A/N: This is for ananana22 and all the other people who may or may not have been waiting for a new chapter. The update for C&C is next on my to-do-list. Thanks for sticking around. :) Leave a review if you´re surprised I´m still around?^^
Summer Sun
It was a particularly hot day in the city of New York and Santana was really glad that she had decided to take the day off and stay at home. Not only because she could work on her tan that way instead of spending the day holed up in her office, no, she also got to spend some quality time with her little friend from downstairs.
When she had run into Tina around noon she had suggested to look after Jonah for the afternoon so that the other woman could take care of some things without a moody toddler at her side. Both of them had lit up at the proposition.
Now, a few hours later it was still burning hot and Jonah squealed in delight as Santana once again splashed him with water. He was down to his swim shorts and jumping around in the small blow-up pool they had put up on the roof at the beginning of summer.
Giacomo was sprawled out on the ground in the shadow of the orange tree not paying any attention to the shenanigans going on around him. Sometimes he would stretch and for a few minutes he had even let Jonah scratch his back before both of them had lost interest.
His blue Giants cap, a present from one of Mike´s friends who was working for the team, was bobbing on Jonah´s head as he laughed and shouted.
"Come on. I think it´s time for another round of sunscreen," Santana called out to him once he had calmed down a bit.
Sitting down on one of the chairs Santana waited for him to walk over to her.
"Do you spend a lot of time in the sun?" Jonah asked curiously as she rubbed the cream into his skin.
"Sometimes. Why do you ask?"
"´Cause you´re so dark," he explained looking back at her over his shoulder. "My friend Trevor from kindergarten is even darker than you."
"People come in all kinds of shapes and colors," Santana said turning him around to work on his tummy, "but on the inside we´re all the same. We all have kidneys, and lungs, and hearts."
She put his hand over his heart, "Although some people might say some hearts are bigger than others."
"How big is your heart?" He asked.
"Super big."
"Why? Are you sick?"
"No, but because it´s full of love," she explained with a soft smile, "I love your auntie Q very much, my family and you of course," she said poking his ribs, "and there´s got to be enough room for all that love in my heart."
"So my hearts super big as well, right? ´Cause I love my mommy and daddy, and you and auntie Q and my grandmas and granddads, and the kids from kindergarten and Miss Lee and I love chocolate milk and the Giants and-"
"Yeah, you´ve got a really, really big heart."
He grinned at her obviously very proud of himself.
\\
Santana rolled her eyes when she saw Rachel appear on the steps leading up to the roof a while later; of course her neighbor had to come up and disturb their time of happiness and peace.
"Santana, may I have a word with you?" The singer asked sternly after she´d send a quick smile in Jonah´s direction.
"What is it Berry? Do we need to get off the roof because your people are coming back to pick you up with their spaceship?"
"No, Santana, I just wanted to bring it to your attention that Jonah and you are quite loud up here and I´m actually trying to sleep. So I would really appreciate it if you could be a little quieter."
Crossing her arms in front of her chest Santana just stared at Rachel for an instant before she replied, "All he did was laugh and have fun."
She was well aware that their laughing and singing and dancing was probably quit loud if you wanted to sleep, but this was the women who practiced her scales at six thirty in the morning, so…
"But he´s doing so quite noisily," Rachel argued hoping the other woman would see her point.
Santana could only snort at that, "Welcome to my world."
"Well, all I´m asking you is to tone it down a bit so that I can catch up on some much needed sleep. I have to get up at five tomorrow morning so I´d really like it if you-"
"I´m not telling him to stop laughing just because of you," Santana cut her short, not in the mood to listen to one of Rachel´s endless monologues. "Go buy some earplugs or whatever," she advised with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"I can´t sleep with those."
"That´s not our problem."
"Santana is it really too much to ask for a little sympathy and consideration? I always thought that we had a pretty good neighborly relationship and I would even go as far as calling you a friend, but-"
"We sure as hell aren´t friends," Santana interrupted her quickly, before Rachel could twist the facts any more. "Jonah and I, we´re friends," she explained, holding out her hand for a fist bump which Jonah met with a grin. "You, you are just somebody who happens to live next to me."
"Either way," the other woman started again, "I´d really appreciate it if you could be a little quieter."
"You know, I would absolutely agree with you if this was the middle of the night or like six in the morning, but it´s barely four pm and he´s allowed to make some noise, and if you have a problem with children´s laughter than that´s something you have to deal with not me."
Slowly losing his patience with the two adults Jonah pulled on Santana´s shorts, "Can I have some water please?"
"Of course little man."
Accepting that she was not going to win this argument with Santana and not wanting to waste any more important beauty sleep time Rachel turned on her heels and left. She´d talk to Quinn about this issue in the near future; the blonde was always more open to her reasoning and generally a more pleasant human being to associate with than her girlfriend.
Santana noticed Rachel´s departure out of the corner of her eyes, a satisfied smirk on her lips.
"Can we sing the sunshine song again?" Jonah asked, still gripping his glass tightly.
"Gimme, gimme, gimme… just a little smile," Santana started to sing winking when Jonah smiled widely at her.
"That´s all I ask of you! Gimme, gimme, gimme just a little smile…"
Rachel, who had already been halfway back down the stairs, stopped in her tracks and turned back around when she heard the first words leave Santana´s mouth. She´d never learned not to sing along with other people no matter the circumstances, and even though Bob Marley wasn´t exactly her first choice- "Sunshine, sunshine reggae," she couldn´t help but join in.
Clapping his hands together Jonah giggled as he watched Santana walk around him, singing one of his favorite songs and occasionally splashing him with water, he seemed even more delighted when Rachel started to sing along.
"Sunshine, sunshine reggae, Let the good vibes get a long stronger."
Santana threw a glare in Rachel´s direction once she joined in, but still kept singing. Singing together with Rachel like that made her miss Mercedes, one of her old high school friends who now lived in LA and visited not nearly often enough, and that was probably the only reason she didn´t get totally irritated by Rachel.
"Great, now you´ve even ruined Bob Marley for me. Not even my high school choir teacher managed to do that," Santana said once they´d finished the song.
"You have been a member of your school choir?" Rachel asked excitedly; maybe she had more in common with the Latina than she had thought.
Instead of replying Santana simply broke out in another song, the only way which she knew how to make Rachel shut up.
"I used to think maybe you love me, now baby I´m sure…"
Three songs later Rachel was completely awake, Jonah greatly entertained and Santana not nearly as annoyed as she thought she should have been.
"Tan-Tan? Can I have a shakey?"
"Sure mi amor," Santana agreed squeezing his shoulders, "You want a milk-shake as well? I think we still have some silk left." (She suspected that Quinn did actually buy it on purpose even if she always claimed otherwise.)
"That would be wonderful," Rachel replied gratefully; the heat and the singing had left her quite thirsty.
"I can leave you two alone for a few minutes, can I?"
"Of course Santana."
Looking from Rachel to Santana Jonah followed her example and nodded his head up and down.
"Okay, I´ll be right back."
With barely any difficulty Jonah scrambled onto Santana´s legs once she was back a couple of minutes later and grabbed the cup she held out for him.
For a long moment they enjoyed a peaceful quiet as they sipped their drinks and Santana´s eyelids drooped when Jonah leaned back against her, all the excitement of the afternoon slowly catching up with him.
Then Rachel started talking again.
\\
When Quinn got home a little after six she found her girlfriend and her two companions still up on the roof; little Jonah was napping under the beach shelter they´d built the week before and Rachel was completely out of it next to him.
"You didn´t kill her, did you?" Quinn asked quietly as she stepped closer to Santana who was busy doing her nails, her feet in the pool.
"No, though she was once again asking for it," the Latina replied with a frown. After their milk-shake break she´d quickly gotten fed up with the singer and if it hadn´t been for Jonah she probably would´ve pushed her down the stairs or off the roof or something.
Sliding Santana´s sunglasses back up her nose Quinn leaned down to place a quick kiss on her lips.
"So she´s just sleeping?"
"Obviously. It´s not Jonah who´s snoring like a fucking lumberjack."
Ignoring her girlfriend´s complaining Quinn stole another kiss, "Someone´s had shakey-s," she noted, the taste still lingering.
"We did, and I even made one for Rachel," Santana was making a face as she said that.
"Wow, being this nice must´ve been hard for you, huh?"
"It was, but I´m dealing okay."
"So all in all you had a good day?"
"Yes, even though I had to spend part of it with Rachel," Santana said finally putting down her nail file and focusing her attention on her girlfriend.
Following Santana´s pull Quinn sat down on her lap and put her feet in the still somewhat cold water of the pool.
"Ah... I´m so glad today´s over," she sighed leaning back against the other woman.
"You should´ve stayed at home with me," Santana said kissing Quinn´s salty neck.
"Not all of us can schedule their working hours as freely as you do."
"`Cause not all of us are as great as I am."
"Of course not."
They enjoyed a moment of quiet as Quinn relaxed, the tension of the day slowly leaving her body.
"Girl I want to make you sweat, sweat ´til you can´t sweat no more," Santana sung with a grin.
"Don´t tell me you´ve been singing Bob Marley to him again."
"I did and as always he loved it."
\\
"You know that one day I´m going to want to have kids with you, right?" Quinn asked as she followed Santana who was carrying Jonah in her arms down the stairs.
"Is that a promise or a threat?" The Latina´s voice floated over her shoulder.
"Is there a difference?"
"Yes, it´s a promise if it´s you who´s going to ruin her lady parts, a threat if you think I´m going to do that."
"Let´s argue about that when the time comes."
"Not budging on that one," Santana informed as she knocked on the door to 3B.
"Hey, I hope he wasn´t too much trouble? I know he can get a little cranky when it´s so warm," Tina said as she took her napping son out of Santana´s arms.
"He was perfect as usual, though I can´t say the same for Rachel. She once again misbehaved and deserves a proper spanking if you ask me."
Tina just blinked.
"Ignore her, she´s spend too much time in the sun today," Quinn told their neighbor and friend with a smile.
"Okay, well, thanks again for watching him. He had been looking forward to spending some time with you."
"He can drop by whenever he wants," Santana said squeezing Jonah´s hand one last time, "You still up for the barbeque on Saturday?"
"Of course, Mike can´t wait to finally use his new grill," Tina told them with a suffering sigh. "He´s been talking about nothing else for the last two days, but at least he agreed to read the manual this time, so let´s cross our fingers and hope for the best."
"Okay, so we´ll see you on Saturday?"
"Yup, enjoy the rest of your night."
"We will," Quinn replied with a grin and two hands on Santana´s hips pushing her towards the stairs.
"How mad do you think Berry will be if we don´t wake her up?"
"We´re not going to find out today."
"But if we let her sleep on the roof she won´t come over to complain about you being too loud…"
Clearing her throat Quinn considered Santana´s argument for a moment, "Well, it´s not like it´s going to rain tonight."
"Thought you´d see it my way."