Santana rolled off of Brittany while panting to catch her breath. "Brittany..."

Brittany kissed a trail down Santana's neck before turning her ex-wife's head to kiss her again. "What did we just do?" She mumbled against Santana's lips while rubbing her back and pulling her closer.

"No talking, just kissing." Santana replied while pulling Brittany on top of her.

"I've missed you, baby." Brittany moaned as Santana hugged her tightly before trailing her hands down to Brittany's butt and resting them there.
"Santana...Santana..."

"Santana are you even listening to me?" Brittany asked while waving her hand in the Latina's face with a frown.

Santana blinked and shook her head, snapping out of her daydream. "Yeah, I agree with everything you said. We need to really talk to Taylor about lying."

"What are you daydreaming about?" Brittany asked while taking a sip of her water.

Santana avoided the question. "About work."

"Seriously." Brittany deadpanned. "You will never change."

"Fuck off." Santana snapped before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Brittany, I don't want to argue. I want us to get through one conversation without jumping down each other's throat. Please." She added while opening her eyes.

"Sorry." Brittany nodded. "So how do you want to approach Tay?"

Santana stuck her fork in her salad harshly to pick up a few pieces of lettuce. "I think we need to really talk to her about the divorce, she's been saying she wants us back together a lot lately, and become more vocal about it. She was young when we first separated, and I think now she really understands the separation."

"How do we approach it?" Brittany asked while taking a knife and cutting her salmon in half and sliding it over to Santana's plate. "I see you staring at it." She laughed when Santana stared at her. She then reached in Santana's plate and took some of her lobster ravioli.

Santana took a sip of her water. "Who said we were sharing?" She laughed.

"Your stomach." Brittany smiled. "You can only handle five raviolis, yet you always order a double portion. I'm assuming you are working super late tonight since you are leaving work to come over after I get Taylor from school, so eat the salmon."

"You care when I eat?" Santana asked while eating a forkful of the salmon.

"Yes, our daughter needs you." Brittany shrugged.

"Oh..."

"And I need you." Brittany whispered softly. "I need you alive, and healthy, and happy."

Santana's heart fluttered before her heart sped up as she locked eyes with Brittany, she got lost in the pools of blue she's loved since first noticing them. "I need you alive, and healthy, and happy too." Santana replied. "Are you happy?"

Brittany cleared her throat and ate a forkful of ravioli. "Career wise, yes."

"Personal wise?" Santana asked nervously.

"No." Brittany shrugged. "But I have my baby girl to cuddle with every other week, and when she's around life is perfect. "

Santana smiled. "I feel the same way when Taylor is around."

"Well, even though we screwed up our marriage, we managed to create something perfect from it." Brittany laughed.

"Do you regret the divorce?" Santana took a chance and asked.

"I hated you when I got home and saw your side of the closet cleaned out and the papers on the bed. Literally hated you." Brittany told her while shaking her head. "But I knew we were hanging on to something that wasn't there anymore. We went through the motions of a marriage, smiling at events, hugging when people were looking but at night you slept in one of guestrooms, and only came back to bed in the morning at 5am, before Taylor would bounce in our room. We lived the last two years of a marriage as a lie, we weren't a happy couple, so when I sat down and thought about it, it was a no brainer signing the papers. I wasn't happy, and neither were you. But now, seeing you if hard sometimes, finding out you have a girlfriend is rough, I cried when you left earlier, it made the divorce seem so real, you know?" She shrugged. "Do you regret the divorce?"

"Brittany and Santana, what a surprise?" Quinn asked while walking up to the table.

Santana rolled her eyes and put her head down while focusing on her salad. "Hey Q." Brittany beamed as Quinn kissed her on the cheek. "I love that skirt, Gucci?"

"Prada." Quinn replied casually. "Hello Santana."

"Hey." Santana replied lowly.

"Hey?" Quinn cocked her head to the side and asked. "That's all you have to say to a long time friend."

"Friend?" Santana asked while setting her fork down. "I don't see a friend, I see a low class snake that found out Brittany and I were getting a divorce and picked sides. Not only did you start to treat me like shit, but you told everyone I cheated on Brittany, when I didn't. I see a platinum blonde bitch that tried to convince Brittany to take everything we had for herself, including all of our money, you even went after my personal accounts, even though I gave Brittany the house and took the rental property. So yes, hey, is all I have to say to you." Santana snapped. "If I could change Taylor's name, the fuckin Quinn would be gone. I didn't want to name her after you any fuckin way."

"Well." Quinn smirked. "Nice to see you as well. Brittany, I'll call you later." She added before walking away.

Brittany cleared her throat. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be." Santana sighed. "I should get back to work. I'll be at your house around six, that's when my next break is." Santana then reached in her wallet and set down a fifty dollar bill.

"This is on me." Brittany told her while picking up the money and handed it back to her ex-wife.

"Are you sure?" Santana asked.

"Positive." Brittany smiled while grazing Santana's hand and running her fingers over her tan ones. "Keep your money, I invited you, so I should pay." Brittany stood up and kissed Santana on the corner of her mouth softly. "Thanks for coming, see you later."

Santana nodded. "Yes, I regret the divorce." She stated before walking out of the restaurant.

Brittany stared at her as she walked away. "If I'm honest, I do too." She sighed when she sat back down at the table.


"Are we having hamburgers?" Taylor asked while skipping into the kitchen.

"Yes." Brittany nodded. "Is that okay?" She asked her daughter.

"Can we put cheese on them, that makes it a cheeseburger." Taylor stated.

Brittany laughed. "Yes, I have cheese, and bacon."

"Whoa." Taylor smiled while sitting down at the kitchen table with her coloring book.

"Your mom is coming over tonight, we need to talk." Brittany told her while patting out burgers for them.

"Talk about her moving back in?" Taylor asked with a big smile. "I'll go and throw the crap in the guest room out." She jumped out the chair to run upstairs, so Brittany quickly wiped her hands off and scooped her up.

"No, Tay, your mom isn't moving back in." Brittany told her.

Taylor sniffled and rested her head on Brittany's shoulder. "Why not?"

"What's wrong?" Santana asked while walking in the kitchen. "I hope it's okay that I let myself in."

Brittany nodded. "I knew you were coming, so it's okay."

"Mami!" Taylor screeched happily while jumping out of Brittany's arms into Santana's. "I missed you."

"I saw you this morning, mija." Santana smiled. "But I missed you too."

"We're having burgers, can you eat dinner here too?" Taylor asked.

Santana hugged her tightly and kissed her on the temple before setting her down. "That's up to your mom, I don't want to impose."

"You aren't an imposition." Brittany stated quickly. "It's just burgers, it won't take any time for me to pat one out for you, unless you want to make them?" Brittany asked.

Santana knew Brittany loved when she made burgers, so her suggestion was more of her asking Santana to cook. "I think I can handle making some burgers; let me wash my hands."

"Yes!" Taylor screamed happily while jumping up and down. "It's family cooking night."

"Go wash your hands and you can help me." Santana laughed.

Brittany then walked over to Santana and caught her off guard by hugging her. "Are you feeling better? I know you were upset when you left lunch."

Santana melted into Brittany's embrace and sighed when she smelled that Brittany was wearing the perfume she always loved on her. "I feel okay, I just...I feel betrayed by Quinn, so seeing her stresses me out." Santana replied while quickly breaking the hug when she heard Taylor singing as she skipped back in the kitchen.

"I saw that." Taylor mumbled to herself with smile.

"Ok, little one, come help me pat out a burger for myself." Santana told her. "Brittany, you're on fries."

"Got it." Brittany nodded while going to the freezer and grabbing the bag of fries out.


After dinner that was filled with laughter and smiles while the three ate around the table together. Santana glanced at her watch and knew she needed to get back to work. Brittany saw her check the time and decided to speak up. "San, are you ready?" Santana nodded.

"Let's go to the living room and talk for a few minutes." Santana suggested.

"Cool, I get the recliner." Taylor smiled as she ran quickly to the living room.

"Taylor, we don't tolerate lying, you know that." Santana told her softly. "Faking a temperature is serious, and you really worried both of us."

Brittany nodded. "That's right, Tay. I called your mom in the middle of the night so she could come over. She works really long shifts and has to get up early to go help all those people at the hospital. So that wasn't fair to her to have to wake up."

Santana stared at Taylor. "That's right Tay, we aren't saying that I won't come over to help you, because you know I would do any and everything in the world for you, but playing sick can be really serious."

"I needed you." Taylor whispered while glancing down briefly and wringing her wrist.

Santana wrapped her hands around her daughters and lifted them to her lips to kiss them softly. "Taylor, what's going on, honey?" She asked while glancing up at Brittany.

Taylor sniffled. "I want you and momma to live together again. I planned everything. You can have the guest room that's the closet and bring your big bed from your house, since the guest room bed hurts your back. If you and momma get mad you can just go to your room and she goes to hers so you don't have to see each other, and then we can do stuff like before. You have to come back here." Taylor started to rock side to side. "I don't want you to have a girlfriend.'

Brittany covered her mouth when she saw the tears streaming out of Taylor's eyes as Santana quickly picked her up and held her tightly. "Shhhh, take a deep breath, princess." Santana whispered in her hair while rubbing her back. "Keep taking deep breaths, sweetheart." She repeated while blinking her own tears away.

"Y-you have to c-come home." Taylor stuttered through tears.

Brittany quickly kneeled down next to Santana and placed her hand on her daughter's back, while locking eyes with Santana. Brittany reached up and wiped the Latina's tears away. "Come on Tay, stop crying, baby." Brittany said gently.

"It's not fair." Taylor sniffled.

"No, it's not fair." Santana started while rubbing Taylor's back when she finally stopped crying. "I know it's hard, so hard on you baby, but..."

"Tay, would if we planned more trips together, like the three of us, maybe to just hang out more." Brittany suggested.

"That's a good idea." Santana nodded. "We can maybe go to the zoo or to the pumpkin farm together."

"Is your girlfriend coming?" Taylor snapped before jumping off Santana's lap and running upstairs slamming her bedroom door.

Santana quickly leaned her elbows on her knees and hid her face as she started to sob quietly. "She hates me."

Brittany instinctively wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close, holding her while she cried. "No, she doesn't. She doesn't even know you have a girlfriend, she's assuming."

"I can't hurt someone else close to me, it's bad enough I ruined our relationship but I can't ruin my relationship with Taylor." Santana sniffled.

Brittany quickly turned her Santana's head to face her. "We both ruined our marriage, it's wasn't just you."

"Yeah, but I filed the papers."

"And I signed them without a fight, we both gave up." Brittany told her. "You aren't the only one to blame, so don't blame yourself."

Santana wiped her face before allowing Brittany, who grabbed a tissue from the table, to dab her eyes for her. Santana stared in Brittany's eyes and mouthed thank you before closing them and letting a shaky sigh when Brittany cupped her face and began to kiss her tears away slowly.

"I can't see you cry, it still breaks me." Brittany told her. "Go talk to Tay."

Santana nodded and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of Brittany's soft lips roaming her face and kissing her pain away before finally opening them and nodding. Brittany kissed the corner of her mouth again. "Sorry, you have a girlfriend." She whispered and wiped the kiss away.

"She has me physically but you'll always have me emotionally and mentally." Santana replied. She then stood up and ran her fingers through her hair and jogged up to Taylor's room.

She knocked on the door and opened it slowly, she saw Taylor lying in bed, holding her teddy bear tightly, her back to the door. Santana kicked her shoes off and laid down behind her daughter, wrapping her arm around her little waist. Taylor huffed and tried to break free but Santana held her tighter.

"Your papi and abuela are still married, so I don't know what it's like to have the two main people in my life live separately. I think your momma and i are a little ill prepared on how to deal with all of this. This is a learning experience for all of us, honey, you have to try to be patient with us, ok." Santana tried to explain. "The last thing I ever want to do is hurt your feelings. I do have a girlfriend, I'm not going to lie to you about that."

Taylor tensed and turned to face Santana. "I don't want to talk about her mami. I hate her."

Santana ran her thumb across Taylor's cheek to wipe her tears away. "I understand if you don't like her, but we didn't raise you to hate anyone, Taylor."

"She's ruining everything." Taylor sniffled.

"Your mom deserves to be happy." Brittany stated from the door way. "If her having a girlfriend makes her happy, then we have to accept that."

"Me having a girlfriend won't stop me from being your mom and best friend." Santana told her.

"I don't want to talk about her." Taylor shook her head.

"I love you Tay, so much it hurts." Santana stuttered. "The last thing I want to do is hurt you, seeing you cry feels like someone is stomping on my heart."

Brittany sat on the bed behind Santana and sighed while placing her hand Santana's back, and the other on Taylor's back. "Taylor, we will do whatever we can to make this more comfy for you sweetheart, we promise."

Taylor looked up at Brittany and nodded before cuddling closer to Santana. "I don't want to share you with her."

Santana glanced at Brittany and sighed, but held her daughter tighter.


After work Santana accepted Nicki's invitation for a late dinner at her house and drove straight there. Since lunch with Brittany earlier and Taylor's breakdown she'd been a ball of emotion and found herself unable to focus at work. Nicki took notice when she stopped by her office and decided to hang around her office with her. She relaxed on Santana's office couch and carefully watched her girlfriend read the same notes over and over while staring at an x-ray before finally breaking the silence the invite her to dinner. Nicki, being as understanding as she always is, ran a hot bath for Santana to relax in while she cooked a simple dinner of sauteed chicken, vegetables, and rice for them

They ate in a relative silence, with Nicki trying to keep a conversation going but Santana's mind was elsewhere the entire dinner. After cleaning up the kitchen so Nicki could shower, Santana stood by the window and looked out while hugging herself.

Nicki walked in the living room and wrapped her arms around Santana, holding her tightly. "Thank you for cleaning up the kitchen for me." She stated while kissing the Latina on the temple.

"You're welcome, I mean you did cook dinner, so thank you." Santana nodded as Nicki rested her chin on Santana's shoulder.

"Want to watch a movie? I can light the fireplace." Nicki suggested.

"Nicki, babe, let's talk." Santana sighed.

"What's on your mind?" Nicki replied while patting her lap as she sat in the corner of the sectional in her condo.

Santana slowly sat on her lap and leaned on her chest while exhaling slowly. Nicki wrapped her arms around her and held her tightly, giving her all the time she needed to center herself before talking.

"You've been quiet since you got here after work, do you feel sick?" Nick asked after several minutes, she glanced down and saw Santana had her eyes closed and began to clutch tighter to her as tears came out of her eyes. "Tana..."

"You're so awesome, so, so awesome. I don't deserve you." Santana started as Nicki wiped her eyes for her. "I still love Brittany, I'm still in love with Brittany, and you love me, I mean you said it, and I couldn't say it back." Nicki closed her eyes briefly and nodded. "I'm sorry, Nicole you are a beautiful person inside and out, and you deserve someone that will truly appreciate you."

"What are you saying?" Nicki asked softly, although she already knew where the conversation was headed.

"I think we should break up." Santana sniffled.

Nicki nodded and wiped the tear that slid down her cheek. "Do you know why I fell in love with you? You are such an amazing person. You are one of the best damn surgeons in the hospital, you're knowledgeable, you're caring, you're empathetic with the patients and their families. You are an amazing friend both to me, and to Mercedes and Noah, tney talk about you with such respect and admiration. Then, even though I haven't witnessed it in person you are an amazing mother. You talk and gush about Taylor like she is a true princess. You have such a sense of pride when someone even mentions her."

Santana wiped her eyes and took a chance on locking eyes with Nicki. She immediately took her thumb and wiped her tears away while sniffling herself.

"You are an amazing person and while I do love you, and I absolutely have fallen in love with you, I always knew your heart belonged to someone else. The times you've cried in your sleep and murmured Brittany's name, or the moments I've caught you staring at a family portrait of you three. I'm lucky enough to have had you as long as I have, but I know it's time for me to let you go." Nicki finished.

"I never meant to hurt you." Santana said softly.

"I know." Nicki nodded as Santana pressed her lips to hers.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize for your heart." Nicki shook her head and sniffled while trying to blink her tears away. "I would rather Brittany get all of you for the sake of your daughter, and for the sake of your heart, than just have a piece of you, no matter how awesome and amazing that piece is."

"I should go." Santana stated while running her fingers through her hair and standing.

"Don't, stay the night with me still. You're hurting right now, I can tell. Let me hold you." Nicki replied while standing up and extending her hand to Santana. "Let's go to bed, you're upset and I don't want you driving this late."

"But I just broke up with you." Santana shook her head.

"Yes, but we are still friends, right?" Nicki quested. Santana nodded quickly while wiping her eyes. "Good, come on babe."

Nicki turned the lights off in her living room and led Santana to the bedroom, quickly lying in bed and opening her arms to her. Santana laid close to her and allowed Nicki to hold her closely. Nicki kissed her on the forehead and sighed while her own tears streamed out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry Nicki." Santana stated once more. "So sorry."

"Shhhhh." Nicki replied while holding her tightly.


Thoughts?