Santiago Rivera

3 MONTHS PREGNANT

Me and the rest of the glee club sat in the Rivera basement on a Saturday night. Ana'd decided to throw a party, just because she felt like it. And it was a pretty successful party, we were all laughing, conversing, dancing (not drinking, we'd learned our lesson with that) and just having a great time.

At least, we were having a great time. "Ana! Ana Rosalia Rivera, come up here right now!," I heard a man scream from upstairs. I was confused, since when was there another dude in here?

Ana's face paled. I could tell she recognized the voice. "Dad?," she whispered, her voice quiet. She slowly got up from the couch and headed for the stairs. But before she could make it there, I heard a man stomping down the stairs.

"What the fuck is going on in here?," a latino man yelled, a vein on his forehead popping out, reminding me of Mr. Schue.

"Dad, why are you here? In Ohio?," Ana cautiously said, her hand over her baby bump.

"I came because your grandmother called and told me you got knocked up!," Mr. Rivera thundered. "Which one of you jackasses is her boyfriend? Huh? Which one of you impregnated my daughter?"

Well, this was a great way to meet my future father-in-law. Standing up, I slowly said, "I am, sir." Mr. Rivera was about 6'1", taller than me. He was kind of scrawny, but big enough to scare me shitless.

"Why you little,-" he started, charging at me.

"Stop it, Dad! Don't you dare touch him!," Ana screamed, stepping in front of me.

"Ana, I can handle this," I said, standing my ground.

"Are you insane? Dad, why did you come here? To beat up Puck?"

"Puck? His name is Puck?," Mr. Rivera said mockingly. Wow, why do they always have to go for the name? It's a nickname! And a badass one at that.

"Uh, we should, uh, go," Finn said, motioning for the other glee kids to get up. The glee kids followed him up the stairs, waving goodbye.

"Bye guys," Ana distractedly said. She turned back to her dad. "Why are you here?"

"I came to find out what is wrong with my daughter!," he screamed back.

"With all due respect, sir, there's nothing wrong with you daughter," I stepped in, a lot more calmly then I felt. No one yelled at Ana like that.

"Why do you care what's wrong with me? We haven't had a legitimate conversation since I moved in with Abuela. Now, you want to know what's wrong with me?," Ana mocked. "That's real good parenting, Dad."

"Don't you dare talk that way to me," Ana's dad grumbled. His voice was so low and he began to raise his hand. For a second, I was afraid that he'd hit her and I'd have to knock his ass out. "You are a piece of trash, Ana. You are a disappointment for a daughter. If your mother was here, she'd be so disgraced by you."

"Stop it! Don't bring my mom into this! You didn't give a shit about her anyways!"

"How do you know that, Ana? Huh? You never even knew her." Ana's face dropped and I could tell a few tears were beginning to fall.

"Mr. Rivera, how is that her fault?," I asked, stepping slightly in front of Ana, putting an arm around her.

"You stay out of this!," he menacingly said to me.

"As if losing my mom at the age of three wasn't enough, you're really going to make me feel bad for not remembering her?," Ana whimpered.

"What's going on down there?," Ana's grandma yelled before descending the spiral staircase. "Santiago, what are you doing to my granddaughter?"

"Mama, please stay out of this," Mr. Rivera said to Ms. R. He then glared at Ana, "it's between me and my daughter."

"Like you can handle this! I didn't call you here to criticize Ana, I called you to let you know what was happening to your daughter now that you've seemingly forgotten about. But if all you're going to do is scream at her, then get out of here." Ana was clinging onto me now, tears falling down her face. I stroked her back trying to comfort her. "You need to leave, Santiago. It was a mistake to call you here," Ms. Rivera scoffed.

"You can't tell me to leave!," Mr. Rivera yelled. By the scowl on Ms. R's face, I could tell that he was going to get his ass kicked if he didn't leave. "Fine, but I'm taking Ana with me." He grabbed Ana's arm, but she pulled away.

"Don't touch me! I'm not leaving with you," Ana screamed.

"No, Santiago, you are not taking her with you. You can't take care of her, you can't even take care of Olivia."

"This is my daughter!," Santiago said.

"And I am your mother. You will leave now, and Ana is staying here with me."

Mr. Rivera ran his fingers through his thick black mustache. "Fine, fine, fine, fine! But this is not the end of this, Ana." He gave the rest of us a glare but retreated upstairs.

Ana clung onto my chest tighter and sobbed into my shirt. I grabbed her into a hug and gently rocked her back and forth. Ms. Rivera walked over to us, squeezed my shoulder and kissed Ana on the cheek. "I'll make sure he leaves," she said before going upstairs too.

"Shh, baby, shh, shh," I murmured to Ana. "It's okay, he's gone now."

"He's right," Ana said between sobs. "My mom would've been so disappointed in me."

I pushed her away and tilted her chin to look at me. "No she wouldn't have. None of what your dad said was true, he was just speaking out of anger."

Ana shook her head. "No he wasn't." She took a seat down on the couch and I followed her lead. "I can't remember her. Why can't I remember her, Puck?" I stroked her hair, not really knowing what to say.

"You were only three when she died, sweetie. It's normal that you can't remember."

"But I want to! I want to so bad," she cried into my shoulder. "It's not fair. It's just not fair." I didn't know what to say. She was right, it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that she had to go through most of her life without a mom. "My abuela, she tells me I'm just like her. That I sing like her, act like her, look like her, that I'm a spitting image of her."

"I bet you are," I said, kissing the top of her head. "I bet she was a wonderful, strong, talented, beautiful women, just like you." Ana calmed down a bit, her tears begun to be silent instead of hysterical.

Ana sniffled after a few minutes. "Puck?"

"Yes, baby?"

"I'm hungry. Will you go grab me some salt and vinegar chips and marshmallows?" I chuckled to myself and nodded. Pregnant women and their strange cravings. I eased Ana off of me and headed up the stairs to grab her food. "Puck?," Ana called to me while I was making my way up a stair.

"Uh huh?"

"Will you get me the Nutella too?" I smirked and nodded. "Don't forget a spoon!"

"What about a men's room attendant?," I laughed, scribbling out that box in the "WANTED" section of the newspaper.

"I'd love to see you doing that," Ana chuckled.

"Haha, did you find anything do-able on the computer?," I asked, popping a piece of buttery popcorn in my mouth.

"Um, Wal-Mart's looking for help, so is JC Penny's."

I groaned. I couldn't see myself working at either of those places and not wanting to blow my brains out. "God dammit, why does everywhere suck?"

"This isn't supposed to be easy, Puck. Are you sure Ms. Schuester won't give you your job back at Sheets-n-Things?"

"I'm positive. When I asked her, she laughed and asked if I was joking. When I told her I wasn't, she'd chewed my head off."

Ana drummed her fingers on her protruding stomach. "Wait a second, I think that I saw Old Navy have a help wanted sign up. Why don't you work there?" I groaned again. "Listen, Puck, it's either that, JC Penny's or Wal-Mart."

"They all sound equally terrible."

"Why don't you apply at all of them, and whichever one accepts you first is the job you'll take."

"Fine," I moaned. It's not like I had a ton of options. We needed money, and we needed it now. "How's your job hunt going?"

"I applied at Applebee's and Starbucks yesterday. But I don't think that either were too keen on hiring someone who's carrying twins." Ana frowned, but I gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

"You'll get a job, don't worry."

"I sure hope I do," Ana said, sounding a bit hopeless. But her disappointed look quickly turned into a smile. "Ya know Puck, we're getting closer and closer to becoming a family."

I began to toy with the engagement ring I always kept zipped up in my jacket pocket. "We sure are, babe."