"What did you just say?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that." Alma tried to soften her words, she understood as soon as she said it she had crossed a line.

"Yes, you did. You're the one who threw me out and is trying to make amends here. Who are you to judge what blood means? Who are you when you can't even love me for who I am?"

"Santana you're not being fair, I love you, I always have, I just don't understand..."

"You don't understand what? Did you throw me out because you loved me?"

"It was the right thing to do! I understand now that it was a mistake, but I'm a Christian, I thought I was doing the right thing at the time!"

"This has nothing to do with religion, you didn't care about God when you came into Brittany's house, into her house, to tell me you were sorry, but you're not." Santana's voice was rising with the emotions she was feeling.

"I am sorry for what I did. God punished me, I'm all alone, I was all alone! Do you think it's easy to come to you after all those years to say sorry..."

"But you chose that Alma! You chose what you did to yourself, not God, not me, YOU, only you!"

"You don't understand th..."

"Oh I get it very clearly, I am a consolation prize for your miserable loneliness. I'm not a charity."

"I never meant that, that is not true!" Alma stood up, her hands in the air, defenseless. "Can't you understand? How is it for me, to... erase all I believe in because... I love you?! I do it, for you..."

Santana stared at her grandmother, speechless. She had a hard time thinking clearly, with her emotions running through her mind, and a crying Sophia in her arms. Brittany, who was witnessing the scene, was unable to say or do anything until then. She went by Santana's side, stepping right behind her wife and child.

"Alma, you don't have to understand, or doubt all you believe in, you have to accept it, just accept it." Brittany said, with her sweet and careful tone, determined nevertheless. She wanted to ease Santana, more than anything else, and certainly not leave her alone with her family issues. "You have to accept that things could be different, not worse, not better, just different. We are a family, she's my daughter because I love her, because I wanted to create a family with Santana, raise children together, provide them a great education and let them become wonderful people. This is what motherhood is about, life is too short to care about genes, and our children need someone to love them, to protect them, not a matching hair color. You just have to accept that."

Santana thought it was so Brittany-like, those speeches out of nowhere, but always so accurate and right. It was what Santana wanted to say, but all her anger prevented her from talking clearly. She turned slightly around to look at Brittany, her soft worried face, looking back and forth between her and Alma, those blue orbs clearly showing her need to protect her own family.

"But I have to understand so I can accept it." Alma was intrigued. Never in her life had she spoken like that with Santana, they were both too influenced by their wild moods and latin passion, and talking, understanding each other's point of view wasn't really their area of expertise. Brittany brought up some ideas that helped Alma defined what the situation actually was. The tall blonde had a way of getting right to the heart of the matter. So Alma listened.

"I can't understand your struggle with religion, since I'm not a churchgoer, I can only guess, and I accept it because this is your life, not mine, and I accept you as you are in my daughter's life. I don't care about who you are, and what you believe in if you are good for her, for Santana, and on top of all, if you can respect what we all are, which is a family. Can you believe I need Sophia as much as she needs me, and that we are bound as any other mother and child, that if something would ever happen to Santana, I would be the one Sophia would need, because she'd love me, because... she'd know I'd protect her ? Can you believe that, and accept it?"

Alma was lost in her thoughts. Brittany made a valid point quite successfully, and she considered it very thoughtfully. It felt like an easy second step, since she tried for so long to understand and failed each time. However, it was bizarre to admit Brittany was right, a part of Alma didn't want Brittany to be someone wonderful, she didn't want her to be someone admirable, but she was forced to face the fact that Brittany really was someone respectful and wise, somehow despite everything Alma wanted to believe to the contrary.

Santana stared at Brittany, and her anger started to fade away a bit. Her sweetness, her understanding, the way she didn't let people get in her way without being aggressive. This was everything Santana loved about her. She had nothing more to add, so she held Sophia tight, gripping the little girl's clothes.

Alma saw the small gesture, and pictured for the first time how protected Santana felt around Brittany. The tenderness in her granddaughter's eyes, the light smile on her lips through the anger, her hands gripping the clothes. It reminded her of when Santana was a little girl, and when she was scared, she used to grab the material of her skirt, glancing up with her large wet eyes. She remembered herself saying, "Not now, nena" instead of cuddling her to reassure her, she wanted to teach her that life could be hard.

Seeing her holding her Sophia like that, she could easily guess how Santana would be, when her baby would be older. She imagined her taking the crying child in her arms, asking "What's wrong?" really worried, hugging her until she felt better. Yes, Santana was different and it was a nice kind of difference. What Brittany said made sense.

"I have to think about it." Alma let out, with her natural proud tone. She bent to grab her coat and purse from off the sofa close to her. "I'll leave now." She walked close to them, and without a glance, she exited the apartment.

When the door slowly slammed, Santana allowed small tears to run down her cheeks as she let out a heavy sigh.

"Oh no, honey..." Brittany hugged Santana, who rested her head in Brittany's neck, the embrace catching Sophia between them. She quietly cried, letting her walls come down, as Brittany stroked her hair, placing small kisses on her cheek. She slightly relaxed the hug to check on Sophia, looking down at their daughter between them. When she met deep blue eyes staring up at her, she couldn't help but smile.

"What about... We go out for a walk, get some fresh air? And then we could talk about it..." Brittany tried but Santana just stared at her baby girl. "Do you like walks in the park?" She said, tickling Sophia's cheek with a light finger. A large smile shone on the baby face, the very first real smile she shared with her parents. Their throats tightened and they chuckled.

"You like going to the park with your mommies, don't you?" Brittany tickled her daughter again, and the smile grew larger. She started to laugh tenderly.

"Oh my baby!" Her tears turned from sad to joyful in an instant. Sophia rested her unsteady head in her mom's neck; Santana moved her shoulder a bit so they could continue watching her. Brittany dried the tears with her thumb and gave her a light kiss. Santana tried to pull herself together; she snuggled closer to her beloved wife. "Let's go..." She whispered in a soft loving voice.

...

"Dad? Are you here?" Brittany yelled into her parents' garden.

"Over here!" Andrew answered from inside his shed.

Brittany crossed through the whole garden, tightening her vest across her body trying not to get wet from the soft rain. Her dad loved his shed, he built it himself. When he needed time to think, he just retired to it for hours, and all the girls from the family respected his privacy. It was his own little version of Paradise, and they never disturbed him, or very rarely.

"Can I come in?" Brittany softly said pushing the door ajar, still not entering.

"Come in, sweetheart; come see your old daddy."

Andrew had set a large table in the middle of the shed, his tools hung up on the walls, boxes everywhere, the perfect shed for a super-dad.

"How are y- Wow!" Brittany was shocked by what she saw. Her dad was varnishing a small wooden chair, which Andrew had decorated by carving flowers into the pale wood. "Did you make this?"

"It took me a little longer than expected, but, yes, I did it." Andrew said, very proud of his work.

"This is wonderful..." Brittany looked at the chair more closely. "And you carved it? I didn't know you could do that..."

"My dad loved carving; we did it a lot together when I was a little boy." He kept varnishing the chair with a large brush. "I wanted to try again." He smiled as Brittany was studying every detail, astonished. "Do you think they'll like it?"

"Of course they will! Mom loves everything you do."

"No, I meant Sophia and Santana." Andrew said softly.

"This is for us?"

"Yeah, I made it for Sophia. I know this is not as fancy as the rest of your furniture but, this is all I can do..."

Brittany was so happy. Her dad had always been the shy guy in the family, considering how colorful her mother and sister were. She saw how proud he was of being a granddad, happiness written all over his face. She could easily picture how he must have worked hard on this chair; since he couldn't really express his joy as easily as everyone else did, he must have thought of a different way to show his feelings. Brittany was so moved by what he did, by how the chair reminded her of her father, a little vintage, but so very beautiful.

"Thank you so much! You didn't have to!" Brittany rushed to his side and hugged him, forcing Andrew to hold his brush high in the air not to get varnish all over them.

"I wanted her to have a little piece of her granddad forever." He acknowledged with a smile. "It's large enough for her to sit on when she'll be older, or for her dolls, I don't know..."

"It's perfect Dad! They'll love it, I know it for sure. This is so wonderful! Thank you so, so much..." Andrew smiled at Brittany.

"You know, I really loved to make things, when I was a little boy."

"You never talked about it.. Why did you stop?"

"Oh I don't know, life makes you change your priorities. I had your mom, and then, my baby girls to take care of, the work... I forgot about it." He applied more varnish. "But now you have your own family, Chloe is... Chloe" He said chuckling "So, it made me do a lot of thinking, you know, about when I was a child too, about what I'm going to do now. It's time for me to share all my memories before it's too late."

"Don't say such things..."

"But I have to! I'm getting old, and I want your daughter to know me, remember me, and tell my girls everything I didn't tell you already, it's a fact of life... We're getting old."

Brittany had never seen this side of Andrew. He always was so logical, and talking about feelings was really unusual for him. She studied his expression, trying to find any shadow of sadness. But all she saw was his happiness, so she just felt blessed, even if the conversation was deep. It was so good, compared to Santana's family. The Pierce's were soft, welcoming, loving. They could talk about anything, even if Andrew usually left that part to Julie.
Andrew put his brush down, and dried his hands on an old cloth.

"I think it's finished!" He said with pride, and Brittany just nodded sagely. "When it dries, I'll bring it to your house." They just looked at it for a while, sharing smiles and caring glances. "Family hug?"

"Family hug!" Brittany rushed in her dad's embrace, and snuggled against him. "I love you, you know."

"I know, I know." He put a kiss in her hair. "But you didn't tell me, what are you doing here?" He said ending the hug.

"I was just passing by to say hello, it was on my way home."

"How are things going?" He was cleaning a bit the table as they talked.

"Good. Well, I'm good, but Santana had an argument with Alma yesterday, and I had to step in between them."

"I thought you wanted Santana to deal with Alma on her own?"

"I meant it but it just doesn't get any better, and she started to denigrate my role as Sophia's other mother, so..."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, she crossed a line so I figured I should do something you know. I couldn't let her do that, but I didn't want Santana to throw her out, she would have been shattered. So I don't know, I tried to make her understand it myself, I don't know if it worked or not, but I tried..."

"Did you have any news since then?"

"Santana had lunch with her parents earlier, she'll tell me tonight I suppose."

"I see... Old people, they are hard to deal with. They're stubborn." He said, worried.

"Yeah... I'm lucky to have such a loving family, I get it now. I just don't know how we should get San to deal with her grandma. It would destroy her to lose her again. She was so sad last night."

"That's really delicate indeed. Maybe we could do another family reunion with her parents, maybe seeing the whole family together would make her feel better? I'm sure you mom would be delighted to plan that... We're her other family after all!"

"It's actually an amazing idea! We should make it a surprise!"

"I'll talk to your mom, she'll get with Gloria to set it up..."

"What would I do without you guys...Seriously!" Brittany said relieved.

Flashback : Few weeks later.

Santana just arrived in Patrick's office to discuss her come-back.

"We've had a huge demand from shows for interviews, we just have to pick the best, and define which questions shouldn't be asked, unless you're fine with everything. Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, I planned some recording sessions next month. I mean, the label just sent me dozens of demos, it's just insane, you just have to pick the ones you like too. But if you feel like writing, go ahead; at least we know that we have back-up songs in case." She listened very carefully.

"I see you planned everything, as usual." She was really annoyed to be there, actually. Patrick was so ecstatic to deal with Santana again, he had all these projects for them, his mind was racing.

"Of course I did! Your song has gone viral, 8 million views on YouTube, we should enjoy the buzz around it, and use your Grammy performance as the start of a new album. Get something good out of it. We really shouldn't lose focus now, Santana."

"But I kind of don't want to do all that stuff right now."

"What do you mean you "kind of don't want" to do it? We can't relax right now, the tabloids are on fire since your wild escapade, everything is perfect Santana, perfect, now is the time to do a mind-blowing come-back!"

"Can't I do it slower? Like, really take time to work on something really good-"

"No, no time, we have no time, we have to do it now or people will believe it wasn't actually marketing."

"But it wasn't marketing."

"Yeah, but people don't need to know that! Come on, you really want people to be sure about your previous condition?"

"I don't want to lie anymore."

"It's not about lying, it's... living another reality, change few facts and everybody will be better this way."

"Will I be better this way?" Patrick had nothing to say for a moment, her bitterness making him uncomfortable with this discussion.

"Well..." He looked up, and met Santana's hard dark eyes, staring right at him with quite an aggressive expression. "You can't let them know. Do you really want to answer questions about depression, what happened exactly, and on top of it all, ten times a week?"

"I don't get why I should do a promo tour right now, to say what, "Hi, I'm still Santana, I'm still alive but I have nothing else to talk about cause I don't give a fucking damn about you, bastards." They'll appreciate that, for sure."

"Santana, you don't want to record, you don't want to do promo... What are you going to do? You can't just sit around doing nothing."

"That's the point. Thanks to you, I have millions of dollars to afford doing nothing, why couldn't I enjoy a little break for a while?"

"A break?" He was so shocked he burst into laughter. "A break! You're out of your mind, you can't just quit right now. We can do a small album and then, let the pressure fall, but this is really not the right time for a break Sant-"

"I don't care. Actually, I'm quitting singing."

"You what? Santana, you're still depressed, don't say such things."

"It's all decided. I made up my mind a while ago, months ago actually, I talked to Brittany and my parents about considering it, but now I realize that this is what I want. I want to quit singing."

"This is a fucking joke!" Patrick was raging, standing up from his chair behind his desk. Santana stood up too, but way more calmly, she took her coat and her purse from the empty chair next to her. "Where are you going Lopez?" She put her coat on.

"You can't respect my life, you can't even respect my career and how I want to proceed, so yeah, I quit singing and you're fired." She exited the room without even a backwards glance or another word for him. He was shocked she had just ended a long collaboration just like that, so he stood there, holding onto his desk as his only support.

...

"I TOLD HIM!" Santana rushed into the apartment, leaving her things in a total mess in the hall.

"You told him what?" Brittany was sitting on the floor close to the coffee table, looking at a magazine.

"That he was fired!"

"What?"

"I did it!" Santana kept rushing to Brittany's side, as the blonde stood up. "I told him it wasn't okay for him to treat me like that, he wanted me to do a promo tour and-"

"Slow down, what happened?"

"He wanted me to do another album like right now, and interviews and stuff... and he wanted me to do a full promo tour, and lie about the Grammys, I couldn't do it! I can't do it! So I fired him!"

"Wow, honey.. okay.. That's a lot to think about, okay..."

"Aren't you happy about it?" Santana was suddenly worried, whereas seconds before she was in a complete frenzy.

"It's not that I'm not happy about it, it's that we didn't discuss it before..."

"But I told you I wanted to take things slow and-"

"Yeah, I know, but not about... firing him! Are you sure Santana?"

"Yeah! Like 100% sure! I'm free now!" Brittany smiled at Santana's enthusiasm.

"But what are you gonna do instead?"

"First, marry you, and then I don't know, I have plenty of time to think about it. I'm not really sure if I want to sing again, I don't know, I'll figure something out... Aren't you happy?"

"I am, I am! I just don't want you to make these kinds of huge decisions to make me happy, I want to be sure that you are happy and you're doing it for yourself."

"I've never been so happy." Santana said with such a joyful even voice she could have made the angels cry.

"Okay." Brittany simply answered; the fire in Santana's eyes convincing her to trust her.

"All I want to focus on now is planning the wedding, being lazy with you, carpe diem, honey." Santana looked at her fiancée, her excitement obvious. She was so excited she didn't know what to do with herself at this particular moment. She looked like a 5 years old child, in the middle of the living-room, rocking on her feet. Her large smile was so tender it made Brittany's heart melt. "I really want it, I really do." She almost pleaded.

...

Santana was drinking her morning coffee in the kitchen, being lazy reading the newspaper in her bathrobe. She was looking much better: she wasn't stressed at all anymore, a rare feeling these last few years, she was perfectly relaxed and cool, she had even gained a little weight, and the engagement ring was now a perfect fit. Brittany loved to see her like this.

"Hey Britt, listen, "The Broadway Star Rachel Berry presents her first self-directed show tonight, a reinterpretation of Funny Girl." Groundbreaking. Oh even better! "She'll be playing Fanny Brice, one of the most famous roles of Barbra Streisand." We should send flowers to boost her ego." Brittany, who was cooking her breakfast, laughed at Santana's sarcasms.

"I think we already did when she released her memoirs. What was the title again? 365 days...?"

"365 Days of Extravaganza, the life of Rachel Berry. Oh my god, that was something!"

Santana said taking another sip of her coffee. She kept reading her newspaper as Brittany quietly ate, glancing every now and then at her happy fiancée, commenting on almost every article. The blonde thought she had no need to read it since Santana just spilled everything happening in the world with such delightful sarcasm and very funny jokes. She pictured Santana presenting a news broadcast, with a horrible haircut and a very classic grey suit, highlighting every story with her wicked humor. It made her giggle as she stood up to put her plate in the sink.
When she came back out she noticed a humorous look on Santana's face and asked her what she was laughing at.

"Nothing, babe." Brittany bent from behind, and slid a hand under the bathrobe to cuddle the warm morning skin she loved so much, and snuggled into her neck.

"When does your meeting start?" Santana asked the blonde, who was fully clothed and ready to go.

"In an hour or so." She answered with a sigh, looking at the kitchen clock, before cuddling again into San's neck.

"Look! "Recording studio for sale. Built in 1973, 5 recording rooms and 3 offices requires renovations. Priced to sell quickly." Santana was going through the classifieds, and this advertisement surprisingly caught her eye.

"What label was that?"

"It's close to here... I think it's the Cardoleone Records building. I heard they were bankrupt. I should go have a look!"

"Why?"

"I don't know..." She actually didn't know why, but she felt like she had to go see this building. "I... I could start a studio. For fun!"

"The only thing you want is to torture innocent young girls with your vicious, vicious words." Brittany teased.

"That would be a cool thing to keep me busy! I'll go see it today." She put her mug down, and she ripped the page out.

"Wait, you weren't joking?"

"No, why?" She said very seriously. "I'll just have a look, no big deal. Maybe this is a heaven sent opportunity, I shouldn't miss it."

"Alright... "Brittany was skeptical. "It's just not really like you to do things so randomly... First Patrick, then a studio?"

"Hold on, I didn't buy anything yet! And even if I do, what's the risk by renovating an old building, if I don't like doing it, I can still sell it." Santana shrugged leisurely.

"That's a bit radical but I guess you can. I'm just not used to this Santana." Santana stood up to face her, and Brittany had to let go of her hand cuddling under the bathrobe.

"What Santana?"

"I-don't-plan-anything-and-I-live-on-the-edge Santana." Brittany smiled.

"Don't you like it?"

"I thought I knew every bit of you but you are so surprising lately I have a hard time believing this is all true."

"Unexpected is my new religion." She exited the kitchen towards the hall.

"I'm so not complaining..." Brittany joked and followed her; it was time to leave for her meeting. "What are you gonna do today, except the building visit?" She said as she took her things from the hall, getting ready to leave.

"I have lunch with my girls, and until then, I'm gonna put everything upside down around the house." Brittany kissed her goodbye.

"Nuclear explosion sounds astounding." She said, and grabbed the door handle.

"Starting now, with a shower!" Santana said, tiptoeing like she dancing down the corridor, already heading to the bathroom.

"Have fun!" Brittany yelled, peeking one last time at her fiancée.

"I will!" She said, letting her bathrobe fall to the ground, offering Brittany a gratuitous glimpse of her bare perfect body. Brittany chuckled; this Santana was unbelievably lovable, even more than she could have ever guessed. Too bad she already proposed, she so would have done it again.

Thanks to my awesome beta Jen :) !

I loved all your reviews and messages on tumblr, thank you so much ! Some of you have really good ideas that made me explore things deeper than I actually planned before. So tell me what you want to happen next ! Don't be shy cause the more you're suggesting, the more motivated I am to keep writing this story :)
Love you all, see you next week for another chapter :)