, who always seem to be lurking about.
"You're beautiful!" Flash.
"You'll make wonderful mothers!" Flash.
"The baby is going to be so adorable!" Flash.
We muttered thanks beneath our breath as we tried keeping our head ducked and made our way inside hoping that they won't follow us in; they usually don't. I kept my arm wrapped around San's waist protectively though, force of habit since the old lady incident awhile back, and directed her towards the door, letting her enter first just in case someone did try to follow us inside.
"God, they get worse and worse every time!" San groaned as she made her way towards the back of the small convenience store.
"At least they're always saying nice things though." I shrugged and smiled at the few customers in line as we passed. They stared wide eyed at us and I almost forgot that aside from reporters being so damn forward about our fame, regular people also get a bit star struck. It's funny.
"Yeah, I guess." She sighed and reached for a large cup and started mixing all of the flavors together to form this ugly purplish brown concoction. I scrunched my nose as I watched her go back and forth between the flavors, the smile on her face totally counteracting the gross mix in her hands. She looked over her shoulder at me as I leaned on the edge of the sticky counter then smiled toothily before going to put a lid on her nearly overflowing cup. "Yum!" She hummed happily as she stuck the straw in and brought it to her lips and slurped. I just giggled and hooked my arm with hers and sort of pulled her towards the line so we could pay.
After paying and signing a couple autographs for the workers, we were back to pushing past the reporters and trying to get back into the car so we'd be on time for our appointment. They were a little more nosy this time though and since I was already a little peeved at them for sticking so close to Santana, who was totally oblivious to everything that wasn't in her slushie cup and coming out of a straw, my patience was running thin.
"When are you due?" Flash.
"Whenever nine months is over." I huffed as I kept my head lowered.
"Would you want a girl or a boy?" Flash.
"I want you to go away." I walked around the car and opened the door for San, helping her ease into the seat since she didn't even try to hold on to anything besides her dear slushie cup in her hands.
"How far along is she?" Flash.
"13 months." I answered as I walked back around to my side of the car and opened the door.
"What na-" I closed it right on the question, thankful that San's windows were tinted so dark that they couldn't see me fuming from annoyance right now. I remember when I didn't think they were so bad, but now, I understand why San hates them so much! They're annoying as hell!
"That was a good one, baby." San grinned as she side glanced at me with the straw between her teeth then leaned over to set her hand on my thigh.
"Yeah, I thought you'd like that one." I giggled, seeing her so adorable with her pregnant belly and her sweater and the damn slushie in her hand cancelling out all the peskiness of the reporters.
Now we're still in the waiting room and Santana's still slurping away at her slushie like her life depended on it.
"Tastes good?" I teased as I watched her lift the straw to her lips again. Her gaze lifted from her cup and up to meet my eyes.
"Mhm!" She hummed then withdrew the straw from her lips and offered it to me, "Want some?" I took one look at the purplish brown mixture and scrunched my nose again.
"No thanks." I replied, shaking my head, "All yours." She shrugged casually and went back to slurping, "I'm surprised you haven't gotten a brain freeze yet." I teased after watching her drink for a whole 15 seconds straight. Just then my phone started buzzing in my back pocket making the plastic seat I was sitting on vibrate. I quirked my brow at the feeling and quickly dug out my phone, eyeing the screen skeptically as I saw a number I didn't recognize fill the screen.
"Who is it?" San asked as she leaned over my shoulder a little to see, but I could only shrug since I didn't know. My finger hovered over the answer button when San scoffed.
"What? I shouldn't answer?" I asked when I met her scowl. She shook her head 'no'.
"At least let them leave a message, we're at the doctor's right now.." She drawled out the word and let her left hand fall to her belly to emphasize her meaning. "No phone calls."
"Okay, no phone calls." I nodded and pressed a kiss to her cheek before turning my phone to silent, not before noticing the one new voicemail icon pop. I could listen to that later though, this is a special appointment and it should have all my attention.
"Pierce-Lopez?" The nurse called as she opened the door and presented herself in the doorway, "Come on back." I nodded and stood up then offered out my hands to San so I could help her up then we followed the nurse back to our usual room. "Okay, Dr. Meyer will be in shortly."
"Thanks." I answered as the woman left the room. San wiggled impatiently on the bed, the drink resting on her thighs as she stared down at it. "You given it anymore thought?" I asked as I watched her nerves slowly take over her thoughts. She looked up and stared at me with her darkened brown eyes then shrugged with this hopeless smile. She looked conflicted and it kind of broke my heart. "That's okay, baby, don't worry about it. Some people wait till the baby is actually born to know, it's like an extra surprise." I replied reassuringly and reached over to entangle our hands. "If that's us, then I'm okay with that."
Her lips parted to speak but she was interrupted by the sound of her phone vibrating against her keys in her purse. Her eyes darted from mine to her purse as her brow quirked.
"I thought I turned it off.." She mumbled and handed me her slushie so she could dig around in her bag to find the phone. "Oh, it's Cassie." She acknowledged happily and went to answer it when I swatted at the air and shook my head.
"If I can't answer my phone, you can't either." I said sternly and held out my hand for the phone.
"But it's Cassie.." She said with a pout and looked down at her phone then back up to me.
"So?" I laughed, "The President of the United States could've been calling me and I still didn't answer." She let out a breathy giggle before rolling her eyes at me.
"Fine, here." She sighed and handed me her phone so I could turn it off. We sat there for another couple minutes until Dr. Meyer waltzed in with all smiles.
"Hi ladies, how are we today?" She greeted as she took a seat on her rolly chair and had Santana get into her usual position so she could do their routine checkup. San answered all her usual questions about symptoms and pains and whatnot while I sat on the sidelines and watched like normal.
"Stress levels are looking better, I'm loving that." Dr. Meyer grinned as she thumbed through her papers attached to San's clipboard.
"Yeah, that whole low blood sugar thing really freaked me out so.." San answered in a nervous tone. "I've cut my work week down by half so that really helps."
"That's wonderful news!" Dr. Meyer answered cheerfully and went back to asking more questions. It wasn't until San was leaning back against the bed with her sweater rolled up over her belly and that blue goop was out that I really started getting interested. "So you're about 26 weeks now, let's take a look to see what we can see." Dr. Meyer hummed as she took out the necessary tools and turned on the screen above that would project the image of what was inside San's belly.
I stood up and found myself by San's bedside, her hand finding their way into mine as we both stared up at the screen. I could feel my chest tightening from all the happiness I felt as Dr. Meyer went over where the head was, their tiny little feet and hands, the nose, even ears! They were so damn cute in there, it made me want to meet them now and just shower them with kisses.
"Look how tiny their fingers are, B." San whispered as Dr. Meyer paused at the hands. I smiled down at San lovingly and nodded as I watched the way her eyes started to water and the smile stretch across her lips. "They're so little.."
"Would you like to know what you're having, mama?" Dr. Meyer asked with a friendly grin as she kept her tool pressed against San's belly projecting the image of the baby's head on the screen behind her. I looked down at San still staring up at the screen like she hadn't even heard Dr. Meyer's question then looked back to the doctor who was still waiting for an answer. When San made no attempt to reply, I cleared my throat to speak instead.
"Uhm, I think we're going to wai-"
"Yes." San interrupted and sent me a confident smile as she squeezed a little on our joined hands. "I think we'd like to know what we're having, unless you don't want to yet Brittz." I looked down into her softening brown eyes, trying to pick up on any signs of hesitance, but nothing.
"Are you sure?" I whispered but she just nodded in response. I eyed her carefully again but she just rolled her eyes playfully and nodded again. "Yeah, okay, if you want to then it's okay with me too."
"So yes?" Dr. Meyer asked with her perfectly sculpted brows raised to her hairline.
"Yes." San nodded confidently and settled our hands under her chin.
"Lovely." The doctor responded happily and moved the tool around on San's stomach a little more, "Well, looks like you'll be having a boy, my dears." She said through a toothy grin and looked up, blue eyes flicking between each of ours, "Congratulations!"
"A boy?" San breathed then looked up at me like she was trying to double check with me that she heard right.
"A boy." I nodded and took my free hand to brush a fallen strand of hair behind her ear, "Oh boy!" She giggled as I cheered happily while Dr. Meyer cleaned off San's belly.
"Yup, exciting news!" Dr. Meyer sang as she spun around in her rolly chair to toss out the wipes that she used on San's tummy.
"Wow, a boy.." San sighed contently again as she rolled her sweater back over her belly and palmed her stomach. "We're having a boy, babe!" She said again, this time more excited than before.
"Mhm," I hummed in agreement as Dr. Meyer said we were free to go and schedule our next appointment. I helped San off the bed and let her arms tangle around mine as we headed back out to the lobby.
Once we set up our appointment, San and I were on our way home, so ready to kick our shoes off and relax. Though I'm not the pregnant one, sometimes I feel like San's tiredness influences mine and after our eventful day of running errands before heading off to the doctor's, the both of us were wiped out!
"Home sweet home." San sighed as we walked through the front door of our apartment. She was already flicking off her shoes and going to the bedroom, probably to changed into sweatpants since that's pretty much all she's comfortable in now, while I went into the kitchen to see what we had for dinner. I swung open the fridge door and hunched down to look inside to see what I could whip up that would be quick and easy and there won't be any threat of me burning down the place if I tried. I've pretty much mastered making wraps and lucky me, San's been loving them as of late. I started pulling out all the ingredients for the wraps when I heard distant chattering that sounded closer as I unloaded my arms.
"Can't hear you, babe!" I called over my shoulder while I took out the cutting board and lined up the vegetables to cut, but her voice was still evident. Sighing, I dropped the knife on the board and walked in the direction of the sound which led me to the bedroom. "You talking to me?" I asked as I walked in only to see her sitting on the edge of the bed with the phone to her ear.
"It's Cassie." She replied and pointed at the phone before getting her attention drawn back to the other person, "Yup, that's her. Yeah, I'll tell her." She nodded as she smiled at me, "Cassie says hi and so does Mason." I grinned at that and told them I said hi too then pressed a kiss to her head and left her to talk to her sister in private.
Back in the kitchen, I remembered that I too had a missed call from earlier. After finishing making the wraps, I scavenged for my phone and tapped at the screen until I was listening to the voicemail. I had the phone wedged between my shoulder and ear, my hands busy with plating San's food, that when the speaker finally told who they were and what they wanted I nearly dropped everything.
I froze as the seconds went on, mostly from utter shock. I listened to it over and over almost six times just to make sure I was hearing correctly, it was that shocking! As I was about to listen to the message one last time, I felt San's arms wrap around my waist and her protruding tummy press into the small of my back as her lips found my shoulder blade.
"Who was it?" She asked as she hugged my back, but I was still somewhat recovering from the message.
"How's Cassie? Everything's alright?" I asked a little too anxiously as I spun around in her embrace, totally dodging her question. She quirked her brow at me, her brows scrunching, then shrugged.
"She could be better, I guess. Her and Tony are having problems again. I mean, I try to tell her that you can't change anyone you know? You can only do so much and if they aren't making any effort to help themselves, then why should she." San sighed, shaking her head at her words. "It's such a stressful environment over there, I feel bad for Mason. I hate how that fucker of a husband just treats them like garbage, it makes me sick Britt. Let me find that asshole alone on the street in a dark alley, he'll never know what hit him!"
"Babe," I chuckled, "First of all, you're pregnant so no fighting for you. Second of all, why on Earth would you be in a dark alley? Third of all, violence is never the answer. Forth, you owe the swear jar." I curled my arms around her shoulders and let my hands tangle into her long dark hair as I smirked down at her.
"Oh, it's the answer when my sister and nephew's happiness is at stake!" She answered confidently through her cocky grin. "How about you? Did you see who it was that called you?" The question was back up again and this time there wasn't really anywhere for me to turn to try and avoid it since I was literally trapped in her arms.
"Uhm, yeah, I listened to it." I shrugged casually, willing myself to try and gain back so lost confidence. San looked to me skeptically with those analyzing deep brown eyes of hers that seemed to stare right through me.
"Well? Who was it?" She asked through a breathy giggle, "It better not be some ex girlfriend I don't know about who all of a sudden wants to be friends because that shit's not going to happen."
"That's two for the swear jar.." I snickered trying to ease the tension only I was feeling within myself.
"I'll pay the swear jar a million times if you'd just tell me..you're kind of starting to worry me here, B." She replied through a faltering smile. "Can you just say it already?"
"Alright, fine." I groaned tiredly and took in a deep calming breath, "It was Beyoncé's management team. They wanted to know if I was interested in working with them on her upcoming music video. She's asked for me personally." My eyes flickered between deepening browns for any sign of anger or protest or whatever, but nothing.
"That's all?" She laughed with her nose scrunching cutely. I nodded gravely. "God, I thought it was something bad like a long lost brother was trying to reconnect with you or something. You should totally do it, babe! I mean, it's Beyoncé; of course you'll do it. Did they give you any more information? Where are they shooting? Do they need a place to practice? You know SnixxJuice is always welcoming to the queen." I watched as she rambled on, asking all these questions, and how she seemed so excited for me but I've yet to tell the most important part.
"She doesn't want to use SnixxJuice, San.." I sighed then watched her shoulders slump sadly.
"Well that kind of sucks.."
"She doesn't want to use SnixxJuice because she wants to practice at her studio and use her dancers.." I added and watched as the dots connected in San's head, "And that's all in Los Angeles." I stared back trying to catch the slightest of lip quivers or glazed over eyes, but nothing, she was emotionless.
"So what you're saying is.." San drawled out after a short pause of us just staring at each other.
"Yeah," I nodded already knowing what she was going to ask, "Beyoncé wants me in LA."
A/N Should she stay or should she go? That's the question, huh? Also, holla brittana's having a boy! Thoughts? Let me know.