I woke up. I hadn't wanted to sleep go to sleep, I wanted to stay up all night holding Olivia, but the nurse told me I should go to sleep now, or else I'd regret it in the morning. When my eyes fluttered open the light from the open curtains stabbed me in the eyes, and I felt sore, so sore, but I didn't care. I smiled at Finn. "Hey," I said.
"Hey." He gave me a kiss on the forehead. "I'll go get your parents and Quinn and Brittany," he told me, and he walked out the door. A couple minutes later, he walked back in with my mom, my dad, Quinn, Brittany, and a nurse.
"Here." The nurse slid a tray of over processed, thoroughly unappetizing breakfast food in front of me. I reluctantly picked up my fork, digging it into a cheese omelet and bringing the fork to my mouth. I almost spit out the gross food, but I managed to keep it in my mouth.
"When am I going to see my Olivia?" I asked the nurse.
"You may see your child after you finish eating," the nurse replied. I nodded. That was my incentive for finishing the tray of food that no human should ever have to eat. I took another forkful to my mouth, gagging, but I kept chewing. I took another forkful, ate about half of my toast and taking a couple handfuls of fresh fruit out of the bowl on my tray (which was actually pretty good,) and then I sipped the tea they gave me. It wasn't like Starbucks, or Dunkin' Donuts, or the kind my mama makes, or like the kind me and Quinn can make. Actually, Brittany's tea that she had made once (and after I drank it I spent the whole morning running for the bathroom to throw up) was better than this. Brittany's had been much too strong, while this tea was too weak. Finally, the nurse decided that I had eaten enough for me to get Olivia, so she took the picked over tray of food, walking out the door, and a couple moments later, another nurse came in the door, holding Olivia. I smiled at the tiny infant, holding out my arms. She was placed into them.
"Hi, baby," I whispered, stroking her tiny hand, which was curled into a fist. She was beautiful, and she was all mine. Just mine and Finn's. Finn walked over, sitting next to me on the bed, and I placed her in his arms. He smiled at the tiny infant.
"Where is she?" Maria shrieked, running through the hallways of the hospital.
"Maria, calm down!" my dad called. "This is a hospital!"
"I'm so excited!" Maria shrieked, jumping up and down. "Is she going to have hair? Is she gonna be pretty or is she gonna be all ugly and redfaced? Well, she's gotta be pretty, because Santana's her mom, and Santana's really pretty! Is she going to look like a Latina, like me and San, or is she going to look all American, like Finn? I hope she likes Santana, because no offense, but I think Finn's kind of ugly, and if she looks like a Latina, Mom will be really happy! Oh, and when she gets older I can teach her how to play soccer and how to make good outfits and how to flirt with boys!"
"Since when do you know how to flirt with boys?" Quinn asked, her and Brittany walking fast so they could catch up to Maria. "You're 10!"
"The boys whistle when they see me coming!" At that, everyone laughed.
"Here we are." They walked into my room. I was sitting up in bed, nursing Olivia. I had heard that it was hard, and it first it WAS hard trying to get her to latch on, but now I wasn't having any problem with it. All I had to do was rest on the nursing pillow my mother had given me and support my daughter's little body. Finn was sitting in the chair next to my bed awkwardly, trying to look at anything other than the exposed skin of my breast.
"Is it a bad time, do you want us to come back?" my father asked.
"No, it's okay," I told him. "Finn, can you get me that towel?"
Finn nodded, getting up and walking across the room. He got the towel, then gave it to me. I draped it over my breast and Olivia's head, so that I wasn't exposed. "I want to see Olivia!" Maria exclaimed, trying to run across the room, but Quinn grabbed her and held her.
"Not yet," Quinn explained. "She's eating right now. You can see her once she's finished."
So the five of us adults talked for the next ten minutes while Olivia finished eating and Maria sat on the floor, flipping through the book about soccer that she had gotten for Christmas. "Where's your mother?" my father asked.
I shrugged. "She said she was going to run a couple errands and then go to visit Alberto and Camillia at their house, and then they're going to come here."
"Hi!" a voice in the door said. I turned to see who it was. It was Jose and his girlfriend Katilin. Great. I had nothing against Katilin, but my mom did, and whenever my mom saw Katilin she was in a bad mood the rest of the day. The two walked in the door. And it was also bad news that they were here because Alberto and Camillia were coming, and Camillia hated Katilin, since one time Katilin told her she should go to this one gym so that she could work off her baby fat.
I smiled. "Hi," I said. "Maria, Olivia's finished eating now. You can come hold her." Maria jumped up off the floor and ran over to my side. She sat in the chair on the left side of the bed, and I carefully placed the baby in her arms. Maria smiled softly as Olivia cooed, blinking up at her aunt. "Maria, I think Livvy likes you!" I told her.
"Hello?" another voice said. I turned. It was my mother, who was with Alberto and Camillia.
"Hey, mom," I said, smiling as the three walked in. Camillia rolled her eyes as she passed Katilin, and Katilin reached over, poking Camillia's stomach.
"Are you pregnant, Camillia?" she asked.
"No," Camillia snapped.
"Because you sure look pregnant." My mom turned to Jose. "Sweetheart, if you can't get Katilin to behave, please go home."
"K, come on, stop!" he pleaded.
"Why? I'm just telling her she needs to... trim the fat!"
"Bitch," Camillia muttered.
"I'm sorry, what did you call me?"
"I called you a BITCH. And a WHORE."
"Oh hell no, don't make me take you to the ground!"
"Bring it, white girl! Wouldn't you be too scared of chipping a nail?"
"Come on, stop!" my brothers pleaded to their fiancees. "Don't ruin Santana's special day!" Katilin didn't care. She ran forward, knocking Camillia down. Camillia fell, but jumped back up again, charging Katilin.
"Come on!" Jose grabbed Katilin. "Um, K... let's go to your mom's house," he suggested, and the two walked out the door.
"Let's go get coffee," Alberto said to Camillia, who nodded.
"That Katilin is certainly not welcome in this family," my mother remarked. "She's rude, she's stupid, and she takes advantage of Jose and uses up all of his hard earned money on things she doesn't need. Maybe I can convince Jose not to marry her. I have a friend who has a girl, a pure blooded Latina, who's dying to go out with Jose, and she's much prettier and classier than that bitch. Jose could do SO much better."
We all nodded in agreement. That's what we always did when my mom began to rant about how much she hated Katilin. "Maria, do you want to give Santana and Olivia the gift you made for your niece?" my mom asked. Maria's eyes lit up.
"Yeah!" She shouted, and I took Olivia from her. Maria jumped up, running over to the pink bookbag she had brought with her. She opened it, reaching in and taking a small, lumpy package wrapped in Santa wrapping paper. "Here!" She handed it to me. I gave my daughter to Finn, and then began to slowly open it. I didn't wait to ruin the beautiful paper, so, in order to open it, I tugged and ripped at the tape instead of the paper. The tape came undone, and so did the package. The gift from Maria tumbled out and onto my lap. I stared down in disbelief.
It was beautiful. It was a red and white dress, with matching leggings and shoes for Olivia. The dress said, 'If you think I'm cute, you should see my aunt!' I laughed. "It's wonderful!" I told Maria.
"Thanks!" she beamed. "You know how Mom's been teaching me to hand sew?" I nodded. "Well, I sewed everything except the shoes, of course, with only a little bit of help from Mom! And I decided to make it red and white since I thought pink would be boring, since that's what every baby girl wears, and red and white are the Cheerio colors, and Mommy was a Cheerio and you were a Cheerio and I'm going to be a Cheerio, I hoped that Olivia would be a Cheerio too!"
"Olivia loves it," I told Maria. "Thank you." Maria smiled up at me.
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