A/N: to vero and others (outside the US?) who've commented on GED and such. Every state is different when it comes to their graduation requirements from public school beyond the federal minimums, and how/when you can get your GED. Some states you can drop out at 16 and get a GED. Just depends. I looked up OH's graduation requirements and went from there. I wanted to base this in some sort of reality.
Mrs. Lopez rubbed the sleep from her eyes and started to stretch. "OW!" she flinched. "Dammit. I'm too old to fall sleep on the couch," she chided herself, as she slowly, gingerly, sat up.
She walked upstairs to the bathroom to freshen up and peeked into Santana's bedroom. An empty, rumpled bed greeted her.
"I'm going to kill that girl," Maribel sighed, rolling her eyes. "If she thinks I can't ground her for sneaking out, she's got another thing coming."
Maribel shook her head and returned downstairs and made a fresh pot of coffee.
She heard the newspaper hit the front door, and went to retrieve it. She returned to the kitchen, filled her coffee cup and retreated to the back porch to enjoy the peace and quiet of the early summer morning. Maribel sat down, placed the newspaper on the side table and enjoyed her first sip of coffee, gazing upon the dewy back yard.
There, under the maple tree, she realized her daughter didn't sneak out in the middle of the night…well, not too far at least. Maribel smiled, picked up the newspaper, and settled into her morning ritual.
Santana woke up with a start. Brittany had slipped her feet now ice cold, under the blanket and against Santana's own.
"Jesus, Britt," Santana complained. Brittany stirred.
"My feet are cold," Brittany mumbled.
"No shit," Santana winced, squirming to get away from her cold feet, while not tipping the hammock.
Brittany opened her eyes and smiled as she was greeted with the rise and fall of Santana's chest, that doubled as her pillow for the night. She slid her hand up and cupped Santana's breast over her hoodie gently and hummed. Santana looked down at Brittany's hand and smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Britt, feeling me up is not going to distract me from your freezing feet."
"I'm not 'feeling you up'. I'm just more thoroughly cuddling," Brittany explained.
"Is that what you kids are calling it these days," Mrs. Lopez asked from behind them.
Santana twisted her head around in shock. Brittany didn't move. Santana looked down at her chest, and quickly moved Brittany's hand to her stomach. Brittany looked up and smiled at Mrs. Lopez.
"Morning," Brittany greeted her, sliding her arm up and over Santana's shoulder.
"A little early to be getting handsy, isn't it Brittany?" Maribel teased.
"Mama!" Santana complained. "What are you, like a ninja? Sneaking up on us like that?" Santana then saw two steaming cups of coffee in her mother's hands. She licked her lips. "Did you bring us coffee?" Santana asked apologetically.
"Yes I did. So I'm allowed to tease you, or no coffee for you," Maribel smirked and handed over the coffee.
"Thanks Mrs. L," Brittany smiled, still sleepy and sat up to drink her coffee.
"You're welcome Brittany," she said, turning to her daughter, eyebrows raised, waiting.
"Thanks Mama," Santana replied sheepishly.
"That's more like it. So," Mrs. Lopez brought over a nearby lawn chair and sat down, putting her feet up on the edge of the hammock, "what brings you to this little sleepover Brittany?"
"Got some crappy news last night," Brittany responded.
"I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother Brittany. I hope she gets better soon," Maribel consoled.
Brittany scrunched up her face, "Huh?"
"Your mom called me last night. We had a long chat about you and Santana and summer school and New York and well…we did a lot of talking," Maribel explained with a comforting smile.
"What? Really?" Santana leaned forward.
"Your compulsive need to plan had to come from somewhere, didn't it Santana?" her mother smirked. "Anyway, we had a good talk and while your parents are away, I'm your 'other mother' for the summer."
Brittany smiled. "Yeah, Mom and Dad mentioned something like that before I came over last night."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Santana smacked Brittany on the arm.
"Ow, hey, I was tired. It's not my fault you're such an awesome cuddle buddy. Can't help falling asleep with you," Brittany smiled and kissed Santana's cheek.
Santana smiled and looked away.
"Fine," she huffed. "So, Mama, our plan is to get Brittany to pass English and Chemistry in Summer School, then go to New York. What's your plan?"
"Same thing, for the most part," she smiled. "The Pierces have some concerns with Brittany staying at the house by herself, potentially all summer, considering the kitchen incident last year, so we've agreed she can stay here, in the guest room, Santana, before you get any ideas," Maribel shot her daughter a knowing glare.
Santana smiled mischievously.
"Ahem, anyway," Maribel continued. "Brittany, you're still responsible for the lawn and picking up the mail and keeping an eye on your house of course."
Brittany smiled, "And Lord Tubbington can come too, right"
"Yes, that was a sticky negotiating point, but we got through it," Mrs. Lopez sighed. "Litter box in the laundry room Brittany and completely your responsibility, okay?"
Brittany nodded enthusiastically and smiled.
"Mama, Brittany doesn't exactly need a baby sitter you know. And that 'mishap' in the kitchen was a total fluke. Never happened again," Santana explained, trying to stick up for her girlfriend's adulthood.
"Look, Brittany's parents are in a bind. Susan planned on spending the summer…passing on some solid…life knowledge to Brittany before she undoubtedly went to New York with you, and now she can't. So, it's my job to impart a little wisdom, on both of you," Maribel looked sternly at Santana.
"I can cook!" Santana shot back.
"Spaghetti and brownies doesn't count Santana. Neither of us is going to let you go with nightmares of your fridge being full of Hot Pockets and Ramen."
"I like Hot Pockets," Brittany sulked.
"OK Brittany, but you can't live on Hot Pockets alone, right? So, this summer, not only is Brittany going to be the star student, you both get laundry, cooking, budgeting and grocery shopping lessons. Starting this weekend."
"There goes summer vacation," Santana huffed.
"Hey, this is important, Santana. I have three months left with you before you're gone. You know I believe in you and your talent and your drive to pursue your dreams. I do. But, I'm still your mother. And I need this, probably more than you do," Maribel admitted.
Santana looked down at her lap, then up at her mother with a sympathetic smile and nodded. She looked over at Brittany, who looked like she wanted to give Mrs. Lopez a hug. "Yeah, okay Mama. We're good. Thanks. Thank you, for doing this for us…with us," she smiled.
"Come here," Mrs. Lopez said standing up and reaching out her arms. Santana moved to get out of the hammock, but misjudged how their weight was distributed, and flipped both Brittany and herself onto their backs in the grass.
Brittany just laughed as she wiped spilled coffee off her arm and Santana sighed in defeat. Then started chuckling.
"Wow, I'm graceful, eh?" she said, getting up.
"The most graceful," Brittany agreed, pulling grass clippings out of her hair.
Mrs. Lopez giggled and enveloped both of them in a bear hug. "Oh girls, I'm going to miss you so much."
Santana gave her mother an extra squeeze, "We can cram in a lot in three months Mama. Promise."
"OK, let's get breakfast going, hmm?" Maribel nodded to the girls. "We have lots more to talk about too."
Mrs. Lopez showed Brittany how she makes omelets, as Santana portioned out the fruit salad and poured the juice.
"What do you have going on today?" Mrs. Lopez asked.
"We're going to meet up with Quinn, grab some coffee and go over the syllabus for summer school," Santana explained.
"It starts in two weeks, so it'll be good to know what I'm getting into," Brittany added. "Oh, Santana, I have to go home first though and change and check in with my parents. They weren't sure when they were leaving last night, and they wanted to talk to me about New York more."
Santana nodded, but she started to get a little nervous about the Pierces. Did they trust Brittany enough? Did they trust her enough to know they'll be okay? Santana shook the thought away and smiled back at Brittany.
"See you at the Lima Bean then?"
Brittany flipped the omelet and didn't spill it. She raised both her fists in victory. Mrs. Lopez gently pulled her spatula-wielding hand down.
"Yep. I'll be there," Brittany confirmed.
Santana and Brittany ate with Mrs. Lopez and helped her clean up the breakfast dishes.
"Where's your Dad?" Brittany asked as she loaded dishes into the dishwasher.
"Four week medical training, exchange…thing?" Santana answered, looking to her mother for clarification.
"Close enough, Santana. He's in Columbus Brittany. He's training on some new medical devices and training others on some of the equipment he uses. He does it a few times a year," Maribel explained.
"So he's not going to be around much before you go to New York?" Brittany ran her hand down Santana's back.
Santana shrugged if off, "Nope."
"It was planned long before we knew Santana was going to be 1,000 miles away instead of just over in Kentucky," her mother clarified. "He couldn't get out of it. He tried."
Santana's forehead crinkled, "He did?"
Maribel sighed and shook her head disappointed Santana didn't give her father enough credit. "Of course he did," she said, with a gentle smack to the back of Santana's head.
Brittany chuckled at their exchange. "Hey, I gotta go. Thanks for breakfast Mrs. L." Brittany smiled as she gathered her car keys and headed to the front door.
"I'm just going to walk Brittany out," Santana informed her mother as she jogged across the living room to catch up with Britt. Mrs. Lopez just rolled her eyes.
"So, 2 o'clock at the Lima Bean?" Brittany confirmed with Santana as they walked out to her car.
Santana nodded, playing with their loosely linked fingers.
"Good luck with your parents," Santana forced a smile to hide her nerves.
"Don't worry honey," Brittany whispered in her ear as she hugged her girlfriend. "Trust me, okay?" Brittany pulled back and waited for Santana to meet her eyes.
Santana sighed and smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Okay."
Brittany kissed Santana goodbye. She pulled back slightly, rubbed her nose against Santana's, "See you later…roomie" she smiled and skipped off to her car.
Santana stood there, watched Brittany's car disappear down the street, nodding and smiling to herself. "Roomie," she chuckled to herself. It sounded silly. And she felt silly for liking the sound of it.